Chapter 1

Understanding Yourself and Others

1. Define personality and explain the factors that influence one’s personality.

Based on what I have read, the meaning of "personality" describes someone’s usual
pattern of behavior, feelings, and thoughts. By usual, we mean how someone acts across time
or across situations. For me, in layman’s terms, "personality" is the attitude of an individual
towards a person and in handling any given situation.

Personality is shaped by many factors, including genetics, parents, peers, birth order,
and culture. In my opinion, genetics determines whether a child inherits his or her parents'
intellectual ability. Parents: anything that the child sees from his or her parents is considered
right, so they might or might not replicate those good or bad deeds. Peers, we cannot control
who we are going to get along with. As I have learned, every person is unique, but we can
duplicate whatever trait our peers have. Birth order: it’s really hard to tell the rank of each
person according to birth order because I am an only child. I act as the eldest and youngest at
the same time. But on the other hand, in my partner’s family, there are six children. He is the
third child among his other siblings. I cannot tell that he is mature enough to be the "Kuya"
because their fourth sibling acts as the "Ate of the household." Finally, culture—something I
believe is common, such as in Japan, where I have heard that most people are respectful. I
mean, we Filipinos are also respectful in a way, but it’s not really our thing here. Unlike in Japan,
they really respect one another, and it has passed on even in the new generation.

2. How can personality be considered a hub topic in the social sciences? Explain what

Based on what I have understood, personality is considered a hub topic in social science
because each person’s personality is greatly involved with or has an impact on their interactions
with society. A personality is a recognizable way of feeling, thinking, and acting. Personality,
which includes moods, attitudes, and opinions, is most plainly displayed in interactions with
other people. It covers innate and learned behavioral characteristics that distinguish one person
from another and can be observed in how people interact with their environment and social
groups.

The following are the fields of study in understanding personality. First, clinical
psychology—from what I've read, this is a branch of mental or behavioral health care that
includes two components: personality disorders and psychological assessment. Second,
industrial organizational psychology deals with the behavior of employees in the workplace and
applies psychological approaches in the work environment. Two components are leadership and
assessment. Third, social psychology deals with social interactions. This is the feeling, thoughts,
or behavior that occurs in the presence of other people, and the two components are
self-concept and self-esteem. Next is developmental psychology, which, in my understanding, is
the study of a person’s stages in life. It described how an individual’s personality changed while
growing up—from infant to adult. Two components are personality development and child
temperament. Lastly, there is "neuroscience," which is the study of the nervous system and
consists of several sub-fields ranging from the study of neurochemicals to the study of behavior
and thought with a component of "personality neuroscience."

3. Dissect the person–situation dynamic. How does each contribute to our understanding
of behavior, and what are the four factors that we need to consider as we negotiate the
interaction between the two?

According to what I read, social psychologists were discovering that an individual's

environment, both the people around them and their physical surroundings, had a significant
impact on their conduct. The person-situation in personality psychology centers on the question
of whether a person's personality or environment has a bigger influence on how they behave.

Four Factors:
1. Personality can be impacted by experiences
- An individual changes over time. For example, I did not go to college after high school,
but my close friend did. She grew professionally at a young age as she already had a
bachelor's degree and speaks about businesses most of the time, while I'm still starting
to take my bachelor’s degree after 15 years. I grew up in a different field and only speak
about the experiences and struggles I had in my chosen field.

2. People respond differently to the same situation

- For example, some of my friends enjoy going to the beach or island-hopping on
vacation. But for me, I prefer to be on the shore waiting for them to come back.

3. People choose their situations

- The best example I have is our weekends prior to entering PUP-OUS. Most of my
colleagues enjoy drinking and going out. While I enjoy sleeping, eating and watching
Netflix at home.

4. People change the situations they enter

- It’s like what I am doing right now. I already have a commitment at work, but I decided
to become a working student and started school with PUP-OUS. The situation has now
shifted from a full-time employee who only needs to meet work metrics to a student or
employee who must meet both work metrics and school work deadlines.