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PERSONALITY TYPES

Definition
Personality is made up the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. It arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life

Factors influencing development of personality


Personality is the wide term, which is the result or net effect of different circumstances and factors. There are many factors which affect personality or which determine the personality. Few among them are as follows: Heredity Brain Family Background Social group (where we interact) Situation Cultural Factor Physical Features (1) Heredity: Heredity is the transmission of qualities from generation to generation. This can happen due to chromosomes of the germ cell. Heredity predisposes to certain physical, mental, emotional states. It has been established through research on animals that physical and psychological factor may be transmitted through heredity. It has been concluded from various researches that heredity plays an important part in determining an individuals personality. (2) Brain: It is the second biological factor that affects the personality of a person. The role of brain in personality formation is very important. If a persons brain is sharp, he can understand the situation better and take prompt decision. This improves his personality. (3) Family Background (Members): Parents and other family members have strong influence on the personality development of the child. Parents have more influence on the personality development of a child as compared to other members of the family. Family influences the behaviour of a person especially in early stages. The nature of such influence will depend upon the following factors:Family Size Birth Order Race Religion Geographic location

Parents educational level Socio- economic level of family (4) Social Groups: Besides a persons home environment and family members, there are other influences arising from the social placement of the family as the person is exposed to agencies outside the home (i.e. social groups) these social groups includes school mates, friends, colleagues at work place or any other group to which an individual belongs because A man is known by the company he keeps. Similarly, socio-economic factors also affect personality development. (5) Situation: Situational factors may also play an important role in determination of human personality. Many a times, the behavior of a person is determined not by how that man is but by what the situation is in which he is places. An employee who is hard working and always gets ahead may prove lazy and trouble maker if he is put under unfavorable situation. This aspect is very important because it can be kept in control by the management. (6) Culture: Culture is the sum total learned behavior trait which manifested and shared by the member of the society In other words It is a unique system of perception, belief, values, norms, pattern of behaviour of individual in a given society Culture is the factor which determines the decision making power of an individual. It includes independence, competition, artistic talent, and aggression, Co-operation etc. Each culture expects that the person should behave in a way, which is accepted by the group. Personal belonging to different cultural groups has different attitudes. Every culture has their own sub-culture also.. (7) Physical Features: The physical features of the individual also have a great impact on personality of an individual. Physical features include height, weight and such other physical aspect of an individual.

Characteristics of normal personality (healthy personality)


Rational Self Evaluation: A person with healthy personality looks at himself with realistic approach, for who he really is and not what he would like to be. There is a considerable amount of gap between what is real and what is idealistic in his mind. A person with healthy personality is not guarded or defensive towards others because he does not try to defend himself against the world. He knows his true abilities and inabilities; therefore there is no faade of defense mechanism to try and save himself of the embarrassment of the failures by not taking the responsibility of it and putting it on others. Every criticism for a person with well adjusted personality is constructive criticism. He is willing to listen to others criticize him, knowing that it will make him a better person. Rational Evaluation Of Rewards: A person with healthy personality will realistically appraise his achievements. His reaction towards them would be pragmatic and he will not get attached to it beyond a healthy measure. It is a trait of a person with unhealthy personality that he takes his rewards too personally and tries to force his superiority over others. This kind of unadjusted person will throw around his weight, brag about his success and make other people feel low about themselves. Someone with healthy personality will always take his success and failure with a pinch of salt and try and evaluate himself realistically. If he has achieved success, he will not let this get to his head and if he has failed then also he will look at the situation for what it is, trying to assess if the failure was because other people in the competition were better than him.

Agreeing With Reality: The well-adjusted person will know about his limitations, whether physical or mental. The fact that he has clarity about his weaknesses, he will be able to improve himself. On the other hand a person with unhealthy personality will always feel self pity for having some sort of limitation and will play the blame game. This will affect his life massively because he will never be able to find ways to compensate for his shortcomings. Being Responsible: A person with healthy personality recognizes his responsibilities and will always be ready to give in his all to fulfill his duties. He is well aware of the fact that by denying his responsibilities he would have to face social disapproval, which will inevitably affect his confidence levels. He takes responsibility for himself and his actions. If it is his fault then he accepts it gracefully without unnecessarily fighting it. A well-adjusted personality will always admit his mistake. This makes him a reliable person. Emotional Stability: A person with well-adjusted personality always keeps a check on his emotions, making sure that they are not going out of control and are not hurting anybody else or himself. This kind of person is very comfortable with his emotions and does not hesitate in expressing his emotions in healthy amount. He has, over the period of his life, inculcated in his personality tolerance against stress, depression and anxiety. Focused: A person with healthy personality will always keep realistic and pragmatic goals, knowing what he can or cannot achieve. While a person with distorted personality will always fail to keep realistic goals for himself, he would constantly either underestimate or overestimate himself. A person with healthy personality is generally organized with his goals while the maladjusted one will not be able to keep his focus and all his resources will be scattered because he would have no clue how to fulfill his unrealistic goal. Acceptance: A person with healthy personality will always have confidence that he will be able to meet social demands and challenges and he will work hard towards achieving it. He will not live his life primarily for social acceptance but will have full faith in his personality that he will be accepted everywhere he will go. On the other hand, the maladjusted personality will either go out of his way to try and achieve social acceptance or will outspokenly detest it.

Assessing personality
Psychological testes It is standard measures devised to asses behavior objectively . it is used to help people make decision about their lives and understand more about themselves. These testes must be valid (actually measure what they are designed to a given person or group). Self report measures of personality (interview): It is a method of gathering data about sample by asking them some questions about sample of their behaviors. Behavioral assessment (observation): Observation people in their setting (home, workplace, school) through interviewing people or by close observation. Or it may be carried out in the laboratory in controlled setting. Individual's behavior used to describe characteristics of personality. This test may carried out by assessing the person personality in their own setting.

Rating scale : Person asked to give himself a degree by choosing a point / rate on certain statement .

Types or classification of personality


Trait Theories: Attempt to learn what traits make up personality and how they relate to actual behavior Psychodynamic Theories: Focus on the inner workings of personality, especially internal conflicts and struggles Humanistic Theories: Focus on private, subjective experience and personal growth Social-Cognitive Theories: Attribute difference in personality to socialization, expectations, and mental processes

Scenario to understand those theories:


Meet AHMEAD Suppose you have observed that AHMEAD often behaves in an aggressive manner. As a youth, AHMEAD constantly was in trouble for fighting with other children. When he gets in an argument with someone over some small detail, AHMEAD frequently will threaten the other person with violence. You conclude from these observations that aggressive behaviour is part of AHMEAD s personality

AHMEAD is expressing an instinct that we all have to act in an aggressive manner. For AHMEAD , the unconscious mechanism that holds this impulse in check is not functioning properly. A closer examination might show that AHMEAD acts aggressively only in certain situations or people e.g. middle-aged males. The psychoanalytic might speculate he is expressing some unconscious hostility toward his father. The trait approach might describe AHMEAD s behaviour pattern in terms of an aggressive trait: Because of some past experiences or even some inherited tendency, AHMEAD is more likely to respond to situations with aggression than people who are lower in this aggressive trait. AHMEAD s aggressiveness is his response to the frustration of some basic needs. Aggression will cease as soon as AHMEAD gets back on the road to self-fulfillment. AHMEAD has been reinforced for aggressive behaviour in the past. Therefore, he has a habit of responding to certain types of situations with aggression. Having observed others be rewarded for acting aggressively, AHMEAD expects that he too will be rewarded if he imitates this aggressive behaviour. AHMEAD frequently attends to aspects of his environment that stimulate him to act aggressively. Because he tends to process information along lines related to violence, he is more likely than most people to respond to events with aggression. AHMEAD s brain examination shows that he has an damaged hypothalamus a critical part of the brain that controls aggression.

BIG FIVE personality model


Human resources professionals often use the Big Five personality dimensions to help place employees. That is because these dimensions are considered to be the underlying traits that make up an individuals overall personality:

Extraversion focuses on the comfort level of an individual in interaction with others.

EXTRAVERSION
Assertive Outgoing Talkative Open

INTROVERSION
Timid Quiet Reserved

Agreeableness refers to an individuals behavior towards others while interacting with them.

HIGH AGREEABLENESS
Good

LOW AGREEABLENESS
Cold Antagonistic Distant

Natured Co-operative Trusting

Conscientiousness refers to the extent to which individuals show consistent & reliable behavior while working in the organization.

HIGH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
High

LOW CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
Unreliable Disorganized Inconsistent Easy-going

Responsible Dependable Organized Persistent

Emotional Stability refers to the ability of an individual to control his/her emotions at the time of crisis. Positive Emotions Negative Emotions Nervous Calm Depressed Self-confident Insecure Secure

Openness to experience measures the individuals ability to be open to any kind of experience that helps him/her to do the job effectively. HIGH OPEN TO EXPERIENCE More Approachable Creative Imagination Curiosity LOW OPEN TO EXPERIENCE Uncomfortable Practical Traditional Down-to-earth Conservative

How to deal with the deferent types of personality

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