PERSONALITY

AND
ITS
DETERMINENTS
HASNAIN RAZA POONAWALA
B.ED FIES 2ND SEMESTER
 PERSONALITY

By personality, we do not mean that:

1. A person is tall, broad with blue eyes,

or
2. A person who always talk with a pleasant and gentle
smile on his face,
or
3. If he is brave or not,
or
4. He is got a positive attitude towards life and to the
problems he faces.
The term ‘personality’ is derived from the Latin word
‘persona’ which means a mask.

According to K. Young, “Personality is a patterned body

of habits, traits, attitudes and ideas of an individual, as
these are organized externally into roles and statuses,
and as they relate internally to motivation, goals, and
various aspects of selfhood.”
G. W. Allport defined it as “a person’s pattern of habits,
attitudes, and traits which determine his adjustment to
his environment.”

Psychologists define personality as a relatively stable

pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that
distinguishes one person from another.
 “Are enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and
thinking about the environment and oneself that are
exhibited in a wide range of social and personal context.”

The personality of an individual is that which enables us

to predict what he will do in a given situation” R.B.
Cattell (1950)
 3 Facts to Consider When
Defining “Personality”

1. Individuals are unique

2. Individuals behave differently in different situations

3. Although individuals are unique and behave

inconsistently across situations, there is considerable
commonality in human behavior
On the basis of these definitions it may be said there are
two main approaches to the study of personality:

(1) The psychological, and

(2) The sociological.

The psychological approach enables us to understand the

phenomena of personallity disorganization and the role of
wishes, of mental conflict, and of repression and
sublimation in the growth of personality.
 The sociological approach considers personality in
terms of the status of the individual in the group, in
terms of his own conception of his role in the group of
which he is a member.

What others think of us plays a large part in the

formation of our personality.
Thus personality is the sum of the ideas, attitudes and
values of a person which determine his role in society
and form an integral part of his character.

Personality is acquired by the individual as a result of

his participation in group life.

As a member of the group he learns certain behavior

systems and symbolic skills which determine his ideas,
attitudes and social values.
.
These ideas, attitudes and values which an individual
holds, comprise his personality.

The personality of an individual indicates an

adult’s inner construction of the outer world.

It is the result of the inter-action processes by which

standards of ethical judgment, belief and conduct are
established in social groups and communities
 Basic characteristics of
personality
Multidimensionality: Personality is not related to bodily
structure alone. It includes both structure and dynamics

Neutrality: Personality is neither good nor bad.

Uniqueness: Every personality is unique.

Consistency: Personality refers to persistent qualities of the

individual. It expresses consistency and regularly.

Development: Personality is acquired.

Social Influence: Personality is influenced by social interaction.

It is defined in terms of behavior.
 History

WW-I: saw the first real organized assessment of

personality- seeing if new recruits could make adjustment
to the military just focused on one facet of personality very
specific (e.g., ability to follow orders, submission to
authority, degree of comfort when socializing with others)

Over the next 2 decades multi scaled test emerged that

examined assertiveness, anxiety, impulsiveness
 METHODS OF TESTING

The methods psychologists use to examine personality

include case studies, interviews, naturalistic
observations, laboratory investigations, and
psychological tests.

To be useful, a psychological test must have three

characteristics: reliability, validity, and standardization.
 PERSONALITY
DETERMINANTS

Personality does not evolve by a single factor.

It is a mixture of a lot of things. Some of those factors are

psychological, some are physical, some are biological and
some are even hereditary.
 Environmental Factors of
Personality
The environment that an individual lives in has a major
impact on his personality.

The culture and environment establish attitudes,

values, norms and perceptions in an individual.

Based on the cultures and traditions, different senses of

right and wrong are formed in individuals.
 These environmental factors also include the
neighborhood a person lives in, his school, college,
university and workplace.

Moreover, it also counts the social circle the

individual has.

Your friends, parents, colleagues, co-workers and

bosses, everybody plays a role as the determinants of
your personality.
 (1)Physical Environment:

It includes the influence of climatic conditions of a particular area

or country on man and his living.
One of the most important factors in determining personality are
an individual's physical characteristics. These factors play a
vital role in determining one’s behavior in a social
organization. Physical characteristics include, but are not
limited to:
Height, Skin tone, Weight, Hair color, Beauty etc.

These factors influence interactions with other people,

contributing to personality development.
Resilience: Adapting to harsh or unpredictable
environments.
Extroversion: Urban environments encourage
social interaction.
Conscientiousness: Organized living spaces
reflect organized personalities.
Openness: Exposure to diverse environments
fosters open-mindedness.

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 (2) Social Environment:

The child has his birth in the society.

He learns and lives there.
Hence, the social environment has an important say in the personality
development of the child.
Social experiences play a vital role in determining one’s personality.
The things that occur around a person on a regular basis determine
how that person will behave and perceive themselves.
A person's social experiences affect:
 Coordination
 Cooperation
 Family relationships
 Organizational relationships
 Workplaces relationships
 Involvement in communities

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 (3) Family Environment:

Family is the cradle of all social virtues.

The first environment, the child moves in, is his home.
Here the child comes in contact with his parents and other family
member his likes, dislikes, stereotypes about people, expectancies of
security and emotional responses all are shaped in early childhood.
The type of training and early childhood experiences received from
the family play an important role in the development of personality.
Besides this, economic factors i.e., economic condition of the family
and the type of relations between the parents also influence the
personality of the child.
Personality Traits Shaped:

 Self-esteem
 Emotional stability
 Independence
 Resilience
 Motivation
 Values and morals
 Social skills
 Attachment style
 Coping mechanisms
 Worldview
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 (4) Cultural Environment:

The cultural environment refers to certain cultural

traditions, ideals, and values etc., which are accepted
in a particular society.
All these factors leave a permanent impression on the
child’s personality.
Personality Traits Shaped: Cultural Influences:
 Values and morals  Family values and traditions
 Social norms and  Social norms and customs
expectations  Language and
 Communication style communication styles
 Emotional expression and  Education and learning
approaches
regulation
 Religious and spiritual
 Group identity and loyalty
beliefs
 Authority and power  Historical and cultural
dynamics heritage
 Risk-taking and  Art, music, and creative
adventurousness expression
 Time management and  Food and culinary practices
punctuality  Dress and appearance
 Individualism/Collectivism standards
 Resilience and adaptability  Work ethic and productivity
norms 24
 (5) School Environment:

Schools play an important role in molding the personality of

the children because a significant part of a child’s life is spent
in school between the ages of 6 and 20 years. In the school,
the teacher substitutes the parents.

The school poses new problems to be solved, new taboos to be

accepted into the superego and new models for imitation and
identification, all of which contribute their share in molding
personality
 Personality Traits  School Factors Influencing
Developed: Personality:
 Social skills and relationships
 Teacher-student
 Self-confidence and self-
relationships
esteem
 Discipline and responsibility  Peer interactions and
 Problem-solving and critical friendships
thinking  Curriculum and
 Communication and extracurricular activities
expression  School culture and climate
 Emotional intelligence and
empathy
 Academic expectations and
 Adaptability and resilience pressure
 Competitiveness and  Feedback and reinforcement
motivation  Classroom management and
 Teamwork and collaboration structure
 Independence and autonomy  Opportunities for leadership
and participation 26
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 Physical Factors of Personality

Just as environmental factors, there are many physical

factors as well that determine your personality.

These physical factors include the overall physical structure

of a person: his height, weight, color, sex, beauty and body
language, etc.
 An individual’s personality can change over time.
Physical factors are one of the major reasons of that.

Most of the physical structures change from time to

time, and so does the personality.
 Heredity Factors of
Personality:
The heredity factors play a very important role as the
major determinants and factors of personality.
Heredity factors are the ones that are determined at the
time of conception.
These factors not only affect the physical features of a
person, but the intelligence level, attentiveness, gender,
temperament, various inherited diseases and energy
level, all get affected by them.
The example of how heredity factors determine such a
huge and significant part of an individual’s personality
can easily be observed in children.

Many children behave exactly how their parents do.

Similarly, twin siblings also have a lot of things in

common.
 Researchers in my many different countries have
studied thousands of sets of identical twins who were
separated at birth and raised separately.
For instance, one set of twins who had been separated
for 39 years and raised 45 miles apart, were found to
drive the same model and color car.
They also chain-smoked the same brand of cigarette,
owned dogs with the same name, and regularly enjoyed
vacations within three blocks of each other in a beach
community 1,500 miles away.
 Situational Factors of
Personality

Although these factors do not literally create and shape up

an individual’s personality, situational factors do alter a
person’s behavior and response from time to time.

The situational factors can be commonly observed when a

person behaves contrastingly and exhibits different traits
and characteristics.
 For example, a person’s behavior will be totally
different when he is in his office, in front of his boss,
when compared to his hangout with old friends in a
bar.

In this way, situational factors impact a personality in

a significant way.

They often bring out the traits of a person that are not
commonly seen.
 Cultural and Religious Factors

The culture in which one lives in, that may involve

traditional practices, norms, customs, procedures, rules and
regulations, precedents and values, all are important
determinants of personality.

Moreover, the creed, religion and believes are also very

important factors of personality determinants.
 The culture in which one lives almost always involves:
Traditional practices
Norms
Customs
Procedures
Rules and regulations
Precedents
Values.
These are all highly influential determinants of personality.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

According to Woolfolk (2010) Psychological factors include

our motives, acquired interests, our attitudes, our will and
character, our intellectual capacities such as intelligence.
the abilities to perceive, to observe, to imagine, to think
and to reason are examples of psychological factors.
these factors determine our reactions in various situations
and hence affect our personality growth and direction.
An individual with a considerable amount of will power
will be able to make decisions more quickly than others.
THANKU!
Kindly prepare assignment on:
Type theory
Trait theory
Social learning theory
Psychoanalytic theory
Humanistic Theory
Cognitive Theory
Erikson's Psychosocial Theory
1. Design 10 personality questions on any of the personality theory
and conduct an interview with a colleague or student

2. Develop 10 sentence completion and 10 word association items

related to the interview topic and conduct them on the same
person.

3. Analyze the similarities and differences and write a report.

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