I.

Introduction to Personal Development

Personal development - defined as a process in which persons reflect upon themselves, understand who they are,
accept what they discover about themselves, and learn (or unlearn) new sets of values, attitudes, behaviour, and
thinking skills to reach their fullest potential as human beings.

HUMAN DEVEOPMENT AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

*3 aspects or domains of human development as (Papalia and Feldman 2012)

1. Physical development – covers the growth of the body and brain, motor and sensory skills, and even physical health.

2. Cognitive development – covers our capacity to learn, to speak, to understand, to reason, and to create.

3. Psychosocial development – includes our social interactions with other people, our emotions, attitudes, self-identity,
personality, beliefs, and values

Human development is influenced by:

 Heredity – inborn traits passed on by the generation of offspring’s from both sides of the biological
families.
 Environment – world outside of ourselves and the experiences that result from our contact and
interaction with this external world; and
 Maturation – natural progression of brain and body that affects the cognitive (thinking and intelligence)
psychological (emotion, attitude, and self-identity), and social (relationships) dimensions of a person.

Is it personal development or personality development?

 Personal – belonging or relating to a particular person; made or designed to be used by one person; relating to
or affecting a particular person. Ex. This is just my personal opinion.
 Personality – set of emotional qualities, ways of behaving, etc., that makes a person different from other people;
attractive qualities that make something unusual or interesting. Ex. He has a very pleasant personality.
 Development – act or process of growing or causing something to grow or become larger or more advanced.

 Psychology, being the study of human thinking and behaviour, serves as a foundation for personal development.

THEORIES ON PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

 Humanistic Psychology – proponents are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers
- Abraham Maslow- psychologist who studied positive human qualities and lives the exemplary people. In
1954, Masow created the Hierarchy of Human Needs and expressed his theories in his book, “Motivation
and Personality”

Self- actualization – a person’s motivation to reach his or her full potential. As shown in Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs, a person’s basic needs must be met before self-actualization can be achieved.
Carl Ransom Rogers - was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology.
Famous for his theory of psychotheraphy.

Psychotheraphy practice - identifies that each person has the capacity and desire for personal growth and change.

 Positive Psychology – stresses that human nature has its good and positive strengths, as well as its inadequacies
and weaknesses (Peterson 2006).

Adolescence – transition period between childhood and early adulthood. It is widely believed that the adolescent age
spans from 11 or 12, up to age 18 (Feist and Rosenberg 2012).

Philippine context of 3 stages of adolescence (Corpuz, Lucas, Borabo and Lucido, 2010)

 Early adolescence – between 10-13 years old

 Middle adolescence – between 14-16 years old
 Late adolescence – between 17-20 years old

The child who has reached adolescence, is now capable of reasoning about abstract concepts and problems (Piaget). At
this point, the adolescent become more inquisitive about things like philosophy, religion and politics. This is also a stage
when they begin to ask questions about their identity. Relationships with family and friends are also affected by puberty
during adolescence. Friends become the center of relationships more than a family.
 II. Knowing Oneself
In philosophical terms, self is the being, which is the source of persons consciousness. Self is the essence of a person. In
psychology, when we speak of self, we describe it in personality terms. Personality refers to the unique and relatively
enduring sets of behaviours, feelings, thoughts, and motives that characterize an individual (Feist and Rosenberg 2012).

Big Five or Five-Factor Model - developed by psychologist Costa and McRae (1992)-universal and widely agreed
dimensions of personality. (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism -
OCEAN)

 Openness to experience - Openness describes a person’s tendency to think in abstract, complex ways. Openness
is strongly related to a person’s interest in art and culture.
 Conscientiousness - describes a person’s ability to exercise self-discipline and control in order to pursue their
goals.
 Extraversion - describes a person’s inclination to seek stimulation from the outside world, especially in the form
of attention from other people.
 Agreeableness - describes a person’s tendency to put others’ needs ahead of their own, and to cooperate rather
than compete with others.
 Neuroticism - describes a person’s tendency to experience negative emotions, including fear, sadness, anxiety,
guilt, and shame.

https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test

Self concept - refers to your awareness of yourself.It is about understanding your own habits, needs, desires, failings,
and everything else that matters in your personality.
Johari Window – consists of four window panes, is a mechanism designed to help an individual grow through learning
more about oneself and others. The four window panes of the Johari window are the following:

1. Open Area – area known to oneself and known to others. This pane refers to the things that the public knows
about oneself. Examples of these are age, gender, and educational attainment.
2. Hidden Area – The area known to oneself and not know by others. T refers to one’s secrets in life.
3. Blind Area – the area not known to self, but is known by others or the “blind spot” of a person. The blind area
are consists of the things that an individual may not necessarily be aware or conscious of, but are seen,
observed, and felt by other people. Examples of these are expressions and mannerisms.
4. Unknown Area – the area not known to the person and others. This area remains untapped and undiscovered
until the time or right opportunity comes such as an emergency or crisis situation that calls for one to act
instantaneously. The way a person responds to the situation may bring about discovery of self, making one
realize the talent or skill otherwise unknown to him/her.

According to Luft and Ingham, a person can use the Johari Window to improve the self by widening the open
area and reducing the hidden and blind areas. This can be made possible by modes of sharing and self-
disclosure, establishing trust, and asking for feedback and giving feedback.

Personal SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) – can be used by an individual to capitalize his/her
strengths, appreciate opportunities, and be aware of areas for improvement and threats to personal goals.

 Strength - persons positive traits that can be leveraged to fulfil goals and dreams. These pleasant attributes may
include beauty, intelligence, kindness, and other good characteristics.

 Weakness - refers to the negative characteristics or limitations of a person. These may include physical, mental,
social, spiritual, or emotional limitations.
 Opportunities - chances, occasions, or prospects present in one’s environment that are external to the person
and maybe seized in order to meet individual goals.

 Threats - things or situations present in environment. This consists of anything that hinders a person from
pursuing goals or satisfying needs.

How one can be assisted by SWOT Analysis?

1. use strengths to grab opportunities;

2. use strengths to avoid threats;

3. overcome weakness by grabbing opportunities; and

4. minimize weaknesses and avoid threats.

Tips on how weaknesses can be transformed into strengths

1. Accept one’s weaknesses and limitations. Overcome fear.

2. Examine limitations and determine possible causes for such limitations. Analyze the things that can be done
with areas for improvement.

3. With the proper mindset and use of positive thinking, learn to concentrate on how to improve on those
areas. Find alternative ways on how to be creative and successful.

4. Keep on trying. Feel inspired. Do it with style.

5. Acknowledge little successes.

6. Celebrate for successfully turning weaknesses into strengths.