Personality Development

The Importance of Personality The word personality has technical meaning for experts in human behavior. To them, personality refers to the total person. It is the expression of what you are and what you do. It is the core of each individual, the product of all the responses that are expressed in everyday living—in the home, the school, the church, the play area, the workplace, in the streets and in the seclusion of your room. It includes the things that you say as well as think in the many different situations that you constantly meet. Expressed another way, personality is the reflection or interpretation of your inner self to other people. From this point of view, you are like an actor on a stage before an audience that will inevitably evaluate your performance. Personality then is shown through a person’s total behavior and by the responses of other people to that behavior. The impact of a person’s behavior causes others to respond favorably or unfavorably. This process can also be reversed. A person’s concept of how he impresses others can be a strong force in modifying his behavior either to his advantage or disadvantage. When a person’s behavior manifests successful adjustment to a given area of his environment, his personality in that area would be considered effective. Achieving an all-round good personality depends upon developing satisfactory behavior patterns in many different aspects of living. The key to a good personality if the ability to adjust equally well to various types of life situations, to make those responses which result in the greatest satisfaction for both oneself and one’s associates. The person who has learned to conduct himself positively in all the important areas of his life has developed an effective personality. Spheres of Personality Physical appearance –posture, build and size, complexion, and facial expression, as well as the appropriateness and condition of clothes Intellectual Capacity – how the person talks, the range of ideas he expresses, and the things he talks about, as well as his values and mental alertness Emotional Make-up – is shown by his likes and dislikes, whether he is aggressive or obedient, how he responds when things become difficult, whether he is usually calm and self-reliant, how quickly he is given to anger, whether he can take a joke, what kind of sense of humor he possesses, and the like. Social Qualities – how well the person conducts himself with other people, and how well he observes the rules and etiquette that govern society. Value System – the person’s attitudes toward life, his moral principles, his beliefs. Each person’s philosophy of life and his values are the result of meaningful and satisfying learning experiences from which inner feelings and beliefs develop. Personality Differences The basis for personality differences lies in three major interacting forces-- heredity or nature, environment or nurture and time or maturation.