Personality Development and Grooming

For BBA, Semester 1, Section B

Unit 1

Content

• Introduction to Personality: Meaning, Significance, Functions and Objectives.

• Theories of Personality.

• Types of Personality.

• Personality Disorders: Types, causes, symptoms and their treatment.

Introduction
Every individual is unique. Human beings differ from each other and these differences are
visible through their behavior, conduct, mindset, and approach towards situations. The set of
traits and behaviors that characterize an individual can be called as her/his personality.

Personality is generally defined as the deeply ingrained and relatively enduring patterns of
thought, feeling and behavior. In fact, when one refers to personality, it generally implies to all
what is unique about an individual, the characteristics that makes one stand out in a crowd.

The term ‘Personality’ comes from a Latin word ‘Persona’ meaning ‘Person’. Logically, a
person i.e., an individual is made up of her/his internal (psychological) and external
(physiological) characteristics. Thus, personality refers to the sum total of internal and external
characteristics (also known as traits) of an individual, which are relatively stable and which make
the individual different from others.

The scientific field of personality is generally traced back to the year 1937, when Gordon Allport
published Personality: a psychological interpretation, Ross Stagner published Psychology of
personality, and Henry Murray’s 1938 book Explorations in personality was rising on the
horizon.

Definitions of personality highlight the distinct concerns of different perspectives through which
the concept is viewed. Raymond Cattell defines personality as ‘that which permits a prediction of
what a person will do in a given situation’ (Cattell 1950, p. 2), and later defining a personality
trait as that ‘which defines what a person will do when faced with a defined situation’

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According to Fred Luthans, “Personality will mean how people affect others and how they
understand and view themselves, as well as their pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and
the person-situation interaction.”

Lawerence Ervin defines Personality as “the relatively stable set of psychological attributes that
distinguish one “person from another.”

According to Stephen P. Robbins, “Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual
reacts and interacts with others.”

Another significant definition of Personality is given by Gordon Allport. According to

him, Personality is “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological
systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.”

Significance of Personality

i. Personality causes and guides behavior.

ii. It describes how an individual perceives themself.
iii. It describes how an individual affects others.
iv. It is the dynamic organisation within an individual of those psychological systems
which determines his unique adjustment to the environment.
v. Personality is the characteristic pattern of behaviour that determines an individual’s
adjustment to the environment or situation.

Determinants of Personality

Personality is the sum total of individual’s Psychological traits, characteristics, motives, habits,
attitudes, beliefs and outlooks.

For the ease of understanding, the factors that determine personality have been broadly grouped
into three general categories:

i. Biological factors,
ii. Psychological factors,
iii. Environmental factors.

Since these factors tend to determine the way personality develops they are also called as
determinants of personality

i. Heredity: Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. Physical
structure, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes,
energy level, and biological rhythms are characteristics that are generally considered to
be either completely or substantially influenced by the parents and ancestral generations,
i.e., by their biological, physiological and inherent psychological makeup. According to

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 S. P. Robbins, the heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an
individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in chromosomes.

However, the importance of personality varies from one personality trait to another. For
instance, heredity is generally more important in determining a person’s temperament
rather that than her/his habits and ideals.

ii. Environment: The environmental factors that determine personality may be - the culture
in which we are raised, our early conditioning, the norms among our family, friends and
social groups, and other influences that we experience. The environment to which we are
exposed plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities.

iii. Situation: Apart from Heredity and Environment, Situational factors also determine
personality to a large extent. An individual’s personality although generally stable and
consistent, does change in different situations. The varying demand of different situation
calls forth different aspects of one’s personality. “A situation exerts an important press on
the individual. It exercises constraints and may provide push. In certain circumstances it
is not the kind of the person is, inherently, but the kind of situation that person is placed
in, determines her/his actions.

Theories of Personality

1. Trait Theory

Crutch and Cretchfied (1958) defined trait as a specific quality of a person by which he/she
behaves evenly in all situations. The personality may be known by the act of comparison and by
the act of observation. A person is observed to react promptly or vigorously or accurately or in
all of these ways. These properties which are obstructions to behavior, when analysed, form
totalities. These aspects or properties are “traits”.

Allport, on the basis of a large scale analysis of human traits, proposed a trait theory of
personality. Some of the conclusions regarding traits are as follows:

a. Personality traits can help selecting appropriate behaviour or obstruct behaviours.

b. Direct observation of traits is not possible but inference regarding them is possible.
c. Habits do not determine traits but traits determine the development of a new habit.
d. Traits guide and initiate behaviour.
e. According to Allport, some important traits are: punctuality, aggressiveness,
cheerfulness, competitiveness, fancifulness, gregariousness and vigour.

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 f. The level of adjustment of normal persons can be compared with the help of common
traits.
g. Allport named the group of traits as a syndrome.

Allport classified all traits in three major groups:

i) Cardinal Traits: These types of traits are more effective and perform the important
functions of controlling the emotions. They are small in number.
A cardinal trait is a trait which is so pervasive, dominant and outstanding in life that
every other behavioral traits seems traceable to its influence. Such traits can be –
Kindness, Greed, Ambition, Self sacrifice, to name a few.
Example: Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, etc

ii) Central Traits: Unlike cardinal traits, central traits are ones that make up your
personality. They are easily detected characteristics of a person. According to Allport,
every person has around 5 to 10 central traits, and they are present in varying degrees
in every person. These include common traits such as intelligent, shy, honest. They
are responsible for shaping most of our behavior.

iii) Secondary Traits: Secondary traits tend to present themselves in certain situations
For example, you might normally be a pretty easy-going person, but you might
become short-tempered when under a lot of pressure.

2. Five Factors Model

Many contemporary personality psychologists believe that there are five basic dimensions of
personality, often referred to as the "Big 5" personality traits. These five primary personality
traits are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

Extraversion: Social - A measure of how sociable, outgoing, and energetic an individual is.
Individuals who score lower on the extraversion scale are considered to be more
introverted, or more deliberate, quiet, low key, and independent. Some types of positions
are better suited for individuals who fall on one side of the spectrum or the other.

Agreeableness: Kindness - A Measure of an individual’s tendencies with respect to social

harmony. This trait reflects how well the individual gets along with others, how cooperative or
skeptical they are, and how they might interact within a team.

Openness: Creativity / Intrigue - measures the extent to which an individual is imaginative and
creative, as opposed to being conventional.

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Conscientiousness: Thoughtfulness - A measure of how careful, deliberate, self-disciplined, and
organized an individual is. Conscientiousness is often predictive of employee productivity,
particularly in lower-level positions.

Neuroticism: Emotional instability – measures a person’s disposition to experience negative

effects, including anger, anxiety, self‐consciousness, irritability, emotional instability, and
depression. People with high neuroticism tend to be moody and often feel sadness more than
others.

3. Psychoanalytic theory by Freud

According to psychoanalytic theory, most of what controls our behaviours, thoughts, and
feelings is unknown to our aware minds. Normally, the unconscious guides us. Freud said that
the mind could be divided into three abstract categories. These are the id, the ego, and the
superego.

a. The id: Latin for the term “it,” this division of the mind includes our basic instincts,
inborn dispositions, and animalistic urges. Freud said that the id is totally unconscious,
that we are unaware of its workings. The id is not rational; it imagines, dreams, and
invents things to get us what we want. Freud said that the id operates according to the
pleasure principle—it aims toward pleasurable things and away from painful things. The
id aims to satisfy our biological urges and drives. It includes feelings of hunger, thirst,
sex, and other natural body desires aimed at deriving pleasure.

b. The ego: Greek and Latin for “I,” this personality structure begins developing in
childhood and can be interpreted as the “self.” The ego is partly conscious and partly
unconscious. The ego operates according to the reality principle; that is, it attempts to
help the id get what it wants by judging the difference between real and imaginary. If a
person is hungry, the id might begin to imagine food and even dream about food. (The id
is not rational.) The ego, however, will try to determine how to get some real food. The
ego helps a person satisfy needs through reality.

c. The superego: This term means “above the ego,” and includes the moral ideas that a
person learns within the family and society. The superego gives people feelings of pride
when they do something correct (the ego ideal) and feelings of guilt when they do
something they consider to be morally wrong (the conscience). The superego, like the
ego, is partly conscious and partly unconscious. The superego is a child’s moral
barometer, and it creates feelings of pride and guilt according to the beliefs that have
been learned within the family and the culture.

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 4. Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages

Erikson converted Freud’s emphasis to a focus on social relationships into eight psychosocial
stages. These stages became known as the Eight Ages of Man. Each of Erikson’s eight stages
was described as a time of crisis—a time when the personality would go one way or the other.
Erikson theorized that

Age Conflict Important Event(s) Outcome

Infancy (Birth to 18 Trust vs Mistrust Feeding Hope
months)
Early childhood (2-3 Autonomy vs Shame Toilet Training Will
years) and Doubt
Preschool (3-5 years) Intuitive vs Guilt Exploration Purpose
School Age (6-11 Industry vs Inferiority School Confidence
years)
Adolescence (12-18 Identity vs Role Social bonding Fidelity
years) Confusion
Young Adulthood (19- Intimacy vs Isolation Relationships Love
40 years)
Adulthood (40-65 Generativity vs Work and Parenthood Care
years) Stagnation
Maturity (65- death) Ego Integrity vs Reflection on Life Wisdom
Despair

Personality Disorders
Personality is vital to defining who we are as individuals. It involves a unique blend of traits such
as attitudes, thoughts, behaviour, moods, etc. and also determines how we choose to behave as an
individual in the society. A personality disorder can develop if a trait acts at its extreme and
becomes too rigid.

People with personality disorders have long-standing patterns of thinking and acting that differ
from what society considers usual or normal. This can cause them great distress, and can
interfere with many aspects of their personal and professional lives. People with personality
disorders also generally have poor coping skills and difficulty in forming healthy relationships.

Types of Personality Disorders

1. Eccentric Personality Disorder

People suffering from these disorders often appear peculiar or odd. Eccentric personality
disorder includes:

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 a. Paranoid Personality Disorders: People suffering from paranoid personality disorders
have a constant feeling of mistrust and suspicious around others. They have a feeling
that others will harm, demean, or threaten them.
b. Schizoid Personality Disorders: People with this disorder are distant, detached and
indifferent to social relationships. They are generally loners who prefer solitary
activities and rarely express strong expressions.
c. Schizotypal Personality Disorder: People with this disorder display unusual thinking
and behavior, as well as appearance. They might have odd beliefs and are usually
extremely superstitious.

2. Dramatic Personality Disorder

People with these disorders have intense unstable emotions and a distorted self image. They
also tend to behave impulsively. These disorders include:

a. Antisocial Personality Disorder: People with this disorder are also called sociopaths or
psychopaths. This disorder is characterized by rash, irresponsible and aggressive behavior
that is often expressed as a disregard towards others and inability to abide by the
society’s rules/standards. People with this disorder often commit serious crimes and have
a lack of remorse for their actions
.
b. Borderline Personality Disorder: This disorder is marked by unstable moods, poor self
image, chaotic relationships and impulsive behavior (such as substance abuse, impulsive
buying, etc.)

c. Histrionic Personality Disorder: People with this disorder are shallow and constantly seek
attention. They are very dramatic, often childish, and overtly emotional.

d. Narcissistic Personality Disorder: This disorder is characterized by exaggerated sense of

self, and a preoccupation with success and power. However, this preoccupation is fueled
by fragile self esteem. Narcissists are often self-centered, tend to lack empathy, and
constantly require attention and admiration.

3. Anxious Personality Disorder

People with this disorder are often nervous and fearful. These disorders include:

a. Avoidant Personality Disorder: People from this disorder tend to avoid social contacts.
This behavior is not a result of wanting to be alone but due to excessive concern over
being embarrassed or harshly judged. They often miss out on many important social
experiences because of the fear of being rejected.

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 b. Dependent Personality Disorder: This disorder is marked with excessive dependence and
submissiveness, a need for constant reassurance, feeling of helplessness and inability to
make decisions on own. Here, people tend to become very close to other individual and
spend great effort trying to please that person. They tend to display passive and clinging
behavior and have an extreme fear of separation.

c. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder: This disorder is characterized by a pattern

of perfectionism, inflexibility, control and orderliness. They have an extreme sense of
fear of failure. This often results in inability in taking decisions, finishing tasks on time
and remaining preoccupied with (unnecessary) details.

Causes of Personality Disorders

Exact causes of Personality disorders are not known; but these can be triggered by genetic /
environmental influences, or Childhood trauma.

Personality disorders generally develop during childhood/ adolescence or early adulthood.

Although there have been limited research around personality disorders, there is no study that
suggests that such disorders are by birth. These disorders might also develop as a way of coping
with pain, fear or anxiety.

Symptoms and Treatment

A person who is shy or likes to spend time alone is not necessarily suffering from a personality
disorder. Difference between personality style and personality disorder may be understood by
assessing the person functioning in certain areas such as:

 Work
 Relationships
 Emotions
 Self identity
 Feelings
 Understanding realities

People with personality disorder might not seek treatment on their own; and therefore might go
untreated. One reason for the failure to seek treatment can be – they are able to function in the
society without much problem.

Treatment varies depending upon the severity of the disorder. Treatment might vary from
Psychotherapy (counseling) to medication that include anti depressants, anti anxiety pills, and
impulse stabilizing medications.

For the Students of BBA – Institute of Management Sciences, University of Lucknow