PERSONALITY
DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 1
OBJECTIVE:
understand the
Personality: Nature, Significance and
Characteristics
PERSONALIY DEVELOPMENT
“ Personality is the supreme realization of the innate
idiosyncrasy of a living being. It is an act of high courage
flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all that
constitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to
the universal condition of existence coupled with the
greatest possible freedom for self determination.”
- Carl Gustav Jung, 1934 -
ELEMENTS OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
Emotional
Moral & Intellectual/M
Personality ental
Spiritual
Physical
Definition
Personality comes from the latin word ‘persona’-
mask.
It is what people project and display which includes the
inner areas of psychological experience which we
collectively call as our ‘self’.
Definition
“Is a dynamic organization inside the person, of
psychophysical systems that create a person’s
characteristics patterns of behavior, thoughts and feelings
which convey a sense of consistency, internal causality
and personal distinctiveness.” ( Carver and Scheier)
-Is a summation of “overt and Covert”
OVERT BEHAVIOR
Encompasses traits that are observable and readily perceived
through an individual’s sense.
COVERT BEHAVIOR
Includes those traits that are hidden deeply within an
individual.
Is a product of both “ biological make-up and
environmental influence.
Fundamental Characteristics of Personality
1. Psychological and Physiological
personality is a psychological construct that is influenced
by biological processes and needs.
2. Consistency
there is a generally recognizable order and regularity of behavior.
Essentially people act in the same ways or similar ways in a
variety of situations.
3. IMPACT BEHAVIOR AND ACTIONS
Personality does not just influence how we move and respond to our
environment. It also causes us to act in certain ways.
4. MULTIPLE EXPRESSIONS
personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be seen
in thoughts, feelings, close relationship and other social interactions.
Theories of Personality
What makes a good personality theory?
Needs to answer three key questions:
What is the structure and content of personality?
Where does our behaviour come from and how do these
merge into the individual’s personality.
How does personality develop?
TRAIT THEORY
2 classification of Traits
1. Ability, temperament and Dynamic traits
2. Surface and Source Traits
THEORIES OF
PERSONALITY
Ability purports one skill and capacity to perform functions.
Temperament it’s a emotional state on how well he
handles a certain behavior in a specific
circumstances.
Dynamic pertains to the ability of the person to progress, develop, and
foresee future goals and actions that will be necessary in attaining what he
is motivated to achieve.
Type Theory
Somatic Theories
Somatotype Theory introduced by Sheldon in 1920s.
Each individual has varying degrees of three main body types.
Types derived from the layers of the embryo that are responsible for
various types of tissue: endoderm (stomach and circulation system),
mesoderm (muscles) and ectoderm (brain and nervous system).
Called the types endomorph, mesomorph, ectomorph.
Sheldon’s Somatotypes
Mesomorph (muscles)
‘Somatotonic’
Endomorph (round)
‘viscerotonic’ Ectomorph (linear)
‘cerebratonic’
Psychodynamic Theory
Based on the work of Sigmund Freud.
Has made a major contribution to our thinking with his ideas of
the unconscious, repression, ego, etc.
Must view his theories in the context of his time and experience.
Psychodynamic Theory
Freud argued for three structural components:
Id: Contains psychic content related to the primitive instincts of the
body, notably sex and aggression. Functions entirely according to the
pleasure-pain principle, its impulses either seeking immediate
fulfillment or settling for a compromise fulfillment.
Psychodynamic Theory
Superego: Ethical component of the personality and
provides the moral standards by which the ego
operates.
Ego: Coexists with the id and superego. It mediates
between the id and the superego, looking for a way to
satisfy both the urgings of the id and the proscriptions
of the superego.
Psychodynamic Approach
Stages of Psychosocial
Development
Five stages that represent different sources of pleasure and need.
If those needs not fully satisfied Freud believed we become
fixated on that need.
That fixation affects our personalities.
Oral Stage: Birth to two years
Anal Stage: Age two to three years
Phallic Stage: Age three to five years
Latency Stage: Age five years to puberty
Genital Stage: From puberty on
Freud’s Oral Stage
Birth to Two Years Need for oral
stimulation.
Achieved through
sucking, and later
chewing.
If the oral stimulation
was inadequate the
individual would
continue to seek it
throughout life.
Freud’s Anal Stage
Two to Three Years
Gratification now comes
from emptying the bowel.
Early toilet training could
thwart that pleasure.
Was thought to lead to
anal retentive personality.
Freud’s Phallic Stage
Three to Six Years
Interest in genitals
develops (note Freud used
the masculine term).
Child derives pleasure
from playing with
genitals.
Now seems more directly
sexual.
Oedipus and electra
complexes.
Freud’s Latency Stage
Six Years to Puberty
Less interest in own and others’
bodies.
Little cross sex interaction.
Freud thought sexual energies
were submerged or repressed
during this stage.
Freud’s Genital Stage
Puberty to Adulthood
Sexual nature now develops
fully with adult needs and
desires.
Recurrence of masturbation
and interest in sexual matters.
Freud thought there was a
progression to interest in the
opposite sex if latency stage
was fully resolved. If not,
result was homosexuality.
Erikson’s Theory or Psychosocial
Stage
Biological in belief that there are innate drives to develop social relationships and that
these promote survival (Darwinism)
Divided life span into eight psychosocial stages, each associated with a different drive
and a problem or crisis to resolve
Outcome of each stage varies along a continuum from positive to negative
Carl Rogers:
The Humanistic Approach
Two Basic Human Needs
Self Actualization: the need to fulfill all of
one’s potential.
Positive Regard: the need to receive
acceptance, respect, and affection from
others.
Positive regard often comes with conditions attached (“Conditions
of Worth”): We must meet others’ expectations to get it. This is
called Conditional Positive Regard.
Basic Human Problem: The two needs are
often in conflict. Satisfying one may
mean giving up the other.
Effect on Personality: We get a false
picture of who we are—our interests,
motivations, goals, abilities.
Our Two Selves
Real Self (“Organism”):
all our experiences
(feelings, wishes, Self-Concept: the person
perceptions) we think we are (e.g., “I
am...”)
Losing Touch with the Real Self
We have a need for positive self-regard (to like
and respect ourselves).
Conditional positive regard from others becomes
conditional positive self-regard.
This means we will like and accept only those
parts of ourselves that other people like and
accept.
The self-concept pulls away from the real self;
we get a false picture of who we really are.
This mismatch is called Incongruence.
Maslow 15 emotional traits characterized a self-
actualizing person
1. They have more efficient perception of reality.
2. They are highly spontaneous.
3. They can easily accept others and themselves.
4. They are problem- centered.
5. They are often detached.
6. They have autonomy.
7. They have mystic experiences or the “ oceanic feeling”.
Maslow 15 emotional traits characterized a
self-actualizing person
8. “Gemeinschaftsgefuhl”
9. Continued freshness of appreciation.
10. Interpersonal relations.
11. Democratic.
12. Discriminate between means and ends.
13. Sense of humor.
14. Creative.
15. Resist enculturation.
QUIZ!!!
