- Personality is the pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that make a person unique.
- Type approach groups people into categories like introvert and extrovert.
- Trait approach measures qualities like shyness or friendliness.
- The interactional approach explains behaviour through both traits and situations.
- Behaviour changes in different situations due to both internal traits and external factors.
Definitions [10]
Definition: Personality
Personality refers to a relatively stable pattern of behaviour of a person from one situation to another.
Definition: Self
Self refers to the totality of an individual’s conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts, and feelings with regard to herself or himself.
Definition: Personal Identity
Personal identity refers to those attributes of a person that make her/him different from others.
Definition: Social Identity
Social identity refers to those aspects of a person that link her/him to a social or cultural group or are derived from it.
Definition: Self-concept
The way we perceive ourselves and the ideas we hold about our competencies and attributes is also called self-concept.
Definition: Self-control
Learning to delay or defer the gratification of needs is called self-control.
Definition: Self-regulation
Self-regulation refers to our ability to organise and monitor our own behaviour.
Definition: Personality
- According to Norman Munn, “Personality is a unique combination of an individual's physical structure, needs, interests, abilities, and aptitudes.”
- According to Gordon Allport, “Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to the environment.”
- Warren states that "Personality is the entire mental organisation of a human being at any stage of his development."
- According to Dashiell, "The system of reactions and reaction possibilities in toto as viewed by fellow members of the society is called one 'personality'."
- Morton Prince has defined personality as "the sum total of all the biological, innate dispositions, impulses, tendencies, appetites and instincts of the individual and the acquired dispositions and tendencies acquired by experience."
Define personality, according to Eysenck.
According to Eysenck (1971), “Personality is the more or less stable and enduring organization of a person’s character, temperament, intellect and physique, which determine his unique adjustment to the environment.”
Define personality according to Cattell.
According to Raymond Cattell (1970), “Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation.”
Key Points
Key Points: Self and Personality
- The concepts of self and personality help us understand why people think, feel, and behave differently.
- The self refers to how a person thinks and feels about themselves.
- Personality refers to the relatively stable patterns of behaviour shown by a person across different situations.
- Self lies at the core of personality and influences how experiences are organised and expressed in behaviour.
- Studying self and personality helps us understand our uniqueness as well as similarities with others.
Key Points: Concept of Self
- Self refers to a person’s awareness of who they are, including their thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
- The idea of self develops gradually from childhood through interaction with parents, friends, and society.
- Personal identity includes qualities, abilities, beliefs, and characteristics that make a person unique.
- Social identity includes aspects that connect a person to social or cultural groups, such as religion, region, or community.
- The self has a dual nature: it can be a subject (the knower or actor) and an object (the one being observed).
- There are different kinds of self, such as personal self (focused on individual needs and achievements) and social self (focused on relationships, cooperation, and social values).
Key Points: Cognitive and Behavioural Aspects of Self
- Self-concept is how we see and evaluate our own abilities and qualities.
- Self-esteem is our sense of self-worth; high self-esteem leads to confidence, while low self-esteem leads to anxiety and poor adjustment.
- Self-efficacy is the belief in our ability to achieve goals and control situations.
- High self-efficacy increases confidence and success in tasks.
- Self-regulation is the ability to control and manage our behaviour.
- Techniques like self-observation, self-instruction, and self-reinforcement help in self-control and goal achievement.
Key Points: Culture and Self
- Culture influences how individuals understand and define their self.
- In Western culture, the boundary between self and others is fixed and clearly separated.
- In Indian culture, the boundary between self and others is flexible and can expand to include others or society.
- Western cultures are mostly individualistic, focusing on personal independence and individuality.
- Indian and many Asian cultures are collectivistic, emphasizing harmony, group identity, and coexistence with others.
Key Points: Descriptive Personality Theories
Key Points: Measurement of Personality
- Personality assessment measures a person’s patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaviour.
- Personality tests measure typical behaviour and usually have no right or wrong answers.
- Self-report tests use questionnaires where people describe themselves.
- Projective techniques use ambiguous stimuli to reveal hidden aspects of personality.
- Behavioural analysis studies personality through observation of actions.
- A good assessment should have reliability, validity, and standardisation.
