ANU Online 4.

1 Acharya Nagarjuna University

Lesson - 4

PERSONALITY-CONCEPT AND DETERMINANTS

4.0 Objective:
Personality is a concept that we use continuously in our day to day routine, when dealing
with people. We talk about people as having a good personality or a bad personality or arrogant
and aggressive personality. Sometimes we refer to disagreements among people as being due
to personality conflicts. Personality can be riflected in a person’s temperament and is a key fac-
tor influencing individual behaviour in organisations.

After going through this lesson you should be able to :

* Meaning and definitions of personality.

* Determinants of personality
* Personality Traits

Contents:
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Meaning and Definitions
4.3 Development of Personality
4.4 Determinants of Personality
4.4 I Biological Factors
4.4 II Family and Social Factors
4.4 III Cultural Factors
4.4 IV Situational Factors
4.5 Summary
4.6 Technical Terms
4.7 Self Assessment Questions
4.8 Reference Books

4.1 Introduction:
For the study of human behaviour, we have to understand the individual differences.
The individual differences are due to both Physiological and Psychological factors. Analysis of
Psychological traits is the first step in understanding human behaviour, because Physiological
factors may be one of the variables affecting Psychological factor.

Personality is one of the major Psychological factors affecting the human behaviour.
Personality is a very commonly used word. This word is generally used whenever we talk about
a person’s job prospects, achievements, marriage and other similar occasions. Here we are
considering the concept of personality in a very narrow sense as it implies a person’s smartness,
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cham, dress, sense, popularity, physical attactiveness, way of speaking etc. But to understand
and predict the individual behaviour in an organisation, this narrow view of the term personality
is not enough, we will have to look at the aggregate whole, that is greater than the sum of parts.

4.2 The Meaning and Definitions of Personality:

The term ‘personality’ has been derived from the Latin term ‘persona’ which means to
‘speak through’. The Latin word denotes the masks worn by actors in ancient Greece and Rome.
Therefore a very common meaning of the term personality is the role which the person (actor)
displans to the public personality is a very frequently used word but still there is no conessus about
its meaning. There is a great deal of controversy about the meaning of the word personality. A
few definitions of personality are as given as:

According to Floyd L. Ruch, “Personality includes external appearance and behaviour, in-
ner awareness of self as a permanent organising force and the particular pattern of organisation
of measurable traits, both inner and outer”.

According to Gordon Allport “Personality is the dynamic organisation within the individual
of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment”.

According to Fred Luthans, “Personality means how a person affects others and how he
understands and views himself as well as the pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and the
person-situation interaction.

In Psychology, personality is interpreted in different ways by different theorists. For example,

‘Carl Rogers’ views personality in terms of self, an organised, permanent, subjectively perceived
entity which is at the heart of all our experiences. ‘Freud’ describes the structure of personality as
composed of three elements the id, ego and super ego. In addition the social learning aspects of
personality are also emphasised by some theorists.

Taking all the aspects together, personality represents the sum total of several attributes
which manifest themselves in an individual, the ability of the individual to organise and integrate
all the qualities so as to give meaning to life, and the uniqueness of the situation which influence
behaviour of an individual.

Bonner provides six propositions to classify the nature of personality within the context of
change and development:

(i) Human behaviour is composed of Acts

(ii) Personality visualised as a whole actualises itself in a particular environment
(iii) It is distinguished by self consistency
(iv) It forms a time - integrating structure
(v) It is a goal directed behaviour and
(vi) It is a process of becoming

From the above, it becomes very clear that personality is a very diverse Psychological
concept.
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4.3 The Development of Personality and Socialisation:

Study and research on, the development of personality has traditionally been an important
area for understanding human behaviour. Modern developemental Psychology does not get into
the argument of heredity versus environement or of maturation (Changes that result from hered-
ity and Physical development) versus learning. The human being consists of both Physiological
and Psychological interacting parts. Therefore, heredity, environment, maturation, and learning
all contribute to the human personality.

The study of personality has attempted to identify specific Physiological and Psychologi-
cal stages that occur in the development of human personality. This “stage” approach has been
theoretical in nature. There are many well-known stage theories of personality development.
However, as with most aspects of personality there is little agreement about the exact stages. In
fact, a growing number of todays Psychologists contend that there are no identifiable stages. Their
argument is that personality development consists of a continuous process and the sequence is
based solely upon the learning opportunities available. The opposing view supports stages in
personality development.

4.4. Determinants of Personality:

Now that we have understood the meaning of personality, the next question is what deter-
minants go into the development of personality? Was the individual born with that personality or
was it developed afterwards as a result of his interaction with his environment?? Generally the
consensus is that heredity and environment jointly affect the individual’s personality development.
The factors affecting personality development are illustrated in the following:

(i) Biological factors

(ii) Family and Social factors
(iii) Cultural factors, and
(iv) Situational factors

The above factors classified by the Scott and Mitchell, these factors are interrelated and
inter-dependent. However, the purpose of analysis the determinants can be classified into above
four categories.

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS

FAMILY AND GROUP INDIVIDUAL SITUATIONAL

FACTOR PERSONALITY FACTORS

CULTURAL FACTORS

Fig:1:ofDeterminants
Out of the various factors of Personality
personality determinants, only biological factors have one
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sided impact while other factors have interactive impact as the individual himself can also have
some impact on these factors.

4.4. I. Biological Factors:

(a) Heredity: Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. Physical
stature, facial attactiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level,
and biological rhythms are characteristics that are generally considered to be either completely or
substantially influenced by who your parents were: that is, by their biological, physiological, and
inherent psychological makeup. The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of
an individuals personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.

There different streams of research lend some credibility to the agument that heredity plays
an important part in determining an individual’s personality. The first looks as the genetic underpin-
nings of human behaviour and temperament among young children. The second addresses the
study of Twins who were separated at birth. The third examines the consistency in job satisfaction
over time and across situations.

Recent studies of young children lend strong support to the power of heredity. Evidence
demonstrates that traits such as shyness, fear and distress are more likely caused by inherited
genetic characteristics. This finding suggests that some personality traits may be built into the
same genetic code that affects factors such as height and hair color.

B. Brain: Another biological factor that influences personality is the role of brain of an individual.
Through some promising inroads are made by researchers, the Psychologists are unable to prove
empirically the contribution of human brain in influencing personality preliminary results from the
eletrical stimulation of the brain (E.S.B.) researth gives indication that better understanding of hu-
man personality and behaviour might come from the study of the brain.

C) Physical features: Perhaps the most understanding factor that contributes to personality
i.e. the physical stature of an individual. An individuals external appearance is proved to be hav-
ing tremendous effect on his personality. For instance, the fact that a person is short or tall, fat
or skinny, handsome or ugly, black or whitish will undoubtedly influence the person’s effect on
others and in turn, will affect the self concept. According to Paul H. Mussen “ - a childs physical
characteristics may be related to his approach to the social environment, to the expectancies of
others, and to their reactions to him. These in turn may have impacts on personality development.
“Similarly, a rapidly maturing boy or girl. Psychologists contend that the different rates of matuation
will also influence the individuals personality.

4.4 II. Family and Social Factors:

The development of the individual proceeds under the influence of many socialising forces
and agencies, from nuclear family to more distant or global groupings. Family and social groups
have most significant impact on personality development. These, groups have their impact through
socialisation and identification processes.
a) Socialisation Process:
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The contribution of family and social group in combination with the culture is known as
socialisation. In the words of Mussen “Socialisation is the process by which an individual infant
acquires, from the enomously wide range of behavioural potentials that are open to him at birth,
those behaviour patterns that are customary and acceptable according to the standards of his fam-
ily and social group. It initially starts with the contact with mother and later on the other members
of the family (father, sisters, close - relatives) and the social group plays influential role in shoping
an individuals personality.

b) Indentification Process: Identification process occurs when a persons tries to identify

himself with some person whom he feels ideal in the family. Generally a child in the family tries to
behave like his father or mother. The identification process can be examined from three different
perspectives. First, identification can be viewed the similarity of behaviour (including feelings and
attitudes) between child and model. Second, identification can be looked as the childs motives or
desires to be like the model. Third, it can be viewed as the process through which the child actu-
ally takes on the attributes of the model. Apart from the socialisation and identification processes,
the personality of an individual is influenced by the home environment. There is a substantial
empirical evidence to indicate that the overall environment at home is created by parents is critical
to personality development.

Family background a part, social class also influences a person’s perception, perception of
self and others, and perception of work, authority and money etc. Socialisation and identification
process is influenced by home environment, family members, and social groups.

4.4 (iii) Cultural Factors:

Culture is traditionally considered as the major determinant an individual’s personality. The
culture largely determines what person is and what a person will learn. The culture within a person
is brought up, is very important determinant of behaviour of a person. Culture is the “Complex of
these beliefs, values, and techniques for dealing with the environment which are shared among
contemporaries and transmitted by one generation to the next. According to Mussen “Each cul-
ture expects, and trains, its members to behave in the ways that are acceptable to the group. In
spite of the importance of the culture on personality, researchers were unable to establish linear
relationship between these two concepts ‘personality’ and culture.

4.4 (iv) Situational Factors:

A third factor, the situation, influences the effects of heredity and environment on person-
ality. An individual’s personality, although generally stable and consistant, does change indiffer-
ent situations. The different demands of different situations call forth different aspects of
one’s personality. We should not, therefore, look at personality patterns in isolation.

It seems only logical to suppose that situations will influence an individual’s personality,
but a near classfication scheme that would tell us the impact of various types of situations has so
far eluded us. “Apparently we are not yet close to developing a system for clarifying situations so
that they might be systematically studied. “However, we do know that certain situations are more
relevant than others in influencing personaltiy.
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Human personality is also influenced by situational factors. The effect of environment
is quite string. Knowledge, skill and language are obviously acquire and represent important
modifications of behaviour. Learned modifications in behaviour are not passed on to childern,
they must be acquired by them through their own personal experience, through interaction with
the environment. In one research by Milgram it was found that situation plays a vital role in hu-
man personality. According to Milgram “Situation exerts an important press on the individual. It
exercises constraints and may provide push. In certain circumstances it is not so much the kind
of person a man is, as the kind of situation in which he is placed, that determines his actions.
Milgram certainly does not completely rule out the importance of the developmental aspects of
personality. He rather demonstrated that the situation may potentially have a very big impact on
the behavioural expression of personality.

4.5 Summary:
Personality factors are extremely important in organisational setting. While perception,
learning and motivation deal with some specific aspects of human behaviour. Personality takes the
whole man concept because it affects the various Psychological process. It is better to consider
the individual aspects of a person’s make-up as bricks and personality as the whole house
build of bricks, but held together with cement.

The study of determinants of personality forms an empirical approach to personality delop-

ment. Various determinants of personality have been categorised in several ways. According to
Scott and Mitchell these determinants classified into four categories viz., 1) Biological factors, 2)
Family and Social factors, 3) Cultural factors and 4) Situational factors.

4.6 Technical Terms:

1. Determinants :
2. Psychologi
3. Personality :
4. Biological :
5. Culture :
6. Situation :
Fixed in scope or nature
A stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine
commonalistics and difference in the behaviour of people.
Science of life.
State of Manners
Place or Position

4.8 Self-Assessment Questions:

1. How does personality develop? Explain with examples.
2. Define personality. Discuss the variables which contribute to the development of personality.
3. Define personality? What are its major determinants?
4. What is personality? Does heredity effect the development of personality?
5. How do culture and family determine the development of personality?

4.9 Reference Books:

1. Amrik Singh Sudan & N. Kumar, Management Process and Organisational Behaviour, Ammol
Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi - 2003.
2. Shashi K. Gupta & Rosy Joshi. Organisational Behaviour, Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi - 2004.