PERSONALITY AND PERSONAL GROOMING

Understanding Personality  Definition and Meaning of Personality  Types of Personality 

Components of Personality  Determinants of Personality  Assessment of Personality

Grooming Self  Dress for success  Make up & skin care  Hair care & styles for formal look  Art of
accessorizing  Oral Hygiene

Personality
23/02/2020 0 By INDIAFREENOTES
The term ‘personality’ has been derived from the Latin term ‘persona’ OF
which means to ‘speak through’. The Latin word denotes the masks worn by
ancient Greece and Rome. Therefore a very common meaning of the term
personality is the role which the person (actor) displays to the public.
Personality is a very frequently used word but still there is no consensus
about its meaning. There is a great deal of controversy about the meaning of
the word personality.

Nature of Personality
Bonner provides six propositions to classify the nature of personality within
the context of change and development:
(i) Human behaviour is composed of acts
(ii) Personality visualized as a whole actualizes itself in a particular
environment
(iii) It is distinguished by self consistency
(iv) It forms a time-integrating structure
(v) It is a goal directed behaviour
(vi) It is a process of becoming
From the above, it becomes very clear that personality is a very diverse
psychological concept.
Determinants of Personality
Now that we have understood the meaning of personality, the next question
is what determinants go into the development of personality? Was the
individual born with that personality or was it developed afterwards as a
result of his interaction with his environment? Generally the consensus is that
heredity and environment jointly affect the individual’s personality
development.
The factors affecting personality development are illustrated as follows:
The impact of these factors is explained in detail as follows:
(A) Heredity
The concept that heredity is a determinant of personality is embedded in our
minds. In our day to day life, so many times we use the term “Like father like
son” as “Like mother like daughter.” When we use these terms we generally
refer to the traits like physique, eye colour, hair colour, height, temperament,
energy level, intelligence, reflexes etc. However, the importance of heredity
varies from one personality trait to another. For example, heredity is
generally more important in determining a person’s temperament than his
values and ideals.
Environment comprises of culture, family, social and situational factors:

1. Culture

According to Hoebel, “Culture is the sum total of learned behaviour traits

which are manifested and shared by the members of the society.”
“It is a unique system of perceptions, beliefs, values, norms, patterns of
behaviour and a code of conduct that influences the behaviour of individuals
in a given society.”

2. Family

One of the very important determinants of the personality of a person is his

immediate family. Families influence the behaviour of a person especially in
the early stages.
The nature of such influence will depend upon the following factors:
(i) Socio-Economic level of the family
(ii) Family size
(iii) Birth order
(iv) Race
(v) Religion
(vi) Parent’s educational level
(vii) Geographic location

3. Social

Socialization is a process by which an infant acquires from the enormously

wide range of behavioural potentialities that are open to him at birth, those
behaviour patterns that are customary and acceptable to the family and
social groups. Initially socialization starts with the contact of the infant with
the mother when he grows up.

4. Situational

Apart from the above factors, situational factors also play a very important
role in determining the personality of a person. Migram’s research study
indicates very powerful role the situation may play in human personality. On
the basis of his research study he states that “A situation exerts an important
press on the individual. It exercises constraints and may provide push. In
certain circumstances, it is not so much the kind of person a man is, as the
kind of situation in which he is placed that determines his actions.”

Personality Types
29/03/2020 2 By INDIAFREENOTES
The theory of personality types categorizes people into distinct and
discontinuous (one or the other) types. It is synonymous with ‘personality
styles’ but is different from the personality trait theory. To illustrate the
difference, introversion is a personality type, while a continuum of
introversion to extroversion, which clusters people in the categories of middle
or extremes, is a personality trait.
1. Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism as a concept was developed by the psychologist Adorno
during World War II to measure susceptibility to autocratic, fascistic or
antidemocratic appeals. After that the concept was extended to the human
personality. According to Adorno, “This concept refers to a belief that there
should be status and power differences among people in organizations.”
Authoritarians tend to place high moral value on their beliefs and are strongly
oriented towards conformity of rules and regulations. They naturally prefer
stable and structured work environments which are governed by clean rules
and procedures.
2. Bureaucratic Personality
The personality of a bureaucratic person is based upon respect for
organizational rules and regulations. He is different from an authoritarian
person in respect that his acceptance of authority is not total and blind. A
person who is bureaucratic in nature values subordination, conformity to
rules, impersonal and formal relationships. These people become better
supervisors when the type of work is routine, repetitive and proceduralised
because these people are not innovative, they do not like taking risks and
feel more at ease in following established directions.
3. Machiavellianism
This personality trait of Machiavellianism also known as Mach is named after
Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the 16th century on how to gain and use
power.
(i) A Mach man is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance and believes that
ends can justify means.
(ii) A high Mach man manipulates more, wins more, are persuaded less and
persuade others more than the low machs.
(iii) High Mach people flourish when they interact face to face with others
rather than indirectly.
(iv) These people are successful when the situation has a minimum number
of rules and regulations.
(v) High Mach man has high self confidence and high self esteem. They are
cool and calculating and have no hesitation using others or taking advantage
of others in order to serve their own goals.
(vi) They are not easily swayed by a sense of friendship, trust or loyalty. They
are specially successful in exploiting structured situations and vulnerable
people.
We cannot conclude that whether high machs make good employees or not.
The answer will depend upon the type of the job and whether moral and
ethical values are considered in evaluating the performance of a person.
4. Introversion and Extroversion
These two terms are generally associated with the interpersonal behaviour of
an individual and his sociability. Extroverts are gregarious and sociable
individuals while introverts are shy, quiet and retiring. It has been observed
that introverts and extroverts people have different career orientations and
require different organizational environment to maximize performance.
Extroverts are more suitable for positions that require considerable
interaction with others that is why managerial positions are dominated by
extroverts.
5. Problem Solving Style
Individuals have their own style of solving their problems and making their
decisions and this style of their affects their personality in certain ways.
There are four problem solving styles based upon Don Hellriegll, John W.
Slocum and Richard W. Woodman “organisational behaviour”.
These styles are:
(i) Sensation Feeling Style: The people who have the sensation feeling style
are dependable, friendly, social and they approach facts with human
concerns. These people are pragmatic, methodical and like jobs which involve
human contract and public relations. Some suitable areas of jobs for these
people are teaching, customer relations, social workers and marketing.
(ii) Sensation Thinking Style: People with sensation thinking style are
practical, logical, decisive and sensitive to details. These people prefer
bureaucratic type organizations. They are not highly suitable for jobs
requiring interpersonal relations. But these people are more skilled in
technical jobs e.g. production, accounting, engineering and computers.
(iii) Intuition Feeling style: The persons with intuition feeling style are
enthusiastic, people oriented, charismatic and helpful. The professions which
are suited to this style are public relations, advertising, politics and
personnel.
(iv) Intuition Thinking Style: These people are very creative, energetic,
ingenious and like jobs which are challenging in terms of design and analysis
such as system design, law, research and development, top management
and so on.
 6. Achievement Orientation
Achievement orientation or a high need to achieve is a personality trait which
varies among different types of people and can be used to predict certain
behaviour. The people with very high achievement orientation strive to do
things in a better way. They want to feel that their success or failure is due to
their own actions. These people do not like to perform easy tasks where there
is no challenge or tasks with very high amount of risk as the failure rate is
more.
7. Locus of Control
Locus of control refers to an individual’s belief that events are either within
one’s control (Internal Locus of Control) or are determined by forces beyond
one’s control. Some people believe that they are the masters of their own
fate. Other people see themselves as pawns of fate, believing that whatever
happens to them in their lives is due to their luck or fate. The first type is
labeled as internals and the latter has been called externals. A PERSON’S
PERCEPTION OF THE SOURCE OF HIS OR HER FATE IS TERMED LOCUS OF
CONTROL.
A large amount of research has consistently shown the following
characteristics of the internals and externals.
Internal Locus of Control
Internal Locus of Control
(i) A person with a strong internal locus of control has more control over his
own behavior. He believes that he controls events concerning his own life and
his internal traits determine what happens in a given situation. He believes
that he is the master of his own density.
(ii) These people are more active in seeking more information to make
decisions. They are better at retaining the information and are less satisfied
with the amount of information they possess.
(iii) Internals are more active socially.
(iv) Internals prefer skill achievement outcomes.
(v) Internals are more likely to use personally persuasive rewards and power
bases and less likely to use coercion.
(vi) These people are more independent and less susceptible to influence of
others.
(vii) The internals prefer participative management.
(viii) Research has shown that internally oriented people hold jobs of higher
Status, advance more rapidly in their careers.
External Locus of Control:
(i) People who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, have
higher absenteeism rates, are more alienated from the work setting and are
less involved on jobs than are internals. They generally prefer directive
management.
(ii) Unlike the internals, these people prefer chance oriented awards.
(iii) A person with a strong ‘external locus of control’ feels that outside forces
are affecting the events in his life and he is at the mercy of destiny, chance
or other people. He believes that everything will happen by the will of God
and nothing or nobody can stop it. External locus of control refer
(iv) Unlike, the internals, the externals are more interested in job security and
not in advancement of careers.
(v) Whereas the internals prefer intrinsic rewards e.g. feeling of and he is at
the mercy of achievement, externals are more interested in extrinsic awards,
destiny, chance or other people. From the above mentioned traits of internals
and controls it can be concluded that internals would be better on
sophisticated tasks, which include most managerial and professional jobs or
any other jobs which require complex information processing and learning. In
addition, they are suited to jobs requiring initiative and independence of
action. As against this, externals would do well on jobs that are well
structured and routine and in which success depends heavily on coupling
with the directions given by others.
8. Self Esteem
“Self Esteem refers to the feeling of like or dislike for oneself.” “Self Esteem
is the degree of respect a person has for himself.” This trait varies from
person to person as people differ in the degree to which they like or dislike
each other. The research on self esteem offers some interesting insights into
organisation behaviour.
A few of the research findings about self esteem are:
(i) Self esteem is directly related to the expectations for success. High self
esteem people believe that they possess the ability they need to succeed at
work.
(ii) Individuals with high self esteem will take more risks in job selection. They
are more likely to choose unconventional jobs than people with low self
esteem.
(iii) People with low self esteem are more susceptible to external influence
than are those with high self esteems. Low esteems are dependent on the
receipt of positive evaluations from others. As a result they are more likely to
seek approval from others and more prone to conform to the beliefs and
behaviours of those they respect than are the high esteem.
(iv) In managerial positions, the low esteems tend to be concerned with
pleasing others and, therefore, less likely to take unpopular stands than are
high esteems.
(v) High esteems are more satisfied with their job than the low esteems.
9. Self Monitoring
“Self monitoring is a personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to
adjust his or her behaviour to external situational factors”. Self monitoring is
a personality trait which has recently received attention. The research on self
monitoring is in infancy, so predictions must be guarded.
However, prime evidence suggests the following points:
(i) As self monitoring refers to the individual’s ability to adjust his or her
behaviour to external factors, individuals with high self monitoring can show
considerable adaptability in adjusting their behaviour to external, situational
factors.
(ii) High self monitors can behave differently in different situations. They are
capable of presenting striking contradictions between their public, personal
and private selves. Low self monitors cannot deviate their behaviour. They
tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation; hence,
there is high behavioural consistency between who they are and what they
do.
(iii) The high self monitors tend to pay closer attention to the behaviour of
others and are more capable of conforming than are low self monitors.
(iv) We can also hypothesize that high self monitors will be more successful
in managerial positions where individuals are required to play multiple and
even contradictory roles.
10. Risk Taking
The propensity of people to assume risks or avoid risks varies from person to
person depending upon the willingness of the people to take chances. This
human trait will affect the decision making capability of a manager. This
individual personality trait will determine how long will it take a person to
take a decision or how much information will be needed before he takes a
decision.
Some people are very conscious in nature, while the others are impulsive. An
impulsive person is a high risk taking manager; he will make rapid decisions
and use less information in making their choices than a very conscious and
low risk taking manager. But the research shows that the decision accuracy is
generally the same in both the groups.
Research has concluded that managers in organizations are risk aversive, but
still there are individual differences on this point. Some jobs specifically
demand high risk taking persons e.g. the job of a broker in a brokerage firm.
Because in this job for effective performance rapid decisions are required. On
the other hand, some jobs are such where risk taking may prove a major
obstacle e.g. the job of an accountant who performs auditing activities. This
job should be filled by, someone, with low risk taking trait.
11. ‘Type A’ and ‘Type B’ Personality
People who are impatient, aggressive and highly competitive are termed as
‘Type A’ personality. But those who are easy going, laid back and non-
competitive are termed as ‘Type B’ personality. Type ‘A’ people tend to be
very productive as they work very hard. Their negative side is that they are
very impatient, good team players, more irritable and have poor judgment.
Type ‘B’ people do better on complex tasks involving judgment and accuracy
rather than speed and hard work.
Despite Type ‘A’s hard work, the Type ‘B’ people are the ones who appear to
make it to the top. Great sales persons are usually Type A’s while senior
executives are generally Type B’s. The reason is that promotions in corporate
and professional organisations usually go to those “who are wise rather than
to those who are merely hasty, to those who are tactful, rather than to those
who are hostile and to those who are creative rather than to those who are
merely agile in competitive stride.”
12. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The personality theory proposed by Carl Jung identified the way people
preferred to perceive their environment. Almost Twenty years later, Briggs
and Myers developed the Myers – Briggs type indicator (MBTI) a personality
test that measured each of the traits in Carl Jung’s model. MBTI is in-fact, one
of the most widely used personality tests. It is used by many organisations to
select people for a particular position.
It measures how people focus their attention (extrovert or introvert), collect
information (sensing or intuition), process the same (thinking or feeling) and
finally direct themselves to the other world (judging or perceiving) MBTI then
combines the four classifications into 16 personality types.
Personality helps the managers in understanding why do workers behave as
they do and what incentive schemes are to be designed to motivate the
workers. Further, personality has a great influence on work performance,
particularly, in a job with high human relations content, where most of the
working day is spent interacting with other people.
Personality is the major determinant of the person holding the key job. Each
man’s personality reveals itself in the way he works with his superior, his
subordinates and other people. As a result, when one person on a job
changes, everyone has to adjust to a whole series of changes in the way the
work is accomplished. All this will affect the individual performance as well as
the organizational performance.

Components of Personality:

 Openness to Experience

 Conscientiousness

 Extraversion

 Agreeableness

 Neuroticism (emotionality)

Most psychologists believe that these traits are usually stable and result
from interaction between a person's genes and his environment. Let us
look at them in detail:
 Openness to experience- Inventive/Curious vs.
Consistent/Cautious
Openness to experience refers to a person's accepted level of
imagination and includes multiple experiences like appreciating art,
experiencing various emotions and taking up adventurous ideas.
Someone who is inventive and curious is likely to have a more
active intellectual thought process and multiple/different ways of
dealing with a situation or problem.

 Conscientiousness- Efficient/ Organized vs. Easy-going/ Careless

It represents a planned and organized approach rather than
spontaneity and randomness. A 'structured' person puts great value
on order and control
 which reflects a way of approaching tasks. For example, such a
person plans a project to the last detail, in a precise manner. In
certain extreme cases, it appears somewhat obsessional or overly
perfectionist. A 'low structured' person has a more relaxed and
casual approach to life. As long as jobs are completed, they do not
worry about systems or schedules or organization and can
sometimes appear disorganized. They may miss important details or
be late for appointments. In a managerial sense, they prefer the
over-view or strategic approach, rather than the detail-oriented
approach of a project.

 Extraversion- Outgoing/Energetic vs. Solitary/Reserved

Extraversion implies energy, positive emotions, forcefulness,
friendliness, and chattiness. The extrovert person is sociable,
outgoing and attracted to others. However, extroverts can be
impulsive and sometimes take risks without weighing the odds.
Contrarily, an introvert is less concerned with others and is more
inward-looking. Generally, they have a moderate outlook and a
cautious approach to work, but lack excitement. Introverts do not
want to be 'in charge' nor do they seek limelight. More often, their
attitude is one of a personal challenge (the inner game), rather than
competition with others.
  Agreeableness- Friendly/Compassionate vs. Cold/Unkind
The ability to show compassion and co-operation. It is a personality
trait that can help you be an amicable person in the workplace.
Giving a cold shoulder to people you encounter on a regular basis
may not go down well and may hamper your work and progress in
the long and short run.

 Neuroticism- Sensitive/Nervous vs. Secure/Confident

It refers to emotional stability, control over emotions and impulses,
a tendency for anger, nervousness, despair, or susceptibility. Those
with self-confidence are relaxed, optimistic, enjoy responsibility and
like to be tested. Under pressure, they react calmly and in an
organized way, and have faith in their coping ability. At work, they
can deal with unexpected events easily, and present their views
confidently. Those with low confidence or emotional instability, have
difficulty coping with stress. While they can assume responsibility,
they may find it to be a strain. They also question their abilities, and
show pessimism. At workplace, they like predictability and avoid
complex, open-ended situations. It suggests that routine jobs in
large, supportive organizations are more likely to suit them.

Five Important Traits of a favorable Personality are:

 Appearance

 Intelligence

 Smartness

 Trustworthiness, High integrity & Responsible

 Being Beneficial/ Advantageous

Negative aspects of a weak personality are:

 Unhygienic
  Hurting attitude

 Useless approach

 Non-beneficial communication

 Untrustworthiness, Irresponsible, Lack of integrity

Personality assessment,

Assessment methods
The interview
In an interview the individual under assessment must be given
considerable latitude in “telling his story.” Interviews have both verbal
and nonverbal (e.g., gestural) components. The aim of the interview is to
gather information, and the adequacy of the data gathered depends in
large part on the questions asked by the interviewer. In an employment
interview the focus of the interviewer is generally on the job candidate’s
work experiences, general and specific attitudes, and occupational goals.
In a diagnostic medical or psychiatric interview considerable attention
would be paid to the patient’s physical health and to any symptoms of
behavioral disorder that may have occurred over the years.

Rating scales
The rating scale is one of the oldest and most versatile of assessment
techniques. Rating scales present users with an item and ask them to
select from a number of choices. The rating scale is similar in some
respects to a multiple choice test, but its options represent degrees of a
particular characteristic.

Self-report tests
The success that attended the use of convenient intelligence tests in
providing reliable, quantitative (numerical) indexes of individual ability
has stimulated interest in the possibility of devising similar tests for
measuring personality. Procedures now available vary in the degree to
which they achieve score reliability and convenience. These desirable
attributes can be partly achieved by restricting in designated ways the
kinds of responses a subject is free to make. Self-report instruments
follow this strategy. For example, a test that restricts the subject to true-
false answers is likely to be convenient to give and easy to score. So-
called personality inventories (see below) tend to have these
characteristics, in that they are relatively restrictive, can be scored
objectively, and are convenient to administer. Other techniques (such as
inkblot tests) for evaluating personality possess these characteristics to a
lesser degree.
Personality inventories
Among the most common of self-report tests are personality inventories.
Their origins lie in the early history of personality measurement, when
most tests were constructed on the basis of so-called face validity; that is,
they simply appeared to be valid. Items were included simply because, in
the fallible judgment of the person who constructed or devised the test,
they were indicative of certain personality attributes. In other words,
face validity need not be defined by careful, quantitative study; rather, it
typically reflects one’s more-or-less imprecise, possibly erroneous,
impressions. Personal judgment, even that of an expert, is no guarantee
that a particular collection of test items will prove to be reliable and
meaningful in actual practice.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), is

probably the personality inventory in widest use in the English-
speaking world. Also available in other languages, it consists in
one version of 550 items (e.g., “I like tall women”) to which
subjects are to respond “true,” “false,” or “cannot say.” Work on
this inventory began in the 1930s, when its construction was
motivated by the need for a practical, economical means of
describing and predicting the behaviour of psychiatric patients.
In its development efforts were made to achieve convenience in
administration and scoring and to overcome many of the known
defects of earlier personality inventories. Varied types of items
were included and emphasis was placed on making these printed
statements (presented either on small cards or in a booklet)
intelligible even to persons with limited reading ability.
Comparison of the MMPI and CPI
The MMPI has been considered in some detail here because of its wide
usage and because it illustrates a number of important problems
confronting those who attempt to assess personality characteristics.
Many other omnibus personality inventories are also used in applied
settings and in research. The California Psychological Inventory (CPI), for
example, is keyed for several personality variables that include
sociability, self-control, flexibility, and tolerance. Unlike the MMPI, it was
developed specifically for use with “normal” groups of people. Whereas
the judgments of experts (usually psychiatric workers) were used in
categorizing subjects given the MMPI during the early item-writing
phase of its development, nominations by peers (such as respondents or
friends) of the subjects were relied upon in work with the CPI. Its
technical development has been evaluated by test authorities to be of
high order, in part because its developers profited from lessons learned
in the construction and use of the MMPI. It also provides measures of
response sets and has been subjected to considerable research study.

Projective techniques
One group of assessment specialists believes that the more freedom
people have in picking their responses, the more meaningful the
description and classification that can be obtained.
Because personality inventories do not permit much freedom of choice,
some researchers and clinicians prefer to use projective techniques, in
which a person is shown ambiguous stimuli (such as shapes or pictures)
and asked to interpret them in some way. (Such stimuli allow relative
freedom in projecting one’s own interests and feelings into them,
reacting in any way that seems appropriate.) Projective techniques are
believed to be sensitive to unconscious dimensions of personality.
Defense mechanisms, latent impulses, and anxieties have all been
inferred from data gathered in projective situations.

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

The Rorschach inkblots were developed by a Swiss psychiatrist, Hermann
Rorschach, in an effort to reduce the time required in
psychiatric diagnosis. His test consists of 10 cards, half of which are in
colour and half in black and white. The test is administered by showing
the subject the 10 blots one at a time; the subject’s task is to describe
what he sees in the blots or what they remind him of. The subject is
usually told that the inkblots are not a test of the kind he took in school
and that there are no right or wrong answers.

TAT)
There are other personality assessment devices, which, like the
Rorschach, are based on the idea that an individual will project
something of himself into his description of an ambiguous stimulus.

The TAT, for example, presents the subject with pictures of persons
engaged in a variety of activities (e.g., someone with a violin). While the
pictures leave much to one’s imagination, they are more highly specific,
organized visual stimuli than are inkblots. The test consists of 30 black
and white pictures and one blank card (to test imagination under very
limited stimulation). The cards are presented to the subject one at a time,
and he is asked to make up a story that describes each picture and that
indicates the events that led to the scene and the events that will grow
out of it. He is also asked to describe the thoughts and feelings of the
persons in his story.

Behavioral assessment
Objective observation of a subject’s behaviour is a technique that falls in
the category of behavioral assessment. A variety of assessments could be
considered, for example, in the case of a seven-year-old boy who,
according to his teacher, is doing poorly in his schoolwork and, according
to his parents, is difficult to manage at home and does not get along with
other children. The following types of assessment might be considered:
(1) a measure of the boy’s general intelligence, which might help explain
his poor schoolwork; (2) an interview with him to provide insights into his
view of his problem; (3) personality tests, which might reveal trends that
are related to his inadequate social relationships; (4) observations of his
activities and response patterns in school; (5) observations of his
behaviour in a specially created situation, such as a playroom with many
interesting toys and games; (6) an interview with his parents, since the
boy’s poor behaviour in school may by symptomatic of problems at home;
and (7) direct observation of his behaviour at home.

Cognitive assessment
The types of thoughts experienced by individuals are reflective of their
personalities. Just as it is important to know what people do and how
their behaviour affects others, it is also necessary to assess the thoughts
that may lie behind the behaviour. Cognitive assessment provides
information about thoughts that precede, accompany, and follow
maladaptive behaviour. It also provides information about the effects of
procedures that are intended to modify both how subjects think about a
problem and how they behave.

Bodily assessment
Bodily responses may reveal a person’s feelings and motivations, and
clinicians pay particular attention to these nonverbal messages. Bodily
functions may also reflect motivations and concerns, and some clinicians
also pay attention to these. Sophisticated devices have been developed to
measure such physiological changes as pupil dilation, blood pressure,
and electrical skin responses under specific conditions. These changes
are related to periodic ratings of mood and to other physiological states
that provide measures of stability and change within the individual.
Technological advances are making it possible to monitor an individual’s
physiological state on a continuous basis. Sweat, heartbeat, blood
volume, substances in the bloodstream, and blood pressure can all be
recorded and correlated with the presence or absence of certain
psychological conditions such as stress.
Personal facts
One type of information that is sometimes overlooked because of its very
simplicity consists of the subject’s life history and present status. Much
of this information may be gathered through direct interviews with a
subject or with an informant through questionnaires and through
searches of records and archives. The information might also be gathered
by examining the subject’s personal documents (e.g., letters,
autobiographies) and medical, educational, or psychiatric case histories.
The information might concern the individual’s social and occupational
history, his cultural background, his present economic status, and his
past and present physical characteristics. Life-history data can provide
clues to the precursors and correlates of present behaviour. This
information may help the investigator avoid needlessly speculative or
complex hypotheses about the causation of personality traits when
simple explanations might be superior. Failure on the part of a
personality evaluator to be aware of the fact that someone had spent two
years during World War II in a concentration camp could result in
misleading inferences and conjectures about the subject’s present
behaviour.

Reliability and validity of

assessment methods
Assessment, whether it is carried out with interviews, behavioral
observations, physiological measures, or tests, is intended to permit the
evaluator to make meaningful, valid, and reliable statements about
individuals. What makes John Doe tick? What makes Mary Doe the
unique individual that she is? Whether these questions can be answered
depends upon the reliability and validity of the assessment methods used.
The fact that a test is intended to measure a particular attribute is in no
way a guarantee that it really accomplishes this goal. Assessment
techniques must themselves be assessed.
Evaluation techniques
Personality instruments measure samples of behaviour. Their evaluation
involves primarily the determination of reliability and validity. Reliability
often refers to consistency of scores obtained by the same persons when
retested. Validity provides a check on how well the test fulfills its
function. The determination of validity usually requires independent,
external criteria of whatever the test is designed to measure. An
objective of research in personality measurement is to delineate the
conditions under which the methods do or do not make trustworthy
descriptive and predictive contributions. One approach to this problem is
to compare groups of people known through careful observation to differ
in a particular way. It is helpful to consider, for example, whether the
MMPI or TAT discriminates significantly between those who show
progress in psychotherapy and those who do not, whether they
distinguish between law violators of record and apparent nonviolators.
Experimental investigations that systematically vary the conditions under
which subjects perform also make contributions.

Corporate Dressing and Personal

Grooming

Corporate dressing refers to sensible dressing at work place which helps an

individual to make a mark of his/her own in the first meeting itself. Corporate
dressing teaches an individual to dress according to the organization culture. Do not
wear something which will make you feel odd one out at the workplace.
Dressing sensibly makes you feel confident throughout the day. Believe me; you do
not feel like working if you wear a wrinkled shirt or ill-fitting pants to work. No one
knows you better than you yourself. It is not necessary that something which looks
good on your colleague would also look good on you.

Don’t purchase anything just because it is in fashion. Please use your common
sense. If a dress is not looking good on you at the showroom, it will look the same
even at home. Dress according to your body type, weight and complexion.
Remember, appearances are extremely important.

Corporate dressing plays a crucial role in enhancing one’s personality. An

individual with a pleasing personality is respected and appreciated by all. He can
easily charm anyone and win people over.

You need to feel good about the way you look. Make sure your clothes fit you
well. You need to feel comfortable in your dress. Too tight and revealing clothes
make you popular at the workplace for all wrong reasons. Nobody bothers to notice
you, if you are not sensibly dressed. Formal dressing, if done correctly helps you
create the first impression. Remember, you seldom get a second chance.

Personal grooming and corporate dressing actually go hand in hand.

Donning an expensive business suit will not help, if you are not neat and
clean. Here comes the importance of personal grooming.

Personal grooming is defined as the art of cleaning and maintaining one’s body
parts. Personal grooming is essential for everyone irrespective of the gender and
nature of profession.

Personal hygiene, if neglected can ruin your personality. Would you feel like
speaking to someone who has bad breath or someone who has sweat stains all over
his shirt? I am sure the answer would be a big NO. The same goes with others as
well. Flaunt your clean, simple yet elegant look.

Male professionals need to:

 Shave Daily/Trim moustache or beard

 Comb hair properly
 Wear crisp, wrinkle free shirts preferably in subtle colours and well fit trousers
in blacks, blues or greys.
 Wear a mild perfume
 Trim his nails

Female professionals need to:

 Tie hair in a neat ponytail or bun.

 Wear flats to work.
 Wear minimal make up
 Get rid of facial hair or hair in any other body part(hands, legs, area around
the lip)
 Smell good
 Clean their hands, feet and take care of finger as well as toe nails. Preferably
use a transparent nail paint.
Avoid wearing loud colours to work. Casuals, chunky jewellery, stacks of bangles,
multiple chains /bracelets are strict no no at workplaces. Corporate dressing
along with personal grooming help you create a presence that exudes
professionalism, leadership, confidence and elegance.

Corporate dressing helps you climb the ladder of success in the shortest
possible time frame. People around you will speak high of you even if you are not
around. Employees are the lifeline of every organization. They are the ones who
either make or break an organization. Even the best of machinery would not help, if
the employees do not strive hard to deliver their level best. The moment employees
start treating their work as a mere source of burden, their performance drops down
drastically, eventually affecting the productivity of organization. One does not feel
like working if he/she is not smartly dressed.

Corporate dressing makes you feel confident and fresh throughout the day.
The moment you put on your formal clothes, you tend to be alert and attentive at
work. Corporate Dressing inculcates a sense of pride and team spirit among
employees, one of the most essential factors which decide the growth chart of an
individual.

An employee who does not adhere to the dress code of his/her organization often
gets ignored by his fellow workers and senior management. He/she is often not
invited for important business meetings, presentations, seminars or conferences.
Jeans, T-shirts, sneakers, heavy jewellery are not at all accepted at workplaces. Don’t
be surprised if you are denied entry to office because you are wearing a T shirt on a
Monday. Every organization has a dress code and it is your moral responsibility to
follow the same. If you do not dress according to your work culture, it simply shows
your irresponsible and careless attitude.

It is essential for employees to make a mark of his/her own at the

workplace. Corporate dressing helps you get noticed and stand apart from
the rest. You need to create your own unique style to survive the fierce
competition. Why would your boss pick you for an important business deal if there is
no difference between you and your team member? Dressing formally gives you that
extra edge over your fellow workers at the workplace.

If you are not sensible towards your dressing, believe me you will remain a team
member throughout your life. It may sound bitter, but it is actually true. As a
manager, you need to be a source of inspiration for others. What do you think your
team members would wear if you yourself attend office in Jeans and T shirts? Do you
expect them to wear formals? Ask yourself.

These five different types of personal grooming help us understand why personal
grooming is important for everyone:
1. Personal Hygiene
2. Dental Care
3. Skin Care
4. Hair Care
5. Nail Care

Here are 10 tips to practice optimum personal hygiene:

1. Wash your hands frequently with clean water and apply soap.
2. Taking bath washes away dead skin cells and dirt.
 3. Make sure you are brushing your teeth twice a day.
4. Floss your teeth once a day for optimal oral hygiene.
5. Cleaning your tongue once or twice a day may help you
reduce bad breath.
6. Cleaning and trimming your nails reduces your chances of
contracting an infection.
7. Wear always clean clothes, dirty clothes can lead to skin
irritations.
8. Cover your mouth with a face mask; this is critical during
Covid-19.
9. A good night’s sleep is essential for good health.
10. Visit the doctor for regular health check-ups before it
becomes a problem.

In order to have healthy teeth and fresh breath, here are

some personal grooming tips to help you achieve and
maintain good oral hygiene:
1. Consume nutritious foods and avoid sugary snacks.
2. Tobacco products should be avoided.
3. After meals, rinse your mouth with water or chew sugarless
gum.
4. Brush your teeth at least twice a day, preferably after each
meal.
5. If you have a habit of grinding your teeth while sleeping,
consider wearing a night guard.
Here is a basic recommended skin-care routine:
1. Wash face twice a day morning and night, follow up with a full-
face gentle cleanse.
2. Apply toner after cleansing your face and before applying any
other products.
3. Apply serum. Morning is an excellent time to apply an
antioxidant serum, such as a brightening vitamin C serum.
4. Apply eye cream because eye creams are thinner than face
moisturizers.
5. Spot treatment, it’s best to use acne spot treatments at night,
when your body is resting and repairing itself.
6. Apply moisturize, lightweight lotion for the morning, ideally with
SPF 30 or higher. In the evening, you can use a thicker night
cream.
7. Apply Retinoids, Can be used to reduce dark spots, breakouts,
and fine lines.
8. Apply sunscreen the most important aspect of any skin-care
regimen is sun protection. Skin cancer and signs of ageing can
be avoided by protecting your skin from UV rays.
 Haircare is one of the foremost personal grooming tips
recommended by experts. It is essential not only for our appearance
but also for our overall health. Having healthy hair allows us to look
our best while also ensuring the health of our hair and
scalp.
To keep your hair as healthy as possible, it is important to visit a
reputable salon and use quality hair care products.

Understanding Personality: Assessment of Personality in Detail

Personality refers to an individual's characteristic patterns of thoughts, emotions,

and behaviors that make them unique. Assessing personality is crucial in psychology,
human resource management, education, and various other fields to understand an
individual’s traits, strengths, and areas for improvement.

1. Methods of Personality Assessment

Personality can be assessed using various methods, broadly categorized into

subjective, objective, and projective techniques.

A. Self-Report Inventories (Objective Assessment)

These are structured questionnaires where individuals respond to standardized

questions about their behavior, feelings, and thoughts.

🔹 Examples:

 Big Five Personality Test (OCEAN Model) – Measures Openness,

Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – Categorizes individuals into 16
personality types.
 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) – Used in clinical
settings to assess mental health and personality disorders.

Advantages:
✔️Standardized and easy to administer.
✔️Reliable and valid results.

Limitations:
❌ Social desirability bias (individuals may give socially acceptable answers).
❌ Limited ability to explore deeper subconscious traits.

B. Projective Techniques (Subjective Assessment)

These tests involve presenting ambiguous stimuli to individuals and analyzing their
responses to uncover subconscious thoughts and emotions.
🔹 Examples:

 Rorschach Inkblot Test – Participants interpret a series of inkblots,

revealing deep-seated emotions and thought patterns.
 Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) – Participants create stories based on
ambiguous pictures, revealing their motivations, emotions, and conflicts.
 Sentence Completion Test – Incomplete sentences are provided, and
participants complete them to reflect their personality.

Advantages:
✔️Provides deeper insight into unconscious aspects of personality.
✔️Useful for diagnosing psychological conditions.

Limitations:
❌ Subjective interpretation by psychologists.
❌ Time-consuming and less reliable than objective tests.

C. Behavioral Observations and Interviews

Observing individuals in real-life settings or structured interviews can reveal

significant aspects of personality.

🔹 Types of Interviews:

 Structured Interview – Set of predefined questions (used in job interviews).

 Unstructured Interview – Open-ended discussion allowing deeper
personality exploration.

Advantages:
✔️Real-life behavior analysis.
✔️Flexible and insightful.

Limitations:
❌ Observer bias can affect accuracy.
❌ Limited control over external influences.

D. Biological and Physiological Assessments

These involve examining brain activity, genetic factors, and physiological responses
to understand personality traits.

🔹 Examples:

 EEG (Electroencephalogram) – Measures brain wave activity.

 fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) – Analyzes brain
function during decision-making and emotional processing.

Advantages:
✔️Objective and scientific analysis of personality.

Limitations:
❌ Expensive and complex.
❌ Does not fully explain behavioral aspects.
2. Importance of Personality Assessment

📌 In Career Selection: Helps individuals choose careers based on their strengths

and personality traits.
📌 In Education: Assists teachers in understanding student learning styles.
📌 In Mental Health: Diagnoses personality disorders and provides therapy
recommendations.
📌 In Relationships: Helps in understanding interpersonal compatibility.

Conclusion

Personality assessment plays a vital role in understanding an individual’s strengths,

weaknesses, emotions, and behavior patterns. While objective tests provide
measurable results, projective techniques and behavioral assessments offer deeper
insights into subconscious elements. A combination of these methods ensures a
holistic understanding of an individual’s personality.