Chapter 1

Understanding Yourself and Others

Essay Questions

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

Personality describes someone’s usual pattern of behavior, feelings, and thoughts.

It is how someone acts across time or across situations. It refers to the enduring
characteristics and behavior that comprise a person’s unique adjustment to life, including
major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns. It is
shaped by many factors, including genetics, parents, peers, birth order, and culture.

Relating genetics to personality, some studies conclude that possessing certain

genes can significantly impact sociability, predisposition to anxiety or depression, self-
control, and more behaviors. Consequently, personality is generally associated with why
we do things and is shaped by our genetics and upbringing.

The socioeconomic status of the family, the educational level of the parents, and
other family members, as well as the order of birth, shape the personality of an individual
to a significant extent. Family members, particularly parents try to influence the behavior
of children to represent their own values, roles, dreams, etc.

People influence each other and such stimulus shape personality. For this reason,
one’s personality is constantly changing and is shaped throughout one’s life depending on
the relationships that we’ve had in our lifetime.

On the other hand, culture relates to a shared system of beliefs, attitudes,

possessions, attributes, customs, and values that define group behavior. Thus, it plays a
significant role in influencing the behavior of an individual. It shapes our personal values
and dispositions. The values and norms shared by its members set it apart from other
social groups.
2. How can personality be considered a hub topic in the social sciences? Explain
what fields of study go into trying to understand personality.

The study of personality (psychology) has a focus on understanding the functioning

of the person as a whole and is thus located at the center (hub) of the other subdisciplines
of psychology and related sciences devoted to the study of human nature. It touches on
topics important across many different areas of psychology.

The following are other areas or fields of study that would relate to the study of
personality. Developmental psychology is a field that examines the changes that we
experience in our personality as we get older. Neuroscience seeks to analyze the brain
or the biological basis of personality and behavior. Clinical psychology is an area of
study to understand the relationship between personality traits and mental health issues.
Industrial-organizational psychology focuses on the behavior and personality of people
in the workplace. Social psychology is for understanding how people function within
small and large groups.

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?

The person-situation dynamic is a debate between those who defended the idea
that stable personality traits could predict behavior versus those who argued that
personality didn't really exist and that the situation was much more important.

There are four factors that we need to consider as we negotiate the interaction
between the two. The first factor is personality can be impacted by experiences that
can be demonstrated in situations that last a long time, such as going to a certain school
or moving in with someone. It means that personality changes over time when the situation
that we’re in changes, too.
 The second factor is people respond differently to the same situation. In this
sense, we can cite the scenario about going to parties. This proves that not everyone likes
or enjoys parties, some stay out of the limelight and sideways.

As for the third factor, people choose their situations, it denotes that people
choose situations that they are most comfortable with, whether it is cooking, playing
sports, reading a book, or just binge-watching Netflix shows. We can also say that
introverts would rather choose to stay home than attend a party compared to extroverts
who love to go out and enjoy moments with other people.

And lastly, the fourth factor is people change the situations they enter. This can
be manifested in instances when a situation is changed by the presence or the arrival of
another person with a different personality. The involvement of another person could result
in a change in the atmosphere and flow of a conversation or situation.