HR – PERSONALITY

MEANING OF PERSONALITY
Personality is broadly described as the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
that make a person unique. In plain English, it is what makes you. The word personality comes
from the Latin root persona, meaning "mask." According to this root, personality is the
impression we make on others;
Sthe mask we present to the world
Personality is defined as "a unique set of traits and characteristics, relatively stable over
time." Clearly, personality is unique insofar as each of us has our own personality,
different from any other person's.
Determinants of Personality
Several factors influence the shaping of our personality. Major among these are
1. Heredity,
2. Culture,
3. Family Background,
4. Our Experiences through Life,
5. And The People we interact with.
There are some genetic factors that play a part in determining certain aspects of what we
tend to become. Whether we are tall or short, experience good health or ill health, are
quickly irritable or patient, are all characteristics which can, in many cases, be traced to
heredity. How we learn to handle others' reactions to us (eg.our appearance) and the
inherited traits can also influence how our personality is shaped.
Culture:
The culture and the values we are surrounded by significantly tend to shape our personal
values and inclination. Thus, people born in different cultures tend to develop different
types of personalities which in turn significantly influence their behaviours. India being a
vast country with a rich diversity of cultural background provides a good study on this.
For example, we have seen that people in Gujarat are more enterprising than people from
other states, Punjabees are more diligent and hardworking, people from Bengal are more
creative and with an intellectual bend and the likes.
Family Background:
The socio-economic status of the family, the number of children in the family and birth
order, and the background and education of the parents and extended members of the
family such as uncles and aunts, influence the shaping of personality to a considerable
extent.
First-borns usually have different experiences, during childhood than those born later;
Members in the family mould the character of all children, almost from birth, in several
ways -by expressing and expecting their children to conform to their own values, through
role modeling, and through various reinforcement strategies such as rewards and
punishments which are judiciously dispensed. Think of how your own personality has
been shaped by your family background and parental or sibling influences!
Experiences in Life:
Whether one trusts or mistrusts others, is miserly or generous, have a high or low self
esteem and the like, is at least partially related to the past experiences the individual has
had. Imagine if someone came to you and pleaded with you to lend him Rs. 100 which he
promised to return in a week's time, and you gave it to him even though it was the last
note you had in your pocket to cover the expenses for the rest of that month. Suppose that
the individual never again showed his face to you and you have not been able to get hold
of him for the past three months. Suppose also that three such incidents happened to you
with three different individuals in the past few months. What is the probability that you
would trust another person who comes and asks you for a loan tomorrow? Rather low,
one would think. Thus, certain personality characteristics are moulded by frequently
occurring positive or negative experiences in life.
People We Interact With
"A Person is known by the company he or she keeps" is a common adage. The
implication is that people persuade each other and tends to associate with members who
are more like them in their attitudes and values. Beginning childhood, the people we
interact with influence us. Primarily our, parents and siblings, then our teachers and class
mates, later our friends and colleagues, and so on. The influence of these various
individuals and groups shapes our personality. For. Instance, if we are to be accepted as
members of our work group, we have to conform to the values of that group which mayor
may not always be palatable to us; if we don't, we will not be treated as valued members
of the group. Our desire to be a part of the group and belong to it as its member, will
compel many of us to change certain aspects of our personality (for instance, we may
have to become less aggressive, more cooperative, etc.). Thus, our personality becomes
shaped throughout our lives by at least some of the people and groups we interact with.
In summary, our personality is a function of both heredity and other external factors that
shape it. It is important to know what specific personality predispositions influence work
behaviors.
Theories of personality

Psychoanalytic Theory
Definition: The Psychoanalytic Theory is the personality theory, which is based on the notion
that an individual gets motivated more by unseen forces that are controlled by the conscious and
the rational thought

Sigmund Freud is closely related to the psychoanalytic theory. According to him, the human behavior is
formed through an interaction between three components of the mind, i.e. Id, Ego and Super Ego.

Id: Id is the primitive part of the mind that seeks immediate gratification of biological or instinctual
needs. The biological needs are the basic physical needs and while the instinctual needs are the natural
or unlearned needs, such as hunger, thirst, sex, etc. Id is the unconscious part of the mind; that act
instantaneously without giving much thought to what is right and what is wrong

Super-Ego: The Super-Ego is related to the social or the moral values that an individual inculcates as he
matures. It acts as an ethical constraint on behavior and helps an individual to develop his conscience.
As the individual grows in the society, he learns the cultural values and the norms of the society which
help him to differentiate between right and wrong.

Ego: Ego is the logical and the conscious part of the mind which is associated with the reality principle.
This means it balances the demands of Id and super-ego in the context of real life situations. Ego is
conscious and hence keep a check on Id through a proper reasoning of an external environment.

Hence, these are the fundamental structures of the mind, and there is always a conflict between these
three. The efforts to attain the balance between these defines the way we behave in the external
environment.

In modern times Sigmund Freud is the first psychologist to put forth the
Psychoanalytic theory of personality. Freud urbanized this theory of
personality out of his observations of patients over a period of forty years. He
had deterministic and pessimistic view of human nature. Psychoanalytic
approach can be divided into three parts:
Structure of personality: It has two dimensions – topographical and
dynamic. Topographical is further subdivided into: a) conscious, b)
subconscious; and c) unconscious. Conscious comprises in it all those
experiences and activities which have to do with present. Subconscious
comprises all those experiences, desires, thoughts, feelings which are
not accessible at the level of conscious but can be easily accessed
through deliberate effort. For instance, if someone asks you the name
of the city you lived in throughout childhood. You will readily recall it.
Unconscious represents our sexual, immoral, antisocial and hateful
desires which we can‘t afford to express in our daily life. So such
desire are repressed and relegated to unconscious.
Dynamic model or dimension represents those characteristics of
personality which are instrumental in resolution of mental conflicts
arising from basic instincts. It has agents or instruments at its disposal
to accomplish this task and these are: a) Id, b) ego and c) superego. Id
is biological in nature and represents those instincts which are innate,
unorganized, sexual, and unlawful. It operates on pleasure principle.
Ego, though develops out of Id, is reality oriented. Ego remains at the
driving seat of personality and functions at all three levels i.e.
conscious, subconscious and unconscious. Super Ego is the moral
aspect of personality and operates on idealistic principle. It represents
the dos and don‘ts of behaviour. It grows out of process of
socialization.
Dynamics of personality: It contains: a) instincts, b) anxiety, and c)
mental mechanisms. Instincts refer to innate bodily energy or
excitation and guide all our behaviour. They are of two types, life
instinct or Eros and death instincts or Thanatos. Anxiety is an
affective, unpleasant state which warns ego of impending danger so
that individual can adapt himself to the environment. Freud mentioned
three types of anxiety – realistic anxiety, neurotic anxiety and moral
anxiety. Mental mechanisms are activated to protect ego the core of
personality. Mental mechanisms are self-deceptive and operate at the
level of unconscious. These distort the perception of reality thereby
reducing the degree of anxiety.
Development of personality: Freud delineated five stages of
personality development. These stages are: a) Oral stage, b) Anal
stage, c) Phallic stage, d) Latency stage, and e) Genital stage
Stages Focus of activity
Pleasure centers in the mouth and leads
to activities of sucking and biting etc.
Oral Pleasure centers on bowel and bladder
(0-18 months) elimination
Anal Pleasure centre is genitals
(18-36 months) Touching and fondling of genitals give
Phallic pleasure
(4 to 6 years) Children repress their sexual impulses
Latency and
(7 to 11 years) channelize them into socially acceptable
Genital activities such as sports, arts.
(From the onset of puberty) Pleasure zone is the genital.
Maturation of sexual interests

Socio-Psychological Theory
Definition: The Socio-Psychological Theory asserts that individual and society are interlinked.
This means, an individual strives to meet the needs of the society and the society helps him to
attain his goals. Through this interaction, the personality of an individual is determined

The Socio-Psychological theory is the contribution of Adler, Horney, Forman and Sullivan. This
theory is also called as Neo-Freudian Theory because it differs from the Freud’s psychoanalytic
theory in the following respects:

1. According to this theory, the social variables and not the biological instincts, are the
important determinants in shaping the individual’s personality.
2. Here, the motivation is conscious, i.e. an individual knows what are his needs and wants
and what kind of behavior is required to meet these needs.
Thus, the theorists believe that socio-psychological factors, i.e. the combination of both the
social (family, society, wealth, religion) and the psychological factors (feelings, thoughts,
beliefs) play an important role in shaping the personality of an individual.

It is the society from where the individual inculcates the cultural values and the social norms,
which helps him in shaping his personality and influences his behavior according to the external
situations.

Trait Theory
Definition: The Trait Theory asserts that an individual is composed of a set of definite
predisposition attributes called as traits. These traits are distinguishable and often long lasting
quality or a characteristic of a person that makes him different from the others.

Allport’s Trait Theory: This theory is given by Gordon Allport. According to him, the
personality of an individual can be studied through a distinction between the common traits and
the personal dispositions.

The common traits are used to compare the people on the grounds of six values, such as
religious, social, economic, political, aesthetic and theoretical. Besides the common traits, there
are personal dispositions which are unique and are classified as follows:

 Cardinal Traits: The cardinal traits are powerful, and few people possess personality
dominated by a single trait. Such as Mother Teressa’s altruism.
 Central Traits: These traits are the general characteristics possessed by many
individuals in the varying degrees. Such as loyalty, friendliness, agreeableness, kindness,
etc.
 Secondary Trait: The secondary traits show why at times, a person behaves differently
than his usual behavior. Such as a jolly person may get miserable when people try to
tease him.

Cattell’s Trait Theory: This trait theory is given by Raymond Cattell. According to him, the
sample of a large number of variables should be studied to have a proper understanding of the
individual personality.

He collected the life data (everyday life behaviors of individuals), experimental data
(standardizing experiments by measuring actions), questionnaire data (responses gathered from
the introspection of an individual’s behavior) and done the factor analysis to identify the traits
that are related to one another.

By using the factor analysis method, he identified 16 key personality factors:

1. Abstractedness – Imaginative Vs Practical

2. Warmth – Outgoing Vs Reserved
3. Vigilance – Suspicious Vs Trusting
 4. Tension – Impatient Vs Relaxed
5. Apprehension – Worried Vs Confident
6. Emotional Stability – Calm Vs anxious
7. Liveliness – Spontaneous Vs Restrained
8. Dominance – Forceful Vs Submissive
9. Social Boldness – Uninhibited Vs Shy
10. Perfectionism – Controlled Vs Undisciplined
11. Privateness – Discreet Vs Open
12. Sensitivity – Tender Vs Tough
13. Self Reliance – Self sufficient Vs Dependent
14. Rule-Consciousness – Conforming Vs Non-Conforming
15. Reasoning – Abstract Vs Concrete
16. Openness to Change – Flexible Vs Stubborn

The trait theory is based on the assumption that the traits are common to many individuals and
they vary in absolute amounts. Also, the traits remain consistent over a period of time, and thus
can be measured through the behavioral indicators.

Trait approach tries to explain personality on the basis of certain

characteristics. These traits are used to explain the why of behaviour and
consistency in behaviour. Allport and cattell are the two main proponents of
trait approach. Allport mentioned two types of traits namely; common traits
and personal traits. Common traits are those found in majority of persons of a
culture while personal traits are specific to a person and not found in other
members of a culture. Allport further divided personal traits into three
categories – a) cardinal dispositions, it has overwhelming influence on the
behaviour of person and is manifested in all the activities a person does. For
instance, peace and non-violence were cardinal traits of Mahatma Gandhi. His
whole life is woven approximately these traits, b) central disposition, these are
of much importance but do not parallel cardinal traits. For instance, some
people are very social and fun loving. Central traits may number five to ten in
a person, c) secondary traits, though prominent in a person‘s behaviour they
do not help much in explaining the basic nature of a person. For instance, hair
style, eating habits or dressing style of a person.
Another significant trait theory is given through Cattell. He mentioned two
types of traits namely; source traits and surface traits. Source traits underlie
the personality and are not reflected in day to day interaction of a person. They
are observable only when we try to organize surface traits. For instance,
unselfishness, humor, and gregariousness taken together point to friendliness
(a source trait) in the personality of a person. Surface traits are observable
characteristics of a person. For instance, cheerfulness, integrity may easily be
discerned in the behaviour of a person.

Self Theory
Definition: The Self Theory emphasizes on the set of perceptions an individual has for himself
and the perceptions of the relationships he has with others and the other aspects of life. Carl
Rogers has contributed significantly towards the self theory

The self theory comprises of four factors that are explained

below:

1. Self-Image: Self-image means what an individual thinks about himself. Everybody has
certain beliefs about themselves, such as who or what they are, these beliefs form the self
image and identity of a person.

According to Erikson, identity is formed through a lifelong development usually

unconscious to the individual and his society, i.e. an individual forms perception about
himself unconsciously, according to the social circumstances.

2. Ideal-Self: The ideal-self means, the way an individual would like to be. It is very much
different from the self-image, as it shows the ideal position perceived by an individual,
whereas the self-image is the reality that an individual perceives.Thus, there could be a
gap between these two.

The ideal-self-acts as a stimulus to motivate an individual to undertake those activities

that are in compliance with the characteristics of his ideal self.

3. Looking-Glass-Self: The looking-glass self means, an individual’s perception of how

others are perceiving his qualities or feeling about him. Simply, it is the perception of
other’s perception, i.e. perceiving what others perceive about yourself and not see what
actually you are.
4. Real-Self: The real-self is what others show you with respect to your self-image. An
individual’s self-image is confirmed when others responses to him and shares their
beliefs or perception, about what they actually feel about him.
 This is taken as feedback from the environment that helps an individual to adjusts his
self-image accordingly and be in line with the cues he had received.

Thus, according to Carl Rogers, the self theory is composed of several perceptions of “I” or
“me” and the perception of relationships of “I” and “me” to others.

Components of personality

The Big Five Model

MBTI may be deficient in valid supporting evidence, but that can't be said for the fivefactor
model of personality 'more typically called the Big Five.
In contemporary, an impressive body of research supports that five basic dimensions.
motivate all others and encompass most of the significant variation in human personality .
The Big Five factors are:

Introversion-extroversion
It is a bipolar trait. People with predominance of introversion are selfcentered. Such people are
idealistic, imaginative, shy and secluded.
Predominance of thoughtfulness steers them in the world of brooding, fantasy
and daydreaming. These people take considerable time in reaching decision
and are worried in relation to the future. Such people are theoretical and often
are philosophers, poets, scientist and professors.
Extroverts are more inclined to social activities. They are gregarious and
social through nature. Such people are realistic, practical, talkative, and active.
They show more interest in leadership. Though, very few people are totally
extrovert or introvert. Majority of the people fall in flanked by that is, they
exhibit some degree of introversion and some degree of extroversion in their
behaviour and hence are described Ambiverts. Now the question is why are
some people introvert and some extrovert? Are there any physiological
correlates of it? Researches reveal that introvert and extroverts differ in
cortical excitation level. Extroverts have lower cortical excitation threshold,
so, small amount of stimulation is enough to activate them
• Extraversion. This dimension captures one's comfort level with relation ships.
Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be
reserved, timid, and quiet.
• Agreeableness. This dimension refers to an individual's tendency to defer to
others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, affectionate, and trusting. People
who score low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.
• Conscientiousness. This dimension is a measure of reliability. A highly
conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those
who score low on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and
unreliable.
• Emotional stability. This dimension taps a person's ability to bear up stress.
People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and
secure. Those with highly negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious,
Depressed, and insecure.
• Openness to experience. The final dimension addresses an individual's range of
interests and fascination with novelty. Extremely open people are creative,
curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the open- ness
category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar.

THE ORIGINS OF PERSONALITY: THE NATURE-NURTURE DEBATE

For psychologists studying the development of personality, "nature vs. nurture" was a
central debate. "Nature vs. nurture" suggests that biology (a person's genes) and society
(the environment in which a person grows up) are competing developmental forces. In
the past, the debate sought to find whether one may be more important than the other.
Today most psychologists would concede both nature and nurture are necessary for
personality development. Both help to make us who we are