Personality Development Assignment Completed

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Personal Development And Study Method (CPD 102)

Assignment (January 2012)

Full Name : Naveen Kumar Nair

Student ID : PJ 102648

Contact Number : 012-2404460

Subject Code : Personal Development And Study Method

Lecturer Name : Ms Shireen

Centre : OLYMPIA PJ

Country : Malaysia

Olympia College Assignment Executive Diploma in Business Management

Table of Contents

1. Introduction :....................................................................2

2. Factors determining development of personality:.........3

3. Personality Types:............................................................4

4. Pairs of Psychological Functions:....................................5

5. 16 Personality Types.........................................................7

6. Erikson's stages of psychosocial development:..............8

7. Conclusion :.....................................................................10

Self Image..........................................................................15

Self Esteem and Self Worth................................................16

Ideal Self............................................................................18

8. References:......................................................................21

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1. Introduction :

Personality development is the development of the organized pattern of behaviors and

attitudes that makes a person distinctive. Personality development occurs by the ongoing

interaction of temperament, character, and environment. There are inherent natural, genetic,

and environmental factors that contribute to the development of our personality. There are

three aspects in personality, which are Character, Behavior and Attitude .Personality is what

makes a person a unique person, and it is recognizable soon after birth. We would also

discuss the different types of Personalities and various stages of personality development in

one life ,so that we get a complete idea of Personality Development and its influences. The

specific personality qualities of an individual, which lead to individual differences between

people, are not based so much in evolution, however, but are the product of many

developmental factors. The developmental study of individual differences in personality

provides a rich source of data for the researcher and practitioner alike to use in understanding

and predicting behavior.

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2. Factors determining development of personality:

Temperament: Temperament is the set of genetically determined traits that

determine the child's approach to the world and how the child learns about the world.

There are no genes that specify personality traits, but some genes do control the

development of the nervous system, which in turn controls behavior.

Environment : A second component of personality comes from adaptive patterns

related to a child's specific environment. Most psychologists agree that these two

factors—temperament and environment—influence the development of a person's

personality the most.

Character : Character is the set of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral patterns

learned from experience that determines how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. A

person's character continues to evolve throughout life, although much depends on

inborn traits and early experiences. Character is also dependent on a person's moral

development.

3. Personality Types:

There are several personality types based on the research done in this area. Personality type

refers to the psychological classification of different types of individuals. Personality types

are sometimes distinguished from personality traits, with the latter embodying a smaller

grouping of behavioral tendencies. Types are sometimes said to involve qualitative

differences between people, whereas traits might be construed as quantitative differences.

One of the more influential ideas originated in this field was by Carl Jung as the table shown

below.

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According to type theories, for example, introverts and extraverts are two fundamentally

different categories of people.

Extraversion (E)/Introversion (I)

Extraversion means "outward-turning" and introversion means "inward-turning." Each of the

cognitive functions can operate in the external world of behavior, action, people, and things

(extraverted attitude) or the internal world of ideas and reflection (introverted attitude).

The extravert's flow is directed outward toward people and objects, and the introvert's is

directed inward toward concepts and ideas. Contrasting characteristics between extraverts

and introverts include the following:

Extraverts are action oriented, while introverts are thought oriented.

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Extraverts seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverts seek depth of

knowledge and influence.

Extraverts often prefer more frequent interaction, while introverts prefer more

substantial interaction.

Extraverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with people, while

introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone.

4. Pairs of Psychological Functions:

Jung categorized people into primary types of psychological function as two dichotomous

pairs of cognitive functions:

The "rational" (judging) functions: thinking and feeling

The "irrational" (perceiving) functions: sensing and intuition

Jung went on to suggest that these functions are expressed in either an introverted or

extraverted form. Four main functions of consciousness are

Two perceiving functions: Sensation and Intuition and

Two judging functions: Thinking and Feeling

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Sensing and intuition are the information-gathering (perceiving) functions. They describe

how new information is understood and interpreted. Individuals who prefer sensing are more

likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that

can be understood by the five senses. They tend to distrust hunches, which seem to come "out

of nowhere." They prefer to look for details and facts. For them, the meaning is in the data.

On the other hand, those who prefer intuition tend to trust information that is more abstract or

theoretical, that can be associated with other information (either remembered or discovered

by seeking a wider context or pattern). They may be more interested in future possibilities.

They tend to trust those flashes of insight that seem to bubble up from the unconscious mind.

The meaning is in how the data relates to the pattern or theory.

Thinking and feeling are the decision-making (judging) functions. The thinking and feeling

functions are both used to make rational decisions, based on the data received from their

information-gathering functions (sensing or intuition). Those who prefer thinking tend to

decide things from a more detached standpoint, measuring the decision by what seems

reasonable, logical, causal, consistent and matching a given set of rules.

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Those who prefer feeling tend to come to decisions by associating or empathizing with the

situation, looking at it 'from the inside' and weighing the situation to achieve, on balance, the

greatest harmony, consensus and fit, considering the needs of the people involved.

Thinking and feeling functions are rational, while sensation and intuition are non-rational.

Rationality consists of figurative thoughts, feelings or actions with reason — a point of view

based on objective value, which is set by practical experience. Non-rationality is not based on

reason.

5. 16 Personality Types

The 16 types are typically referred to by an abbreviation of four letters—the initial letters of

each of their four type preferences (except in the case of intuition, which uses the

abbreviation N to distinguish it from Introversion). For instance:

ESTJ: extraversion (E), sensing (S), thinking (T), judgment (J)

INFP: introversion (I), intuition (N), feeling (F), perception (P)

And so on for all 16 possible type combinations.

Protectors (SJ)

ESTJ - Overseer

ESFJ - Supporter

ISTJ - Examiner

ISFJ - Defender

Creators (SP)

ESTP - Persuader

ESFP - Entertainer

ISTP - Craftsman

ISFP - Artist

Intellectuals (NT)

ENTJ - Chief

ENTP - Originator

INTJ - Strategist

INTP - Engineer

Visionaries (NF)

ENFJ - Mentor

ENFP - Advocate

INFJ - Confidant

INFP - Dreamer

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6. Erikson's stages of psychosocial development:

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development as articulated by Erik Erikson explain eight

stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late

adulthood. In each stage the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges. Each

stage builds on the successful completion of earlier stages. The challenges of stages not

successfully completed may be expected to reappear as problems in the future. However,

mastery of a stage is not required to advance to the next stage. Erikson's stage theory

characterizes an individual advancing through the eight life stages as a function of

negotiating his or her biological forces and socio-cultural forces. Each stage is characterized

by a psycho social crisis of these two conflicting forces (as shown in the table below). If an

individual does indeed successfully reconcile these forces (favoring the first mentioned

attribute in the crisis), he or she emerges from the stage with the corresponding virtue. For

example, if an infant enters into the toddler stage (autonomy vs. shame & doubt) with more

trust than mistrust, he or she carries the virtue of hope into the remaining life stages.

Stage Basic Conflict Important

Events

Outcome

Infancy (birth

to 18 months)

Trust vs.

Mistrust

Feeding Children develop a sense of trust when

caregivers provide reliability, care, and

affection. A lack of this will lead to mistrust.

Early Autonomy vs. Toilet Children need to develop a sense of personal

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Childhood (2

to 3 years)

Shame and

Doubt

Training control over physical skills and a sense of

independence. Success leads to feelings of

autonomy, failure results in feelings of shame

and doubt.

Preschool (3 to

5 years)

Initiative vs.

Guilt

Exploration Children need to begin asserting control and

power over the environment. Success in this

stage leads to a sense of purpose. Children

who try to exert too much power experience

disapproval, resulting in a sense of guilt.

School Age (6

to 11 years)

Industry vs.

Inferiority

School Children need to cope with new social and

academic demands. Success leads to a sense

of competence, while failure results in

feelings of inferiority.

Adolescence

(12 to 18

years)

Identity vs.

Role

Confusion

Social

Relationships

Teens need to develop a sense of self and

personal identity. Success leads to an ability

to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to

role confusion and a weak sense of self.

Young

Adulthood (19

to 40 years)

Intimacy vs.

Isolation

Relationships Young adults need to form intimate, loving

relationships with other people. Success leads

to strong relationships, while failure results in

loneliness and isolation.

Middle Generatively Work and Adults need to create or nurture things that

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Adulthood (40

to 65 years)

vs. Stagnation Parenthood will outlast them, often by having children or

creating a positive change that benefits other

people. Success leads to feelings of

usefulness and accomplishment, while failure

results in shallow involvement in the world.

Maturity(65 to

death)

Ego Integrity

vs. Despair

Reflection on

Life

Older adults need to look back on life and

feel a sense of fulfillment. Success at this

stage leads to feelings of wisdom, while

failure results in regret, bitterness, and

despair.

7. Conclusion :

Individual differences in personality are universal in that they are found in all human

populations. The roots of individual differences are no doubt bedded in evolutionary history,

selected because of their improved adaptiveness to conditions in the environment. Without

the study of individual differences, there could be no detailed analysis or explanation of why

people often behave or develop very differently under seemingly equivalent environmental

conditions. Understanding these differences and the development of these differences is

fundamental not only to psychologists' understanding of behavior but also to parents,

schoolteachers, social workers, policymakers, and anyone else working with other people.

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Because of its universality and its implications for understanding behavior, the study of

individual differences is an essential part of any complete scientific study of behavior.

Self-concept

Introduction

Developing a "Self Concept" of who we are helps us to get a grasp on our life as our own

director in the production which is our life. I do not mean the self image we project to the

world - that is a mask we present! I mean a real understanding and appreciation of what

makes us unique and our own special qualities.

My life philosophy is - Keep it simple. Life is to be lived not debated, so in this vein you

might find some of the concepts simplistic. Trust me - they are not!

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Each insight concept is a building block of self understanding as we construct a clear picture

of who you are, and how you relate to the world as we build a picture of self.

Because you are unique, so will be your picture of who you are.

What matters is - yourself concept! Not what others think it should be!

Of course a good dose of self honesty in developing your picture helps to keep the picture

real.

It is simply a matter your attitude. It all revolves around whether you are part of the world's

problems or part of the solution.

If you are part of the problem you could see doom and gloom, however if you are part of the

solution there will always be lots of exciting challenges to be met.

Here are two universal truths here to bear in mind :-

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch! Someone, somewhere has to pay.

You will get out of your life exactly what you put into it, no more, no less.

Self Concept then can be used interchangeably with personal development, because the

purpose of personal development is to raise our self concept - to see ourselves as we truly

are.

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What is self-concept

The self-concept is how we think about and evaluate ourselves. To be aware of oneself is to

have a concept of oneself.

The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about or

perceives themselves. It is an important term for both social psychology and humanism.

Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of self has two aspects: -

(1) The Existential Self

This is the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-concept; the sense of being separate and

distinct from others and the awareness of the constancy of the self” (Bee 1992).

The child realizes that they exist as a separate entity from others and that they continue to

exist over time and space. According to Lewis awareness of the existential self begins as

young as two to three months old and arises in part due to the relation the child has with the

world. For example, the child smiles and someone smiles back, or the child touches a mobile

and sees it move.

(2) The Categorical Self

Having realized that he or she exists as a separate experiencing being, the child next becomes

aware that he or she is also an object in the world. Just as other objects including people have

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properties that can be experienced (big, small, red, smooth and so on) so the child is

becoming aware of him or herself as an object which can be experienced and which has

properties. The self too can be put into categories such as age, gender, size or skill. Two of

the first categories to be applied are age (“I am 3”) and gender (“I am a girl”).

In early childhood the categories children apply to themselves are very concrete (e.g. hair

color, height and favorite things). Later, self-description also begins to include reference to

internal psychological traits, comparative evaluations and to how others see them.

Carl Rogers (1959) Believes that the self concept has three different components:

The view you have of yourself (Self image)

How much value you place on yourself (Self esteem or self-worth)

What you wish you were really like (Ideal self)

Self Image

This does not necessarily have to reflect reality. Indeed a person with anorexia who is thin

may have a self image in which the person believes they are fat. A person's self image is

affected by many factors, such as parental influences, friends, the media etc.

Kuhn (1960) investigated the self-image by using The Twenty Statements Test.

He asked people to answer the question 'Who am I?' in 20 different ways. He found that the

responses could be divided into two major groups. These were social roles (external or

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objective aspects of oneself such as son, teacher, friend) and personality traits (internal or

affective aspects of oneself such as gregarious, impatient, humorous).

The list of answers to the question “Who Am I?” probably include examples of each of the

following four types of responses:

1) Physical Description: I’m tall, have blue eyes...etc.

2) Social Roles: We are all social beings whose behavior is shaped to some extent by the

roles we play. Such roles as student, housewife, or member of the football team not only help

others to recognize us but also help us to know what is expected of us in various situations.

3) Personal Traits: These are a third dimension of our self-descriptions. “I’m impulsive...I’m

generous...I tend to worry a lot”...etc.

4) Existential Statements (abstract ones): These can range from "I’m a child of the universe"

to "I’m a human being" to "I’m a spiritual being"...etc.

Typically young people describe themselves more in terms of such personal traits, whereas

older people feel defined to a greater extent by their social roles.

Self Esteem and Self Worth

(the extent to which you value yourself)

Self esteem refers to the extent to which we like accept or approve of ourselves or how much

we value ourselves. Self esteem always involves a degree of evaluation and we may have

either a positive or a negative view of ourselves.

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HIGH SELF ESTEEM i.e. we have a positive view of ourselves. This tends to lead to

Confidence in our own abilities

Self acceptance

Not worrying about what others think

Optimism

LOW SELF ESTEEM i.e. we have a negative view of ourselves. This tends to lead to

Lack of confidence

Want to be/look like someone else

Always worrying what others might think

Pessimism

There are several ways of measuring self-esteem. For example, Harrill Self Esteem

Inventory is a questionnaire comprising 15 statements about a range of interest. Another

example is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), which is a neutral cartoon given to the

participant who then has to devise a story about what's going on.

Morse and Gergen (1970) showed that in uncertain or anxiety arousing situations our self-

esteem may change rapidly. Participants were waiting for a job interview in a waiting room.

They were sat with another candidate (a confederate of the experimenter) in one of two

conditions:

A) Mr. Clean - dressed in smart suit, carrying a briefcase opened to reveal a slide rule and

books.

B) Mr. Dirty - dressed in an old T-shirt and jeans, slouched over a cheap sex novel.

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http://www.simplypsychology.org/The%20Harrill%20Self-Esteem%20Inventory.pdf

http://www.simplypsychology.org/The%20Harrill%20Self-Esteem%20Inventory.pdf


Self-esteem of participants with Mr. Dirty increased whilst those with Mr. Clean decreased!

No mention made of how this affected subjects’ performance in interview. Level of self-

esteem affects performance at numerous tasks though (Coopersmith, 1967) so could expect

Mr. Dirty subjects to perform better than Mr. Clean.

Even though self-esteem might fluctuate, there are times when we continue to believe good

things about ourselves even when evidence to the contrary exists. This is known as the

perseverance effect. Miller and Ross (1975) showed that people who believed they had

socially desirable characteristics continued in this belief even when the experimenters tried to

get them to believe the opposite. Does the same thing happen with bad things if we have low

self-esteem? Maybe not, perhaps with very low self-esteem all we believe about ourselves

might be bad.

Argyle believes there are 4 major factors that influence self esteem.

1) THE REACTION OF OTHERS. If people admire us, flatter us, seek out our company,

listen attentively and agree with us we tend to develop a positive self-image. If they avoid us,

neglect us, tell us things about ourselves that we don’t want to hear we develop a negative

self-image.

2) COMPARISON WITH OTHERS. If the people we compare ourselves with (our reference

group) appear to be more successful, happier, richer, better looking than ourselves we tend

to develop a negative self image BUT if they are less successful than us our image will be

positive.

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3) SOCIAL ROLES. Some social roles carry prestige e.g. doctor, airline pilot, TV. presenter,

premiership footballer and this promotes self-esteem. Other roles carry stigma. E.g. prisoner,

mental hospital patient, refuse collector or unemployed person.

4) IDENTIFICATION. Roles aren’t just “out there.” They also become part of our

personality i.e. we identity with the positions we occupy, the roles we play and the groups we

belong to.

Ideal Self

(what you'd like to be)

If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (e.g. yourself image) and what you’d

like to be (e.g. your ideal self ) then this is likely to affect how much you value yourself.

Therefore, there is an intimate relationship between self-image, ego-ideal and self-esteem.

Humanistic psychologists study this using the Q-Sort Method.

A person’s ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happens in life and

experiences of the person. Hence, a difference may exist between a person’s ideal self and

actual experience. This is called incongruence.

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Where a person’s ideal self and actual experience are consistent or very similar, a state of

congruence exists. Rarely, if ever does a total state of congruence exist; all people experience

a certain amount of incongruence. The development of congruence is dependent on

unconditional positive regard. Roger’s believed that for a person to achieve self-

actualization they must be in a state of congruence.

Michael Argyle (2008) says there are four major factors which influence its

development:

The ways in which others (particularly significant others) react to us.

How we think we compare to others

Our social roles

The extent to which we identify with other people

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In conclusion, Self concepts are beliefs that every person has about themselves. Yourself

concept changes throughout your life, shaped by the different experiences that you have from

when you are a small child until the day that you die. The concepts that have about yourself

are enduring, people can change the way they view themselves as their life changes and

progresses, but for the most part how you view yourself will not change significantly. If you

see yourself as shy or as a happy go lucky person this will probably stick with you for the rest

of your life. Our family, peers, community and other people around us have a major impact

on our self concept. People can help us develop our self concepts through their values and

beliefs, and judgments of our characteristics. We use others to develop our self concept in the

way we select groups to compare ourselves to. Our self concepts effect the way we interact

with the world and in turn how the world reacts to us. A couple ways our self concept effects

our interactions are through self monitoring and self fulfilling prophecies. Finally it is very

important that our self concepts are as accurate as possible as our self concepts will

ultimately determine what we will do, the experiences we will have and the person we

project.

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8. References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_development

2. http://psychology.about.com/library/bl_psychosocial_summary.htm

3. http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/intimacy-versus-

isolation.htm

4. http://www.bmconsultantsindia.com/personality-development.html

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Personality Development Assignment Completed