PERSONALITY-

THE
INTRODUCTION
Module 1
Contents: Personality meaning, dimensions/determinants-physical,
Intellectual, emotional, linguistic, cultural. Traits of personality,
importance of personality development , personality development as
a process
PERSONALITY

Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of

thinking, feeling and behaving. A more comprehensive meaning of
personality is that it refers to the relatively stable pattern of behavior and
consistent internal state and explains a person’s behavioral tendencies.
The following elements should form the meaning of Personality:
1. Personality has both internal and external elements
2. An individual’s personality is relatively stable.
3. An individual’s personality is both inherited as well as shaped by the
environment.
4. Each individual is unique in behavior.
So, Personality refers to sum total of internal and external traits of an
individual, which is relatively stable and which make the individual
different from others.
DIMENSIONS OF PERSONALITY

1. Physical Dimension :- Personality is the physical appearance of an individual. If an individual

has good appearance long height, proper shape body, strong muscles will be counted as good
personality. The First impression of an individual personality his body and intellectual abilities. 
2. Mental(intellectual) Dimension :- An individual as good mental ability then only his
personality will be counted as good personality e.g. there are many intellectual persons whose
personality is counted as good personality although they not have good physique but they have
extra ordinary mental & intellectual qualities. 
3. Social Dimension(cultural & Linguistic) :- A good personality is sociable & socializing. The
social qualities like character, morality, etiquettes, manners, work ethics, language, tradition and
culture, friendliness, good attitude, helpful nature, cooperation, sympathy & kinds etc. qualities
or traits & essential for sound personality. 
4. Emotional Dimension :- Emotion dimension is related to emotional stability. To have emotional
stability is essential aspect of one’s personality. It means that one must have proper control over
various emotions such as fear, anger disgust, distress, amusement or happiness etc. in different
situation. For example many sportsmen those have not good emotional control their personality
will not be counted as good personality although they have good physical, mental & social base.
DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

1. Biological Factors: The biological features related to the formation of a

human body plays vital role in early development of personality:
 Heredity: Physical structure, facial looks, muscle composition,
energy levels, temperament are the characteristics that are acquired
from parents.
 Brain: Depending on the structure of the brain, an individual
personality develops. It is fact that those who have their right
hemisphere stronger are more artist, spiritual and emotional in
nature. Those whose left hemisphere is dominating are more logical,
controlled and leadership qualities in their personality.
 Physical Appearance: Height, weight, colour, features also have
some influence on the personality.
2. Cultural Factors: The culture largely determines attitudes
towards independence, aggression, competition, cooperation and a host of
other human responses. Each culture expects, and trains, its members to
behave in ways that are acceptable to the group
Grey and green(L)
Or
Pink and White (R)?
3. Family Factors:Thus, the family probably has the most significant impact on early
personality development. the overall home environment created by the parents, in
addition to their direct influence, is critical to personality development. Siblings (brothers
and sisters) also contribute to personality. Ex: similarity of behaviour, the child’s motives or
desires.
4. Social Factors : Socialization involves the process by which a person acquires, from the
enormously wide range of behavioral potentialities that are open to him or her, those that
are ultimately synthesized and absorbed.  socialization may be one of the best
explanations for why employees behave the way they do in today’s organizations.
5. Situational Factors: The effect of the environment is quite strong. Knowledge, skill and
language are obviously acquired and represent important modifications of behavior. An
individual’s personality, while generally stable and consistent, does change in different
situations. The varying demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one’s
personality.
ATTRIBUTES(FEATURES) OF PERSONALITY

Impact of Personality on Behavior:

1. Locus of Control: it refers to degree to which an individual believes that behavior
has a direct impact on the results. It is the behavior that decides the consequences.
The people can have internal or external locus of control. These are
i. Internal Locus of Control: They believe that they are masters of their own fate, they control the
events and relate awards to the performances. These people seek challenging tasks, require
initiatives, handle stressful situations, advance more quickly.
ii. External Locus of Control: people having external locus of control believes that events occur
purely by chance or because of factors beyond their own control. They remain inactive, willing to
follow orders, tend to do routine jobs.
iii. Machiavellianism: High machs never allows their heart to rule their head. They are skilled at
making alliance with others for their advantage.
2. Extroversion or Introversion: On the basis of the degree of interactions with
external world, individuals are classified into introverts and extroverts
i. Introverts: these are inward directed people guided by their own ideas and philosophies. They are
less talkative, reserved, avoids social contacts, quiet.
ii. Extroverts: these are outward directed people, assertive, like to be in talks with people, sharing
ideas, they are lively and seeks outward interaction. People in sales, marketing, public relations
are generally found to be extrovert.
3. Core Self Evaluation: Some individuals have positive core evaluations. This means they
are confident about themselves and see themselves as effective, competent and in control.
Individuals with negative core evaluations see themselves as incompetent, useless and have
low confidence.
4. Narcissism: they are self obsessed personality trait that they treat themselves as the best.
They have high sense of self importance, they are arrogant, they require excessive
admiration by others and generally turn out to be leaders.
5. Self monitoring: it is the ability of person to adjust or control his behavior according to
situations. High self monitoring person easily adapt to the external situations. They also
have staking difference between their personal and public opinion.
6. Risk taking: people who are high risk takers make less use of information and take quick
decisions. Low risk takers take time in making decisions.
7. Proactive Personality: they show initiative actions, take corrective actions and continue till
the time there is positive change in their lives even if there are obstacles.
TRAITS OF PERSONALITY:
Personality Models:
I. Type A and Type B Behaviors: Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman have identified the
type A & type B behaviors.
1) Type A Behavior
 Aggressive, willing to oppose others to get what they want, ambitious , hard working
 Set very high standards for themselves and perform more work in less time
 They are workaholic and guilty of relaxing, they are always in rush.
 Lack of interpersonal skills of getting along with others.
2) Type B Behavior:
 Patient, cool and composed
 They are concerned with quality rather than quantity
 They plan for enjoying life and relaxation
 Their behavior is unpredictable
 They keep a steadier pace, rather than working against the clock .
II. The Big Five Model: it gives five basic traits that reflect human personalities. They predict
how people behave in the real life situations. They are as follows:
1. Extra-version: extraverts are sociable, outgoing, assertive and companionable. Introverts
are quiet, timid, reserved.
2. Agreeableness: this trait reflects the propensity of the individual to comply with others.
Highly agreeable individuals make good teams as they are trusting, warm and cooperative.
3. Conscientiousness: this trait reflects the reliability of the individual. A person scoring
high points reflects that he is organized, responsible and dependable along with being
persistent. Low scores are disorganized and easily distracted.
4. Emotional stability: It is the person’s ability to deal with stress. People who have positive
emotional stability are self-confident, secure and calm. People who have negative scores
are insecure, depressed, anxious and nervous.
5. Openness to Experience: it deals with novelty and range of interests of the individual.
Extremely open people are artistically sensitive, curious and creative. Closed people are
conventional and are comfortable with things that are familiar to them.
III. MBTI Model(Myers-Briggs Type Indicator): it is a personally assessment tool with 100
questions. The respondents are classified as follows:
1) Extraverted ( E ) vs Introverted (I) extroverts are sociable and outgoing while
introverts are shy and quiet.
2) Intuitive ( N) vs Sensing (S) intuitive rely on unconscious things while sensing people
are practical and prefer order.
3) Thinking(T) vs Feeling(F) thinking type personality depends on use of logic and reasons
while handling situations. Feeling type personalities rely on their emotions and personal
values.
4) Judging(J) vs Perceiving(P) judging personality keeps their environment to be ordered
and structured while perceiving types are not rigid and spontaneous. This leads to one-
sided views.
IV. Self Organic Theory: this theory was given by Carl Rogers. He defines the self concept as
composed of perceptions of the ‘I’ and ‘me’ and its relationships with various aspects of life.
There are 4 factors in Self concept:
1) Self Image: it is the way one sees oneself. How he thinks about himself in reality.
2) Ideal-self: it denotes the way one would like to be.
3) Looking Glass-self: it is the perception of a person about how others are perceiving his
qualities.
4) Real-self: the real self is what one really is.
V. Psychoanalytical Theory: this theory was given by Sigmund
Freud. This theory proposed that man is motivated more by
unseen forces that he is not aware of and is not controlled by
conscious and rational thought. Man’s unconscious framework
is made of 3 inter-related but conflicting elements.
1) The Id: it represents unconscious source of psychic energy and
desires such as anger which seeks immediate gratification for
biological or instinctual needs like hunger, thirst, etc. As an
individual matures, he learns to control his Id.
2) The Ego: ego represents the conscious and logical part of the
human personality and is associated with reality principle. Id wants
immediate pleasure; ego dictates denial or postponement to a more
appropriate time and place.
3) The Super Ego: the super ego represents social values and
personal norms that serve as an ethical constraint on behaviour, the
super ego helps to determine what is right and what is wrong.
VII. Trait Theory: this theory was given by Allport and Cattell. Traits have a direct impact on
the behavior regardless of the environmental situation.
1) Allport’s Work: Allport found out 2 categories of traits that decide the personality,
which are as follows:
 Common Traits : these are used to compare people. He identified six categories- religious, social,
economic, political, aesthetic and theoretical.
 Personal Dispositions: these are completely unique to each individual.
2) Cattell’s Work: he identified two categories of traits which are as follows:
 Surface Traits: 35 cluster of traits like wise-foolish, honest-dishonest. Such trait lie on the surface
of personality.
 Source Traits: Source traits were largely determined by the inner source traits. He identified 12
sources traits like critical and suspicious, maturity and realism, cheerfulness and depressed.
IMPORTANCE OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
Personality development has become an important tool today for developing overall skills
within a person that help him to develop professionally as well as personally. A great personality
includes knowing how to dress well, social graces, grooming, speech and interpersonal skills.
Whatever your career, these are vital skills that will promote your objectives and also helps you
in your day to day life. Everyone likes to interact with a person having an attractive personality.
 It boost self confidence and enhance self worth.
 Improves Communication Skills
 Helps to develop Positive Attitude
 Personality development helps an individual to inculcate positive qualities like punctuality,
flexible attitude, willingness to learn, friendly nature, eagerness to help others and so on
 Personality development goes a long way in reducing stress and conflicts
 Ensures excellence in one’s chosen field.
 Contribute to individual and nation development.
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS A PROCESS
Personality development is defined as a process of developing and enhancing one’s personality.
Personality development helps an individual to gain confidence and high self esteem.
Personality development also is said to have a positive impact on one’s communication skills and
the way he sees the world. Individuals tend to develop a positive attitude as a result of personality
development.
Personality development is a sequential process that follows certain emotional, cognitive, social
and contextual changes, phases and stages over time.
Sigmund Freud gave 5 stages of Psychological development that affect personality development:
1. Oral Stage- birth to 1 year
2. Anal Stage-1 to 3 years
3. Phallic Stage- 3 to 4years
4. Latency Stage- 4 to 6
5. Genital Stage- from 6 years to adulthood
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AS A PROCESS

Inherent hereditary potentials and the Environmental influences together determine the
personality of an individual.

Hereditary Environmental
Potentials Influences

• Genes found in each cells , carrier units • By encouraging the

of physical & mental traits. maturation of hereditary
• Indirectly influences(decides the body potentials
structure) • By providing personality
• Intelligence & temperament(raw models
materials for PD) • By providing learning
• All learning and adjustment is limited opportunities- Outer directed
by inherent properties of the organism learning or inner directed
• UNIQUE to each individual except for learning
twins
ERIKSON'S STAGES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order through eight stages of
psychosocial development, from infancy to adulthood. During each stage, the person
experiences a psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for
personality development.
According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and
the acquisition of basic virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths which the ego can use
to resolve subsequent crises.
Stage Psychosocial Crisis Basic Virtue Age
1. Trust vs. Mistrust Hope 0 - 1½
2. Autonomy vs. Shame Will 1½ - 3

3. Initiative vs. Guilt Purpose 3-5

4. Industry vs. Inferiority Competency 5 - 12

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion Fidelity 12 - 18

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation Love 18 - 40

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation Care 40 - 65

8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair Wisdom 65+

1. TRUST VS MISTRUST
If the care the infant receives is
consistent, predictable and reliable, they
will develop a sense of trust which will
carry with them to other relationships,
and they will be able to feel secure even
when threatened.
If the care has been inconsistent,
unpredictable and unreliable, then the
infant may develop a sense of mistrust,
suspicion, and anxiety. In this situation
the infant will not have confidence in the
world around them or in their abilities to
influence events.
2. AUTONOMY VS. SHAME
According to Erikson, children at this stage
are focused on developing a sense of
personal control over physical skills and a
sense of independence.
If children in this stage are encouraged and
supported in their increased independence,
they become more confident and secure in
their own ability to survive in the world.
If children are criticized, overly controlled,
or not given the opportunity to assert
themselves, they begin to feel inadequate
in their ability to survive, and may then
become overly dependent upon others, 
lack self-esteem, and feel a sense of shame
or doubt in their abilities.
3. INITIATIVE VS. GUILT

During this period the primary feature involves the

child regularly interacting with other children at
school. Central to this stage is play, as it provides
children with the opportunity to explore their
interpersonal skills through initiating activities.
If given this opportunity, children develop a sense of
initiative and feel secure in their ability to lead others
and make decisions.
Conversely, if this is opposed by parents, either
through criticism or control, children develop a sense
of guilt.
Too much guilt can make the child slow to interact
with others and may inhibit their creativity
4. INDUSTRY VS. INFERIORITY

Children are at the stage where they will be

learning to read and write, to do sums, to do
things on their own.
Here, teachers will play important role.
If children are encouraged and reinforced
for their initiative, they begin to feel
industrious (competent) and feel confident
in their ability to achieve goals.
If this initiative is not encouraged, if it is
restricted by parents or teacher, then the
child begins to feel inferior, doubting his
own abilities and therefore may not reach
his or her potential.
5. IDENTITY VS. ROLE CONFUSION

 it occurs during adolescence, from about 12-18 years.

Children are becoming more independent, and begin to
look at the future in terms of career, relationships,
families, housing, etc. The individual wants to belong to a
society and fit in.
6. INTIMACY VS. ISOLATION

This stage takes place during young

adulthood between the ages of
approximately 18 to 40 yrs.
During this stage, the major conflict
centers on forming intimate, loving
relationships with other people.
Successful completion of this stage
can result in happy relationships and a
sense of commitment, safety, and care
within a relationship.
Avoiding intimacy, fearing
commitment and relationships can
lead to isolation, loneliness, and
sometimes depression.
7. GENERATIVITY VS. STAGNATION

This stage takes place during middle

adulthood (ages 40 to 65 yrs.).
Psychologically, generativity refers to
"making your mark" on the world through
creating or nurturing things that will outlast
an individual.
We give back to society through raising our
children, being productive at work, and
becoming involved in community activities
and organizations.
Success leads to feelings of usefulness and
accomplishment, while failure results in
shallow involvement in the world.
8. EGO INTEGRITY VS. DESPAIR

This stage begins at approximately age

65 and ends at death.
It is during this time that we accomplish
our life goals and can develop integrity
if we see ourselves as leading a
successful life.
Individuals who reflect on their life and
regret not achieving their goals will
experience feelings of bitterness and
despair.
THANK YOU