Organizational Behaviour

1. Individual Differences
That people differ from each other is obvious. How and why they differ is less clear and is the subject of the study of Individual differences (IDs). Although to study individual differences seems to be to study variance, how are people different, it is also to study central tendency, how well can a person be described in terms of an overall within-person average. Indeed, perhaps the most important question of individual differences is whether people are more similar to themselves over time and across situations than they are to others, and whether the variation within a single person across time and situation is less than the variation between people. A related question is that of similarity, for people differ in their similarities to each other. Questions of whether particular groups (e.g., groupings by sex, culture, age, or ethnicity) are more similar within than between groups are also questions of individual differences. Personality psychology addresses the questions of shared human nature, dimensions of individual differences and unique patterns of individuals. Research in IDs ranges from analyses of genetic codes to the study of sexual, social, ethnic, and cultural differences and includes research on cognitive abilities, interpersonal styles, and emotional reactivity. Methods range from laboratory experiments to longitudinal field studies and include data reduction techniques such as Factor Analysis and Principal Components Analysis, as well as Structural Modeling and Multi-Level Modeling procedures. Measurement issues of most importance are those of reliability and stability of Individual Differences. Research in Individual Differences addresses three broad questions: 1) developing an adequate descriptive taxonomy of how people differ; 2) applying differences in one situation to predict differences in other situations; and 3) testing theoretical explanations of the structure and dynamics of individual differences.

Taxonomies of individual differences:

Taxonomic work has focused on categorizing the infinite ways in which individuals differ in terms of a limited number of latent or unobservable constructs. This is a multi-step, cyclical process of intuition, observation, deduction, induction, and verification that has gradually converged on a consensual descriptive organization of broad classes of variables as well as on methods for analyzing them. Most of the measurement and taxonomic techniques used throughout the field have been developed in response to the demand for selection for schooling, training, and business applications. Test Theory Consider the case of differences in vocabulary in a particular language (e.g., English). Although it is logically possible to organize people in terms of the specific words they know in English, the more than 2^(500,000) possible response patterns that could be found by quizzing people on each of the more than 500,000 words in English introduces more complexity rather than less. Classical Test Theory (CTT) ignores individual response patterns and estimates an individual's total vocabulary size by measuring performance on small samples of words. Words are seen as random replicates of each other and thus individual differences in total vocabulary size are estimated from observed differences on these smaller samples. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) compares the degree of

covariance between these samples with the variance within samples. As the number of words sampled increases, the correlation of the individual differences within each sample and with those in the total domain increases accordingly. Estimates of ability based upon Item Response Theory (IRT) take into account parameters of the words themselves (i.e., the difficulty and discriminability of each word) and estimate a single ability parameter for each individual. Although CTT and IRT estimates are highly correlated, CTT statistics are based on decomposing the sources of variance within and between individuals while IRT statistics focus on the precision of an individual estimate without requiring differences between individuals. CTT estimates of reliability of ability measures are assessed across similar items (internal consistency), across alternate forms, and across different forms of assessment as well as over time (stability). Tests are reliable to the extent that differences within individuals are small compared to those between individuals when generalizing across items, forms, or occasions. CTT reliability thus requires between subject variability. IRT estimates, on the other hand, are concerned with the precision of measurement for a particular person in terms of a metric defined by item difficulty. The test theory developed to account for sampling differences within domains can be generalized to account for differences between domains. Just as different samples of words will yield somewhat different estimates of vocabulary, different cognitive tasks (e.g., vocabulary and arithmetic performance) will yield different estimates of performance. Using multivariate procedures such as Principal Components Analysis or Factor Analysis, it is possible to decompose the total variation into between domain covariance, within domain covariance, and within domain variance. One of the most replicable observations in the study of individual differences is that almost all tests thought to assess cognitive ability have a general factor (g) that is shared with other tests of ability. That is, although each test has specific variance associated with content (e.g., linguistic, spatial), form of administration (e.g., auditory, visual), or operations involved (e.g., perceptual speed, memory storage, memory retrieval, abstract reasoning), there is general variance that is common to all tests of cognitive ability.

Personality and Ability

Although to some the term personality refers to all aspects of a person's individuality, typical usage divides the field into studies of ability and personality. Tests of ability are viewed as maximal performance measures. Ability is construed as the best one can do on a particular measure in a limited time (speed test) or with unlimited time (power test). Personality measures are estimates of average performance and typically include reports of preferences and estimates of what one normally does and how one perceives oneself and is perceived by others. The same procedures used to clarify the structure of cognitive abilities have been applied to the question of identifying the domains of personality. Many of the early and current personality inventories use self-descriptive questions (e.g., do you like to go to lively parties; are you sometimes nervous) that are rationally or theoretically relevant to some domain of interest for a particular investigator. Although there is substantial consistency across inventories developed this way, some of this agreement could be due to conceptually overlapping item pools. Other researchers have advocated a lexical approach to the taxonomic problem, following the basic assumption that words in the natural language describe all important individual differences. This shifts the taxonomic question from how are individuals similar and different from each other to how are the words used to describe individuals (e.g., lively, talkative, nervous, anxious) similar and different from each other. Dimensional analyses of tests developed based on lexical, rational, or theoretical bases suggest that a limited number (between three and seven) of higher order trait domains adequately organize the thousands of words that describe individual differences and the logically infinite way that these words

can be combined into self or peer report items. The broadest domains are those of introversionextraversion and emotional stability-neuroticism, with the domains of agreeableness, conscientiousness and intellectual openness or culture close behind. These domains can be seen as asking the questions that one wants to know about a stranger or a potential mate: are they energetic and dominant (extraverted), emotionally stable (low neurotic), trustworthy (conscientious), loveable (agreeable), and interesting (intelligent and open). Measures of ability and personality reflect observations aggregated across time and occasion and require inferences about stable latent traits thought to account for the variety of observed behaviors. However there are other individual differences that are readily apparent to outside observers and require little or no inference about latent traits. The most obvious of such variables include sex, age, height, and weight. Differences that require some knowledge and inference are differences in ethnicity and social economic status. These obvious group differences are sometimes analyzed in terms of the more subtle measures of personality and ability or of real life outcomes (e.g, sex differences in neuroticism, mathematics ability, or income).

Predictive Validity
Individual differences are important only to the extent that they make a difference. Does knowing that people differ on a trait X help in predicting the likelihood of their doing behavior Y? For many important outcome variables the answer is a resounding yes. In their review of 85 years of selection in personnel psychology, Frank Schmidt and John Hunter (Psychological Bulletin, 1998, 124, 262-274) show how differences in cognitive ability predict differences in job performance with correlations averaging about .50 for mid complexity jobs. These correlations are moderated by job complexity and are much higher for professional-managerial positions than they are for completely unskilled jobs. In terms of applications to personnel psychology, a superior manager (one standard deviation above the mean ability for managers) produces almost 50% more than an average manager. These relationships diminish as a function of years of experience and degree of training. General mental ability (g) also has substantial predictive powers in predicting non-job related outcomes, such as likelihood of completing college, risk for divorce and even risk for criminality. The non-cognitive measures of individual differences also predict important real life criteria. Extraversion is highly correlated with total sales in dollars among salespeople. Similarly, impulsivity can be used to predict traffic violations. Conscientiousness, when added to g substantially increases the predictability of job performance. Although the size of the correlation is much lower, conscientiousness measured in adolescence predicts premature mortality over the next fifty years.

Sources of individual differences

The taxonomic and predictive studies of individual differences are descriptive organizations of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that go together and how they relate to other outcomes. But this categorization is descriptive rather than causal and is analogous to grouping rocks in terms of density and hardness rather than atomic or molecular structure. Causal theories of individual differences are being developed but are in a much earlier stage than are the descriptive taxonomies. Descriptive taxonomies are used to organize the results of studies that examine genetic bases of individual differences. By applying structural modeling techniques to the variances and covariances associated with various family constellations it is possible to decompose phenotypic trait variance into separate sources of genetic and environmental variance. The most common family configurations that are used are comparisons of identical (monozygotic) with fraternal (dizygotic) twins. Additional designs include twins reared together or apart, and biological versus adoptive parents, children and

siblings. Conclusions from behavioral genetics for most personality traits tend to be similar: Across different designs, with different samples from different countries, roughly 40-60% of the phenotypic variance seems to be under genetic control with only a very small part of the remaining environmental variance associated with shared family environmental effects. Additional results suggest that genetic sources of individual differences remain important across the lifespan. However, this should not be taken to mean that people do not change as they mature but rather that the paths one takes through life are similar to those taken by genetically similar individuals. Genes do not code for thoughts, feelings or behavior but rather code for proteins that regulate and modulate biological systems. Although promising work has been done searching for the biological bases of individual differences it is possible to sketch out these bases only in the broadest of terms. Specific neurotransmitters and brain structures can be associated with a broad class of approach behaviors and positive affects while other neurotransmitters and structures can be associated with a similarly broad class of avoidance behaviors and negative affects. Reports relating specific alleles to specific personality traits emphasize that the broad personality traits are most likely under polygenic influence and are moderated by environmental experience. Subtle differences in neurotransmitter availability and re-uptake vary the sensitivity of individuals to cues about their environment that predict future resource availability and external rewards and punishments. It is the way these cues are detected, atttended to, stored, and integrated with previous experiences that makes each individual unique. Current work on the bases of individual differences is concerned with understanding this delicate interplay of biological propensities with environmental opportunities and constraints as they are ultimately represented in an individual's information processing system. With time we can expect to increase our taxonomic and predictive power by using these causal bio-social theories of individual differences.

2. PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
Personality development is the developing a personality cult so as to create a strong positive impression about self with the targeted group, or in general; and more pertinent aspect of such personality is to maintain and prove in a long run. The term personality is derived from the Latin word persona, meaning the mask which the actors wore on the Greek and Roman stage to distinguish their roles and amplify their voices. Why should the mask or outward appearance be used to designate something so essentially inward as personality? Precisely because it is a convenient symbol with which to mark off the individuality of or difference between one man and another. The three principal raw materials of personality physique, intelligence and temperament are determined both by heredity and by conditions subsequent to birth. The experiences that an individual has during the course of his life contribute in a large number of ways to the formation and development of his personality. The interaction between the individuals heredity and environment gives rise to what are known as the traits of his personality. Some examples of traits are cleanliness, honesty, cheerfulness, miserliness, irresponsibility. A trait that derives its meaning from being related to a specific thing, person or idea is known as an attitude. We define personality as the sum total of the man or woman, as he or she impresses other men and women. We must learn what part personality plays in the three main areas of human life activities: love and marriage, career, and social relations. According to Freud, the personality is a trinity consisting of id, ego and superego. The id is a reservoir of psychic energy and the source of the human instincts. It furnishes the power that sustains a persons activities. The ego is a special part of the id which keeps the individual in touch with the outside world, and finds outlets for the expression of his instincts. The superego is a kind of moral censor which passes judgment on the individuals strivings according to the standards which he has acquired from his parents. It makes him feel guilty when he goes against those standards, and proud of himself when he lives up to them. According to Jung, the personality consists of six parts: the ego, the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious, the persona, the anima, and the shadow. The ego requires little explanation. It is what is more generally known as the conscious mind. It is made up of conscious perceptions, memories, thoughts and feelings. The personal unconscious consists of experiences which have been repressed or forgotten, but which can under certain circumstances be recalled. The collective unconscious is a storehouse of ancestral memories which is common to the whole race. The personal is that side of ourselves which we choose to display to society. The personal is thus a mask which often hides the true nature of the personality. The anima is the feminine side of a mans personality. Its counterpart is the masculine side of a womans personality, which is known as the animus. The shadow is the animal side of mans nature. In Jungs view the personality looks not only backwards to its racial past, but also forwards to a goal, which is the development of a unified whole known as the self. The self or psyche, according to Jung, has four basic functions, which are present in every individual. These are thought, feeling, sensation and intuition. Thought seeks to understand the world on the basis of a true-false evaluation; feeling apprehends it on the basis of a pleasant-unpleasant evaluation; sensation perceives things through the senses; intuition perceives them through an inner awareness.

Jung says that the personality reveals two attitudes. They are introversion and extraversion. The introvert is influenced by what he finds within himself. The extravert takes his bearings from what lies outside himself. The essence of Adlers theory of personality is the doctrine of a creative self, which asserts that man makes his own personality out of the raw materials of heredity and experience. Adlers conception of the nature of personality thus coincides with the popular idea that man can be the master, and not the victim, of his fate. Alder says that the individuals style of life or law of movement is an expression of his total personality. The style of life is the individuals characteristic way of reacting to the situations that confront him in life. To Freuds basic scheme of id, ego and superego Horney has added the concept of what she calls the idealized image. This is the mental picture that a person has of himself as he would like to be. A man who is a failure will picture himself as a success. It is a face-saving device which enables the individual to retain a good opinion of himself in spite of evidence to the contrary. Although Horney regarded the idealized image as a flight from reality, this need not always be the case. It can have the positive value of serving as an incentive. Our style of life, to use Adlers term, becomes the striving of constructive imagination to work itself out in some concrete objective which forms the unique contribution of our personality to the welfare of humanity. Horney has suggested that people are motivated by two basic drives: the need of security and the need of satisfaction. An interesting and novel point of view on the dynamics of personality has been put forward by Fromm. He considers that mans activities can be understood as the expression of a conflict between the need of freedom and the fear of it. The result has been, according to Fromm,.that men are actually willing to give up their freedom in order to regain their security. Alder has shown us the way to fulfillment in this respect by stressing that love and marriage are one of the individuals main life tasks. He even goes so far as to say that a person who is adequately adjusted in this respect and in respect of his work and social life can never fall a victim to neurotic illness. The atmosphere of our home is inevitably a vital factor in the development of our personality. As result of his studies of human being Kretschmer concluded that there is a definite relation between physical and temperamental characteristics, though he makes it clear that in the majority of people temperament and physique are a blend rather than a fixed category of the types he describes. Our adult personality shows the effects of the kind of things that happen to us as children. What strikes us as unique in any particular society is the outcome of the personality traits acquired by the members of that society in childhood. Another interesting classification may be made on the basis of Freuds division of the personality into ego, superego and id. The ego we can characterize briefly by saying that it represents reason. The superego is the voice of conscience. Such a person is naturally full of conscientious scruples and high-minded to the point of idealism. There is some resemblance here with Jungs intuition types, who are guided by their convictions. To the superego-personality morality is the most important thing, whereas to the ego-personality the most important thing is truth. To the id-personality, on the other hand, the most important thing is pleasure. The value of sharing mutual interests has been proved in the psychological studies of marriage. There is much that married couples and those contemplating marriage can learn from the experiences of happily married husbands and wives. Reports from the latter continually

emphasize the value of shared interests for the contribution they make to the stability of their union. As Dr.Wilhelm Stkel has put it, The family life is the grammar school of love. We learn or should learn the attitudes that favour success in marriage by noting our own parents displaying them towards each other. We acquire our own potential behaviour in marriage by copying the example that was set before us in childhood by the marriage of our parents. What are the personality factors upon which the happiness of a marriage depends? This is a question which has been fairly well studied by psychologists. Some of the conclusions that they have reached are: 1, A couple who can share common interests have a firm basis for their marriage. 2. The ability to co-operate is a basic requirement for marital success. 3. Emotional maturity, based on a happy home life in childhood, is an invaluable asset.

Success was defined not in terms of money, but as the extent to which each man had made use
of his superior intellectual gifts. n Imp. Points for an Ultimate Personality: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Appearance. Intelligence. Smartness. Trustworthy, High integrity and Responsibility. Knowledge, in depth. Management Effective Communication & Efficiency. Economic independence. Morality / Character.

10. Being beneficial / advantageous.

Strong negative aspects to spoil personality: Unhygienic Hurting attitude. Useless approach. Non-beneficial communication. Untrustworthy, Irresponsible, Lack of integrity. Below average performance. Powerless egoism. Financial indiscipline. Mismanagements. Uncontrolled burst of negative emotions. Factors for Personality Improvement

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Pleasing Physical Presentation. Body Language. Communication. Maturity in Socio-Cultural Values. Beneficial Interactions Grasping & Understanding circumstances and environment. Intelligence. Outwitting Defensive Smartness. Concentration and Devotion in duties with (developed) liking/interest.

10. Taking care with responsibility as if own. 11. Accountable action without attracting negative reaction. 12. Will to achieve. 13. Convinced stand and inner-strength to withstand. 14. Analytical decision of choosing the best suitable of all the available practical alternatives with maturity and in the interest of purpose. 15. Risk taking with accountability for calculations. 16. Maturity of values. 17. Convincing nature. 18. Make them to dance to your tune without their knowledge. 19. Speak to them the language they understand. 20. Make them to realize your positive abilities without your involvement. 21. Be the best for good and worst for the bad in managing. 22. Do not react but act sensibly. 23. Dont suppress emotions, but eradicate them with positive thinking. 24. Yoga & Meditation. 25. Priorities in the order of advantages and time. 26. Health Care. 27. Voluntary Initiative for learning and helping. 28. Financial Management to beget more pleasure and happiness.

Pre-Requisites 1. 2. 3. 4. Discipline Growth/improvement/Solving oriented Positive thinking. Helping tendency. Zeal to grow.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Sincerity, integrity and gratitude. Concentration and devotion. Awareness and Alertness. Sociability. Will-Power.

10. Not hurting attitude 11. Interest in clean and neat appearance. 12. Command over language 13. Responsible output. 14. Accountable actions. 15. Utilizing Time Preciously. 16. Lack of: lies, laziness, jealousy, exploitation, action and words differing, selfishness at others cost, arguments outside competition, revenge, lust, hurting egoism, ignorance The four aspects influencing personality are: Physical, Social, Psychological and Philosophical. Physical personality depends upon pleasing personality indirectly supported by health, strength and withstanding capacity. Social personalitys main factors are: social values, communication skill, attitude and economic independence especially in relation to wealth. Psychological personality is in tune with personal values, approach, thinking pattern, emotional management and influenced by knowledge, intelligence and smartness. Philosophical personality is on account of maturity of values.

Main factors for developing a strong personality in social environment: 1. 2. 3. 4. Pleasing appearance. Beneficial communication. Adapting and adhering to social values in interactions. Developing confidence of (a) (b) (c) 5. Sincerity, integrity and trust. Completing duties, fulfilling responsibilities in time. Economic independence, but not being miser.

Additional spices for the best impression: (a) (b) (c) Awareness and alertness. Useful application of: knowledge in depth, positive intelligence and defensive smartness. Self-Confidence, Initiative, dynamism, leadership qualities, will-power

and self-discipline. (d) Adaptive to moral values.

Requisites for personality development in social context are in the order of: (1) Intelligence; (2) killing smartness; (3) wealth; (4) character; (5) knowledge. Whereas the requisites of personality development for self improvement: (1) Character; (2) Wealth; (3) knowledge; (4) Intelligence; (5) Defending Smartness. Personality Development builds up certain characteristics which help to gain for himself, his family, his unit and society. The gain may be of materialistic or non-materialistic and direct, or indirect. Your bringing up values in others brings gains for them which in turn bring gains indirectly to you. Many a times we first try for non-materialistic gains like popularity and good-will, which we encash it for more wealth (materialistic) later on; this is how ones personality helps to gain materialistic advantage thro non-materialistic benefits. Personality is of two types, viz: in-built personality and out-ward personality. In-built personality refers to ones inner strength on account of maturity and morality which develops a strong self-confidence in ones attitudes and approaches. Out-ward personality depends upon ones potentiality of creating a strong impression with others. Out-ward personality helps to achieve materialistic confidence and in-built personality helps to attain moral confidence.

There are certain definite techniques which can be applied to the improvement of your personality in the framework of the social setting described above. If you want to practice these techniques you must first learn what they are: 1. Concentrate on one thing at a time. 2. Understand how you came to be what you are. 3. Imagine yourself becoming what you want to be. 4. Suggest to yourself that you can be what you imagine. 5. Act the part you want to play in life. These are general principles of habit formation that can be applied to the various habits that go to make up your personality. 1. Concentrate on one thing at a time. Personality is the sum total of our habits, physical, mental and emotional. Therefore, the problem of improving it needs to be broken down into the specific habits that require cultivation. These should be tackled one at a time. Let us assume that you accept this advice and that you choose to concentrate on improving your confidence. This is not, of course, the only choice you could make. You are not limited to this one trait but can, if wish, work on any other. For example, do you remain cool in emergencies? Do you avoid blaming others when things go wrong? Can you always be depended upon to do what you say you will do? Do you go out of your way cheerfully to help others? Do you have reasonable faith in humanity? Do you show an interest in the interests of others? Do you take an active part in any organizations to which you belong? According to the way in which you answer these and other similar questions that you might ask yourself, you will want to aim at developing poise, acceptance of responsibility, reliability, helpfulness, trust, other-interest, co-cooperativeness, and so on. But we will assume that you have selected confidence as the trait you want to develop. We make this assumption for several reasons: (a) many people who feel that they need to improve their personality at all feel that they could do with a bit more confidence; (b) Confidence is basic to success in practically all human activities; (c) To cultivate confidence may go a long way towards self-improvement in other traits besides.

2. Understand how you came to be what you are. Develop a fuller understanding of your own motives. Study your childhood experiences to discover the causes of the trouble. Revive the original memories and re-evaluate them in the light of mature adult experience. The improvement of personality, says Dr.Roback, hinges on insight. Lack of confidence may be caused by being born to parents who themselves lack confidence; having a characteristic which makes one feel different from other people; feeling unloved and unwanted in childhood, being over-protected, spoilt or pampered as a child by ones parents; undergoing psychic traumas or emotional shocks in childhood, such as being deprived of one or both parents; and experiencing a mental conflict which leads to the repression of a strong desire. To findout the reason, then, spend a few minutes regularly each day thinking about the events of your past life and reliving the feelings which you had at the time. Study your childhood memories with particular reference to any of the typical causes listed above. When you recall an event or situation which helps you to see why you lack confidence, try to recall how you felt at the time when it occurred. Find some way of working off your feelings in direct, useful physical activity, e.g, digging the garden chopping wood, etc. Go over each experience again and again in your mind, working off the emotions connected with it, until you can think about it without feeling upset by it. The purpose of this exercise is to enable you to gain insight into the reasons why you lack confidence, and to release the repressed emotions which lie at the root of this symptom. If you can succeed in accomplishing this task, you will have gained a valuable piece of selfknowledge. Imagine yourself becoming what you want to be. Dont try to overcome your lack of confidence merely by an effort of will. As well as relying upon will-power use the power of imagination. Imagination and will together are more effective than either alone. In your minds eye see a picture of yourself as you would like to be. Create a mental picture of yourself plus the desired change. Then use your will-power to make the mental picture a reality.

For example, in your minds eye see yourself acting with confidence in your social life. Imagine yourself exchanging opinions with the people you meet and taking an active interest in their interests. See yourself replying confidently when the boss speaks to you, picture yourself dating that girl who attracts you. Then get in there and really do it. The law of reversed effort is invoked by a conflict between will and imagination. For example, you will yourself to accomplish something, but your imagination dwells on thoughts of failure. The result is that you fail. The solution of the problem is to get will and imagination working together, as suggested above. When you will yourself to do something, you should also picture yourself succeeding. 1. Suggest to yourself that you can be what you imagine. Tell yourself that you can become what you want to be. Suggest to yourself that you will no longer be afraid of the memories of the past. Affirm to yourself, at frequent intervals, quietly but forecully, whatever change you desire. In other words, you can replace fear by confidence with the help of autosuggestion.

For this purpose, you should on retiring, on awakening and at any other convenient time repeat to yourself: Hour by hour and day by day, Im gaining confidence in every way. The key work is confidence, and the affirmation may even be shortened to this. That is, you can simply repeat the word confidence to yourself. You can do this instead of saying the full affirmation or after you have said it. When saying the full affirmation you can prevent your mind wandering by placing a special stress on the key word. 2. Act the part you want to play. Act as if the desired change in yourself had already taken

place. Be interested in what other people are saying. A man said: I find that being in company can be distressing. I have a feeling that people are not interested in what I am saying. Therefore, if you want to put people at their ease, be as interested in them as you expect them to be in you. Show a genuine interest in other people. Talk about the things that interest them. Rejoice with others in their good fortune. Show appreciation of others. Speak well of people. Avoid making them feel inferior. Eliminate disapproval and adverse criticism. Cultivate the habit of a friendly smile. Smile, darn you, smile, as the song says. Cultivate a sense of humour. Listen with sympathy and interest to what others have to say. A little sympathy for others will change the personality, promises Dr.Roback. Be enthusiastic. A face lighted up with enthusiasm, says Dr.Roback, will always atone for a poor complexion, a too large nose, a too wider mouth, or too small eyes. Emotions like fear or timidity cannot be altered directly by an effort of will, but we can control their outward expression. If you want to appear self confident, act as though you were selfconfident. Carry out the bodily movements appropriate to the emotion you wish to cultivate. As we read in Hamlet, Assume a virtue though you have it not. For example, a woman who lacked self-confidence said:I dont confide to people at large the way I really fee, and I am constantly being told how people envy my smart appearance and air of confidence. As a result I have felt more confident, so that I am beginning to wonder whether I have not imagined the embarrassment. Finally, a word about character: Character is the moral aspect of personality. For example, red hair is a trait of personality, but honesty is a trait of character. Other examples of character traits are: consideration for others, self-denial, conscientiousness, persistence, reliability, a sense of responsibility, self-respect, obedience to a worthy authority, reverence, self-control, courage, industriousness, initiative, consistency, loyalty, unselfishness, and so on. A remarkable feature of character is its uniformity. For example, if a man is rude to one person who irritates him, his rudeness to another person who does the same thing hardly surprises us. We expect a woman who is conscientious in her household duties to be equally conscientious if she is appointed secretary of Mothers Union. A child who does neat and accurate homework in French can usually be relied upon to do the same thing in Maths. Character cannot be changed radically once childhood has been left behind. The basis of character is laid down in the first five years of life, and thereafter it can only be added to. Two important influences contribute to moulding the character of the individual in childhood. In the first place, character is acquired through unconscious imitation. In other words, the child takes over the early standards of thought and conduct set for him by his parents. This is the most important and decisive element in the formation of character. It leads to the development of the superego, conscience or moral self. The second important influence that contributes to the moulding of character is the identifications which the child makes not only with his parents but also with other personas in authority, such as teachers and ministers of religion. In particular, there is usually a strong identification between the individual and the parent of the same sex. In other words, the boy normally wants to grow up to be a man like Dad, while the girl takes her mother as her ideal. These considerations lead to a practical conclusion that provides the answer to the question of character development. We should associate ourselves with people who posses those traits that we regard as making up a sound character in the highest and broadest sense of the term. By this means we provide ourselves with a pattern upon which we can model the additions that we want to make to the basic character that was formed by our experiences in the first five years of life.