Personality

Personality of an individual is unique, personal and a major determinant of her

behaviour.

Personality means how a person affects others and how he understands and views
himself. How a person affects others depends upon his physical appearance and
behaviour. Thus, personality represents the whole person concept.

A comprehensive definition of personality is given by 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.”

Determinants of Personality
Personality is determined by both Heredity and Environment.

1. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
A. Heredity It means transmission of qualities from ancestor to
descendant through biological channels. Physical
stature, sex, facial attractiveness, reflexes etc. are
inherited from one’s parents.

B. Physical An Individual’s external appearance may have a

Features tremendous effect on his personality.

2. FAMILY AND SOCIAL FACTORS

A. An infant also acquires behaviour patterns of the family and society.
B. The status of the family in the society influences individual’s perception
about self, others, money etc.
 3. SITUATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
A. An individual’s personality may change in different situations. The
demands of different situations may call for different aspects of one’s
personality. Therefore, we should not look at personality in isolation.

4. TEMPRAMENT
A. the degree to which one responds emotionally to the environment defines
her personality
5. SCHEMA
A. Schema refers to an individual’s belief, frame of reference,
PERSONALITY 2 perception and attitude which the individual possesses
towards the management, job, working conditions, pay, fringe benefits
etc. All of them together influence and drive a person’s behaviour.

6. MOTIVES
A. Motives are inner drives of an individual. Behaviour of an individual to
accomplish a goal varies because of his inner drives.

Development of Personality

There are two approaches to development of personality. First approach to

development of personality attempts to identify specific physiological and
psychological stages that occur in development of human personality. Second
approach tends to identify important determinants of personality. First approach is
theoretical while second approach is empirical in nature.
 FREUDIAN ERIKSON
STAGES STAGES

FREUDIAN STAGES
Sigmund Freud propounded psychoanalytic theory of personality, which is based on
the notion that man is motivated more by unseen forces than by rational thought.

He gave 3 aspects to measure the unconscious framework that defines a person’s

personality.
 • Teh Id is the source of psychic energy and seeks
immediate gratification for biological and
instinctual needs. Instincts could be classified
The ID under life instincts and death instincts.
Life instincts are Hunger, thrist and Sex.
As an individual matures he learns to control the
Id.

The • The concious and logical part of human

persponality that keeps ID under check. it is
associated with reality principle. Ego keeps it
Ego under check through intellect and reason.

The • The super ego represents societal and personal

norms and serves as an ethical constraint on
Super behaviour. it can best be described as
Conscience. super ego provides norms to ego
ego that determine what is wrong and right.

According to Freud, there are 4 stages of psycho-sexual development which

define a person’s personality. These are:
 • It extends from birth to first year of life. In this stage
mouth is used to satisfy biological drives.
1. The oral
stage

• The anal stage takes over during second and third year
of life. in this stage, the focus shifts fom mouth to anal
region. Young children derive considerable pleasure from
2. The Anal both retention and expulsion of faeces.
stage

• At about Four years of age, focus of sexual gratification

shift to another erogenous body zone, the sex organs.
3. The During this stage childrens can be observed obtaining
phallic gratification by examining and fondeling their genitalia.
stage

• This stage runs from adolescence to adulthood. there is

an increased awareness of an interest in opposite sex.
4. The there is geenration of aggressive sexual impulses.
genital
stage
The Psychoanalytic theory of Freud is based on a theoretical conception, rather than
a measurable item for scientific verification.

ERIKSON STAGES
Erikson focused more on social factors in his explanation on personality stages.
He criticized Freud for his over focus on sexual and biological factors in
development of a personality. Erikson identified 8 stages of life. According to
Erikson, each stage is confronted by a conflict that needs to be resolved
successfully before a person can move to the next stage

The 8 stages are:

• the crisis resolved in infancy is trust vs. mistrust. An infant who is

loved and cared for learns to trust other people. Lack of love and
1. Infancy affection results in mistrust. Impact on an infant in this stage
affects his development for the remaining life.

• the crisis resolved in early childhood is independence vs. self

doubt and shame. When a child is given control over aspects that
2. Early he is capable of controlling, he develops confident and
childhood autonomous. Lack of control results in self doubt.

• the four and five year old child comes under play age. Here, a
child likes to experiment and discover what she can do. The crisis
3. Play resolved in this stage is initiative or capability vs. guilt and lack of
Age self confidence.

• from age 6 to 12. The crisis resolved in this age is enterprise vs.
inferiority. In this stage, if a child is allowed to develop his social
4. School and physical abilities, she will develop a sense of enterprise.
age Control over her actions results in a feeling of inferiority.
 • the crisis resolved in this stage is independent identity vs.
confusion. The above 4 developments- trust, autonomy,
capability and enterprise help an individual to resolve the
5. crisis faced in adolescence by developing a separate identity.
Adolescence

• during twenties, the crisis faced is intimacy vs. isolation.

Deep relationships are developed after adolescence with
6. Early creation of an independent identity.
Childhood

• the crisis faced in this stage is generativity vs. self

absorption. Generative people see the world as much bigger
than themselves. Productivity and societal advancement hold
more importance to them. On the other hand, self absorbed
people do not develop the ability to look beyond themselves.
7. Adulthood They become absorbed in career advancement and
maintenance.

• in this stage, a person develops as a highly mature

personality and guides others. The crisis resolved here is
8. Mature integrity vs. despair.
Adulthood.
 Stage of Development Age Crisis
1. Oral sensory stage 0-1 Trust vs. mistrust
2. Muscular and anal stage 1-2 Autonomy vs. doubt
3. Locomotors anal stage 3-5 Initiative vs. guilt
4. Latency stage 6- Industry vs. inferiority
Puberty
5. Puberty and adolescence 12-19 Identity vs. confusion
6. Early adulthood Early Intimacy vs. isolation
20’s
7. Young and middle Late 20’s Generativity vs.
adulthood stagnation
8. Mature adulthood 30’s Integrity vs. despair

CHRIS ARGYRIS IMMATURITY - MATURITY THEORY

According to Chris Argyris, Personality of an individual develops along a

continuum from immaturity as an infant to maturity as an adult. There are 7
basic characteristics in the continuum:

IM-MATURITY MATURITY CHERACTERSTICS

CHERACTERSTICS
1. Passivity Activity
2. Dependence Independence
3. Few ways of behaving Diverse behaviour
4. Shallows interest Deep interest
5. Short term Prospective Long term Prospective
6. Subordinate position Superordinate position
7. Lack of self-awareness Self-awareness and control
According to Argyris, seven changes should take place in the personality of
individuals if they are to develop into mature people over the years.

The seven changes are:

1. Individuals move from a passive state as infants to a state of
increasing activity as adults.

2. Individuals develop from a state of dependency upon others as

infants to a state of relative independence as adults.

3. Individuals in only few ways as infants, but as adults they are

capable of behaving in many ways.

4. Individuals have erratic, casual, and shallow interests as infants

but develop deeper and stringer interests as adults.

5. The time perspective of children is very short, involving only the

present, but as they mature, their time perspective increases to
include past and future.

6. Individuals as infants are subordinate to everyone, but they move

to equal or superior positions with others as adults.

7. As children, individuals lack an awareness of a “self”, but as adults

not only they are aware of, but they are able to control “self”.

Models of Personality

MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR:

It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in
particular situations. On the basis of answers, individuals are classified differently.
There are a total OF 16 personality types according to this classification.
1. Extraverted or Extraverts are outgoing, sociable. Introverts
introverted are quiet and shy

2. Sensing or intuitive Sensing types are practical and prefer routine

and order. Intuitive rely on unconscious
processes and look at the big picture.
3. Thinking or feeling Thinking types use reason and logic to
handle problems. Feeling type rely on their
personal values and emotions.

4. Judging or Judging types want control and order and a

perceiving structured world. Perceiving are flexible and
spontaneous.

Other Questionnaires-

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

• Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PFQ)

Big 5 Personality Models

According to Big Five Model, five basic dimensions underlie all others and
encompass most of the significant variation in human personality. The following are
the Big Five Factors:
Extraversion- It captures a person’s comfort level with
relationships. Extraverts tend to be Gregarious, Sociable
and Assertive. Extraversion brings enhanced leadership.

Agreeableness- An individual’s propensity to

defer to others describes the level of
agreeableness. Highly agreeable people are
cooperative, warm and trusting. People who score
low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable and
antagonistic. Agreeable people show lower level
of deviant behaviour.

Conscientiousness- It is a measure of
reliability. A highly conscientious person is
responsible, organized and dependable.
Conscientiousness brings longevity and higher
performance.

Emotional stability- The ability to withstand

stress and remain calm, self- confident defines an
individual’s emotional stability. ES brings higher
job and life satisfaction.

Openness to Experience- Openness to experience

addresses range of interests and Fascination with novelty.
Open people are Creative, curious and artistically
sensitive. They are also more adaptable to change.
 Self concept Theory

The theory was given by Carl Rogers and Henry P. self-concept has been defined
as perceptions and understanding of an individual about “I” and “ME”. I is
described as “personal self or one’s belief in oneself” and ME is described as “social
self”. “I” is how an individual appears to others and “ME” is the mirror image of what
I believe others expect from me.

According to the theory, the relationship between I and ME develops one’s

personality. A person who performs his duties without attachment gets strength
and is able to perform more efficiently. On the other hand, attachment reduces
performance.

Socialisation Theory : Person situation interaction

Each situation is different and employees act or behave differently according

to the dominating situation. The differences may seem to be very small on the
surface but when filtered by the person’s cognitive process, they can lead to quite
large subjective differences and diverse behavioural outcomes.

According the socialization theory, people are not static. They behave
differently in different situations. Therefore, social situation has an important
impact on personality.

In organizations, it has been realized that socialization impacts behaviour of

employees to a large extent. Therefore, specific techniques of socialization of new
employees are used by organizations. Some of these techniques are- use of
mentors or role models, orientation, training and development programs, career
planning etc.
 Other personality traits that influence behaviour

1. Core self- Core self-evaluation means how people think

evaluation / self about themselves. People with positive core
esteem self-evaluation like themselves and see
themselves as effective, capable and in control
of their environment. They also perform better.
Positive core self-evaluation has a positive
impact on job satisfaction as well as job
performance.
2. Machiavellianism- An individual high in Machiavellianism is
pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and
believes that ends justify means.
Machiavellists are high performers in the
following situations

• When they get to interact face to face

with others, they are able to impress with
their aggressive personality.
• When there are minimal number of rules
and regulations.
• When emotional involvement distracts
low machs.

3. Locus of control- I It refers to an individual’s belief that events are

either within one’s control (internal) or are
determined by forces beyond one’s control
(external). People who believe that they
control their destinies are called internal and
those who believe that their lives are being
controlled by outside forces are called
externals. Internals are found to be more
satisfied with their job, have lower
absenteeism, and are more socially active.
4. Narcissism- Narcissism is an exaggerated sense of self-
importance, excessive self-admiration, and
arrogance. Narcissism is derived from Greek
myth of narcissus, who was so proud of
himself that he fell in love with his own image.
Narcissists want to gain admiration of others
and receive affirmation of their superiority.
They treat others as inferior to themselves.
They are also selfish and exploitative.
5. Authoritarianism- An authoritarian personality believes in
legitimacy of formal authority, views obedience
to authority as necessary and holds negative
views about people. He is also intellectually
rigid. Authoritarian personalities are also
oriented towards rules and regulations
6. Introverts and A person’s sociability and interpersonal
Extroverts- orientation define his or her being introvert or
extrovert. Extroverts are gregarious and
sociable individuals while introverts are shy
and quiet. Extroverts are more suitable in
environment requiring regular interaction while
introverts are more suitable in analytical and
thinking tasks.

TYPE A and TYPE B Personality

TYPE A Personality TYPE B Personality

Is always moving Is never in hurry

Walks rapidly Is patient

Eats rapidly Does not brag, play for fun not for win

Talks rapidly Relaxes without guilt

Is impatient Is mild mannered

Does two things at a time Has no pressing deadline.

Measures success by quantity
Is aggressive
Is competitive
Feels time pressure