Chapter 1

PERSONALITY

- Latin word “Persona” meaning “mask”

- The sum total of the qualities and characteristics of a person as shown in her manner of
walking, talking, dressing, and her attitudes, interests, and ways of reacting to other
people.
- It is the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person
unique.
- It is your image. It is who we are.

IMPORTANCE:

● Personality development grooms an individual and helps him make a mark of his/her own

● Personality development goes a long way in reducing stress and conflicts.

● Personality development helps you develop a positive attitude in life.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

Nature

- Is a person’s biological inheritance. The traits derived from one’s biological parents are
provided in the 46 chromosomes arranged in 23 pairs that comprise the blueprint of
one’s total system which begins during the process of conception.

Nurture

- The environment of a child plays a vital role in the development of personality. The physical and
social environment influences the formation of the traits, attitudes, interests, motivations, and
emotions of the individual.
THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS

- Openness - Open to possible experiences and learning.

- Conscientiousness - Shows meticulous and principled behaviour but is guided by
one’s own rules and beliefs.
- Weighs pros and cons of his decisions before formulating his well-
thought conclusion.
- Extraversion - This type of individual is highly sociable with a life that is directed to
the significant others.
- Agreeableness - This type of individual is highly sociable with a life that is directed
to the significant others.
- Neuroticism- Being a person with much altruism and benevolence meant for others.

VALUES

- Refers to stable life goals that people have, reflecting what is most important to them.
- “The values that are important to people tend to affect the types of decisions they make,
how they perceive their environment, and their actual behaviours.”

ATTITUDES

- A predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to someone or something in

one’s environment.
- Influences by values and are acquired from the same sources as values.

SELF-ESTEEM

- Belief in your abilities and your worth or value.

- It is the extent to which you like, accept, and respect yourself.

High self-esteem helps you to meet everyday challenges and stay on course to become all that
you can be.

People with high self-esteem view themselves in a positive light, are confident, and respect
themselves. On the other hand, people with low self-esteem experience high levels of self-
doubt and question their self-worth.
Those with low self-esteem may react by:

- Blaming others for their own weaknesses or faults.

- Becoming easily frustrated or defensive
- Avoiding situations that make them uncomfortable
- Feeling weak and incompetent
- Feeling that others do not value them
- Expressing few emotions
- Being influenced easily by others.

DO’S OF BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM

- Engage in positive self-talk

- Remember what you like about yourself
- Talk with others about your good qualities
- Focus on your achievements
- Plan your future

DONT’S OF IMPROVING SELF-ESTEEM

- Do not try to imitate someone else

- Do not think negatively about yourself
- Do not neglect yourself
- Do not let setbacks get the best of you

SELF-EFFICACY

- A belief that one can perform a specific task successfully.

WAYS TO BUILD UP YOUR SELF-CONFIDENCE

- Self-assessment. - Until you can feel confident,

- Set manageable goals. Be sure to act confident.
- Find a mentor.
- Don’t judge yourself by your failures.
Chapter 2
INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

- Personality is never measured by external factors alone. Mental ability forms part and
parcel of one's persona. People differ in several ways. Intelligence in one element that
separates one from all others of same demographics.

Howard Gardner, Ph.D

- Professor of Education at Harvard University

- He categorized intelligence into varied kinds. These intelligences show an individual's
unique aptitude competencies or set of competencies that displays intellectual abilities.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

1. Verbal-linguistic Intelligence - -involves highly developed verbal skills

particularly on sounds, meaning and rhythms of words.
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence - involves an individual’s ability to
think conceptually, abstractly with capacity to discern logical and numerical
patterns.
3. Spatial-visual intelligence - an individual’s capacity to think in images and
pictures as well as visualize accurately and abstractly.
4. Bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence - the ability to control one’s body
movements.
5. Musical intelligence - one’s ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch
and timber; it involves skills on music.
6. Interpersonal Intelligence -the ability to detect and respond appropriately
to the moods, motivations and desires of the significant others.
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence -the individual’s awareness of the internal aspect
and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes.
8. Naturalist Intelligence- one’s knowledge of the environment and those that
comprise its survival and habitat.
9. Existential Intelligence - is sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions
about human existence which may include the meaning of life, its beginnings and
end.
STUDY HABITS
1. Have the right mind set
2. Practice 'Zero Navigation' when preparing for the coursework
3. Choose the proper venue for studying.
4. Make a Reviewer.
5. Bring only the things that you need.
6. Be smart, use devises such as Mnemonics
a. Peg word- this is useful for memorizing list of unrelated words in order by
creating a visual image with a ‘peg’ word.
b. Method of Loci – useful for memorizing lists of unrelated terms in order.
c. Acronym- by using the first letter of each item that you desire to remember like
G for Groceries and W for Withdraw.
d. Acrostic – this is done by creating an easy-to-remember statement to which
you can associate the first letter of each word.
e. Music or Rhymes – the to-be-remembered items is set to familiar tune, set to
a rhythm or made into a rhyme.
f. Mnemonic Associations – the material associated with the features of the
materials that are hard to helenadel.
g. Keyword – Saturn is a gas giant made of hydrogen and helium.
7. Choose the best time to study.
8. Never be dependent on the Worldwide Web and your Personal
Computer
9. Reward yourself.
10. Have a sense of accomplishment.

UNDERSTANDING LEARNING STYLES

1. Visual learners: learn through seeing...
o These learners need to see the teacher's body language and facial expression to
fully understanding the content of a lesson.
 2. Auditory learners: learn through listening...
o They learn best through verbal lectures, discussions, talking things through and
listening to what others have to say. Auditory learners interpret the underlying
meanings of speech through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speed and other
nuances.
3. Tactile/kinesthetic learners: learn through, moving, doing and
touching..
o Tactile/kinesthetic persons learn best through a hands-on approach, actively
exploring the physical world around them.

MENTAL HEALTH DISORDER

- Mental health disorder can disrupt school performance, harm relationships, and lead to
suicide which is the third leading cause of death among teenagers.

ATTENTION DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD)

- Common disorder manifested by hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity.

- ADHD affects a teenager's a ability to function well in many areas of their lives including
home, school, or with friends.

BIPOLAR DISORDER

- A type of mood disorder where the problem is in the brain's control of the normal ups
and downs of normal mood.
- In bipolar disorder, the cycle between intervals of Manialike feeling really elated or
annoyed and intervals of Depressionlike feeling (really sad and low) become frequent
(daily) or infrequent (years a part).

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER (GAD)

- Worries excessively about many different things

- Lapse in how your brain controls the signals it uses to identify dangers and start
response to help you avoid it.
OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD)

- The person with OCD usually known that his or her obsessions are unreasonable,
senseless, or inappropriate, but he or she is not able to control them.
- Obsessions tend to be thoughts while compulsions are usually behaviours.

SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER (SOCIAL PHOBIA)

- Fear of being judged or embarrassed in front of other people.

- A person is so afraid of being negatively evaluated or judged that it significantly
interferes with his or her ability to live a normal life.

NON-SUICIDAL SELFINJURY (NSSI)

- Commonly referred to as self-injury or self-harm, may be confusing and difficult to

understand.

DEPRESSION

- A mood disorder characterized by intense and persistent negative emotions.

- A medical condition affecting the way mood is controlled by the brain.

SUICIDE

- Not a mental disorder- but one of the most important causes of suicide is mental illness.
- The deliberate taking of one's own life, is the second leading causes of death among
teenagers.

POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH: RESILIENCE

- It is the process of adapting well in the face of hardships, trauma, tragedy, threats or
significant sources of stress, such as family and relationship problems, serious health
problem or workplace and financial stressors.
- bouncing back from difficult experiences
- The most effective factor that contribute to a person's resilience is having a caring
relationship, with adults and possess a relaxed disposition in life.
Chapter 3
Emotions

- Latin word ‘Emovere ’which means to move out.

- Emotions are spontaneous responses to a certain stimuli.
- Emotions are complex, a state of feeling that results in physical and psychological
changes influencing behavior as it arouses the nervous system.

Psychosomatic illnesses

- Physiological reactions may result from certain emotional state that may even lead to
psychosomatic illnesses.

Two Kinds of Emotions

- POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

STRESS

- as a state of extreme difficulty, pressure or strain.

- It is a way by which the body respond to the pressures from the external environment.

Han Selye (1936)

- The concept of stress was developed by Han Selye (1936) which brought forth the theory of
stress reaction known as the “General Adaptation Syndrome” This state that a
body under stress generally undergoes response stages: Alarm resistance and

exhaustion.
Some Stressors include the following:
- Illness in the family
- Loss of a loved one
- Quitting school
- Divorce / Separation
- Getting into trouble

POSITIVE STRESS OR EUSTRESS

- This is experience by the body as an unpleasant stimulus becomes a source of

motivation. Such happens when the attainment of the goal is being expected.

NEGATIVE STRESS OR DISTRESS

- This type of stress causes not only pain in the mind but also in the body as it makes the
individual literally sick. This is brought forth by the hopelessness created by the stressor
on the person.

EFFECTS OF EXTREME EMOTIONS AND STRESS

- When you feel threatened, your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress
hormones, and including adrenaline and cortisol, which rouse the body for emergency
action.
- These physical changes increase your strength and stamina speed your reaction time,
and enhance your focus
- This is known as the “fight or flight” stress response and is your body’s way of protecting
you.

POSITIVE

- Stress helps you focused, energetic, and alert.

- Stress can save your lifegiving you extra strength to defend yourself.
- Stress helps you rise to meet challenges.
NEGATIVE EFFECTS

- Physical Impact
o Increase in the rate and depth of breathing
o Blood becomes more concentrated
o Senses become extremely keen
o Adrenaline rush
- Health Problems
o Heart Disease
o Sleep Problems
o Depression
o Auto immune diseases
o Skin conditions
- Cognitive Symptoms
o Memory Problem
o Inability to concentrate
o Poor judgement
o Constant worrying
o Seeing only negative
- Emotional Symptoms
o Moodiness
o Irritability or short temper
o Agitation, inability to relax
o Feeling overwhelmed
o Depression or general unhappiness
 - Behavioural Symptoms
o Eating more or less
o Sleeping too much or too little
o Nervous habits

Handling Extreme Emotion and Stress

1. Social Engagement
a. The most evolved strategy to keep ourselves feeling
calm and safe.
b. Since the nerve connects the brain to the sensory
receptors in the ear, eye, face and heart, socially
interacting with another person can calm you down and
put the brakes on defensive responses like “fight-or-
flight”.
2. Mobilization
a. Otherwise known as fight-or-flight response.
3. Immobilization
a. The least evolved response to stress and used by the
body only when social and mobilization have failed.
b. You may find yourself traumatized or “stuck” in an angry,
panic-stricken or otherwise dysfunctional state, unable to
move on.
Managing Extreme Emotions & Stress Effectively
1. SEEK HELP
2. EXPLORE
3. DEVELOP HARDINESS
4. BE POSITIVE
5. PRACTICE PROPER BREATHING TECHNIQUE
6. USE MANTRA.
7. HUMOR
8. KEEP YOURSELF BUSY.

Ways in which you can increase your resilience-you can:

- Develop your inter- personal relationships.

- Avoid seeing difficult situations as impossible.
- Accept that change is part of living and that situations and goals may (and often will)
change.
- Develop targets for yourself that you can realistically achieve.
- Develop a positive view of yourself.
- Try things in perspective.
- Take care of yourself, by paying attention to your own needs and feelings.
- Accept the futility of fighting against those situations where you have- and never will
have- any control. It's pointless!

Resilience has been called as the 'it' skills of the 21st Century