BS personality Development

CHAPTER SEVEN

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Personality is ones unique patterns of traits that are most striking and dominant characteristics. It is also a concept or a set of psychological qualities that influence an individual's characteristics or behavior across different situations over time.

Personality focuses on the consistent pattern of the following;

• Our feelings

• Our thinking

• Our actions or behavior

These three are interrelated thus our feelings are based on what we think about and that influence our actions. Behavior therefore becomes the gateway to our mind and is used to assess the level of learning.

Traits

These are specific characteristics of an individual. They are determined by our genes, the environment or both.

Types of personality

Humors.

This theory was propounded by Hippocrates an ancient Greek physician.

Hippocrates temperament theory suggests that four bodily fluids (humors) directly affect our behaviors and temperament. The fluids or humors in our bodies are the blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. If you have a lot of the black bile you are a melancholic person (quiet, sad, depressed, down to earth and moody), yellow bile is choleric person (irritable, angry, short tempered and always on fire), the phlegm is called a phlegmatic person (peaceful, slow, dull and apathetic) and if you have more blood you are called a sanguine(lively, tolerant, cheerful, hopeful and active).

Type A and B Personality

Type A Personality

Type A personalities are characterized by a sense of urgency, competitiveness, and a constant need for achievement. Individuals with Type A personalities tend to be highly organized, ambitious, and workaholics. They often have a fast-paced lifestyle, are impatient, and exhibit a high level of self-imposed stress. They are prone to multitasking and may have difficulty relaxing or slowing down.

Type B Personality

Type B personalities, on the other hand, are more laid-back, relaxed, and easygoing.

They tend to be less stressed and more patients compared to Type A individuals.

Type B individuals are generally less competitive and less focused on achieving external recognition. They are more flexible, adaptable, and have a more balanced approach to life.

It's important to note that Type A and Type B personalities are not mutually exclusive categories, but rather a spectrum. Most people exhibit a combination of Type A and Type B traits, with some individuals leaning more towards one type than the other.

Extroverts/ Introverts / Ambiverts

Extrovert: An extrovert is someone who tends to be outgoing, sociable, and energized by external stimuli. They enjoy being around people, thrive in social situations, and often feel recharged by interacting with others. Extroverts tend to be talkative, expressive, and enjoy being the center of attention. They may find solitude or long periods of alone time draining and may seek out social activities to fee rejuvenated.

Introvert: In contrast, an introvert is someone who tends to be more reserved, introspective, and energized by internal thoughts and reflections. Introverts usually prefer quieter, less stimulating environments and feel drained by excessive socialization. They often need alone time to recharge and may be more selective about the people they spend time with. Introverts tend to be good listeners. observant, and may have a smaller circle of close friends.

Ambivert: An ambivert is someone who falls somewhere in between the extrovert and introvert spectrum. They possess a balance of both extroverted and introverted tendencies, meaning they can adapt their behavior and energy levels based on the situation. Ambiverts may enjoy socializing and being in the spotlight at times, but they also value their alone time and introspection. They can be comfortable in a variety of social settings and have the ability to engage with others or withdraw as needed.

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Personality is formed through the dynamics of the mind, through exploring of the environment through learning, through our thought and feeling and how people view the world. Based on this, psychologists sat down and developed theories to help explain the various personalities we have and how they came about. Here are some of the theories they propounded.

• The psychodynamic/ psychosexual / psychoanalytical theory of personality development

• The cognitive theory of personality development

• Moral theory of personality development

• The psychosocial theory of personality development

The Psychodynamic theory of the mind

Sigmund Freud, a psychologist developed the psychodynamic theory to investigate the effect the mind has on the body. He used hypnosis to cure conversion disorders.

He came into conclusion after treating a lot of people that there is a part in the human being that existed that the human being is not aware of. This part is the mind. He then divided the mind into three parts.

Structure of the mind/ levels of awareness.

Freud divided the mind into three namely the conscious, preconscious and the unconscious mind. He believed that the mind can be seen as an ice berg where the bulk of it is the unconscious mind that is deep in the water. Here things that are kept

there are not easily recollected. Just above the unconscious is the pre conscious that lies just on the surface of the water. At this stage recollection is with a little difficulty.

On top of the pre conscious mind is the conscious mind that contains things we can easily recollect such as memories, perception and feeling. There are energies in the mind that help the structures to function well. These energies are the; (id, ego and super ego)

Id: this is present at birth. It provides energy for all the three of them; the energy it uses is called the libido. When there is change in the energy, tension is produced.

The id operates on the Pleasure principle. It tries to obtain immediate pleasure and avoid pain.

Ego: this energy is the executive of the three. It decides on how, where, what and when to get the result. It operates on the reality principle. This energy comes into play later in life through socialization. It also mediate between the id and the super ego.

Super Ego: these are internalized representation of the morals of the society and also come about through socialization. It has two components. They are the ego ideals that make you feel good about something and the conscience that make use guilty. The super ego operates on the Moral principle. The super ego develops later in life.

Defense Mechanisms

These are unconscious mental processes or coping mechanisms to decrease anxiety associated with a problem. We use defense mechanisms in our everyday life knowingly or unknowingly. Defense mechanisms are used when there is a struggle between the id and the super ego. It is the ego that employs the defense mechanisms to solve problems between the id and super ego.

Types of Defense Mechanisms

• Denial: one denies the existence of a problem.

• Aggression: one tries to destroy the source of the frustration.

• Compensation: one makes up for a deficiency in another area.

• Suppression: a deliberate attempt to push out emotions from awareness.

• Repression: an unconscious way of pushing emotions out of consciousness.

• Regression: resorting to a behavior that was successful in the past.

• Reaction formation: this is the adopting of ideas or feelings that are a direct opposite of the unconscious motive. Pretending to love

• Rationalization: a way of reducing frustration by giving reasons for a behavior that is frustrating. Sweet lemon.

• Projection: assigning an unacceptable motive to someone else. A thief saying stealing is not good.

• Identification: adopting the behavior patterns of someone you admire. Most Africans behaving like whites.

• Sublimation: channeling unacceptable behavior into an acceptable one.

• Displacement: this is the transfer of unacceptable emotions from the original source or object to an acceptable substitute.

• Fantasy: images or wishes used to reduce frustrations when the usual ways are closed.

• Use of proverbs: Proverbs are used to justify behaviors.

Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development

According to Freud, our personalities are formed as it passes through stages from childhood to adulthood. As we grow, we derive pleasure from certain parts of our body. And these areas or parts of the body are known as the erogenous zones. As we grow the id energy moves from one area to another thus it moves from the mouth to the anus then finally to the sexual organs. He identified five stages.

1. Oral stage (0-2 year): the child derives satisfaction by sucking and swallowing and later on biting and chewing when teeth are developed. If a child over performs this then he/she will have a fixation of overeating, smoking and drinking and can be verbally hostile.

1. Anal stage (2-4years); the id energy leaves the mouth to the anus where the child gets pleasure from defecating. If a child is given adequate toilet training, he develops orderliness, cleanliness and stinginess personality and when the toilet training is not adequate the child develops a careless personality.

2. Phallic stage(4-years): the id energy moves to the genital where the child enjoys touching his/her genitals. They have sexual interest in the opposite parents. When the boy becomes interested in the mother and turns to be jealous of the father, it is known as Oedipus complex and when the girl child develops sexual interest for the father and turns to be jealous of the mother, it is called electra complex.

3. Latency stage (6-1|years): at this stage the id energy lies dormant and the sexual desires stop. The child channels his/her energy into socialization. If the child doesn't socialize well, the child will be an introvert, when given more than needed the child becomes an extrovert.

4. Genital stage (11 upwards): at this stage, there is a combination of all the previous stages which help the child to make genuine love. If there is a fixation the child would have sexual problems in marriage and relationship problems.

Piaget's cognitive theory of personality development

Jean Piaget was born in 1896 and became interested in animals. He studied the Freudians theory. In 1921, he came up with the idea that children gave different answers from adults and this made him research into cognitive development of children. He came up with three terminologies.

Schemas: these are all the ideas, memories and inferences that a person has about a particular object.

Assimilation: this is incorporating of a new idea into the already existing schema.

Accommodation: adjusting existing schemas to fix into new ideas or system of knowledge.

Piaget identified four stages.

L Sensori motor stage (0-2years): at this stage

Child tries to explore the environment and see how things work around him/her.

• Uses the natural reflexes in the first month

• In the fourth month, activities extend from home to the environment and could like to pull objects to him / herself.

• After 9 months, the child recognizes objects and represents these objects in the mind.

• 12 to 18 months child can now understand simple words like mama, dada etc. and can understand simple instructions. Like come, go, sit etc.

• At 2 years, they understand how to properly ask for things and realize crying will not provide them their needs.

2. Pre- operational stage(2-years): here they can't perform operations like subtractions and additions and can't manipulate reality. They have:

• Illogical thinking: they are self-centered. They think nonliving things are alive and can be spoken to.

• Amusing beliefs: they think babies can be bought from the shops.

• Transductive reasoning: they lack reversibility and can't give cause and effect relationship.

• Intuitive thinking: they think their parents are the strongest and can do everything and are powerful than anybody in the world.

• They don't have conservative principle: they can't understand that quantity remains the same regardless of the container.

• Linguistic skills: at age 2, the child has around 250 words and by age 6, it rises to 4000 and can learn 9 new words a day.

• Imaginative play: kids play by gender. Girls play with dolls and boys with football.

• They imitate their parents and siblings long after the performance and they understand wrong and right.

3. Concrete Operational stage (6-1|years): they can reason but only with concrete problems.

• They are able to solve mathematical problems (counting), classify mathematical figures and do reversibility in mathematics.

• They are not able to deal with abstract concepts and thinking and can't deal with ideas that violet reality.

• They are less egocentric and understand others well and can also participate in games with rules.

4. Formal operational stage (11-15 years): at this stage the child can think logically unlike the previous stages.

• Logical thinking: the child can reason logically with abstract ideas

• Combinational thinking: the child can make many possibilities of solving a problem and then select the best option.

• Reflective thinking: the child looks at problems and their consequences before acting. According to Piaget, children around this stage try to apply this type of thinking to concept like truth, justice and the meaning of life because abstract thinking is new to them.

Kohlberg's moral theory of personality development

Kohiberg was a psychologist who had the interest to study moral development in the university. He used twenty years to interview hundred children and came out with the moral development theory. His theory was based on the ideas of Piaget, John Daly and Baldwin. He identified three levels which had two stages each in each level.

1. Level one- Pre-conventional level

This level is exhibited by children and also egocentric adults. They have no sense of right or wrong.

• Stage one- Reward and Punishment: at this stage, the person tries to avoid punishment with no regards for right or wrong. All effort at this stage is for the person to get reward.

• Stage two-Market Place Orientation: here the person helps only those that help him/her.

2. Level two- conventional level

The person here sticks to the norms and expectations of the parents, friends and society. They regard these things as ethical.

• Stage three- Good Boy/ Good Girl: at this stage children are sensitive to expectation of others around them. They want to do everything to be called good boy or girl.

• Stage four- Law and Order: children at this stage adhere to rules and regulation rigidly. Here children are not worried about what others think about them. These rules and regulations become the guiding principles in their lives.

3. Level three- Post convention Level

Only few people get to this level. Here people don't rely on the laws of society as the final say but rather consider other opinions and choose the best.

• Stage five-Social Contract: here people know that laws are important that have to be followed and obeyed, they also know that laws change as societal values change. They understand that if it a good law they will follow and if not it should be forgotten.

• Stage six- Self Selected Principles: here the person selects a set of ethical principles and make moral decisions out of them. If there is a problem between the law and conscience, the individual will take the conscience.

Eric Erikson's psychosocial theory of personality development

Erikson was a psychologist that researched into normal and abnormal children. After the research he concluded that social factors also influence behaviors. He came out

with a personality development theory from infancy to old age. According to him, growth occurs in stages and each stage is characterized by a developmental task to accomplish and the personality depends on how the task is handled. If the task is handled well a virtue or strength is achieved. If it is in the excess, maladaptation is achieved and if it is the negative, malignancy is achieved. These goals can be achieved by the help of family members and significant others. He identified eight stages.

1. Trust vrs. Mistrust (0-18 months): the child develops trust in the environment and people around him. They are shown by smiling with the child, holding, curdling and speaking with the child. In return the child smiles back and speaks as well. Over protection leads to maladaptation in trusting the world and neglect leads to malignaney of withdrawal. If the crisis is well resolved a virtue of hope and faith is developed

1. Autonomy vrs. Shame/ Doubt (18months - 3 years): children at this stage begin to talk, walk and explore the environment. Children around this age are called terrible 2 year olds. Such a child thinks he can control his muscles and the environment. They don't like help from other people. They say no to everything that they are told by adults. If too much chance is given, to the child to explore the environment, maladaptation of impulsiveness is achieved and when child is restricted too much in exploring the environment, malignancy of compulsiveness is achieved. If the crisis is resolved well, a virtue of will power is developed.

2. Initiative vrs Guilt (3- 5 vears): the child takes initiative and learn new skills in the social and physical environment. They use mostly plays to get their initiatives. Parents should encourage them by giving them the chance to ask a lot of questions and perform those activities. If they are not giving the chance to take initiatives or are severely punished, they develop malignancy of inhibition and will be unwilling to take risk, if there is excess initiative too, they will have maladaptation of ruthlessness and would be doing what he thinks is right. When the crisis is resolved a virtue of courage is achieved.

3. Industry vrs. Inferiority (6-12years): the child at this stage expands his relationship from the house to the neighbors and schools. At school they try to produce new things. They also see to it that their tasks are completed. They also segregate by sex. If this is not encouraged inferiority complex set in in the children if excess industry is given maladaptation of over confidence is developed and if there is neglect malignancy of inferiority complex is developed. A virtue of competence and confidence is achieved as the crisis is resolved.

1. Identity vrs. Role confusion ( 12-18years): this stage is a difficult stage because the child is caught between adulthood and adolescent. Their mental and physical changes and development brings in new ideas. The person has to redefine the future roles and education careers. The role in the third stage will now fuse into one. They use mostly peer groups to make their choice of jobs.
   If they make good choices, a sense of identity of life will be created. If you don't also choose the right profession or career, sense of confusion set in. excess of the identity will lead to maladaptation of thinking in only one way and excess of the role confusion will lead to malignancy of refusing to accept a role in the adult world. If the crisis is resolved, a virtue of fidelity is developed.

2. Intimacy vrs. Isolation (19-30 vears): this is a stage of courtship leading to family life. Once the person knows the profession he wants to take, he/she would want to stay with someone now. They ACTIVELY seek to perform new relationship with others in friendship, sex life and cooperate with each other. Those who don't seek actively or repeatedly fail several times go into isolation. If there is excess intimacy, one goes into maladaptation of promiscuity and if there is excess isolation, malignancy of exclusion is developed. If the crisis is resolved, a virtue of love is developed.

3. Generativity vrs. Stagnation (31-54years): the developmental task at this stage is to start and guide the next generation. One has to raise and take care of children and engage in productive job and be interested in helping society.
   Those who are pre occupied with their personal needs above others go into stagnation. If one tends to or attempts to do so much than he could perform maladaptation of over extension is developed. If the person doesn't contribute anything to society, malignancy of rejection is developed. If the crisis is resolved a virtue of care is created

8. Integrity vis Despair (55 vears upwards): at this stage, the seven previous stages fuse together into one. The adult takes a summary of life and when he/she looks back and is satisfied with the life he/she has led, happiness and joy engulfs him and integrity is achieved and when he/she looks back and realized he missed a lot of opportunities, he becomes sad and afraid of his/her past life and despair set in. Resolution of the crisis leads to wisdom as a virtue.