personality, concept theories, personality pattern, self concept

1. UNIT 1

2. WHAT IS PERSONALITY?
• The term “personality” is derived from the Latin word persona, which
means to mask.
• Non scientific definition- the effect one has on others.
• But this non scientific definition has two defects.
1. It emphasizes on the expressiveness of the individual.
2. It emphasizes only the objective aspects of personality, it does not
indicates what the real personality is.
• Although the word is used in various senses, most of this popular
meaning fall under one of two headings.

3. 1. The first usage equates the term to social skills- an individual
personality is assessed by the effectiveness with which he is able to
elicit positive reactions from a variety of persons under different
circumstances.
2. The second usage consider the personality of the individual to
inhere in the most outstanding impression which he creates others.
A person may thus be said to have aggressive personality or a
sensitive personality or a fearful personality.

4. • According to Dashiell, an individual’s personality is the “total picture of his
organized behavior, especially as it can be characterized by his fellow men in a
consistent way.
• According to Munn, personality is the “most characteristic integration of an
individual’s structures and activities”.
• It is characteristic in dual sense because-
1. It is unique, thus differentiating the individual from all others
2. It is fairly consistent.
• There are almost 50 definitions of personality, identified by Allport in 1937.
• These representative early psychological definitions stressed the manifest
aspects of personality--- what may be observed by others--- though they
implied what a person is, how he thinks and feels, and what is included in his
total psychological makeup will be revealed through his speech and behavior.

5. Traditional beliefs about personality
• The belief that personality is inherited is expressed in the saying, “He’s a
chip off the old block.” If the person has some socially undesirable traits, he
inherited them from his parents, so forget about trying to change them. If
he is stingy and sullen, he can’t become generous and cheerful any more
than he can change his eye color, his stature, or the size of his ears. The
implication is that neither training nor the desire to improve will be of any
avail.
• The old wives’ tale is the belief that certain personality traits automatically
accompany certain physical traits. The person with red hair has a fiery
temper, for example; or the person with a high forehead is a “brain.” The
implication is that, since the physical traits are inherited and thus not
subject to change, the personality traits that accompany them are similarly
implacable to change.

6. • A third widely held belief is that personality changes automatically
accompany body changes. Since body changes are a part of the
developmental sequence over which the individual has no control, it
is assumed that the individual has no control, it is assumed that the
accompanying personality changes are likewise uncontrollable.

7. What is Personality?
 The overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture
the unique nature of a person as that person reacts and interacts
with others.
 Combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that
reflect how a person looks, thinks, acts, and feels.
Predictable relationships are expected between people’s
personalities and their behaviors.

8. Nature of Personality
 Personality refers to the set of traits & behaviors that
characterize an individual.
 It refers to the relatively stable pattern of behavior &
consistent internal state & explains an individual’s
behavioral tendencies.
 Personality has both internal (thoughts, values & genetic
characteristics that is inferred from observable behaviors)
& external (observable behaviors) elements.
 Personality of an individual is relatively stable in nature.
 Personality is both inherited as well as it can be shaped
by the environment.

9. Importance of Personality
 Law of Behavior: “People are different”
 To ensure high performing employees in an
organization.
 To manage workforce diversity.
 Summarizing person’s behaviors & attitudes in
relation to a wide range of events.
 Personality consists of characteristics or traits that
describe how people are likely to behave in a given
situation.

10. Importance of Personality
 Personality is useful in predicting & understanding
the general feelings, thoughts and behaviors of
individuals at the workplace.
 Contribution of various personality theories.

11. Personality Determinants
Determinants of
Personality
Heredity Environment
Situational
Nature: It advocates that
Part of personality finds its
Origins in biology (heredity)
Nature: It advocates that
Part of personality finds its
Origins in biology (heredity)

12. Heredity and environment
 Heredity sets the limits on the development of personality
characteristics.
 Environment determines development within these limits.
 About a 50-50 heredity-environment split.
 Cultural values and norms play a substantial role in the
development of personality.
 Social factors include family life, religion, and many kinds of
formal and informal groups.
 Situational factors reflect the opportunities or constraints
imposed by the operational context.

13. Personality VS Character
• The two are not synonymous, however, and cannot be used
interchangeably. Character implies a moral standard and involves a
judgement of value.
• When used in connection with personality, character relates to
behavior that is regulated by personal effort and will.
• Conscience, an essential element of character, is a pattern of
inhibitory conditionings which controls the person’s behavior.

14. Personality consciousness
• Consciousness is that level of mind which enables us to recall the
experiences, names, dates and situations of the past.
• According to Frued, “Consciousness is that segment of the mind
which is concerned with immediate awareness.”
• Personality consciousness is concerned with:
1. A desire to create favorable first impression on others.
2. A desire to judge the personalities of others accurately.

15. Test of personality consciousness
or
How personality consciousness shows itself?
1. First Impression: According to Asch, “We look at a person and
immediately a certain impression of his personality forms itself in
our mind.”

16. How to form a first impression?
• Following are some of the factors that contribute in making a first
impression by a person on others:
1. Appearance
• Facial expression
• Dress
• Body build
• Poise, etc.
2. Behavior– Qualities such as intelligence, warmth and coldness
3. Attitudes– Favorable attitudes actually have an impression
4. Traits--- Certain traits are viewed positively and others negatively. Traits
like sincere, honest, dependable and warm are liked by most individual
while thoughtless, rude are disliked traits

17. First impression and Reputation
• Once an impression of an individual’s personality has been formed,
the individual gains the reputation of being a certain type. He is then
judged in the terms of this reputation.

18. Judging others accurately
• The second way in which personality consciousness shows itself is the
desire to judge others accurately.
Obstacles in Judging others:
1. Real vs manifest personality
2. Cultural stereotypes
How stereotypes are acquired: learned at home, school and in society.
Radio, television, movies, books, etc.

19. Development of personality
• Freudian Stages- given by Sigmund Freud
• Psychoanalytic theory of personality which is based on notion that
man is motivated more by unseen forces than by conscious and
rational thought.
1. The Id
2. The Ego
3. The Super Ego

20. • Erikson stages
1. Infancy
2. Early childhood
3. Play age
4. School age
5. Adolescence
6. Early adulthood
7. Adulthood
8. Mature adulthood

21. The personality pattern
• It is composed of traits, or specific qualities of behavior, which
characterize the individual’s unique adjustment to life as shown in his
behavior and thoughts.
• The traits, however, are not merely added one to another.
• Rather, they are organized and integrated into a meaningful pattern.
• The “core” or centre of gravity of the personality pattern is the
individual’s concept of himself as a person as related to the world in
which he lives.
• The quality of his behavior is expressed in the way in which he adjusts
himself to the things in the environment.

22. Development of Personality Pattern
• There are three major factors that determine the development of the
personality pattern:
1. The individual’s hereditary endowment.
2. Early experiences within the family.
3. Important events outside the home environment.
• Thus, the personality pattern is not the product of learning
exclusively or hereditary exclusively.

23. ROLE OF HEREDITY
•The personality pattern is determined by
physical and mental characteristics which
constitute the individual’s hereditary
endowment. Although social and environmental
factors also affect the pattern of personality. But
the principle raw material of personality–
physique, intelligence and temperament– are
the result of heredity.

24. ROLE OF LEARNING
•Learning under the guidance of another plays an
important role in the development of personality
pattern.
•Social pressure within and outside the home
determine that traits will be incorporated into
the pattern.

25. Importance of role of learning
•It tells us that control can be exercised to ensure
that the individual will develop the kind of
personality pattern that will lead to good
personal and social adjustments.
•It tells us that unhealthy self concepts and
socially unacceptable patterns of adjustments
can be changed and modified.

26. Elements of Personality Pattern
• Two elements:
1. Concept of self
2. Personality traits

27. Concept of self
• It refers to attitude towards “self.”
• It comprises of those perceptions, beliefs, feelings, attitudes and
values which the individual views as part or characteristic of himself.
• Components of self concept:
1. The perceptual component
2. The conceptual component– psychological self-concept
3. The attitudinal component

28. Kinds of self concept
• The basic self concept
• The transitory self concept
• The social self concept
• The ideal self concept

29. Personality Traits
 Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s
behavior.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Big Five Model

30. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Personality Types
• Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)
• Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)
• Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)
• Judging vs. Perceiving (P or J)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
A personality test that taps four characteristics and
classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types.

31.  Extroverted vs. Introverted
Extroverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and assertive. Introverts are quiet
and shy.
 Sensitive vs. Intuitive
Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order. They focus on details.
Intuitive rely on unconscious processes and look at the “big picture”.
 Thinking vs. Feeling
Thinking types uses reason and logic to handle problems. Feelings types rely on
their personal values and emotions.
 Judging vs. Perceiving
Judging types want control, and prefer their world to be ordered and structured.
Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous.

32. Myers-Briggs
Sixteen
Primary
Traits

33. The Big Five Model

34. 4–34
Personality Structure (The “Big Five” Traits)
Dimension
Characteristics of a person
Scoring +vely on the dimension
Extroversion Outgoing, Talkative, Sociable,
Assertive
Agreeableness
Trusting, good natured,
Cooperative, softhearted
Dependable, responsible,
Achievement-oriented
Conscientiousness
Emotional Stability Relaxed, Secure, Unworried
Sensitive, Intellectual,
Imaginative, Broadminded
Openness to
Experience

35. Other Personality Traits
• There are certain other personality traits which are relevant for
organizations.
1. Self Concept and Self Esteem: Self concept is the way the
individuals define themselves as to who they are and derive their
sense of identity.
Self esteem denotes the extent to which they consistently regard
themselves as capable, successful, important, and worthy
individuals.

36. 2. Machiavellianism: It refers to manipulation of others as a primary way of
achieving one’s goals. Mach scale measures the extent to which an
individual tends to be Machiavellianism. People with high score on Mach
scale, tend to be cool, logical in assessing the system around them, willing
to twist and turn facts to influence others, and try to gain control of
people, events, and situations by manipulating the system to their
advantage.
3. Locus of control: It means whether people believe that they are in control
of events, or events control them. Internal and external.
4. Tolerance for ambiguity: Based on personality characteristics, some people
can tolerate high level of ambiguity without experiencing undue stress
and still function effectively while people who have a low tolerance may
be effective in structured work setting but impossible to operate
effectively when things are rapidly changing and much information about
the future turn of events is not available.

37. 5. Type A and B: Personality has been grouped into two categories denoted by
alphabets A and B. Type A people always feel a sense of time urgency, are
highly achievement oriented, exhibit a competitive drive, and are impatient
when their work is slowed down for any reason. On the other hand, type B
people are easy going, do not have urgency for time, and do not experience
the competitive drive.
6. Work ethic orientation: People may have different work ethic orientation.
The extremely weo people get greatly involved in the job and live up to being
described as living, eating and breathing the job. On the other hand, people
with low weo try to do the minimum that is necessary to get without being
fired on the job.
7. Risk taking: Risk propensity is the degree to which a person is willing to take
chances and make risky decisions.

38. Personality Syndromes
• These days, a medical term “syndromes” is commonly used to refer to
personality patterns that show basic similarities. When applied to
personality, it describes a specific type of personality which is similar
to the personality pattern of others who have had to some extent
similar problems and have used similar methods of solving their
problem.
• Types of personality syndrome: Cartel has described two types of
personality syndrome:
1. Abnormal syndromes
2. Normal syndromes

39. Abnormal syndromes
• There are three elements of abnormal syndromes identified:
i. Psychopathic Personality: It includes traits such as:
1. Unreliability
2. Deceitfulness
3. Extreme emotionless
4. Inability to show anger, love and other common responses
ii. Delinquet Personality: It includes:
1. Weak conscience
2. Dissatisfaction
3. Anxiety
4. Tension
5. Emotional immaturity
6. hypersensitivity

40. iii. Manic Syndrome: The central feature of this is an effective stage of
eagerness and joyous excitement. The association of ideas is rapid
and uncontrolled.

41. Normal syndromes
• Two types:
1. The personality of the overprotected only child incudes:
i. Selfishness
ii. Lack of cooperation
iii. Self centered
iv. Dependency
2. The personality syndrome of the only child having home environment
includes:
i. Independence
ii. Cooperativeness
iii. Responsibility

42. Creative personality syndromes
• They include:
1. Need for autonomy and independence
2. Flexibility
3. Non conformity
4. Playfulness
5. Forcefulness
6. Aggressiveness

43. Symbols for self
• Judgments of a person are greatly affected by certain “symbols of
self”. It is through symbols of self that a person tries to reveal to
others, what he wants to tell them, which he does not want to reveal
directly. If the symbols of self are to serve effectively, they must be
visible.
• Role of symbols of self:
1. They influence one’s judgment of others.
2. They influence one’s concept of self.

44. Common symbols of self
• Clothing
• Names and nicknames
• Speech age
• Success
• Reputation
• age

45. Clothing
• According to Jersild, “ Clothing can symbolize many things which are
important to be person which he wants others to know.”
• Qualities symbolized by clothing:
1. Desire for attention
2. Autonomy
3. Identification
4. Success
5. Individuality

46. Effect of clothing on personality
1. Effect of being well dressed: Studies reveal that people who are
judged by others as being among the “best dressed” of their group
feel considerably better about themselves, than those who are
judged as less well dressed.
2. Effect of being poorly dressed: Being poorly or inappropriately
dressed can make a person feel uncomfortable. His uneasiness and
lack of confidence adversely affect the judgments of others as well
as his social acceptance.

47. Names and Nicknames
• Names are used as symbols to identify people.
• It was Frued, who first stressed that names are symbols of self
because they are representations of the personality pattern of the
bearer.
• A person’s name is his only symbol of self which is permanent.

48. Qualities symbolized by names
• Identification
• Glamour
• Individuality
• popularity

49. Why names affect personality
• Because the bearer realizes that his name is a symbol of others of
what he is.
• The name used in addressing a person tells him as well as others how
the speaker feels about him.
• Names calling gives the person a clue to how others judge him and
feel about him.

50. Speech
• It is regarded as symbol of self because it gives clues to the
personality of the speaker.
• Speech tells others how the speaker thinks of himself and how he
feels about other people.

51. Kinds of speech symbols
• Content of speech
• Forms of speech
• Quantity of speech
• Quality of speech
• Bilingualism

52. Age
• The individual’s age is used as symbol of role status and a person of
given age is expected to not in accordance with the patterns
prescribed for his age role.
• Symbols of age:
1. Appearance
2. Autonomy
3. Activities

53. Success
• Some people express their success symbolically so that others may
judge them favorably.
• Symbols of success:
1. Popularity
2. Leadership
3. Athletic achievement
4. Kind of occupation
5. Money
6. Club membership

54. Reputation
• It is a symbol of self which others use to judge the individual. Their
judgments, in turn, affect his self concept. His reputed character may
or may not be the same as his real character.
• How to acquire reputation?
1. First Impression
2. Appearance and behavior
3. Social stereotypes: They influence judgments and thus help to
shape reputations.

55. MOULDING THE PERSONALITY PATTERN
• In spite of the commonly accepted belief that personality
development begins at birth. There is evidence that environment
have a significant influence on he development of personality– the
capacities for adjustments– in the form of hereditary potentials.
• How hereditary potentials develop before and after birth is
determined largely by the environment. This development influences
the personality pattern.
• Two factors influence personality pattern:
1. Hereditary potentials
2. Environmental influences

56. HEREDITARY POTENTIALS
• Studies of prenatal development reveal that the foundations of the
capacities for adjustment are laid at the moment of conception.
• The prenatal period of 9 months is rightly regarded as a critical period
in personality development.
• Neither personality patterns nor the specific personality traits are
directly controlled by the genes.
• But, indirectly, the genes affect personality affecting the quality of
nervous system, and the structure of the body.

57. • The principle raw materials of personality– physique, intelligence and
temperament– are the foundations of personality which are
genetically determined through inheritance.
• Physical capacities– energy, strength and attractiveness are also
limited by inherent characteristics.
• No two people have identical personality pattern– hereditary
endowment determined at the time of conception.

58. Environmental influences
• The development of hereditary potentials is largely dependent on the
significant people in the individual’s environment.
• These people provide the physical and social environment to
develop.
• They also determine what opportunities the individual will have for
learning.
• The significant people will provide him pattern to follow.

59. How environment molds personality?
1. It encourages maturation of hereditary potentials—
• Maturation before birth
• Maturation after birth
2. Model of personality pattern
3. learning

60. Sources of molding
• The family
• The school
• Media
• Religion
• Occupation

61. Molding techniques
• Two techniques of learning are dominant in molding the personality
pattern:
1. Learning through guidance and control of behavior by another.
2. Learning through imitation of beliefs, attitudes and behavioral
patterns of another.
• The first is outer directed method of learning and is commonly
known as “child training”
• The second is self initiated or inner- directed and is known as
“identification”

62. Child training
1. Authoritarian methods– these are characterized by use of strict
rules and regulations to get the desired behavior.
2. Democratic method– this method emphasizes the need for
discussions, explanation, and reasoning to help the young
understand why they are expected to behave in one way.
3. Permissive method– this is not a child training method but parents
and teachers may regard this as such. The young persona leans
more by trial and error than by guidance.. If he thinks that act
brings social disapproval, he will reject it in favor of another.
• Effect of child training on personality:

63. Identification
• Learning by imitation. More correctly defined, identification is the
process by which a person takes over the values of another by
imitation.
• Sources of identification:
1. Home
2. School
3. Peer group
• Effect of identification on their personality