personality pareek

4 PERSONALITY

For the study of human behaviour, we have to understand the individual differences. Aswe have explained in the previous chapter, individual differences are due to both physiological and psychological factors. Analysis of psychological traits is the first step inunderstanding human behaviour, because physiological factors may be one of the variablesaffecting psychological factor. For example, physiological factor may be one of thevariables affecting the personality of a person. Since the personality of a person affects his behaviour, we can say that physiological factor is also affecting the behaviour. Thus, the basic psychological factors naturally become important in analysing human behaviour.Personality is one of the major psychological factors affecting the human behaviour.Personality is a very commonly used word. This word is generally used whenever we talk about a person's job prospects, achievements, marriage and other similar occasions. Here weare considering the concept of personality in a very narrow sense as it implies a person'ssmartness, charm, dress sense, popularity, physical attractiveness, way of speaking etc. Butto understand and predict the individual behaviour in an organisation, this narrow view of the term personality is not enough ; we will have to look at the aggregate whole, that isgreater than the sum of parts.

The Meaning of Personality

The term 'personality' has been derived from the Latin term 'persona' which means to'speak through'. The Latin word denotes the masks worn by actors in ancient Greece andRome. Therefore a very common meaning of the term personality is the role which the person (actor) displays to the public.

4.2

Personality

Personality is a very frequently used word but still there is no consensus about itsmeaning. There is a great deal of controversy about the meaning of the word personality. Afew definitions of personality are as given as :

According to Gordon Allport,

"Personality is the dynamic organisation within theindividual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to hisenvironment.

"

According to Floyd L. Ruch,

"Personality includes external appearance and behaviour, inner awareness of self as a permanent organising force and the particular pattern or organisation of measurable traits, both inner and outer.

"

According to Fred Luthans,

"Personality means how a person affects others and howhe understands and views himself as well as the pattern of inner and outer measurable traitsand the person-situation interaction.

"

According to Salvatore Maddi,

"Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those commonalities and differences in the psychological behaviour (thoughts, feelings and actions) of people that have continuity in time and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of themoment.

"In Psychology, personality is interpreted in different ways by different theorists. For example.

Carl Rogers

views personality in terms of self, an organised, permanent,subjectively perceived entity which is at the heart of all our experiences.

Freud

describesthe structure of personality as composed of three elements the id, ego and super ego. Inaddition the social learning aspects of personality are also emphasised by some theorists.Taking all the aspects together, personality represents the sum total of several attributeswhich manifest themselves in an individual, the ability of the individual to organise andintegrate all the qualities so as to give meaning to life, and the uniqueness of the situationwhich influences behaviour of an individual.BONNER provides six propositions to classify the nature of personality within thecontext of change and development :(i) Human behaviour is composed of acts.

(ii)

Personality visualised as a whole actualisesitself in a particular environment.

(iii)

It is distinguished by self consistency, (iv) It forms a time-integrating structure. (v) It isa goal directed behaviour and

(vi)

It is a process of becoming.From the above, it becomes very clear that personality is a very diverse psychologicalconcept.

Determinants of Personality

Now that we have understood the meaning of personality, the next question is whatdeterminants go into the development of personality ? Was the individual born with that personality or was it developed afterwards as a result of his

Personality

4.3interaction with his environment ? Generally the consensus is that heredity and environment jointly affect the individual's personality development. The factors affecting personalitydevelopment are illustrated on next page.0100090000035400000001001c00000000000400000003010800050000000b0200000000050000000c0289001102040000002e0118000400000002010100050000000902000000021c000000fb02f0ff0000000000009001000000000440001254696d6573204e657720526f6d616e0000000000000000000000000000000000040000002d0100000d000000320ada019000010004009000cc01a002540220410700030000000000The 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. Inour 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, eyecolour, 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 valuesand ideals.According to S.P. Robbins, the heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanationof an individual's personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in thechromosomes. Three different streams of research lend some credibility to the argument thatheredity plays an important part in determining an individual's personality. The first looks atthe genetic underpinnings of human behaviour and temperament among young children. Thesecond addresses the study of twins who were separated at birth and the third examines theconsistency in job satisfaction over time and across situations.

(B)Environment

If all personality traits are determined by heredity, they would be fixed at birth andwould not be changed throughout the life. But this is not so. The personality traits are notcompletely dictated by heredity, environment also plays a very important role in thedevelopment of personality of a person. Environment comprises of culture, family, socialand situational factors :1. Culture. According to Hoebel,

"Culture is the sum total of learned behaviour traitswhich are manifested and shared by the members of the society.

""It is

a unique system of perceptions, beliefs, values, norms, patterns of behviour and acode of conduct that influences the behaviour of individuals in a g

iven society."

Culture establishes norms, attitudes and values that are passed along from generation togeneration and create consistencies over time. Every culture expects and trains its membersto behave in the ways that are acceptable to the group. Persons belonging to differentcultural groups generally have different attitudes towards independence, aggression,competition, cooperation, artistic talent etc.

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