CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background Of The Paper

Although the term ‘individual characteristic’ seems to be self-explanatory, we do well to

reflect on its meaning for a moment. To start with, it should be noted that this term refers to
some postulated attribute characterizing one or more individuals. In other words: individual
characteristics are not given as such, but have their basis in assumptions and/or suppositions.
This may be a matter of a simple operational definition, as is the case with characteristics like
body length and sex. But they may also be constructs that are part of a more or less
comprehensive theoretical framework, like the need to achieve or ego-strength. In this latter
case, suppositions are made concerning the validity of the theory involved and the
operationalization of constructs. Another usual supposition, derived from the parsimony-
principle, is that constructs are basic in character, i.e. cannot be reduced to other, more
fundamental constructs.

Apart from these assumptions and suppositions relating to the ‘existence’ of the attribute,
a typical supposition is that of a more or less durable bounded ness to the individual. By
saying that a person carries a characteristic, one expresses that the attribute is maintained for
a certain time and is insensitive to the circumstances to which the person is exposed. From
here on, I will speak of ‘constancy’. A clear example is the person’s sex, a characteristic
retained during the whole lifetime, exceptional circumstances excluded. For the majority of
individual characteristics, the time interval and the array of conditions under which no
changes are observed are limited however.

Within the perspective of psychological theory and intervention (thus leaving direct
clerical uses out of account), it makes sense to conceive of individual characteristics as
theoretical constructs serving to explain and predict behavior. Their position within the
nomological networks relevant to the behavior involved is thereby partly fixed: from the
hypothesized con stancies it may be derived that with some constructs relations will exist,
while with others no relations will be found. Of course, it would not be justified to consider
any individual attribute as a personal characteristic. It is essential that the suppositions,
especially those about constancy, have been shown to be valid in empirical research. What is
needed is in other words construct validation. One should establish whether the construct may
be operationalized unambiguously and whether relations with other constructs are adequately

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reflected in associations betw een o p eratio n al m easures. T he general purpose is to verify
whether convergent and discriminant relationships that are supposed to exist between
constructs are found at the empirical level. This research may be executed according to the
multitrait-multimethod design, which calls for the operationalization of each construct by a
number of methods (Campbell and Fiske, 1959; Schmitt et al., 1977).

For the sake of completeness it should be said that another type of research may also be
required, i.e. inductive research aimed at construct and hypothesis development. As far as
constructs are concerned, one may speak of ‘analysis of meaning’ (Drenth, 1975). Logically
speaking this type of investigation precedes construct validation and should not be
confounded with it. Its goal is to help weave the nomological net which is tried in construct
validation. By means of explorations (e.g. with factor analysis) one tries to identify
theoretical constructs (the knots) and hypotheses (threads). Furthermore, means for
operationalizing constructs are sought.

1.2. Problem Formulation

The formulation of the problem based on the background above, is as follows:

1) What is the individual characteristics?

2) What is the individual characteristics based on learning style, gender, heredity, and
environment?

1.3. Purpose

This paper was prepared with the purpose to find out:

1. Definition character of ,

2. Based on : -learning style

-heredity

-gender

-environment

CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
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A. DEFINITION OF INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS

The description of personality traits as individual characteristics with a relatively high

degree of constancy does not specify how to recognize an individual characteristic as a trait.
The answer to this question may be derived from the foregoing. Firstly, a definition of the
characteristic is needed, specifying a certain (high) degree of constancy. Secondly, it should
be specified which instruments may be used to operationalize the construct; in other words,
‘observational hypotheses’ should be formulated. And thirdly, there should be results from
empirical research with these instruments, showing the definition to be adequate and the
supposed constancy to be present. It is decisive that convergent relations be shown, i.e. that
repeated measure ments with comparable or different operationalizations of the postulated
trait appear to be related. More specifically, signs of stability and generality are required, the
first meaning a correspondence between measurements at different times now, and the second
the congruence between measurements in different situations. Another condition, often
mentioned, is that there should be differentiation in measurements, which means that it
should be possible to distinguish people according to the degree in which the trait is shown.

1. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS BASED ON LEARNING STYLE

Much work on learning styles focuses on students’ preferred channel of perception.

Although it is clear that learners may use different channels at different times depending on
the nature of the task to be performed, it is possible to allocate learners to one of the
following groups based on their (generally) preferred channel of perception.

The first characteristic is the characteristic of visual learning style. This learning style
with visual style means learning style by learning by seeing. This learning style is usually
used by people who have a detailed, thorough and sharp sense of sight.

1. Visual learners

Visual learners tend to think in pictures. So while reading they usually create a mental
picture of what is described in the text. They don’t pay much attention to the dialogue, and
may miss the meaning of some phrases if they contain words that are difficult to visualise.
That is why it is very important for a visual learner to have the educational material presented
using maps, diagrams, charts, pictures, etc.

In general, the characteristics of visual learning styles are:

1. Can remember faster and stronger in terms of seeing

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2. Not disturbed by noisy sounds around it

3. Having a reading hobby

4. Having the ability to draw and record carefully

While the characteristics of people with this visual learning style are:

1. Tends to be neat

2. Not so interested in hearing, but tend to like to see

3. Dress beautifully

4. His life is regular

2. Auditory learners

Auditory learners learn best by hearing information. They may have difficulties
understanding a text if they read it, but if they listen to it they will be able to capture more of
the detail. That is why their results on listening comprehension tests are usually higher than
the results they show on reading comprehension tests. Auditory learners are very sensitive to
the speech quality, tone and timbre of the voice, intonation, etc. They are often talkative,
needing to think aloud; they usually enjoy music, and remember song lyrics and
conversations. About 30% of all students are auditory learners.

The characteristics of this auditory learning style are as follows:

1. Having good listening and remembering skills

2. Not able to concentrate on the noisy atmosphere around it

3. Can repeat the information he heard

4. Like telling stories and discussing

While the characteristics of people with this auditory learning style are:

1. Do not like to read instructions, and tend to ask questions to get information

2. Not interested in paying attention to the surrounding environment

3. Tend to talk

3. Kinaesthetic (tactile) learners

Kinaesthetic learners learn best through touch, movement, imitation, and other physical
activities. They remember best by writing or physically manipulating the information.
Kinaesthetic learners don’t usually like to read instructions, and it is difficult for them to sit
still for a long time. Many dyslexic learners favour a kinaesthetic approach. .
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The characteristics of this kinesthetic learning style are as follows:

1. Memorize with movement or walk while making movements

2. Love learning style with practice directly

3. Active and moving a lot

4. Using real objects as tools

While the characteristics of people with this kinesthetic learning style are:

1. Can not be silent or always active

2. Tending to get bored quickly in a state of silence and not doing anything

3. Like acting, drama, musical instruments, and sports

4. Characteristics of Global Learning Style

The fourth characteristic is a global learning style. This global learning style is also called
a multitalent learning method or one that can understand the whole lesson. Understanding
that is owned contains a large picture and also objects with each other.

The characteristics of this global learning style are as follows:

1. Can do many tasks at once

2. Able to work well with others

3. Sensitive and able to see problems with good

4. To express words according to what he saw

While the characteristics of people with this global learning style are:

1. Not paying too much attention to appearance and not being prone to high looks

2. Do not place items in the place they should when doing something

3. Be sensitive to the surroundings

4. Feel happy to make other people happy with him

5. Characteristics of Anatic Learning Style

The fifth characteristic is anatics learning style. This anatic learning style has the ability
to see things tend to be studied first in detail, specifically and regularly. Besides this anatic
learning style at the time of learning tends to be done gradually and sequentially.

The characteristics of anatic learning styles are as follows:

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1. Focus on working on one task, not going to continue the next assignment if the first task
has not been completed

2. Think logically

3. How to study consistently and permanently

While the characteristics of people with this anatik learning style are:

1. Assess something based on facts

2. Focus on one problem

2. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS BASED ON HEREDITY

How strong the influence of offspring depends heavily on the quality of the genes that are
owned by parents (father or mother). Based on his experiments by marrying red flowers with
white flowers, Gregor Mendel expressed his view, that: (1) each traits of living things are
controlled by offspring; (2) each pair of hereditary factors determines the alternative form of
each other, and one of the alternative pairs holds a large influence; and (3) during the process
of the formation of sex cells, the hereditary partner separates, and each of the sex cells
receives one of the factors of the offspring.
The results of Mendel's experiments explain to us that heredity plays an important role for
individual behavior and individuals. Some of the principles of inheritance below will give us
a comparative picture of what parents inherit from their children:
1. Reproduction Principles

According to this principle, the ability (achievement) of each father or mother cannot be
passed on to their children. The traits or behavioral traits derived by parents to their children
are only reproductive in nature, that is, they bring back about what already exists in the
results of the combination of seeds, and not based on the behavior of parents obtained
through learning outcomes or the results of interacting with their environment.
2. Variation Principle

That a decrease in the nature of the disposition from parents to their children will vary,
both in terms of quantity and quality. This is because at the time of fertilization the
composition of the genes varies, both from the father and mother. Therefore, there will be
some differences in the nature and characteristics of individual behavior from those who are
brothers, even though they are from the same father and mother, so it is possible that his
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brother resembles more of the nature and characteristics of his father's behavior while his
sister resembles more and more characteristics of his mother's behavior or vice versa.
3. Filial Regression Principles

Decreasing of the nature or behavior characteristics of both parents to their children is

caused by the attraction in the combination of the father and mother, so that there will be a
small part of the characteristics of his father and a small part of the characteristics of his
mother. Whereas the comparison between the characteristics of father and mother is greater
depends on the strength of the attraction of each of the characteristics of the off spring.

4.The Type of Crossing Type

According to this principle, what is passed on by each parent to their children has a cross
type goal. A girl will have more of the characteristics and behavior of her father, while for
boys more will have characteristics for her mother.
5. Conformity principle

Based on the principle of this conformity that a child will have more traits and behavioral
traits derived by his racial group or tribe of his people. For example, Europeans will resemble
the characteristics and characteristics of behavior like other Europeans compared to Asians.

3. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS BASED ON GENDER

According to Anonim (2007) there are several groupings of differences on men and
women include biological differences, motor differences, cognitive differences, emotional
differences, behavioral differences, differences personality. Biological differences include
chromosomes between men and different women (XY boys, XX girls), different types of
hormones (boys have the hormone testosterone daughter estrogen hormone). The structure of
the genitals is different, between the penis and vagina. There is a high difference and weight
where boys will be taller and heavier than women, especially after going through puberty.
There is an age difference puberty is girls faster than puberty boys. Motoric differences for
example boys develop more gross motor skills due to the influence of testosterone, plus
interest and cultural encouragement, whereas girls are more towards development fine motor.
This type of movement and activity level is higher in boys than girls, so boys seem more
rude, whereas girls are smoother. Cognitive differences include different types of intelligence,
though generally the intelligence of boys and girls is more or less the same. Long-term
memory of girls is better, while boys better in short-term memory. Girls learn faster speak,
the words are more varied, the structure of the sentence is more regular. This matter because
girls have higher affection needs, which are can be fulfilled through communication. Boys are
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spatially smarter. They are quicker to remember the route to their favorite home or place.
They also faster capturing different shapes and size differences from two objects that are
compared. Boys' mathematical intelligence and reasoning women are relatively the same but
girls tend to work on questions as taught by the teacher, whereas boys are more innovative
and creative in solving mathematical problems. This is also because the boys rarely memorize
what the teacher teaches, so they look for ways to solve them own.

Emotional differences include more expressive girls sad / disappointed emotions, for
example by crying. Boys are more expressive in expressing anger, for example by slamming
things or kick the toy. How to deal with stress is different. Women with establish
relationships, men immediately find solutions. More girls sensitive to people's feelings,
compared to boys. Behavior difference. For example, girls are more empathetic, making it
easier extend help compared to boys. More boys perform physical games rather than girls, in
taking the risk of boys being more aggressive. Boys benefit from it his ability to play physical
games plus the influence of hormones testosterone. Environmental demands also result in
more brave boys take risks. Boys and girls are the same delinquencybut girls express it more
to verbal expressions, for example disfiguring others, while boys are more to behavior.
Personality differences, for example, more girls are born with easy going or easy
temperament, while more boys enter to difficult or difficult categories. Just look at
breastfeeding, more girls easily satisfied, while boys are more fussy. Some interference more
psychologically suffered by boys than girls, like mentally disabled, or the autism spectrum.
Learning difficulties disabilities) more experienced by men, such as reading barriers
(dyslexia), counting obstacles (dyscalculia) and writing barriers (dysgraphia).

Johnson (2010) explains, the difference between male and female brains lies in the size of
the parts of the brain, how the parts relate and how it works. The fundamental difference
between the two is spatial difference, verbal chemicals and small memory;

1) Spatial differences. In male brains tend to develop and have more complex spatial like
mechanical design capability, measurement of direction of abstraction, and manipulation of
physical objects. No wonder men love to play around vehicle;

2) verbal differences. The area of the male brain cortex is more sucked to perform spatial
functions and tend to give portions little in the cortex area to produce and use words. A
collection of nerves that connects the left-right brain or the corpus collosum of the brain men
are a quarter smaller than a woman's brain, if a male brain only using the right brain
hemisphere, the female brain can maximize both. That's why women talk more than men, in a
study mentioned, women used around 20,000 words per day, while men only 7,000 words.
Including women can maximize the multi tasking, hold the little one, while cooking and
watching favorite soap operas on television. While men, don't be surprised if they don't listen
to your call while listening soccer matches from favorite clubs or watching favorite movies
on television;

3) Differences in chemicals. The female brain contains more serotonin which makes him
calm. It's not strange if women are more calm when responding to threats that involve

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physically, while men are faster getting angry, besides, the female brain also has oxytocin,
which is a substance bind humans with other humans or with more objects. Two things this
affects the biological tendency of the male brain not to act rather than talking, this is different
from women;

4) Memory smaller. The memory center (hippocampus) in the female brain is larger rather
than on the male brain, this can answer the question why if men easy to forget, while women
can remember all the details.

4. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS BASED ON ENVIRONMENT

These include light, sound, temperature and design. While some people like to study in
silence, others prefer quiet background music; some might prefer to sit on a straight back
chair, while others might prefer to sit on the floor or lie on a sofa. Some people like to work
in bright light whereas others prefer low or natural lighting. It may be quite difficult to
envisage a classroom environment that suits everyone but Dunn and Dunn (1978) suggest
that a classroom can be partitioned into separate areas, each with a different environmental
climate. In terms of dyslexic learners, consideration must be given to lighting, as
inappropriate lighting (for example fluorescent lighting) can make it very difficult for a
learner to read, listen or focus. Similarly, dyslexic learners may find it difficult to filter out
background noise and will therefore need the environment to be very quiet when trying to
concentrate on challenging tasks.

Some students prefer to study by themselves while others achieve better results when they
learn with a friend or colleague. Some students require a lot more guidance than others. Most
dyslexics find it easier to learn when they can do it together with someone else. This gives
them confidence and they start to believe that they will manage the new information. Having
a fellow student, a teacher or a family member to discuss the topic with, will help them to
better understand, perceive and remember the information. Language learning lends itself
naturally to pairwork and group work. As well as practising the target language, learners may
also talk to each other about what they have learned or take turns at discussing the meaning
of certain items of vocabulary. Many of the activities mentioned in Module 4 are small group
activities likely to appeal to dyslexic learners. For example, webquests offer learners the
chance to work in groups and engage in scaffolded learning which leads to the production of
an end product. Teachers are able to allocate roles based on learners’ strengths and
weaknesses. Similarly, cooperative learning is likely to appeal to dyslexic learners with its
focus on physical movement and listening and speaking in small groups. Please refer to
Module 4 for more examples. Bilingual dyslexic learners should be provided with an

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opportunity to work together with somebody who has good language skills in the language of
education so that they are not excluded from explanations in that language. It might also be a
good idea for the language teacher to use visual and kinaesthetic approaches to accompany
verbal explanations so that there is less reliance on the auditory channel.

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 CHAPTER III
CLOSING

A. CONCLUSION

Individual characteristics are generally considered to be exceptional characteristics that

may establish the uniqueness of an object and support the conclusion that the object in
question can be linked to a known object (i.e., both the questioned and known object
originated from a common source). These individual characteristics are produced incidental
to manufacture and/or caused by wear, corrosion, or damage. They are considered to be
unique to that tool, but they are not always visualized in sufficient quantity on fired
bullets/cartridges.

B. SUGGESTIONS

If teachers have insight into their students’ learning styles, they will have a better
understanding of each student’s individual needs and increased understanding of the areas in
which that student is likely to require additional support and, importantly, those areas in
which they are likely to shine. Teachers with this knowledge are likely to put a greater
emphasis on the need to vary classroom activities and to incorporate multisensory approaches
wherever possible. Students will value the fact that their teacher is interested in their learning
style and will gain insight into the ways in which they can learn most effectively. This will
help them in the organisation of their learning and will guide them towards becoming more
independent learners. Hopefully writing can be useful for all of us, especially for readers.
Amiiin ...

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Heri Gunawan.2001Character Education , (Concepts and Implementation ), Bandung:

Alfabeta.

Howard, R. W., Berkowitz, M. W., & Schaeffer, E. F. (2004). Politics of character education.
Educational Policy.

Purwanto, Muhammad Ngalim, drs. 1990. Psikologi Pendidikan. Jakarta: Rosda

Jones, C. (2005). Character, virtue and physical education. European Physical Education
Review.

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