Definition and Concept of

UNIT 1 DEFINITION AND CONCEPT OF Personality and Personality

Development
PERSONALITY AND PERSONALITY
DEVELOPMENT

Structure
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Definition and Concept of Personality
1.3 Personality Development
1.3.1 Biological Factors
1.3.2 Psychological Factors
1.3.2.1 Intellectual Determinants
1.3.2.2 Emotional Determinants
1.3.2.3 Excessive Love and Affection
1.3.2.4 Self-disclosure
1.3.2.5 Aspiration and Achievements
1.3.2.6 Achievements
1.3.2.7 Goal Setting
1.3.3 Environmental Factors
1.3.3.1 Social Acceptance
1.3.3.2 Social Deprivation
1.3.3.3 Educational Factors
1.3.3.4 Family Determinants
1.3.3.5 Emotional Climate of Home and Ordinal Position
1.3.3.6 Size of the Family
1.4 Let Us Sum Up
1.5 Unit End Questions
1.6 Suggested Readings
1.7 Answers to Self Assessment Questions

1.0 INTRODUCTION
For laypersons, the term personality is often understood in terms of being good
looking, attractive etc. They go by the impression created by the person concerned.
The ability to talk and interact with others pleasantly in addition to being good
looking, would make others say that the person concerned has a good personality.
Persons who do not have good looks or not well dressed or do not interact
adequately are considered to have poor personality. But scientifically this is not
a true concept of personality. In fact, psychologists consider any attempt to define
personality in terms of social attractiveness inadequate because of two reasons,
first it limits the number and types of behaviour considered important and worthy
for incorporation into the study of personality. Second, such notion carries the
absurd implication that some people who have unique abilities and temperament
traits are devoid of having a personality. In this unit we will be dealing with the
definition of personality as put forward by psychologists. Definition of personality
will be presented as given by Gordon Allport and there will be a discussion of
the concept of personality development. Under Personality development, various
factors contributing to the same will be discussed including the biological,
psychological and environmental factors.
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Personality: Theories and
Assessment 1.1 OBJECTIVES
After the reading this unit, you will be able to:
• Define personality and describe the nature of personality;
• Elucidate the concept of personality;
• List the characteristic features of personality;
• Explain the factors that contribute to the development of personality; and
• Identify the environmental factors that influence personality development.

1.2 DEFINITION AND CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY

The term personality is often understood in terms of social attractiveness. A
good personality is considered to be one who impresses other people and who
has the ability to get on well with others. Those who do not possess such ability
are said to have relatively poor personality. However if one considers personality
from a scientific point of view, being attractive to others is not a true concept of
personality. In fact, psychologists consider any attempt to define personality in
terms of social attractiveness as inadequate because of two reasons, (i) it limits
the number and types of behaviours considered important and worthy for
incorporation into the study of personality and (ii) such a notion implies that
some people who have unique abilities, temperament and traits are devoid of
having a personality.

Psychologists have attempted to explain the concept of personality in terms of

individuality and consistency. We often observe that people differ a great deal in
the ways they think, feel and act and that too to different or even same situations.
This distinctive pattern of behaviour helps one to define one’s identity.
Commenting upon the notion of individuality, it has been said that each of us in
certain respects is like all other persons, like some other persons and like no
other person who has been in the past or will be existing in future (Kluckhohn &
Murray, 1953).

Another important notion in defining the concept of personality is consistency.

In other words it can be stated that the concept of personality also rests on the
observation that a person seems to behave somewhat consistently in different
situations over different time. Form this observation of perceived consistency
comes the notion of personality traits that determine the way of responding to
one’s world.

Combining these notions of individuality and consistency, personality can be

defined as the distinctive and unique ways in which each individual thinks, feels
and acts, which characterise a person’s response throughout life. In other words,
it can be said that personality refers to all those relatively permanent traits,
dispositions or characteristics within the person that give some measure of
consistency to the person’s behaviour. These traits may be unique, common to
some groups or shared by the entire species but their pattern will be different
from individual to individual.

The thoughts, feelings and actions that are perceived as reflecting an individual’s
personality typically have three characteristics
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i) Thoughts, feelings and actions are considered as behavioural components Definition and Concept of
Personality and Personality
of identity that make distinction between individuals Development
ii) Behaviours are viewed as being primarily caused by internal rather than
environmental factors.
iii) The behaviours of the person seem to have organisation and structure.
Behaviours of an individual seem to fit together in a meaningful way. It is to be
kept in mind that the nature of behaviours is dynamic and there may occur changes
in the organisation and structure of behaviours over a period of time. It is in this
sense that Allport (1937, 1961), defined personality as the dynamic organisation
within the person of the psychophysical systems that determine the unique
adjustments to one’s environment. This suggests that there is an inner personality
that guides and directs individual’s behaviour. Allport the man who has done
more than anyone to shed light on the myriad meaning of the term personality
analysed 50 definitions of personality, and finally put forward his own definition
of personality mentioned above.

For better distinct understanding of the term personality, it is essential that it

should not be confused with character and temperament. While the term character
refers to the value judgements, which are made about a person’s moral values or
ethical behaviour, the term temperament refers to the inborn enduring
characteristics such as adaptability, irritability etc. However, both character and
temperament are vital parts of personality.

Self Assessment Questions 1

1) Who has said that personality is the dynamic organisation of traits?
a) Eysenck b) Allport
c) Murray d) None of them.

2) Which of the followings are regarded as component of behavioural

identity of personality?
a) Thoughts b) Feelings
c) Actions d) All.

3) Human behaviours are largely determined by:

a) Internal factors b) Environmental factors
c) Both d) Neither.

4) Which one is the inborn enduring characteristics of the personality?

a) Traits b) Character
c) Temperament d) None of these.

5) Personality has been understood as largely the combination of:

a) Trait and temperament b) Consistency and individuality
c) Value and attitude d) Character and temperament.

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Personality: Theories and
Assessment 1.3 PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
The development of personality has been a topic of interest for the personality
psychologists right from the time the term came into existence. Psychologists
have tried to identity those factors which directly or indirectly influence the growth
and development of personality. Although there are a large number of factors,
which influence the development of personality, such factors have been broadly
grouped into three general categories and these are given below.
1) Biological factors,
2) Pscyhological factors,
3) Environmental factors.
Since these factors tend to determine the way personality develops they are also
called as determinants of personality. These three sets of factors are discussed
here in detail.

1.3.1 Biological Factors

Biological determinants also called as physical determinants emphasise that
physique and body functioning are directly responsible for personality
development. Some of these factors are: (i) Body build (ii) Physical attractiveness
(iii) Homeostasis (iv) Physical defects (v) Health conditions.
i) Body build: Body build influences personality directly by determining what
an individual can and cannot do, as well as what the individual’s reaction
will be to all those whose body builds are superior or inferior.
Some of the known body builds are (i) ectomorph (ii) endomorph, and
(iii) mesomorph.
Ectomorphs are persons who are tall and thin in their body builds. They
have been generally found to be superior to Endomorphs who have round
and soft body builds. The superiority is especially in speed and endurance.
Likewise, mesomorphs who are strong and muscular in their body builds
have been found to be superior to both ectomorphs and endomorphs in
activities like speed, endurance and agility.
It has also been reported that body build of an individual affects the person’s
self-concept, which is an important constituents of personality. This self
concept can be favourable or unfavourable. For instance if the body build
allows the person to do things that are socially desirable, prestigious and
better than others it would contribute to positive self concept about oneself.
On the other hand if it allows the person to do things which are not favourable
or positive or ends up in failure, it would lead to poor or negative self concept.
ii) Physical attractiveness: Physical attractiveness is another physical
component that affects the development of personality. An attractive person
of any age is more appealing than a person who is unattractive. Brislin &
Lewis (1968) have commented that it is very much rewarding to be with
someone who is physically attractive. Generally, it has been found that the
people tend to be more tolerant in their attitudes and judgements of an
attractive person. That is the reason why a pretty child is less likely to be
punished or criticised for troublesome behaviour than a simple looking
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 homely child. In business circle, an attractive worker may be less efficient Definition and Concept of
Personality and Personality
and less conscientious than an unattractive worker and yet, the attractive Development
worker is relatively more likely to get promotion sooner than the unattractive
one.
iii) Homeostasis: Homeostasis is another important determinant. It refers to
the maintenance of a stable internal environment through relatively having
normal temperature, normal level of blood sugar, normal level of blood
pressure, proper water balance, etc. When any of these conditions is upset,
disequilibrium starts and disturbances in homeostatis results. Homeostatis
or disturbances in it, has a significant impact upon personality both directly
or indirectly.
Directly, the effect of homeostatis is seen in relaxed, controlled and socially
acceptable behaviour patterns of the person who is feeling well both
physically and psychologically. When the level of homeostasis is disturbed,
behaviours like irritability, indigestion, insomnia and other uncomfortable
states often result.
Disturbances in homestasis
Disturbances in homestasis also affects personality indirectly. It affects
personality through the way the person reacts to what he thinks and believes
to be the attitudes of some significant people in his life. For example, a
person who is above average in physical stature in comparison to his age
and sex group, because of excessive hormonal discharge will respond to his
superior size in one of the two ways. If his superior size is viewed favourably
by others, his reaction will be positive and therefore, disturbance in
homeostasis will thus have a favourable impact upon the development of
personality. But if his size proves to be a social handicap and others ridicule
it, his reactions will be negative and the effect in the disturbance of
homeostasis will be unfavourable.
Some studies have very clearly shown that development of personality is
affected by homeostasis or lack of it. For example, when the blood sugar
goes above the normal range, depressive mental states tend to follow. Severe
deficiency in vitamin B complex results in increased level of emotionality
and depression. High blood pressure frequently produces neuroticism.
Anoxia or reduction in the amount of oxygen in the inspired air, as it happens
in asthma, causes emotional outbursts, mental confusion and self-criticism.
iv) Physical defects: Physical defects are another determiners. The first scientific
study showing the impact of physical defect upon personality has come
from Alfred Adler’s theory of organ inferiority. Today several studies have
been conducted to examine the direct and indirect impact of physical defects
upon personality. Obesity is one of the popular physical defect. Obesity
proves to be a handicap in social relationship because the obese person is
unable to keep up with his contemporaries. Obesity also affects the
personality indirectly. Awareness of unfavourable attitude towards obesity
makes the person feel not only inferior but also they develop the feeling of
being socially scorned. Not only this, some researchers have also pointed
out that massively obese individuals become more disturbed perhaps because
of less self-satisfaction and cumulative adverse comment from others.

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Personality: Theories and Health conditions
Assessment
Health conditions also affect the development of personality. At all ages and in
both sexes good health is considered as a personality asset and poor health is a
liability. There are ample evidences to support it. Many personality changes result
from poor health conditions and tend to continue even after the illness has been
cured or its severity has been lessened. This is especially true during childhood
when the personality is in the formative stages. Many personality changes and
disturbances in adolescents and adults have their root in illnesses during the
early years of childhood (Martin & Vincent, 1960).

It has also been found that persons having illness like diabetes, etc., experience
tension and anxiety which causes frustration in dealing with the demands of
social environments. As a result of frustration, they become aggressive and often
turn their aggression towards others. Physical disturbances like the female
irregular menstrual cycle often lead to emotional instability accompanied by a
tendency to be irritable and depressed. This increases their level of emotionality
and the heightened emotionality is reflected in poor social adjustment and decrease
in social activities, ultimately affecting women’s self-concept and the attitudes
towards other people.

Self Assessment Questions 2

1) Tall and thin body builds are the characteristics of:
a) Mesomorph b) Ectomorph
c) Endomorph d) None of these.
2) Homeostatis refers to:
a) Disturbances in the internal balance of the body
b) Maintenance of a stable internal environment
c) Maintenance of even rate of oxygen utilisation
d) Maintenance of normal level of blood sugar and blood pressure.
3) Homeostasis affects the self-concept:
a) Only in a positive way b) Only in a negative way
c) Both positively and negatively d) Has no effect.
4) Which is Not the physical determinants of personality?
a) Homeostasis b) Physical attractiveness
c) Body builds d) Gender
5) High blood pressure is generally associated with causation of:
a) Neuroticism b) Depression
c) General nervousness d) None of these.

1.3.2 Psychological Factors

Several psychological factors tend to determine the development of personality.
Among those factors the following can be specially discussed because of their
importance. These include:
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i) Intellectual determinants Definition and Concept of
Personality and Personality
ii) Emotional determinants Development

iii) Self disclosure

iv) Aspiration and achievements
The above are being discussed in the following paragraphs.

1.3.2.1 Intellectual Determinants

These are one of the important factors which influence the development of
personality. Researchers are of view that intellectual capacities influence
personality through various kinds of adjustments in life and indirectly through
the judgments other persons make of the individual on the basis of the person’s
intellectual achievements.

This judgment in turn affects the evaluation and consequently the development
of personality. Intellectually bright men and women make better personal and
social adjustments than those of average or below average intelligence.

Several studies bear testimony to the fact that bright men and women are generally
introspective, thoughtful, creative, adventuresome and have strong concern with
problems, meanings and values. They are found to show a wider interest especially
in the theoretical and aesthetic areas. Since they have greater and stronger mental
ability, they have better control over themselves.

However, having very superior intelligence affects personality development

unfavourably because it creates special problems which are not encountered by
those persons who are merely bright. These various problems result in the
development of a personality pattern, which is characterised by the traits like
negativism, intolerance, habits of chicanery, emotional conflicts, solitary pursuit,
self-sufficiency, dominance, etc. Evidences also have provided support to the
fact that intellectual capacities also influence development of values, morality
and human.

1.3.2.2 Emotional Determinants

These are other important factors that shape the development of personality.
Emotions are considered important personality determinants because they affect
personal and social adjustment. Research has shown that several aspects of
emotions like dominant emotions, emotional balance, emotional deprivation,
excessive love and affection, emotional expressions, emotional catharsis and
emotional stress directly and indirectly affect the development of personality.
Some people experience a predominance of pleasant emotions while others
experience a predominance of unpleasant emotions. This predominance affect
the development of personality. The cheerful persons are usually happy and even
when they are in a depressive mood they can see the brighter side of things.
Likewise, since apprehensive persons are full of fear, they even when there is ja
happy or enjoyable situation, feel depressed and remain afraid. Emotional balance
which is a condition in which pleasant emotions outweigh the unpleasant emotion,
is considered essential to good social and personal adjustment.
When the person encounters with obstacles and problems, unpleasant experiences
like fear, anger, envy and other negative emotions are aroused. As a consequence,
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Personality: Theories and the person’s adjustments are adversely affected. Such conditions in the long run
Assessment
are responsible for development of many pathological traits in the person. Also
emotional deprivation of pleasant emotions like love, happiness and curiosity
also has an impact, which gradually leads to poor personal and social adjustment.

Research has revealed that impact of emotional deprivation depends upon the
extent to which a person is wmotionally deprived in addition to the duration of
emotional deprivation as well as upon the age at which it occurs. One of the
common effects of deprivation of love and affection is the development of
emotional insecurity. Much of adolescent and adult rebellion against authority
stems from emotional insecurity which has its origin in unstable affectional
relationship with parents and other members of family during early childhood
years.

1.3.2.3 Excessive Love and Affection

This also has psychologically negative effect. Sigmund Freud had earlier cautioned
that too much parental love and affection awakens a disposition for neurotic
disorders, spoils the child and makes the individual a problematic adolescent.
Strecker (1956) has pointed out that excessive mothering, that is, overprotective
mothers turn their sons and daughters into immature and dependent adults.
Emotional expression, that is, how the person expresses emotion also affects the
development of personality. If the person is able to express emotions in a socially
approved manner, that person would be judged favourably and this provides a
good mirror image of the self. Such emotional expression produces a better feeling
both physically and mentally because homeostasis can be restored.

Sanctions, control over the overt expression of emotions is often necessary to

avoid social disapproval. However, repression of emotions like anger, fear,
jealously, and envy makes the individual gloomy and morbid which ultimately
produces behaviour like extreme laziness, lack of interest in people, vacillation
of mood etc. Emotional Catharsis (release of unexpressed emotions) also
contributes to the development of good adjustment. Release of pent up emotions
allows for physical and mental homeostasis to be restored. As a consequence,
the person can judge oneself in a more realistic way.

1.3.2.4 Self-disclosure
Self disclosure is considered basic to mental health and such disclosure helps to
bring about a healthy personality pattern which is a guarantee for a socially
desirable and favourable reactions from others. Emotional stress expressed in
the form of anxiety, frustration, jealousy and envy also affect the development of
personality. A person who suffers from emotional stress makes good personal
and social adjustments. Intense emotional stress may motivate the person to go
to excesses in hope of being relieved from it. For example, the person may resort
to overeating and using drugs to dull the intense feeling of insecurity caused by
emotional stress. It has been reported that women who experience greater degree
of emotional stress during menstrual period, are found to develop depressive
tendencies. Psychologists have shown that people with low self-esteem are more
adversely affected by emotional stress than those with high self-esteem.

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1.3.2.5 Aspiration and Achievements Definition and Concept of
Personality and Personality
These also have an effect on the development of personality. Aspiration means a Development
longing for and striving for something higher than one’s present status. Thus
aspirations are the ego-involved goals that persons set for themselves. The more
ego-involved the aspirations are, the more will be the impact upon behaviour
and therefore, greater will be the impact upon personality. There may be various
forms of aspirations such as positive aspiration (to achieve success), negative
aspiration (to avoid failure), realistic aspiration (within the range of the person’s
capacity), unrealistic aspirations (beyond the capacity of the person), remote
aspirations (to achieve a goal in the remote future) or immediate aspirations (to
achieve a goal in the near future).

The motivating power of aspiration varies. In general, remote and realistic

aspirations do provide stronger motivating forces than immediate and unrealistic
aspirations. Negative aspirations are considered weaker in providing motivating
strength than positive aspirations.

Level of aspiration, that is, the discrepancy between the goal an individual has
achieved and the goal the person hopes to reach, affects the personality in terms
of the size of the discrepancy. When the size of discrepancy is large, the person’s
self-concept is severely damaged especially if the person fails to achieve the
goal. Not only the individual will judge self as failure but others will also judge
the person as a failure in particular if others know about the person’s goal and
that goal had not been achieved.

Research studies have also shown that high aspirations are not necessarily a
source of damage to the self-concept. They may be a source of motivation and
pleasure. They may be a kind of wishful thinking that will not cause any damage
to personality so long as it remains a form of fun and play.

1.3.2.6 Achievements
These are another related factor that determine the development of personality.
Achievement can be evaluated objectively by comparing one’s performance with
those of one’s peers and subjectively, by comparing the person’s achievement
with the level of aspiration. Success and failure are the two different attitudes of
the person towards achievement. If the person is pleased with own achievement,
the achievement will be considered a success and this has a favourable impact
upon the self-concept. However if the person’s attitude towards achievement is
negative, then the achievement will not be considered a success but a failure.
Such persons will feel dissatisfied and miserable and in turn their self concept
will be adversely affected. Persons who feel that they have been successful remain
satisfied with themselves and appear to be happy.

Besides building a favourable self-concept, achievement also raises the person’s

self-esteem and increases the level of self-confidence so that the individual can
solve the many new problem of the future successfully. In addition to the personal
satisfaction that a person derives from achieving the goal successfully, the
achievement ensures that the person is appropriate in all the actions that are
taken up, which in turn produce a stabilising impact upon the behaviour.
Therefore, a successful person tends to be more relaxed than a person who has
experiences of failure.
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Personality: Theories and 1.3.2.7 Goal Setting
Assessment
Experimental evidences have shown that one of the most important effect that
success has upon the person is that the individual becomes more realistic about
goal setting. Such persons would asset their goal to a point where they have
reasonable chances of reaching. This behaviour is an obvious characteristic of
intelligenct, well-adjusted people than of those who are poorly adjusted.
Success enhances self-concept by increasing the person’s prestige in the eyes of
others. This enhances social acceptance and strengthens the individual’s self-
concept. But too much success during early years of life may, in fact, weakens
the person’s motivation to do one’s best. It may cause the person to loose some
of the new motivations which can be generated by early achievement.
Extraordinary achievement even may prove to be more harmful than helpful to
social relationship and not only that, it may arouse jealousy and resentment among
those persons who are socially related to the person but somehow less successful.
Failure is another constituent of achievement. It is always ego-deflating. Failure
undermines the self-confidence and self-esteem. Gradually, it destroys the person’s
belief that she or he can do something to achieve and this, in effect, weakens the
motive to achieve even those things which are within his or her capability. Severe
and repeated failure causes stress, anxiety and tension. Sometimes such repeated
failures cause so intense stress and anxiety that it produces psychosomatic illness
or leads to a defeatist attitude, which strengthens the person’s belief in his or her
inadequacy and intensifies the poor personal and social adjustment. Research
have revealed that one of the most damaging aspects of failure is somehow not
achieving the desired goal and social recognition, especially when the person
hoped to do so. This sense of dissatisfaction is intensified by the realisation that
others with whom the person has competed, have achieved the success much
earlier than him or her. Under such conditions, the impact upon the self concept
is highly unfavourable.
By contrast, one of the greatest source of satisfaction is to achieve success,
recognition and prestige much earlier than anticipated and earlier than one’s
competitors. This condition has favourable impact upon the self-concept.
Sometimes it may be so much favourable that it may lead to the delusion of
grandeur and superiority complex and this condition, in the long term, may
counteract favourable social judgement and prove damaging to the self-concept.
Self Assessment Questions 3
1) Markedly superior intelligence leads to a personality pattern which is
characterised by :
a) negativism b) Intolerance
c) emotional conflicts d) All the above.
2) Which one of the followings is known as mental health insurance ?
a) Emotional balance b) Tolerance
c) Envy tolerance d) None of these.
3) Emotional starvation occurs due to :
a) Emotional deprivation b) Deprivation of love
c) Emotional imbalance d) None of these.
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 Definition and Concept of
4) Which one qualifies to be called as emotional stress ? Personality and Personality
Development
a) a specific state of heightened emotionality
b) a generalised state of heightened emotionality
c) a generalised state of emotional imbalance
d) none of these above condition.
5) Who are more adversely affected by stress ?
a) people with high self-esteem
b) people with high emotional catharsis
c) people with low self-esteem
d) people with poor emotional catharsis.

1.3.3 Environmental Factors

Besides physical and psychological factors, some environmental factors have
been isolated and shown to have a significant impact upon the development of
personality. Under environmental determinants, the following four sets of factors
have been primarily emphasised :

1.3.3.1 Social Acceptance

These are one of the major environmental determinants. Every person lives in a
social group, which judges the person’s behaviour in terms of the person’s
conformity to group expectations regarding proper performance behaviour and
appropriate role playing. Thus social judgement serve as basis for self-evaluation.
In this way, the social group tends to influence the development of self-concept.

The degree of influence the social group has on personality development depends
not alone on how well accepted the individual is but also on how much importance
social acceptance has for the individual. If the person places more value on group
acceptance, that person will be more willing to be influenced by the group. Persons
who are widely accepted and liked by the group, are likely to respond in a
congenial and friendly spirit than those who experience hostility, disregard and
rejection in the group.

In fact, how much influence social acceptance has on behaviour depends upon
two conditions: how much security a person has in his/her status in the group
and what importance he/she attaches to the social acceptance. If the person feels
fully secure in the status, which would make the person free to act as he/she
wishes and will not be greatly influenced by suggestions from others. Likewise,
if the person attaches more value to the social acceptance, he/she will also be
more susceptible to be in line with the group members.

Persons whose social acceptance is very high, they are generally more outgoing,
more flexible, more active and daring than those who are only moderately socially
accepted or moderately popular. However, such persons often fail to establish
close relationship with people. They also fail to show emotional warmth which
is considered essential to close and intimate personal relationship. This sense of
aloofness usually comes from a feeling of superiority.

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Personality: Theories and One extreme opposite of social acceptance is social isolation. If a person develops
Assessment
the feelings of rejection due to social isolation when in fact they want to be
accepted, would develop the feeling of resentment against those who have rejected
them. Such people are often depressed, sad and unhappy. They may develop
sour-grapes attitude towards social activities. Such social rejection may lead the
persons to become juvenile delinquents or criminals in the long run. Researchers
have further shown that if early social experiences of the persons are favourable,
they are likely to become social and if their experiences are unfavourable, they
are likely to develop an unsocial or antisocial personality.

1.3.3.2 Social Deprivation

This is another environmental factor, which is said to influence the development
of personality in massive and significant way. Social deprivation means being
deprived of opportunities for various types of social contacts including love and
affection. Social deprivation causes social isolation which has an adverse effect
on personality. Social deprivation has proved most damaging for two age groups—
the very young and the elderly. The young children who are deprived of contacts
with parents / guardians fail to develop healthy and normal personality. Their
behaviour is socially disapproved and they are also unfavourably judged by others.

Social deprivation in elderly people make them self-bound and selfish, which
gradually lead to unfavourable social and self judgements. It has also been
observed that social deprivation is far more damaging to people who want and
also need social contacts for happiness than those who are self-sufficient or who
voluntarily withdraw. For example, when elderly persons voluntarily decide on
their own to withdraw from social activities, they are far happier and relatively
well adjusted in comparison to those whose withdrawal is involuntary. If social
deprivation is extensive and prolonged, it gradually leads to unhealthy social
attitudes and mental illness.

1.3.3.3 Educational Factors

Another important factor, which influences the development of personality is
the educational factors. Schools, colleges and teachers have significant impact
upon the individual’s development of personality. The impact of educational
institution upon personality development is largely determined by the students’
attitude towards school and colleges, towards peers, towards teachers and also
toward the value of education. When these attitudes are favourable, the students
usually enjoy their academic activities and have a warm and friendly relationship
with teachers and their peers. This has a very favourable impact upon the
development of personality by producing stronger sense of self-confidence and
self-esteem.

The reverse is true when there is unfavourable attitudes amongst students towards
education and educational institutions, teachers and peers etc. . Research studies
have further revealed that if the students are physically and psychologically ready
to enter the school or colleges, their attitude tend to be far more favourable.
Attitude towards educational institution is greatly influenced by emotional climate
of the institution, which affect the level of motivation, students’ classroom
behaviour and their general emotional reactions. Through these various
behavioural patterns, the emotional climate of the educational institution affects
the students’ self-evaluation and the evaluation others make of them.
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Another important factor of educational determinants that affect personality is Definition and Concept of
Personality and Personality
student-teacher relationship, which is largely dependent upon the teacher’s Development
treatment of the students, upon students’ attitude toward particular teachers and
on their teaching as well as the disciplinary techniques used by the teachers
including the cultural stereotypes of teachers as a group. These attitudes, in turn,
affect the quality of the student’s academic work which becomes the basis of
evaluation of self and social evaluation. Teacher student relationship affect the
students’ personality through its impact upon students’ motivation for academic
achievement. When the students see that their relationship with the teacher is
warm and friendly, their achievements are far better than when they perceive the
relationship as hostile, punitive and rejecting. This boosts their self-concept by
enhancing self confidence and self esteem.

1.3.3.4 Family Determinants

This is another important class of factors that influence development of
personality. The influence of family on personality development is maximal at
all ages. The family affects the development of personality both directly or
indirectly. Direct influence of family upon personality comes chiefly through
different child-training methods which are used to mould the personality pattern,
and the communication of interest, attitude and values between members of the
family. Strict, demanding, punitive and inhibiting parents / guardians tend to
encourage their children for depending upon external controls to guide their
behaviour. As a result, when the children are outside the direct control of their
parents/guardian, they tend to show impulsiveness in their behaviour.

Indirectly, through identification with parents, children develop a personality

pattern similar to that of their parents. Experimental studies reveal that through
imitation also, a certain personality pattern develops. For example, living with
parents who are anxious, nervous and lacking the sense of humor produces in
the children a sense of nervousness and frequent outburst of temper. Likewise,
living with warm, affectionate, loving and interested parents generally produces
a social and gregarious persons. Such persons also develop an interest of welfare
and affection for persons outside the home as well.

1.3.3.5 Emotional Climate of Home and Ordinal Position

A very important factor in the development of personality is the emotional climate
at home as well as the ordinal position of the individual concerned within his
family. Ordinal position refers to the eldest or youngest or middle or 2nd or 3rd
child in the family. If the home climate is favourable, the person will react to
personal problems and frustrations in a calm way and to people in a tolerant and
cooperative way. On the other hand if emotional climate of home is full of friction
and conflicts, the person is more likely to develop a sense of hostility and may
often tend to react to people in an aggressive way.

Ordinal position also affects the development of personality. Studies have revealed
that the firstborns tend to be more conforming and dependent than later borns.
They are more affiliative, more susceptible to group pressures and more
introverted. Firstborns who achieve greater success than the later born siblings
tend to be selfish and self centred. They show their feeling of superiority about
their achievements by making criticism of others. Despite the feelings of
superiority, they continue to suffer from a feeling of insecurity which had
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Personality: Theories and developed earlier when they were replaced by younger siblings towards which
Assessment
parents started giving more attention, love and affection. This feeling of insecurity
is responsible for poor personal and social adjustment of the firstborns.

The major personality characteristics of lastborn, as shown by the various

researches, are dependency, affiliative need, lack of self-confidence, lack of
frustration tolerance, defiance of authority, etc. In comparison to the firstborns,
most lastborns have relatively weak achievement motivation. They are generally
not pressed by the members of the family to achieve more nor do most families
care to provide them with the opportunities that were provided to the firstborns.
So far as the middle born or second borns are concerned, they are found to be
generally less family oriented and more peer oriented. From their peer relationship,
they develop such personality traits which produce better personal and social
adjustment. As a result, they are more popular among the peers in comparison to
the first or lastborn.

1.3.3.6 Size of the Family

This factor also affects the development of personality. In larger families parents
have little time to protect any child. As such, children learn to be independent
and show maturity in their behaviour at an earlier age as compared to children of
smaller families. However, larger families encourage certain personality
characteristics that may hamper good personal and social adjustments. For keeping
the home environment reasonably calm, parents of larger families generally adopt
authoritarian method of control, which produces a strong sense of resentment
and rebellion among children. In small families since parents devote enough
time to care and provide proper guidance to each child, this produces self-
confidence, self-assurance and eliminates the feeling of inadequacy which may
come when the child is left to meet the problem alone. However, due to strict
competition for getting parental attention, affection and approval in small families,
jealousy and envy especially against the firstborns who are perceived to be parents’
favourite, damages the self-concept of the concerned individual.

We have seen that the development of personality is shaped by a set of three

factors, namely, physical or biological factors, psychological factors and
environmental factors. There are psychologists like J.B. Watson, father of
Behaviourism, who have outright emphasised upon only one factor, that is
environmental factor ignoring the role of other two sets of factor in development
of personality. He had emphatically proclaimed that give him a child, he will
make him either a doctor or a beggar or a engineer or a thief irrespective of his
abilities. Today there is little support for such statement and there is almost an
unanimity among the personality psychologists regarding the basic view that the
physical or biological factors provide a boundary for the development of
personality and within this general boundary, personality is developed or shaped
under the influence of various psychological and environmental factors. Therefore,
it can be concluded that development of personality can be explained in terms of
the following equation:

Personality Development = Physical determinants × Psychological determinants

× Environmental determinants

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 Definition and Concept of
Self Assessment Questions 4 Personality and Personality
Development
1) Social deprivation generally leads to :
a) Social rejection b) Social discrimination
c) Negative self-concept d) None of these.
2) Mohan, leader of a group, is more colourful, more flexible, more active
in his approach. It all happens because he has :
a) Social acceptance b) Social support
c) Social status d) All the above.
3) Within a group when the person status changes such as from follower
to leader or the vice versa, it is termed as :
a) Social mobility b) Changes in group status
c) Social stereotype d) None of these.
4. Which has the most lasting impact upon the development of personality
of a student ?
a) Academic success b) Teacher’s attitude and behaviour
c) Teacher-studente relationship d) All of the above.
5) Which size of the family is considered ideal for development of pesonality?
a) Small families b) Medium-size families
c) Large families d) None.

1.4 LET US SUM UP

In this unit we learnt about personality. We pointed out as to how the term
personality is often understood in terms of social attractiveness. We pointed out
the scientific approach to personality development which explain the concept of
personality in terms of individuality and consistency. Another important notion
in defining the concept of personality is consistency. Combining these notions
of individuality and consistency, personality can be defined as the distinctive
and unique ways in which each individual thinks, feels and acts, which
characterise a person’s response throughout life. In other words, it can be said
that personality refers to all those relatively permanent traits, dispositions or
characteristics within the person that give some measure of consistency to the
person’s behaviour. These traits may be unique, common to some groups or
shared by the entire species but their pattern will be different from individual to
individual.

Behaviours of an individual seem to fit together in a meaningful way. It is to be

kept in mind that the nature of behaviours is dynamic and there may occur changes
in the organisation and structure of behaviours over a period of time. It is in this
sense that Allport (1937, 1961), defined personality as the dynamic organisation
within the person of the psychophysical systems that determine the unique
adjustments to one’s environment.

Then we took up personality development and pointed out as to how psychologists

have tried to identity factors which directly or indirectly influence the growth
and development of personality. Although there are a large number of factors, 19
Personality: Theories and which influence the development of personality, such factors have been broadly
Assessment
grouped into three general categories and these are given below.
i) Biological factors
ii) Pscyhological factors and
iii) Environmental factors.
Since these factors tend to determine the way personality develops they are also
called as determinants of personality. These were discussed in detail. Biological
factors consisted of body build, physical attractiveness, homeostasis, physical
defects and health conditions. The psychological factors consisted of intellectual
factors, emotional factors including excessive love and affection, self disclosure,
aspiration and achievement and goal setting behaviour. and environmental factors
consisted of social acceptance, social deprivation, educational factors, family
emotional climate, ordinal position of the individual in the family and size of the
family. Finally it was concluded that personality development takes place through
learning processes including imitation.

1.5 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Define personality. Citing example, make distinction between temperament
and character.
2) Discuss the physical or biological determinants of personality development.
3) Outline the role of psychological determinants of personality development.
4) Discuss the role of environmental determinants in shaping personality
development.
5) Enumerate the basic formula : Personality Development = Physical
determinants × Psychological determinants × Environmental determinants

1.6 SUGGESTED READINGS

Coon, D. (2007). Introduction to Psychology: Thompson.
Wood, S.E. & Wood, E.G. (1996). The World of Psychology: Allyn & Bacon
Ryckman, R.M (1993). Theories of Personality: Brooks / Cole Publishing
Company.

1.7 ANSWERS TO SELF ASSESSMENT

QUESTIONS
1) 1. (b) 2 (d) 3. (a) 4. (c) 5. (b)
2) 1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (c) 4. (d) 5. (a)
3) 1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (b) 5. (c)
4) 1. (c) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (c) 5. (d)

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