SELF AND PERSONALITY

Personal identity

Attributes that makes a person different from others

Social identity

Aspects of a person that link her/him to a social or cultural group or are derived from it

Self

Refers to the totality of an individual’s conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings with regard to herself or himself.

Social self

How you view yourself with respect to others.

Social self is also called

Familial or relational self

Self concept

The way we perceive ourselves and the ideas we hold about our competencies and attributes

Self estem

The value judgement of a person about herself/himself

Children of 6-7 years form self esteem in four areas

1. Academic competence

2. Social competence

3. Physical/athletic competence

4. Physical competence

Children with low self esteem in all areas

Display anxiety, depression, increasing antisocial behaviour

Warm and positive parenting helps in the development of

High self esteem

Children suffer from low esteem when

Parents help or make decisions for them even when they do not need assistance

Self efficacy (Bandura’s term)

The individual’s beliefs about his or her own effectiveness

Self efficacy (NCERT)

The expectation that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes

Self regulation

Refers to our ability to organise and monitor our own behaviour

Self control

Learning to delay or defer the gratification of needs

Psychological techniques of self control

1. Observation of behaviour

2. Self instruction

3. Self-reinforcement

Distinction between Indian and Western views

The way boundary is drawn between self and the other

Western cultures are charactersied as ______

Individualistic

Asian cultures are characterised as ____

Collectivistic

Personality

Refers to our characteristic ways of responding to individuals and situations

Situational variations in behaviour occur as they help individuals in adapting to their ____

Environmental circumstances

Implication of charactersitics of a person

1. Predict how someone will behave in a variety of circumstances

2. Allows us to deal with people in realistic and acceptable ways

Personality related terms

1. Temperament

2. Trait

3. Disposition

4. Character

5. Habit

6. Values

Type approach

Category approach

Hippocrates

1. Sanguine

2. Choleric

3. Phlegmatic

4. Melancholic

Charak Samhita

Tridosha

1. Vata

2. Pitta

3. Kapha

Trigunas

1. Sattva — truthfulness, cleanliness, dutifulness, detachment, discipline

2. Rajas — intensive activity, desire for sense gratification, dissatisfaction, envy for others, materialistic mindset

3. Tamas — anger, arrogance, laziness, depression, feeling of helplessness

Sheldon

1. Endomorph — round, fat, soft. Relaxed and sociable.

2. Mesomorphs — strong musculature, rectangular with strong body build. Energetic and courageous

3. Ectomorphs — thin, long, fragile. Brainy, artistic, introvert

Jung

1. Introverts — prefer to be alone, tend to avoid others, withdraw themselves in the face of emotional conflicts, shy

2. Extraverts - sociable, outgoing, drawn to occupations that allow dealing directly with people, react to stress by trying to lose themselves among people and social activity

Friendman & Rosenman

Type A — high motivation, lack patience, feel short of time, be in a great hurry. Susceptible to hypertension and CHD

Type B — relaxed, less competitive laid-back approach to life

Type C — prone to cancer. Repress negative emotions

Type D — prone to depression

Trait Approaches

Try to discover the BUILDING BLOCKS of personality

Trait

A trait is considered as a relatively enduring attribute or quality on which one individual differs from others

Traits are relatively ___ over time

Stable

Traits are generally ____ across situations

Consistent

Their strengths and combinations very across individuals leading to ___

Individual differences in personality

Allport trait theory

1. Cardinal traits — highly generalised

2. Central traits — quite generalised. Used in testimonial or job recommendation for a person

3. Secondary traits — least generalised

Cattell: personality factors

Applied statistical technique, called factor analysis.

How many primary/source traits?

16 primary/source traits

Source traits

Stable, and considered building blocks of personality

Surface traits

Result out of the interaction of source traits

Eysenck’s Theory

Biologically and genetically based.

1. Neuroticism vs. Emotional stability

2. Extraversion vs. Introversion

Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability

Refers to the degree to which people have control over their feelings

Extraversion vs. Introversion

Refers to the degree to which people are socially outgoing or socially withdrawn

A person who scored high on psychoticism tends to be ____

Hostile, egocentric, antisocial

Five-Factor Model of Personality

OCEAN

1. Openness to experience

2. Conscientiousness

3. Extraversion

4. Agreeableness

5. Neuroticism

Psychodynamic Approach

Freud used hypnosis to treat people with physical and emotional problems

Free Association

A method in which a person is asked to openly share all the thoughts, feelings and ideas that come to his/her mind

People constantly struggle to find find some socially acceptable ways to express ____

Unconscious impulses

The basic goal of psychoanalysis therapy is to

Bring repressed unconscious materials to consciousness