Personality development

An individual's personality is an aggregate conglomeration of decisions we've made throughout our lives. There are inherent natural, genetic, and
environmental factors that contribute to the development of our personality. According to process of socialization, "personality also colors our
values, beliefs, and expectations. Hereditary factors that contribute to personality development do so as a result of interactions with the particular
social environment in which people live." There are several personality types as Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers illustrated in several
personalities typology tests. These tests only provide enlightenment based on the preliminary insight scored according to the answers judged by
the parameters of the test. Other theories on personality development are Jean Piaget stages of development, and personality development in
Sigmund Freud's theory being formed through the interaction of id, ego, and super-ego.

Personality is defined as the enduring personal characteristics of individuals.

Although some psychologists frown on the premise, a commonly used explanation for personality development is the psychodynamic approach.
The term psychodynamic describes any theory that emphasizes the constant change and development of the individual. Perhaps the best known of
the psychodynamic theories is Freudian psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalytic theory

Psychoanalytic theory refers to the definition and dynamics of personality development which underlie and guide psychoanalytic and
psychodynamic psychotherapy. First laid out by Sigmund Freud, psychoanalytic theory has undergone many refinements since his work.

Drives
Freud believed that two basic drives—sex and aggression—motivate all our thoughts and behaviours. He referred to these as Eros (love) and
Thanatos. Eros represents the life instinct, sex being the major driving force. Thanatos represents the death instinct (characterised by aggression),
which, according to Freud, allowed the human race to both procreate and eliminate its enemies.

Structure of personality
Freud conceived the mind as only having a fixed amount of psychic energy (libido). The outcome of the interaction between the id, ego and the
superego, (each contending for as much libidinal energy as possible) determines our adult personality.

Tripartite personality
Freud believed that personality had three parts—the id, ego, and super-ego—referring to this as the tripartite personality. The id allows us to get
our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on the pleasure principle, i.e. it wants immediate satisfaction, with no consideration for the
reality of the situation.
As a child interacts more with the world, the ego begins to develop. The ego's job is to meet the needs of the id, whilst taking into account the
constraints of reality. The ego acknowledges that being impulsive or selfish can sometimes hurt us, so the id must be constrained. The superego
develops during the phallic stage, as a result of the moral constraints placed on us by our parents. It is generally believed that a strong superego
serves to inhibits the biological instincts of the id (resulting in a high level of guilt), whereas a weak superego allows the id more expression
(resulting in a low level of guilt).
Defense Mechanisms
The ego, having a difficult time trying to satisfy both the needs of the id and the superego, employs defense mechanisms. Repression is perhaps the
most powerful of these. Repression is the act by which unacceptable id impulses (most of which are sexually related) are "pushed" out of
awareness and into the unconscious mind. Another example of a defense mechanism is projection. This is the mechanism that Freud used to
explain Little Hans' complex. Little Hans is said to have projected his fear for his father onto horses, which is why he was afraid of horses.

Psychosexual Stages

Freud believed that at particular points in the child's development, a single part of the body is particularly sensitive to sexual stimulation. These
erogenous zones are the mouth, anus and the genital region. At any given time, the child's libido is focused on the primary erogenous zone for that
age. As a result, the child has certain needs and demands that are related to the erogenous zones for that stage. Frustration occurs if these needs
are not met, but, a child may also become overindulged, and so may be reluctant to progress beyond the stage. Both frustration and
overindulgence may lead to fixation—some of the child's libido remains locked into that stage. If a child is fixated at a particular stage, the method
of obtaining satisfaction that characterized that stage will dominate their adult personality.
Although many people view Freud's descriptions of personality development as pure fantasy, his ideas have endured and have had far reaching
influences both in and outside psychology. Freud has changed the way we think about the importance of childhood, and also made us aware of the
unconscious elements of our psyche that are essential for development.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_development
Steps that Lead to Good Personality Development
In order to give yourself a good personality, you will have to go through steps to ensure your personality development is done correctly. There are
a few basic things to consider in this regard. Firstly, it is wise to always be responsible for the decisions you make. Don’t blame others if something
is your fault. You should also be considerate of others. Personality development is as much about others as it is about you. Always remain positive
in the face of adversity. There is no need to feel down about your lot in life. If something is bothering you, don’t let it get the best of you – remain
positive at all times.

Always think before you speak. If you put your foot in your mouth then you are likely to offend others – which will in turn lead to negativity. You
should always listen to others as well. As previously stated, personality development has an effect on those around us. Maybe you can help others
with their own personality development. In doing so can teach you more about the human condition as a whole. Always be honest – this comes
down to being honest to yourself and to others. Your subconscious can throw out cues to people you are lying too.
Don’t be a rumor monger. If you come across some juicy gossip, keep it to yourself. It makes you look petty and foolish if all you ever talk about is
the problems or foibles of others. Keep your head in your own business and don’t concern yourself with the business of others. You might find it
will come back and bite you in the long term. Also, don’t hold grudges. Life is too short to be walking around angry at others all the time. If
someone bothers you then just stay away from them.

http://www.personalitydevelopment.org/steps-that-lead-to-good-personality-development.html

Healthy Personality Development to Enjoy Life

Personality development starts in early childhood and is a determining factor in how you live your life. If you have good outlook on life and have
been blessed with fortuitous circumstance then it is likely your personality will be quite good. Looking at personality as a whole – it involves how
you are perceived by others, your mental outlook, how you react to certain situations and whatmakes you uniquely you. Personality development
can be attributed to a number of factors such as your work, stress levels, how you are treated by others and how you treat others.
Personality development is a lifelong learning cycle. Your personality improves depending on your mental wellbeing. If you are sour or feeling
down then no doubt people will resent being around you. Personality stems from attitude. If you have a positive attitude then you will find your
personality is likable. If you have been raised with a nasty attitude and your foibles were appreciated then it is unlikely that you will be a likeable
person with a charming personality. You can repair this with a lot of therapy and a total restructuring of how you live your life. Try and treat others
how you would like to be treated.
Personality development starts with your hereditary upbringing. If your parents were lacking in parental skills then it is a good chance that you
have absorbed their bad habits. Your personality is responsible for depicting what you as a person is like. If your personality stinks, then you
probably won’t enjoy life very much because people will not want to share it with you. You will also find it harder to enjoy the little things in life.
You will probably have trouble holding onto a job as well because your work colleagues won’t want to be around you.

http://www.personalitydevelopment.org/healthy-personality-development-to-enjoy-life.html

What is Our Personality?

I searched around for some definitions of this term and I have to say that my favourite is rather basic: “A set of qualities that make a person distinct
from another”. Nice, simple, to the point and the exact definition that I’ve come to think the word means through my 19 years of existence.
On top of that statement, I, like many others, believe that our personality includes our beliefs and values so this is the understanding of the word
I’m going to use here. Feel free to substitute your own definition and still go through the process towards the middle of this post.

How It Is Formed

Your current personality, whatever it may be, has been formed in a number of ways. Psychologists have studied human personalities for years and
have come to a number of conclusions. First of all, it is believed that certain traits in our character are hereditary, yet things like our values and
beliefs are derived from socialization and unique experiences, mostly from childhood.
Based on that statement, it’s likely that the personality of you and anyone you know is based on:
 Social experiences (especially from childhood)
 Unique experiences that you have had in your lifetime
 The environment in which you grew up and how you had to act

While most of this might seem obvious, there is some strong research which suggests that a lot of our current personality is in-fact, genetic. As an
example, researchers from the University of Minnesota studied 8,000 twins who had been separated shortly after birth and reunited later in life for
whatever reason. They found that even though one of the twins may have lived a completely different live in a different environment, their
behaviours were still almost identical.

I don’t think I like the idea that our personality and specifically our behaviours are largely proven to be based around our genetic make-up. That
being said, I still believe it is entirely possible to change your personality and literally be whoever you want to be.

Designing your Own Personality

Before continuing with the following steps on designing your own personality, spend a few minutes thinking of the personalities of people in your
life. I have some close friends that I know whenever I see them they will cheer me up because they are happy and very positive. On the other hand,
I also have friends that are close, but I can always predict how they will react in certain situations and it is usually in a negative manner.
I think all of you can relate to my situation of having friends who you love to be around and other friends who you do care about, but make you feel
‘drained’ when you spend time with them.

The whole point of this post and personality development in general is to develop the characteristics you want to have rather than the ones
you’ve been conditioned with.

Following are four steps that I have personally used in the past month to help bring about a change in my own personality that have allowed me to
literally be the type of person I want to be. If you are just a skim reader, do not take any advice in this post. The sections in bold need their
descriptions to be read in order to have this process result in the kind of personality that you want.

1. Be Honest With Your Current Traits

How would you describe yourself right now? Personally I think I have quite a split personality. At times I can be quiet, I keep myself to myself and
I’m very considerate towards the feelings of others. At other times, I can be quite crazy, highly outgoing and literally oblivious to what people think
and I don’t really care.

It’s important that you are honest with your current traits so you can decide what you want to change. The position I would like to take my life
requires me to be considerate to others so I wouldn’t change that, but I also want to have other characteristics which don’t necessarily compliment
being considerate.

If you’ve just spent the last few days in a negative spiral, cursing everything and thinking the world owes you a favour, then don’t define yourself as
someone who is happy and positive all the time. You may be happy and positive some of the time, but you should be aware of the traits you aren’t
so proud of as well as the ones that you are. Honest self-assessment is key to this step of the process.

2. Define the Qualities You Want to Have

Because this is all about you being who you want to be, it’s time to pick the qualities that you want to have. I have to stress that is important that
you do not go overboard on this part of the process and pick tons of qualities that you desire. It is far easier to focus on around 5 core qualities you
would like to have at a time rather than a list of 20 or more.
Some of the qualities that I picked for myself were:
 Independent
 Honest
 Positive
 Fun / Good sense of humour
 Trustworthy

It is important you pick qualities that you want to have, rather than qualities you think people want you to have. I put honest and trustworthy on
my list because they matter to me personally, but I also put positive because life is a toss-up between that and negative. Most people will say they
want to be positive yet they unconsciously love drama in their lives, so really think about this before making your list.

3. Visualise Yourself for 21 Days with These Qualities

The 21-day format has been without a doubt the most amazing thing I have came across in my life. I like to think that I semi-invented this idea
because even though it is featured in the book ‘Psycho Cybernetics’ by Maxwell Maltz, I can’t find any evidence online of someone who had put a
plan in place for this and implemented it.
This third part of the process will involve you visualising yourself in any situation having the qualities that you want to have. There are a few things
to remember during visualisations and the 21-day challenge:
 You must do this for 21 days without missing a day
 You need to visualise yourself being how you want to be in terms of the end result, not the process
 Your visualisations need to be as real as possible  – notice smells, colours, small details and sounds from your imagined environment

To give an example, If I want the quality of positivity to become natural, then each day I must spend a couple of minutes visualising myself being
positive. For example I might visualise myself, as vividly as possible, being positive after an event that most people would struggle to remain happy
about. I am aware of the fact that this idea will sound very silly if you have never tried it before.
However, it is scientifically proven that our nervous system can not tell the difference between a real event and one that is vividly imagined. The 21
days that you will do this process for is enough time for new connections and pathways to form in your brain, thus ‘imprinting’ your desired result –
sort of like a habitual auto-response.

4. Act as If They Are Present

This is quite self explanatory, but in everyday life see if you can act as if your desired qualities are already present. If you want to be positive then
be positive, if you wish to be honest then start implementing that in your life. This will get much, much easier as you get closer to the end of the 21
day challenge and this starts to become habitual.
For those of you who do take this challenge I would love for you to come back in around three weeks and let me know how you get on. To
everyone else, I would love your thoughts of the idea in general and what your thoughts are on changing our personalities.

http://www.pluginid.com/personality-development/

Searched by:
James Andrew A. Buenaventura