The document defines personality as characteristic patterns of behavior and modes of thinking that determine how a person adjusts to their environment. It discusses the different components of personality, including physical and mental skills/abilities, as well as the social, private, and unconscious aspects. The document also examines the biological, common experience, and unique experience influences on personality development and lists several approaches to understanding personality, such as the trait, social learning, psychoanalytic, and phenomenological approaches. Personality results from an interaction between individual characteristics and environmental conditions and can be internally or externally controlled.

1. Personality

2.  Physical skills &  Mental skills &
abilities abilities
 Strength  Numerical
 Flexibility  Verbal
 Stamina  Perceptual
 Physical balance  Inductive

3.  Personality might mean
 The social appeal and effectiveness of a person
 An individual’s striking characteristic.
 Individual differences

4. Defining Personality
“ Characteristic patterns of behavior and
modes of thinking that determine a person’s
adjustment to the environment”

5.  Implies consistency in individual actions
 People tend to act or think in different ways.
 E.g.
one person suppresses anger, the other
expresses anger without any reason.

6.  Resultof interaction between personality
characteristics and the social and physical
conditions of the environment.
 Internally controlled behavior: determined
by the characteristics of the individual and is
fairly consistent
 Externallycontrolled behavior: determined
by the particular situation in which the
behavior happens

7.  The “you” others observe and listen to.
 Itincludes expressive features, manners
(speech patterns, the way you carry
yourself), general disposition (general mood –
cheery or grumpy), the way you react to
threatening behaviors, the attitudes you
express etc.
 Behaviors are different in different social
gatherings.

8.  Fantasies,thoughts, and experiences that
you don’t share with others.
 Special experiences, wishes that seem too
childish and immature, dreams and memories
are all part of

10.  Biological influences
 Common experiences
 Unique experiences

11.  Body build:
 Low co-relation between body build and
personality
 Mostly stereotyping
 E.g. fat people are jolly
 Body physiology
 Certain enzymes and chemicals in a human body
affect the personality
 E.g .thrill seekers have a different chemical
makeup than calm people

12.  Families in one culture share the same beliefs,
customs and values.
 Children are taught accepted behaviors.
 E.g. how to behave a formal reception , a sports
event
 Even then, individuals may not have the same
personality because
 They are transmitted by adults who may not all share
the same values and practices
 The individual has some experiences which are
unique.

13.  Experiences shape an individual
 A sick person who has been cared for a long time,
may want to be cared for the same way and
exhibit this desire.
 A chance to show heroism may cause someone to
change views about himself and act more
courageously next time.
 A traumatic experience may teach someone to be
more careful.

14.  Trait approach
 Every person has identifiable dominant traits (a
quality that differs from person to person). Those are
in born characteristics like aggressive, cautious etc.
 Social learning approach
 Personality development based on learning, people
learning from the society through various methods.
 Psychoanalytic approach
 Focuses on private personality; motivated by
unconscious impulses.
 Freud’s 3 functions of personality, id, ego and super
ego.
 Phenomenological approach
 Subjective study of human behavior; conscious views.

15.  Regularities in personalities
 Consistency over time
 Consistency over situations