Personal Development

may be 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,
behavior, and thinking skills to reach their
fullest potential as human beings.
 Three Aspects of Human Development
Developmental Scientists identified the Three Aspects or Domains of Human Development
(Papalia and Feldman 2012):
 1. Cognitive Development

This covers our capacity to learn,

to speak, to understand, to
reason, and to create.
2. Physical Development

This covers the growth of the

body and the brain, motor, and
sensory skills, even physical
health.
3. Psychosocial Development

Which includes our social

interactions with other people, our
emotions, attitudes, self-identity,
personality, beliefs, and values.
Factors that Influenced Human Development

Heredity (nature)

or the inborn traits passed on by

the generations of offspring
from both sides of biological
parents’ families.
 Factors that Influenced Human Development

Environment(nurture)

It is the world outside of us and the

experiences that result from our
contact and interaction with this
external world.
 Factors that Influenced Human Development

Maturation

is the natural progression of the brain and the

body that affects the cognitive (thinking and
intelligence), psychological (emotion, attitude,
and self-identity), and social (relationships)
dimensions of a person’s development are most
pronounced during childhood and adolescence
stage.
The foundation theory of Personal
Development is Psychology which
means “The study of the soul”. To
better understand the difference
between Personal and Personality,
refer to:
- it’s who we are.
Our personalities
determine how we act Culture
and react, as well as Parents Friends
how we interact with
Environment
and respond to the
Genetics Work
world. 
- derived from the Latin
word ‘persona’ meaning
‘mask’.
- The relatively stable
feelings, thoughts, and
behavioural patterns a
person has.

If personality is
stable, does this
mean that it does
not change?
It does. Changes occur.
 - an improvement in all spheres of an
individual’s life, be it with friends, in
the office or in any other
environment.

IMPORTANCE:
• Personality development grooms an individual and helps him
make a mark of his/her own
• Personality development goes a long way in reducing stress
and conflicts.
• Personality development helps you develop a positive attitude
in life.
IMPORTANCE:
• Personality development helps you develop a
positive attitude in life. 
• Personality development plays an important role in
developing not only your outer but also inner self.
IMPORTANCE:
• Personality development helps an individual
to inculcate positive qualities like punctuality,
flexible attitude, willingness to learn, friendly
nature, eagerness to help others and so on. 
 Personal

“ own or belonging or relating

to a particular person E.g.
Personal Cell Phone, Personal
Hygiene. or simply our self.
Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pointed
out that as human beings we have needs to
fulfill, and these needs have specific levels. We
need to comply with the needs below before we
get to the top.
 
First, we need to satisfy our Physiological
Needs. In order to fulfil this need, our physical
body has to do its natural function such as
breathe, eat, drink, sleep, excrete, perform sexual
activities (depending on the age of the person)
and etc.
 
 
Openness
- the degree to which a person is curious, original,
intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas

People high in openness are highly motivated to

learn new skills, and they do well in training settings
They also have an advantage when they enter into a
new organization. Their open-mindedness leads
them to seek a lot of information and feedback
about how they are doing and to build relationships,
which leads to quicker adjustment to the new job.
Conscientiousness
- the degree to which a person is organized, systematic,
punctual, achievement oriented, and dependable

Conscientiousness is the one personality

trait that uniformly predicts how high a
person’s performance will be, across a
variety of occupations and jobs.
In addition to their high performance,
conscientious people have higher levels of
motivation to perform, lower levels of
turnover, lower levels of absenteeism, and
higher levels of safety performance at
work.
Extraversion
- the degree to which a person is outgoing,
talkative, and sociable, and enjoys being in
social situations
Extraverts do well in social
situations, and as a result they
tend to be effective in job
interviews.
They have an easier time than
introverts when adjusting to a
new job. They actively seek
information and feedback, and
build effective relationships,
which helps with their
adjustment.
Agreeableness
- The degree to which a person is nice, tolerant,
sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm.
People who are high in agreeableness are likeable
people who get along with others. Not
surprisingly, agreeable people help others at work
consistently, and this helping behavior is not
dependent on being in a good mood.
They are also less likely to retaliate when other
people treat them unfairly.
Neuroticism
- the degree to which a person is anxious,
irritable, aggressive, temperamental, and
moody
These people have a tendency to have emotional
adjustment problems and experience stress and
depression on a habitual basis.
People very high in neuroticism experience a
number of problems at work.
 Values and Attitudes

- refer to stable life goals that people have,

reflecting what is most important to them
- Broad preferences concerning appropriate
courses of action or outcomes
The values that are important to people tend
to affect the types of decisions they make, how
they perceive their environment, and their
actual behaviors.
Early family experiences are important
influences over the dominant values.
Values of a generation also change and evolve
in response to the historical context that the
generation grows up in.
The values a person holds will affect his or her
employment.
Attitude
- A predisposition to respond in a positive or
negative way to someone or something in
one’s environment
- Influences by values and are acquired from
the same sources as values
- Focus on specific people or objects, whereas
values have a more general focus and are
more stable than attitude
 Self-esteem
- the degree to which a person
has overall positive feelings
about his or herself
People with high self-esteem
view themselves in a positive
light, are confident, and
respect themselves.
On the other hand, people with
low self-esteem experience
high levels of self-doubt and
question their self-worth.
Self-Efficacy
- a belief that one can perform a specific task
successfully
Self-efficacy is different from other
. personality traits in that it is job
specific.
People with high self-efficacy
setting higher goals for
themselves and being more
committed to these goals,
whereas people with low self-
efficacy tend to procrastinate.
Ways to Build Your Self-Confidence
• Take a self-inventory. (self-assessment)
Ways to Build Your Self-Confidence
• Set manageable goals.
Ways to Build Your Self-Confidence
• Find a mentor.
Ways to Build Your Self-Confidence
• Don’t judge yourself by your failures.
Ways to Build Your Self-Confidence
• Until you can feel confident, be sure to act
confident.
Ways to Build Your Self-Confidence
• Know when to
ignore negative
advice.
References:
• http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psyc
h101/personality/context.html
• http://www.personalitydevelopment.org/wha
t-is-personality-development-an-introduction-
to-personality-development.html
• http://managementstudyguide.com/importan
ce-of-personality-development.htm
 ACTIVITY
WRITING JOURNAL: Answer the following questions in the space provided below.
Questions are related with the Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

1. Using your own words, differentiate “NEEDS” to “WANTS”.

2. As a student, what are your own “needs” and “wants”

in life?

3. Inyour evaluation and understanding about yourself, in what

particular stage of Hierarchy of Needs you are in now? Explain
your answer.