Personality and its Theory

Personality:Personality we mean out-word appearance, inner self & an interaction between two.Personality is derived from the Greek word, “Personnare” which means to speak through. It’s a mask approach, outer appearance.
Personality is believe as out word appearance by Roman Identity. They identify ones personality through mask.Difference characteristics of an individual as real capability, uniqueness, expression, attitude, dress-up and good personality is because of inner self.Personality is a dynamic state of mind. It’s changeable with the time, situation. Personality is “The some total of individual behaviour”.
Personality is-

1. The dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho physical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment
2. The relative consists pattern of behaviour, thinking & feeling distinguish one from another. Personality is unique from person to person.
   One can adjust with the society because of personality.

Nature & Characteristics of personality:1) Personality reflects individual difference
2) Personality is consists & enduring
3) Personality is a result of heredity, environmental factors & the situation conditions
4) Personality can dynamic (changeable)

1. Personality reflects individual difference:Personality is different from person to person. The way of thinking, behaviour, feelings and attitude of a person is different that to others.Any ones personality is different & based upon his family, surrounding environment & situation.

2. Personality is consisting & enduring:
Personality of a person is consistent means, it’s constantly stay with a person. Personality of a person is like a shadow of a body. It’s may changeable but constant and enduring. It’s a never ending process.

3. Personality is a result of heredity, environmental factors & the situation conditions:Some behaviour, attitude of a person comes from his for-father, through genes & chromosomes. So it’s called hereditary. It’s also environmental because when a child grow up she/he can observe & learn many things from her/his family, pioneer group, culture and social institution. According to which a person s personality is build up.

4. Personality is dynamic:Personality is those dimension, which is change from person to person and time to time and place to place. Either in a Institution or in a home, in a different place we behave differently.

Theories of Personality1) Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud’s Theory)
2) Type Theory
3) Trait Theory
4) Neo-Freudian Personality Theory
5) Social Learning Theory
6) Self Theory

1. Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud’s Theory):Psychoanalytic schools of thought is a popular school of thought. It’s headed by Sigmo & Freud. According to the Psychoanalytic theory all the behaviour of a person is due to the instinct (Inner urge) and its instinct is based on Birth (Libido) & death (Thanatos).Libido is called as the source of energy whereas Thanatos is for depression. Those who influence with Livido is always positive in nature.
According to Freud There have 3 Layers of mind:
-Consciousness
-Unconsciousness
-Sub-consciousness
There have also 3 structures of human mind;
-Id
-Ego
-Super ego

2. Type Theory:Jung’s Psychognomy Theory
Sheldon’s Psychognomy Theory
Jung’s Psychognomy Theory:Jung’s Theory is different from Freud”s Theory.
He has taken 4 dimensions for the building of personality as-
-Sensing Thinking
-Instituting Thinking
-Sensing Feeling
-Intuiting feeling
Taking this four dimensions he gave 2 dimensions of Personality as-
1.Extrovert
2.Introvert
Extrovert:Ø Extroverts are those, who are the out-going, optimistic, gregarious
Ø They are sociable
Ø They are reality oriented and practicable
Ø They believe in doing rather than thinking
Ø They like interaction with others

Introvert:Ø They are much in word directed
Ø Less sociable
Ø They are guided by their own idea & Philosophy
Ø They are subjective oriented
Ø They are calm & quite
Ø They like solitude

Sheldon’s Theory:According to Sheldon there have 3 types of personality as-
Ø Endomorphos (Characteristics – Jovial, Bulky)
Ø Mesomorphos (Strong, athletic )

Ø Ectomorts (Avoid social contact, remain absent of mind)

3. Trait Theory:Trait means the quality and characteristics.. All ports theory given-
*Social
*Political
*Religious
R.B.Cattles given two types of trait:
Surface trait (Invisible)
Source Trait (Visible)

4. Neo-Freudian Theory:Neo-Freudian criticized the Freud’s theory. Waston is great supporter of this theory. According to him the personality of an individual is not for the instinct but only for the behaviour.

5. Social learning Theory:Social learning means learn from society. It can happen by
-Observation
-Modelling

Social learning process has some phases as
*Attention
*Retention
*Motor production
*Reinforcement process

6. Self theory:
Self esteem is two types-
*How you value yourself

*How other value you
Self theory defines self as 2 types as-
*High self (Prestige conscious & Take more risks)
*Low self (Blame others & discuss about others)

Defence Mechanism

Introduction

All of us, quite often, face environmental or personal

obstacles in life which cause anxiety and lead to

stress. Psychologists have given different names to

stress such as frustration, conflict, pressure etc. To

protect ourselves against anxiety and stress, our ego

sets up mechanisms which are known as defence

mechanisms. Defence mechanisms are unrealistic and

operate at the unconscious level. While one uses

such a mechanism one is unaware of it. Defence

mechanisms are not healthy methods to cope with

anxiety and stress as they are an unrealistic approach

to problems. If defence mechanisms are used

frequently, they lead to serious psychological disorders.

The severity of stress depends on individual personality,

situations, contexts, duration, importance, multiplicity

of need, strength and quantity of conflicting forces,

eminence of anticipated stress, unfamiliarity or

suddenness of the problem, perception of a problem,

degree of threat, stress tolerance of the individual

and external resources and supports etc. We experience

stress in our life when we face circumstances like

death of spouse or a close family member or close

friend, marital separation or reconciliation,

imprisonment, personal injury, illness, marriage,

retirement, sex difficulties, pregnancy, new comer in

family, change in financial state, business

readjustment, change in job or work pattern, change

in the responsibilities at work, mortgage or loan,

difference with spouse or head of the family, beloved’s

leaving home, trouble with in-laws, outstanding

personal achievement, attachment or detachment with

job or wife, joining or leaving school, change in living

conditions and residences or schools, change in

personal habits, trouble with boss, change in religion,

recreational and social activities, vacation and social

gathering etc.

Types of Defence Mechanisms

Psychologists have classified different defence

mechanisms in a number of ways. Some of them put

defence mechanisms in five or six main categories

while others extend them up to 17-18 categories.

Defence mechanisms are learned and designed to

tackle self devaluation, anxiety and hurt and operate

automatically at habitual levels. They typically involve

measures of self deception and distortion. Defence

mechanisms are usually exercised in combination

instead of singly and quite often they are combined

with task oriented behaviour. To a great extent they

are necessary to soften failure, alleviate anxiety and

hurt and protect feelings of significance adequacy and

worth. Normally, they are adjustive reactions but

sometimes they seriously interfere with the effective

resolution of stress. Defence mechanisms may feature

in a negative or a positive form.

The following is a list of the main types of defence

mechanisms:

i) Projection

ii) Reaction formation

iii) Regression

iv) Repression

v) Rationalisation

vi) Denial of reality

vii) Fantasy

viii) Displacement

ix) Emotional Insulation

x) Intellectualisation (Isolation)

xi) Undoing

xii) Identification

xiii) Introjections

xiv) Compensation

xv) Acting out

xvi) Selective forgetting

xvii) Negativism

xviii) Sublimation

Motivation

Motivation refers to the driving and pulling forces

which result in persistent behaviour directed towards

a particular goal. Motives are inferences from

observations of behaviour. They are powerful tools for

the explanation of behaviour and they allow us to

make predictions about future behaviour.

Physical needs like hunger, thirst, rest, sex etc. of

human beings are basic needs and they are hereditary.

The internal energy generated by the human being in

the course of several actions to satisfy his/her physical

needs that helps him/her to achieve the goal, is

called drive.

Theories of motivation include drive theories, incentive

theories, the opponent process theories and optimallevel

theories. Drive theories state that behaviour is

pushed towards goals by internal states within the

person. Incentive theories stress the ability of goals

to pull behaviour towards them. The opponent process

theory is a hedonistic theory as it says that we are

motivated to seek goals which make us feel good and

avoid goals that create displeasure. This theory also

says that many emotional motivating states are followed

by opposing or opposite states. Optimal level theories

are hedonistic theories which say that behaviour is

directed towards seeking an optimal level of arousal

or a balanced homeostatic state in internal

physiological processes.

Biological motives such as hunger, thirst and sex

have their origin in the physiological state of the body.

These motives can be aroused by departures from the

balanced or homeostatic levels of bodily processes, for

instance by certain hormones or by sensory stimuli.

Hunger motivation may be initiated when the blood

level or the rate of use of nutrient substances falls

below a certain threshold.

Sexual motivation depends to a large degree, on sex

hormones. These hormones organise the brain and

body during the developmental stage so that they

have male or female characteristics. The activation of

sexual motivation in humans is controlled more by

external stimuli and learning than by sex hormones.

Sleep, adjustment with temperature and environmental

/atmospheric conditions, freedom from discomfort/pain

and excretory pressure are other forms of physical

motivation.

Social motives are acquired motives such as the need

for achievement, need for power, and human

aggression which are learned/acquired motives that

involve other people. The need for achievement is a

motive to accomplish things and to be successful in

performing tasks. People in need of high achievement

prefer to work on moderately challenging and risky

tasks which promise success and tasks where their

performance can be compared with the performance

of others. They are persistent in their work, seek

more challenging tasks when they are successful and

like to work in situations where they have some

control over the outcome. Some women in need of

high achievement may not display the characteristic

behaviours mentioned above. The level of achievement

motivation in a society can sometimes be related to

its economic growth.

Power motivation is a social motive in which the

goals are to influence, control, persuade, lead, cajole,

charm others and enhance one’s reputation. The

behavioural expression of power motivation takes many

forms. Popular among them are impulsive and

aggressive action, participation in competitive sports,

the joining of organisations, the collection of

possessions, the choice of occupations which have a

high impact on others. Among men it also takes the

form of drinking and sexual domination over women.

A special form of power motivation is characteristic

of people who express their power motivation by

exploiting others in a deceptive and unscrupulous

fashion. Hostile aggression is the behaviour which

has as its goal the harming of another living being

who is motivated to avoid such harm. Among the

environmental and social causes of hostile aggression

are intense and arbitrarily imposed frustration,

insults, compliance with social pressures and

unpleasant environmental conditions such as high

temperatures, intense noise, crowding etc. Social

learning, classical and instrumental conditioning are

ways in which the tendency to aggress against others

can be learned. Under some conditions, punishment,

catharsis, the presence of non-aggressive models or

the induction of responses incompatible with

aggression may serve to lessen aggressive behaviour.

The course of motivation does not run smoothly. Things

happen that prevent us from reaching the goals towards

which we are driven or pulled. The term frustration

refers to the blocking of behaviour which is directed

towards a goal. There are many ways in which motives

can be frustrated. Conflict among simultaneously

aroused motives is the most important reason why

goals are not reached. If motives are blocked,

emotional feelings and behaviour are affected. A person

who cannot achieve his/her goal feels depressed,

fearful, anxious, guilty or angry. He/she becomes

unable to derive pleasure from living. There are many

sources of frustration. Among them, environmental

forces that block motive fulfilment, personal

inadequacies that make it impossible to reach goals

and conflicts between and among motives, are worth

mentioning. Environmental frustration is caused by

physical obstacles or resistance like lack of money, a

locked door or people (parents, teachers, police officers

etc.) preventing one from achieving the goal.

Factors that have an influence on an individual’s

physiological and social growth or development, affect

his/her motivation. Proper genetic characteristics, a

good diet, comfortable environmental conditions, a

harmonious and cooperative social environment etc.

help develop healthy motivation. Improper genetic

ingredients, malnutrition, communal/criminal or

unorganised social groups are obstacles to healthy

motivation.

Perception

Perception is that organising process by which we

come to know objects in their appropriate identity, as

trees, men, buildings, machines and so on. Perception

does not operate like an adding machine: impressions

are not cumulative; rather, the mind interprets and

integrates what it receives. We do not see the same

thing in a picture, and report the same accident

differentially depending on our age, sex, intelligence,

experience etc. A distinction is often made between

sensation and perception on the ground that sensation

is the primary response of the sense organs, whereas

perception is the meaningful apprehension of the

stimulus object. This distinction is theoretical with

very little practical value. The processes of sensation

and perception are not separated in experience. We

never have pure sensations of colour or form or sound

distinct from associations with objects and other

experiences. If some one mentions the Taj Mahal at

Agra, our nod of recognition will probably include a

visual image of the building supplemented by memories

of things seen there. Odour of medicine reminds us

of a hospital ward and a sweet taste may call to mind

experiences of a dinner party. In response to the term

cricket many people report feeling as though they are

bowling or batting. Perception in these cases differs

somewhat from imagination. In fact, imagination is

really perception, in which there is a minimum sensory

control. Perception is a mediating process antecedent

to the final response. What we perceive depends in

part on the nature of the stimulus and to an even

greater degree on ourselves, so that perception

becomes the comprehension of a present situation in

the light of past experience.

The main characteristics of perception are unity and

organisation of feelings and emotions; attention and

selection; fixation and persistency; learning and past

experiences etc. Attention precedes perception and

determines its character. Attention is a process of

give and take with the environment. It is an active

behaviour. We are said to be attentive when our sense

organ activity is focused upon some defined stimulus:

sounds in the street, changes in the weather, a cricket

match, a lecture etc.

Perception is determined by internal personal

conditions and external social situations. Motives,

emotions, familiarity, attitudes, values and adjustment

are the main internal factors which influence

perception. The organization of stimulus, the similarity

in stimulus, closeness in stimulus, elements of figure

and context, influence perceptions. The presence of

others or a group also influences perception.

Types

There are two main types of perception i.e. (i) Depth

perception, (ii) Movement perception.

Depth perception is related to the linear perspective,

clearness, interposition, shadows, gradients of texture

and movement of objects, closure or away from the

fixation point.

Movement perception is related to the type of motion

(i) Apparent motion and (ii) Real motion. The apparent

motion may be autokinetic or induced.

Social Perception

Social perception is a subject matter of social cognition.

Our social perception of others is initially based on

the information we obtain about them and inferences

(attributions) we make about the causes of their

behaviour. Our social perceptions are grounded in our

observation of others: their physical characteristics

and their behaviour in particular settings. Our

observation provides the information i.e. converted

into meaningful inferences by our cognitive framework.

At a minimum, this process involves placing the

information into cognitive categories related to other

categories. We can make simple inferences from

minimum data or combine rich sets of information

into overall impressions. We can also make inferences

about the causes of other people’s behaviour as well

as our own behaviour. Despite the smoothness in the

working of the process, it has no guarantee of accuracy

or the possibility of comparability with the observations

of others. Social perception processes determine how

we react to others and how we see ourselves. The

cognitive framework simplifies the process of forming

impressions of others. Many of the factors involved in

making attributions about others also play a role in

the process of forming self attribution. Social facilitation

occurs most readily where the presence of the other

is motivating.

Conformity pressures can create situations in which

the information obtained from personal modes conflicts

with the information obtained from social modes.

Conformity can also occur in response to the requests

of an authority figure and to rules governing behaviour.