By Khan
Key words;
Definition of Personality, Multiple Theories in Psychology, Adolescence,
stages of Personality development, Heredity
Definition of Personality
Personality
refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking,
feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One
is understanding individual differences in particular personality
characteristics, such as sociability or irritability. The other is understanding
how the various parts of a person come together as a whole (APA).
Description
Personality is combination
of behaviors and attitudes that make a person a distinctive and unique person
from others, and a behavior, attitudes of a person Personality is recognizable
soon after the birth. A person personality has composed of several components: environment,
behavior and character. Temperament is the set of genetically determined traits
of person personality that determine his approach to the world and how that
person learns. In humans the genes do not specify personality traits, although some
genes control the development process of the nervous system, which controls some
behaviors.
The second component that
contributes to personality of a person comes from specific environment. Most of
the psychologists agreed on two factors that play a vital role in personality
development are: temperament and environment, these two factors influence the
development of a person's personality. Temperament dependence is on genetic
factors, it is referred to as "nature," while the environmental is
called "nurture."
The controversy is still there
that what affect the personality development more, but majority experts agree
that good parenting plays an important role in the development of a child's
personality. With good parenting approach to a particular temperament of a
child, with best provided guidance and they can ensure the successful
development of their child's personality.
The third important component
of personality development is character which is a set of emotional, cognitive,
and behavioral patterns learned from experiences which determines the
personality of a person. How a person thinks, behaves and feels. The character of
a person’s continuously evolved throughout his life. Character is also
dependent on a person's moral development.
Multiple Theories in
Psychology
There
are multiple theories that exist on the personality development in psychology. But
the three main theories that influence personality development are heredity,
environment, and situation.
Heredity:
Heredity
refers to the influences on a personality that person born with it. It is in
the genes of a person and no one can bring much change to these traits. They could
be included in the temperament, which determine how a person reacts to
situations. In child it may affect how well they get along with others
children. Genetics also determines someone looks.
Environment:
environment
is the most influential and nurturing aspect of a person life. It is the type
of environment which determined most of the personality traits. Environment of
a person include home, school, playgrounds, community, work, or other places
that he spend his time. Environmental factors also include languages, religion,
etc.
Situations:
The experiences that an individual person
faces in his life. The various experiences that person confront will leave
imprints on his personality and helps him in the development of his
personality. The "situations"
includes everything from happiness, sorrow, divorce, and trauma fits into the
categories shaping one's personality.
People
are the "product of their environment." means that their personality
has been greatly influenced by the environment in which they live, born with particular
traits and situation they.
Infancy
In the first two years the
infant learning include Basic Trust or Mistrust. Loved ones and well-nurtured infant develops
trust and badly handled infant develops "basic mistrust."
Toddlerhood
This is the second stage
occurs in early childhood, between 18 months to four years of age. This is the
stage of Learning Autonomy or Shame. Good environment and parenting help
the child and he emerges from this stage with self-confidence and control. There
may be some stubbornness, and negativism, depending on the child's temperament.
Preschool
The third stage occurs from
about three to entry into formal school. In this stage the developing child
goes through Learning Initiative or
Guilt. The child use to learn through imagination and broaden his skills
through play games and
fantasy, to cooperate with others. The child depends excessively on adults.
School age
In the fourth stage, the learning occurs during school age. The
child learns and develops more formal skills:
- Learn to obey rules
- Learns to play by rules and which requires teamwork
- learning reading, arithmetic and basic intellectual skills
At this stage, the child
learns self-discipline and became trusting, autonomous, and learns to be
industrious. However, the mistrusting child will feel inferior and doubtful about
the future.
Adolescence
The fifth stage, starts from
the age 13 or 14, this the time of maturity; the young person acquires self-confidence
as opposed to self-doubt. The well-adjusted adolescent looks for achievement at
this age.
Common problems
Infants
show different behaviors after few weeks from each other, some are more active,
some are more responsive, and some are more irritable. Some infants will cry
constantly while some seem happy and stay quiet. Temperamental traits;
- The level of activity in child
- distractibility ; the child do not pay attention when he not interested
- intensity of the child, he is loud
- sensory threshold; the child is too sensitive to physical stimuli: smell, touch, light taste and sound or not
- approach /withdrawal: the responses of a child to a new situation, it is approach or withdrawal from the situation
- adaptability: the child adapts new to the environment or new activity
- persistence: the child is persistence or give up easily
Resources
AACAP
and David Pruitt. Your Child: Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive
Development from Infancy through Pre-Adolescence. New York: Harper Collins,
1998.
AACAP
and David Pruitt. Your Adolescent: Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive
Development from Early Adolescence through the Teen Years. New York: Harper
Collins, 1999.
Allen,
Bem P. Personality Theories: Development, Growth, and Diversity. Harlow,
UK: Allyn & Bacon, 2002.
Berger,
Elizabeth. Raising Children With Character: Parents, Trust, and the
Development of Personal Integrity. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, 1999.
Erikson,
Erik. Childhood and Society. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993.
Erikson,
Erik. The Erik Erikson Reader. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
2000.
Goleman,
Daniel. Working With Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam, 1998.
"Social,
Emotional, and Personality Development." Handbook of Child Psychology ,
edited by William Damon and Nancy Eisenberg. 5th ed. New York: Wiley, 2000.
"Social,
Emotional, and Personality Development." Handbook of Child Psychology ,
edited by William Damon and Nancy Eisenberg. 5th ed. New York: Wiley, 2000.
