Revision: Self and Personality Psychology Commerce (English Medium) Class 12 CBSE

Personality refers to a relatively stable pattern of behaviour of a person from one situation to another.

Self refers to the totality of an individual’s conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts, and feelings with regard to herself or himself.

Personal identity refers to those attributes of a person that make her/him different from others.

Social identity refers to those aspects of a person that link her/him to a social or cultural group or are derived from it.

The way we perceive ourselves and the ideas we hold about our competencies and attributes is also called self-concept.

Learning to delay or defer the gratification of needs is called self-control.

Self-regulation refers to our ability to organise and monitor our own behaviour.

According to Raymond Cattell (1970), “Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation.”

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.”

• 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."

Raymond Cattell defined personality as follows: "Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation."

• 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.

• 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).

• 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.

• 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.

• Personality: Consistent pattern of thoughts, feelings, actions.
• Temperament: Inherited style of emotional reactivity.
• Trait: Stable behavioural tendencies.
• Disposition: Learned propensity to behave in a certain way.
• Character: Moral and ethical quality.
• Habit: Automatic, context-triggered behaviour.
• Values: Core guiding beliefs.
• Self: Comprehensive self-concept across multiple frames.

• Personality type theories group people by similar traits to make behaviour easier to understand.
• Old theories like the Four Humours, Tridosha, and Trigunas link personality to body fluids, natural elements, or mental qualities.
• Modern types include Sheldon’s body types, Jung’s introvert–extrovert, and Type A–D, which relate to personality, health, habits, or energy levels.
• These types are helpful, but they can be too simple and don’t always fit everyone perfectly.
• They are used in schools, jobs, and counseling to better understand people and help them grow.

• Traits are stable personal qualities that influence how we think, feel, and act across situations.
• Allport classified traits as cardinal (rare but dominant), central (common), and secondary (situational).
• Cattell used statistics to find 16 source traits and created the 16PF personality test.
• The Five-Factor Model (OCEAN) includes Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
• Trait theory is useful for career choices and relationships, but it doesn’t fully explain how or why traits develop.

• Allport divided personality traits into cardinal, central, and secondary traits.
• Cardinal traits are dominant and shape a person’s whole life (e.g., Gandhi's truthfulness).
• Central traits are general qualities seen often in daily behavior (e.g., honesty, sociability).
• Secondary traits are situation-based and show up only sometimes (e.g., stage fear).
• These traits vary in strength and influence how a person thinks, feels, and acts.

• Cattell defined personality as the ability to predict behavior in different situations.
• He used factor analysis to identify 16 source traits, which are the core building blocks of personality.
• Traits were grouped into types like surface vs. source, ability, temperament, and dynamic traits.
• The Big Five model (OCEAN) summarizes his work into the following: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
• Cattell’s theory is used in education, career guidance, clinical psychology, and personality research.

• The Psychodynamic Approach was developed by Sigmund Freud and focuses on the role of unconscious forces in shaping personality.
• Freud proposed three levels of consciousness: conscious (aware thoughts), preconscious (can be brought to awareness), and unconscious (hidden desires and conflicts).
• The unconscious mind stores repressed wishes and instinctive drives, mainly sexual and aggressive, which influence behaviour.
• Personality has three structures: id (pleasure principle), ego (reality principle), and superego (moral principle). Their balance determines behaviour and stability.
• The id seeks immediate gratification, the ego acts realistically, and the superego guides moral behaviour.
• Anxiety arises from conflicts among id, ego, and superego, and the ego uses defence mechanisms to reduce it.
• Major defence mechanisms include repression, projection, denial, reaction formation, and rationalisation, which distort reality to protect the ego.

• Neo-Freudians focused on social, cultural, and relational factors in personality development.
• They believed personality can change across all life stages, not just in childhood.
• Ego and conscious thought play a central role, not just the unconscious mind.
• Real-world situations, not just inner childhood memories, contribute to who we are.

• Jung’s personality types include introverts (self-reflective), extroverts (social), and ambiverts (a mix of both).
• His psyche structure has three levels: conscious, personal unconscious, and collective unconscious (with shared symbols).
• Archetypes like the Hero, Mother, Shadow, and Wise Old Man appear in myths and stories worldwide.
• The four functions of personality are thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuition, guiding how we make decisions.
• Jung focused on self-realization, not just on past conflicts, unlike Freud—his ideas inspired tools like the MBTI for career and self-awareness.

• Personality & Anxiety – Social relationships shape personality; childhood rejection or overprotection causes basic anxiety.
• Causes of Neurosis – Cold or over-caring parenting creates insecurity and pressure, leading to neurotic behaviour.
• 3 coping styles: cling, control, or withdraw.
• Gender & Culture – Horney believed in womb envy (not penis envy) and said culture decides what’s “normal” or “neurotic.”
• Therapy Goals – Improve self-esteem, fix relationships, and help people grow into their true selves.

• Alfred Adler believed feelings of inferiority can cause mental disorders.
• Inferiority may lead to wrong beliefs and faulty thinking, affecting mental health.
• Adler’s theory, Individual Psychology, states that human behaviour is purposeful and goal-directed.
• Personal goals motivate behaviour and help overcome feelings of inadequacy.
• An inferiority complex from childhood must be overcome for healthy personality development.

• 8 Life Stages – Erikson’s theory shows how personality grows from birth to old age through 8 stages.
• Crisis = Growth or Struggle – Each stage has a key conflict; solving it well builds strength, failing it causes problems.
• Real-Life Links – Examples such as trusting parents or choosing a career show how the stages apply in daily life.
• Not Always Perfect – The theory can be too broad and may not fit every person or culture.
• Useful in Life – Helps understand personal growth, parenting, teaching, and mental health.

• The behavioural approach explains personality in terms of observable and learned behaviours.
• Personality develops through stimulus–response learning and reinforcement.
• Behaviour is shaped by rewards and satisfaction of needs.
• The main learning theories are classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, and observational learning.

• The Cultural Approach explains personality in relation to a group’s ecological and cultural environment.
• Economic activities (e.g., hunting, agriculture) influence social structure, child-rearing practices, and value systems.
• Personality traits develop as adaptations to cultural and environmental demands.
• In hunting-gathering societies, independence, autonomy, and risk-taking are valued.
• In agricultural societies, obedience, responsibility, and cooperation are emphasised in personality development.

• Emphasizes free will, personal growth, and present experiences.
• Self-concept includes real self, ideal self, and self-worth.
• Congruence (match between real and ideal self) leads to confidence; incongruence causes anxiety.
• Maslow’s hierarchy: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization.
• A healthy person is self-aware, authentic, responsible, and open to growth.

• Projective Tests: Use unclear tasks (like pictures or sentences) to uncover hidden thoughts, emotions, and conflicts.
• Rorschach Ink-Blot Test: 10 inkblots → person describes what they see → reveals thinking and emotions. Needs an expert to score.
• TAT (Thematic Apperception Test): 30 pictures → person makes up a story → shows motives, feelings, and conflicts.
• Sentence-Completion Test: Fill in blanks (e.g., “I feel…”), which gives quick ideas about feelings and thoughts. Easy to use.
• Draw-a-Person Test: Draw a person and tell a story → shows self-image and feelings through art. Interpretation can vary.

• Behavioural Analysis: Studying how people act to understand their personality – "Actions speak louder than words."
• Interview: Asking questions and watching body language to learn about a person.
• Observation: Watching someone in real life or a set-up place to see how they behave.
• Nomination: Friends or classmates pick someone for a role (like leader) based on what they’ve seen.
• Behavioural Ratings: Teachers or others rate someone’s behaviour on a scale (like 1 to 5).
• Situational Tests: Giving real-life tasks or role plays to see how someone reacts.