Personality

Derived from the Latin word ‘persona‘ which can be translated as ‘mask’,

personality can be simply defined as an individual’s experiences, values, habits and traits which
collectively determine his or her behavioral patterns.

Psychologists and social theorists have found that there are two main approaches or determinants
that one can utilize to study personality, i.e. Psychological and Sociological. Apart from this, a
biological approach can be additionally used but since it centrally assesses the individual’s
biophysical characteristics, it is an adequate approach to study a personality in a holistic manner.
While there are different definitions of personality, most focus on the pattern of characters and
behavior’s that can help predict and explain a person’s behavior. It ranges from genetic
explanations for personality traits to the role of environment and experience in shaping an
individual’s personality.

Types of Personality

There are different types of personality as per several theories. The most popular theory of the
types of personality is by Greeks which says there are four types of temperaments. Thus, the four
types of personality are:

Sanguine: Highly talkative, social, extroverted and enthusiastic

Phlegmatic: Quiet, easy-going, and reserved

Melancholic: Deep thinkers and analytical minds

Choleric: More extroverted and ambitious

Determinants of personality:

1.Biological/Physical Determinants: Hereditary and physical features

2.Social Determinants: Sociological aspects related to the community and his/her role in the
community
3. Psychological Determinants: Behavior, emotions, sentiments, thought patterns and
complexes of an individual

4. Intellectual Determinants: Values, Humor, Morality, etc.

Other determinants of personality include cultural, situational, and environmental factors.

Physical Determinants of Personality

Biological traits are the foremost parameter that reflects various factors of one’s personality.
Being the essential determinant of personality, it incorporates a majority of other factors as well
which bring out the various insights about an individual. Some important constituents under the
physical determinants of personality are:

Hereditary: The features that can be determined from the time of conception are generally put
under hereditary. Sex, physical stature, temperament, muscle composition, facial features, height
etc are the characteristics that one usually inherits from parents. Thus, through the hereditary
approach, it is evident that the genes located in chromosomes are the ultimate explanation of
personality.

Physical Features: Physical appearance is also among the integral determinants of personality.
How one appears physically actually plays an important role in how they are perceived by others.
Whether one is short, tall, slim, fat, black or white will obviously have an impression on others
and this will have an influence on the self-conception of the individual. Physical characteristics
include but are not limited to height, skin tone, weight, hair color, and beauty.

Psychological Determinants of Personality

Considering a personality as a particular style pertaining to each individual, the psychological

approach is amongst the major determinants of personality. This specific style which is different
for each individual actually gets determined through the accumulative characteristics of mental
trends, emotions, sentiments, thought patterns and complexes. Further, it also studies an
individual’s mental conflicts, wishes, aspirations, feelings of repression, sublimation and
emotional well-being
Social Determinants of Personality

The social determinants analyses a personality as per the status of the individual in their social
group or community and consider the individual’s conception of their role in the group. The key
factor that this approach weighs in is what others perceive us as plays a greater role in the
formation of our personality.

The era has seen the widespread emergence of communication tools, especially through social
media. Social media influencers hold an authoritative power to influence the masses around the
globe. Hence, anyone’s personality is majorly persuaded by the social lives they lead and are a
part of. Through socializing, be it virtual or real, one encounters a plethora of other individuals
which some way or the other leave a mark on our personalities. The process starts as soon as we
step into the real world from the playschool we go to peers and friends, amongst others. Our
social life is one of the essential determinants of personality and that’s why we are always
advised to choose our social circle wisely.

Intellectual Determinants of Personality

Intelligence is another essential factor that can play an important role in the development of our
personality. Our intellect can influence various aspects and areas of our behavior which in turn,
can determine our personality. Here are the intellectual determinants of Personality:

Humor: Humor is one of the integral intellectual determinants of personality as it helps us get a
realistic view of things, facilitates social acceptance and also ironically brings forward a lighter
perspective of life.

Morality: Our intellect and worldview play a crucial role in the development of our morality and
how we see certain things as moral or immoral. Thus, morality is another factor that determines
our intellect and thus overall personality as well.

Values: An individual learns about values from his/her upbringing as well as from the society
they are brought up in. These values and beliefs also form our intellectual behavior and thus are
an important determinant of our personality.
Importance of learning personality

1.Helps instructors to better understand the students.

2.Creates a more conducive learning environment

3. Helps students be more successful in online courses -Studies support that students' cognitive
styles play a key role in their success in online courses.

4. Personality traits also predict critical educational outcomes including academic performance,
academic motivation, engagement, and other important outcomes like wellbeing and moral
virtue.

5. Help you to understand your preferences and the preferences of other people and how or why
these might be different.

6. Personality types are useful for recognizing how we lead, influence, communicate,
collaborate, negotiate business and manage stress.

Theories of personality

1. Psychodynamic theories

Sigmund Freud Trusted Source laid the foundation for psychodynamic personality theories with
his proposal of the id, the ego, and the superego.

Freud saw these three parts of the mind as the basis of human personality. According to Freud,
these concepts could explain individual behavior. The idea was about your irrational and
emotional impulses, while the ego weighed all the rational pros and cons. The superego then
sought to apply social norms, rules, and other personal values that ultimately encouraged you to
act based on your core beliefs. Later, in the psychosexual personality development part of
Freud’s theory, he explained how a person came to those beliefs and ideals.
Freud thought early childhood experiences played the most important role in how personality
developed. Early life, he said, was defined by five psychosexual stages based on the pleasure
sensations in erogenous zones:

 oral: mouth and sucking reflexes

 anal: bladder and bowel control

 phallic: genitals and gender identification

 latency: sexuality is paused and latent, and gives room to social skills

 genital: mature sexuality and defined sexual interest and orientation

Freud suggested that each stage presented you with a developmental conflict. If you successfully
overcame it, you would move into the next phase of development.

According to Freud’s personality theory, being unable to move past a phase resulted in certain
psychological challenges, like the Oedipus complex, later in life.

Carl Jung and Erik Erikson are other names commonly associated with important work in the
field of psychodynamic theory, although Erikson particularly marked a significant switch from
Freud’s theories.

2. Trait theories

Trait theory is one of the most popular types of personality theories. It proposes that people’s
personalities vary according to which basic personality traits are more dominant.

In this sense, each trait is seen as a continuum.

Take kindness, for example. Rather than viewing this as an optional personality trait — some
people are kind while others are not — you can think of it as a sliding scale. Everyone falls
somewhere on the kindness continuum. And you’re either more kind or less kind, compared with
someone else.

One of the best-known trait theories is the five-factor theory, also known as the Big 5, proposed
by Donald W. Fiske. This theory states that personality is made up of five distinct traits:
  agreeableness

 conscientiousness

 extraversion

 neuroticism

 openness to experience

Each trait has a range that goes from one extreme to another, and each person falls somewhere
along that range.

Other known trait theories include those developed by Gordon Allport, Raymond Cattell, and
Hans Eysenck. Eysenck’s theory, for example, focused on just three trait continuums for
everyone: extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.

3. Humanistic theories

The humanistic approach to theories of personality involves understanding not only behavior and
thought patterns, but also what someone believes gives their life meaning.

Humanistic theories propose that someone’s personality depends heavily on what they think of
themselves — who they believe they are.

Abraham Maslow’s humanistic hierarchy of needs, for example, suggested that personality is the
result of someone being able to meet — or not meet — basic needs like safety, self-esteem, and
belongingness.

Carl Rogers explored the concept of self-actualization. This theory asserts that people are driven
by their need for personal growth. The quest for learning and growing is what structures
someone’s personality.

4. Social cognitive theories

Social cognitive theories of personality include several schools of thought like behaviorism,
social learning theory, and expectancy-value theory.
  Behaviorism -Behaviorism theory proposes that human behavior is the direct result of
facing rewards and punishments. In other words, you’re conditioned to respond a certain
way because of a reward-punishment pattern in your life

 Social learning theory -Closely related to behaviorism is Albert Bandura’s social learning
theory, which takes behavioral models and adds the component of thought. In other
words, the theory proposes that your thought process plays an essential part in deciding if
you should imitate or not a certain behavior (learning). According to the social learning
theory, how you perceive behavioral reinforcement is more important than the
reinforcement itself.

 Expectancy-value theory -Another behaviorism-based model of human personality is

Julian Rotter’s framework. Rotter proposed human behavior is motivated by the expected
rewards or punishment it can gain. This expectation comes from past experiences and
whether or not you thought the consequences of your actions were under your control.
When someone believes they have control over an outcome, they’re more motivated to
action. This is particularly so when they anticipate a positive outcome because similar
actions have been rewarded in the past.

5. Biological theories

Biological personality theories assert that brain structures and neurophysiology are what
determine your personality traits, according to 2016 research.

In other words, something as simple as higher neurotransmitter levels might provide you with a
more positive outlook, for example, than someone else.

Hans J. Eysenck and Jeffrey A. Gray both included neuropsychology in their personality
theories.

6. Evolutionary theories

Charles Darwin first introduced the concepts of evolution and natural selection in the mid-1800s.
His work sparked an entire field of evolutionary biology.
Later, other scientists explored Darwin’s premises to explain human behavior. According to this
framework of evolutionary theories, human personality is primarily the result of genes and most
useful traits.

Ultimately, evolutionary theory states that personality characteristics that increased your
ancestors’ chances for survival are the traits you may have at the core of your personality today.

Conclusion.

Nature and nurture both play a significant role in the development of personality. This means
that our personality traits are influenced by both our genetic makeup (nature) and environment
and experiences (nurture).