Personality
Personality can be defined using more than one term. It can be described as a combination of certain qualities: moral, physical which differs from one another. Possessing good and strong personality traits is the key to success. Strong personality enables self-direction of making choices and self-development (Allport, G. W. (1937). One can control his/her emotions and attitude depending on the personality. Developing and nourishing a good personality is a process. Personality can also be divided into two broad groups: healthy and sick personality. Sick personality is a type of personality that is developed due to certain physical factors e.g. troubled childhood, rejections, and lack of motivation (Clark, L. A.,1994). Health personality people are always regarded as well adjusted. Many factors determine the development of a certain personality from childhood. These determinants can be classified into internal factors for example attitude, beliefs and core value, environmental stressors, and biological factors. External factors include social support.
To begin with the factors, Knowledge is a key factor in determining the development of a certain personality. According to (Chipuer, et al. ,1993), Basic information is needed to motivate peers from risk behavior, but this can’t fully prevent anyone from risky behavior and not necessarily produce behavioural change. Another factor is the family environment. The first environment a child move is family. They encounter different family members and experience security. The emotional responses change early in childhood. Family plays a key and important role in the development of personality. Besides the economic factors of the family, parents play a role in determining the personality of the child.
About the Cultural environment is just another influence on the development of personality. The cultural environment is comprised of cultural values, social ideas, and values that are accepted in a certain society. Culture does pervade every aspect of our normal and daily life. Culture affects personality about religion, race gender, and age. The essential importance of religion was discovered by an anthropologist named Abram Kardiner (Kardiner, et al.,1945). Religion is regarded as the most significant concerning the development of personality. Each culture has a different perception of ways to raise a child.
The influence of biological factors on personality structure is less and not direct. Such factors include physical appearance and gene factors like hereditary. In research through (DeYoung, C. G.,2010). Children are regarded as active and quite due to differences in hereditary factors. Teaching them always modifies their perception as it can be seen. The rate of maturing in a person may affect an individual’s personality. The relationship between physical appearance and makeup is not that rigid and categorical. These relationships do affect and contribute to the development of a personality.
The psychological factor determines the kind of personality an individual will have. They include your interests, motives, capabilities like intelligence, and will. ( Rickwood, D. J., et al, 1994). They do determine how you’ll react to certain situations hence will affect our personality. A person with a great personality will make decisions easily and fast. These factors are hereditary; therefore, we’ll see that psychological factors do contribute to the development of our personality.
In citation by (Raja, et. Al2004), the Societal view on gender also determines the growth of the personality of an individual. In terms of sex, Boys are more assertive and so vigorous. They are adventurous than girls. Personality is conceptualized to the extent to which someone displays different levels of different traits. Traits are exhibited at certain physiological states. Gender differences determine a certain personality. Investigation shows different reactions and patterns from both men and women. They possess different levels of intellectual abilities.
Situational factors also affect personality. (Isen, A. M, (1987)They are continuously changing about certain social situations. Individuals’ behavior does change whenever they experience certain situations. Personality is not only contributed by one factor but each factor is responsible for giving its share of information regarding it. A person may behave differently when interacting with his fellow mates or do change regarding the environment they are in.
About (Rhodes, et al. ,2007), Physical environment i.e. land, river, hills, and mountains also affect the personality of an individual in general. All the behavior and reactions of a person are about the physical environment to which he/she comes from. For example, an individual who comes from rural and urban areas has a different appearance in contrast to the physique, health, and general looks. These different environments lead to the different development of personalities. People who live in urban areas may have facilities that educate and helps them in developing their personalities.
(Reynolds, et al,2000) shows that Interactions between individuals could affect his/her personality. Social factors are agents in developing and formation of personality. Interactions with other people may affect general personality as a person interacts with different personalities, either good or bad. This may influence him/her positively or negatively. In a society, every person plays a role development of individuals’ personalities. Young people are required to respect their elders. The social factors i.e. family an individual interacts within their societal life mould their personality. In conclusion, social interactions may either mould or destroy a persons’ personality.
According to the study, Attitude, self-concept, and inter-personal relations help to mould or destroy personalities. The article of (Paris, J, 1993) states that: Relationship between members of family and society means a lot as they help in developing on certain social personality interactions characteristics like hostility, love, and friendship. Self-concept of how you determine your personality in two ways: those who believe and trust themselves develop a strong and great personality. Other people who see themselves as worthless and not capable are likely to destroy their personality.
In conclusion, personalities make individuals unique and different from other individuals and recognized early after birth. Child personality has different components like character and temperament. Self-development of personalities is crucial and most important
References
Reynolds, C. A., Raine, A., Mellingen, K., Venables, P. H., & Mednick, S. A. (2000). A three-factor model of schizotypal personality: invariance across culture, gender, religious affiliation, family adversity, and psychopathology. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 26(3), 603-618. (Reynolds, et al,2000)
Isen, A. M. (1987). Positive affect, cognitive processes, and social behavior. In Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 20, pp. 203-253). Academic Press.
Rhodes, R. E., Courneya, K. S., Blanchard, C. M., & Plotnikoff, R. C. (2007). Prediction of leisure-time walking: an integration of social cognitive, perceived environmental, and personality factors. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 4(1), 51.
Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality (pp. 173-181). New York: Holt.
Chipuer, H. M., Plomin, R., Pedersen, N. L., McClearn, G. E., & Nesselroade, J. R. (1993). Genetic influence on family environment: The role of personality. Developmental Psychology, 29(1), 110.
DeYoung, C. G. (2010). Personality neuroscience and the biology of traits. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(12), 1165-1180.
Paris, J. (1993). Personality disorders: A biopsychosocial model. Journal of personality disorders, 7(3), 255-264. (Paris, J, 1993)
Clark, L. A., Watson, D., & Mineka, S. (1994). Temperament, personality, and mood and anxiety disorders. Journal of abnormal psychology, 103(1), 103.
McFadden, S. H. (1999). Religion, personality, and ageing: A life span perspective. Journal of personality, 67(6), 1081-1104.
Rickwood, D. J., & Braithwaite, V. A. (1994). Social-psychological factors affecting help-seeking for emotional problems. Social science & medicine, 39(4), 563-572.
Raja, U., Johns, G., & Ntalianis, F. (2004). The impact of personality on psychological contracts. Academy of Management Journal, 47(3), 350-367.