Personality Development

Personality Development
PERSONALITY is the sum total of one's trait
and characteristics. There are other
definitions and most of these fall under one of
two headings. The first is equated to the social
skill. The personality of an individual could be
assessed by the effectiveness with which he
deals with other persons. The second considers
personality of the individual to consist of the
salient impression that he creates on others. A
person maybe described as "aggressive
personality" or a "submissive personality". The
person observing you and your outward
manifestations can immediately describe your
attitude or characteristics based on his
perception to the over-all impression .
COMPONENTS OF PERSONALITY •Spiritual and moral values:
This pertains to the relationship with God. These are piety,
religiosity, honesty, generosity, sincerity, responsibility,
keeping of promise, punctuality, devotion to duty, absence
of anti-social tendencies, etc.
•Psychosocial traits:
These traits refer to the ability to adjust to the society,
dominance-submissiveness, generosity, good manners,
extroversion-introversion lifestyle.
•Temperament:
This refers to self-control, emotional maturity and stability,
ability to cope with stress and strain and cool when he feels
irritable, etc.
•Physical or biological traits and characteristics :
These refer to the general physical attribute, height,
weight, size of the body, color of the hair, manner of
walking, health, etc.
•Capacities:
These refer to the mental capacity, or intelligence,
education, expertise, noted achievement and multiple
intelligence like talents in art, music, etc.
 STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

According to Birch (1998), personality consist of three major structures presented by Freud. These are
the Id, the ego, and the superego. Each of the three parts has its own function, producing a well-
balanced and well-integrated behavior.
 Id- This is the most primitive part of the personality. It represents all the instinctual drives such as:
sexual, aggressive and those concerned with the satisfaction of bodily needs.It operates on the
“pleasure principle”. In the new born baby, all mental processes are Id processes.
 Ego- It operates on the “ reality principle ” which means gratification of needs are postponed until
the appropriate time and place. For example, the young child learns that hunger will only be
satisfied when someone is available to prepare food.
 Superego-This equivalent to conscience. It represents the individual’s own internal framework of
what is “right” and “ wrong” as represented by the moral sanctions and inhibitors which exist in
the surrounding culture. The superego merges around the age of 4 to 6.
Freud claims that these three parts are always in conflict with one another, with the Id trying to attain
gratification of impulses and the superego setting, often unreasonable high moral standards. The ego is
obliged to maintain an appropriate balance between the two opposing forces and the external demands
of social reality.
 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

There are outstanding characteristics of individual, which are by-product of heredity

and environment. The theories explain the development and emergence of these
personality traits and characteristics. These theories by Hilgard (1962) as cited by
Calderon are:
1) Physique (Body types)
2) Temperament (Physiology types)
3) Behavior (Psychological types)
 PHYSIQUE- This is a bodily constitution, health and vigor, associated with
temperament.

 Kretschemer’s classification
 1) Asthenic- A person is described as tall, thin body associated with schizophrenia or
schizothyme temperament, a mental disorder, characterized by splitting if personality
dissociation, emotional deterioration, and out of ideational content.
 2) Pyknic- He is described as a short, fat body with cyclothymic temperament, a mild manic-
depressive psychosis involving recurring cycles of exhilaration and depression.
 3) Dysplastic- A bodily defective and handicapped person.
4)Normal- There is only mild form of asthenic and pyknic characteristics and bodies and
temperaments are appropriate and accepted as normal by the majority.
 Sheldon’s classification
1) Endomorphic (endomorph)- This person is characterized by prominence of the intestines and
visceral organs around the body, but weak muscles and bones.
2) Mesomorphic (mesomorph)- He is an athletic type of person with strong and rippling muscles,
broad shouldered and narrow-hipped.
3) Ectomorphic (ectomorph)- He could be described as tall, thin, and stoop-shouldered, with
delicate skin, fare hair and sensitive nervous system.
TEMPERAMENT- Type based on body chemistry and endocrine balance .
Temperament Is dependent upon the predominant body fluid

 Sheldon’s Temperament are:

1) Viscerotonic- This is characterized by predominantly endomorphic, loves to eat, seeks bodily comfort,
sociable, relaxed in posture and movement, and slow in reactions.
2) Sonatotonic- He is described as predominantly mesomorph, energetic, likes exercise, direct in his
manners and loves competitive aggressiveness.
3) Cerebrototonic- He is predominantly described as ectomorphic, sensitive and emotional, worries much,
does not like groups and love solitude.
 Greek classification is usually attributed to Hipprates :
1) Sanguine- Is described as warm-hearted, pleasant, quick to react, balanced emotional excitement.
Predominant body fluid is blood.
2) Melancholic- He suffers from depression and sadness, unpleasant, calm emotion. Predominant body fluid
is black bile.
3) Choleric- Is described as easily gets angry and quick to react, irritable, easily excited emotionally.
Predominant body fluid is the yellow bile.
4) Phlegmatic- Listless, slow, apathetic, calm, emotionally weak. Predominant body fluid is the phlegm.
BEHAVIOR- These are Jung’s theories.

 Introvert- He is a person who prefers to be alone, loner, shy, withdrawn, but may be a leader in a
discussion if his level of intelligence is high.

 Extrovert- He is a person who tends to be very sociable, egocentric, emotional, orthodox,

outgoing, well dressed and who prefers to work that deals with people like sales representatives.

 Ambivert- This is a normal type of person who is in-between the two extremes of introvertion and
extroversion.
 DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

In the course of development, the children pass

through a series of stages according to Freud. During
each stage, satisfaction is gained as the libido (or
sexual energy) is directed towards a different part of
the body. He referred to as “sexual instinct” which
means “physical pleasurable” for children. In the
later development, each stage entails problems to be
overcome. If there is a failure to negotiate
satisfactorily a particular stage results in fixation or
halting of development at that stage. Fixation causes
the individual to retain some of the characteristics of
that stage in later life and in severe cases result in
neuroses in adult life.
THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF
PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
1) Oral Stage (Birth-1 year)- The Id is dominant in this stage. Libidinal energy is
centered on the mouth and the child gains satisfaction from sucking and biting.
Freud also proposed that the oral stage can be subdivided into different sub-
phases which are:
 Passive
 Receptive
 Sucking sub phase of the earlier stage
 And the active, aggressive, biting, sub phase of the later stage
Freud also added that fixation may be cause either by the over-indulgence or
the frustration of the child’s oral needs. A child whose oral needs are not
satisfied will exhibit fixation in the later life in the form of addictions such as
smoking, gluttony, alchoholism and nail-biting.
 2) The Anal Stage ( 2-3 years old)- This stage focuses on the pleasurable
sensations experienced in the mucous membranes of the rectum. The child
starts to control some bodily functions like gaining satisfaction from expelling
and withdrawing feces. A significant event in the child’s life is the parents’
effort to impose toilet training. Fixation at the anal stage may result to a
personality that exceedingly preoccupied with cleanliness and orderliness.

3) Phallic Stage (3-6 years old)- In this stage, the libidinal energy centers
on the genitals and feelings becomes overly sexual. Describing first the
sequence of events for the male child, Freud defined important issues
arising from the Oedipus Complex. The boy’s fantasies include sexual
intimacy with his mother. He envies his father’s intimacy relationship with
his mother. The Oedipus Complex is resolved when the child identifies with
his father in order to appease him and become like him in many ways as
possible.
  On the other hand, the Electra Complex is a girl’s identification
with her mother, the former believing that she is already castrated.
Since she does not possess a penis, she suffers from penis envy.
This leads her to seek a strong love attachment to her father, the
possessor of a penis, and finally to identify with her mother in
order to become like her.

Birch(1998), Has further stated the satisfactory resolution of the Oedipus/Electra

parent. Two (2) important consequences stem from this identification:

1). The child adopts the gender role, which will assume through life.

2) The child adopts the parents’ moral standards , attributes and prohibitions,
together with the moral norms of the society they reflect. Thus the superego is
born and the values and beliefs of a culture are passed on from one generation to
the next.
4) Latency Stage (6-puberty)
This is a stage which is characterized by calmness, following
the turmoil of the phallic stage. During this time, the libido is
submerged and does not center upon any bodily area. It is a time
for ego development, particularly in relation to social and
intellectual skills.

5) The Genital Stage (Puberty-Adult)

There is a renewed interest in sexual pleasure and

all previous sexual drives Associated with particular
regions of the body which come together in an
integrated set of adult attitudes and feelings, since the
hormonal changes now stimulates the re-emergence of
the libido. During this stage, individuals start to
become sexually mature and begin to explore their
sexual feelings and desires more maturely and
responsibly.
 PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
 The progress in and insistence on quality of education, coupled
with rapid strides in spread of knowledge calls for equally
developed and able recipients. Thus a definite need is felt for
well-developed personality and character in our life. The
Vedantic concept of personality development is based on the
concept of perfection of each soul and self-confidence for
realization and manifestation of this inner knowledge.
 The five dimensions involved in forming the human personality:
1. Physical self
2. Energy Self
3. Intellectual Self
4. Mental Self
5. Blissful Self
1) Physical Self
relates to our senses. Proper nourishment and
growth of physical faculties is essential by way of
balanced diet, recreation, music, and care and
concern from near and dear ones. Self confidence
could be developed by just merely patting on the
back or shoulder for any achievement in life.

2) Energy Self
relates to metabolism and the gross
manifestations of energy (prana),e.g. act of
breathing. The control of prana is achieved by
control of anger, anxiety and restlessness.
3) Intellectual Self- Pertains to discrimination power and knowledge
or the cognitive domain.

4) Mental Self- Is related to stress and psychology, selflessness and

control, concentration and calmness and mind plays essential
roles.

5) Anandamaya Kosha or Blissful self

Is the function of state of being. It calls for remaining calm and
unaffected, nay for remaining happy, in all the frivolities of
world, in all neck -breaking competition and struggle, failure
and success.