DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

To know the determinants of personality

1. PERSONALITY The word ‘personality’ derived from the Latin word “Persona” Persona means “mask”. “Personality is the sum total of innate and acquired dispositions”. - Valentine.

2. Characteristics Personality is unique in individual. It impacts behaviour and action. Personality refers to persistent qualities of individual. Personality is the result of social interactions. Personality is always dynamic. Personality determines our thinking, reasoning and actions.

3. DETERMINANTS PERSONALITY Personality is not determined by a single factor, but by an accumulation of many factors. Some of those factors are psychological, while others are physical, biological, and hereditary.  Biological Factors Cultural Factors Social Factors Situational Factors

4. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS Brain - father and son adopt almost the same type of brain stimulation Physical factor - physical factors involves height, colour, health status and beauty of the person Heredity factor - factors affect the physical features intelligence level, attentiveness, gender, temperament, various inherited diseases and energy level

5. SOCIAL FACTORS Social factors also play a vital role in determining one’s personality. The society that we live in, the environment, the community, all are included in this factor. Socialization starts with the contact between a mother and infant. After infancy, other father, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends and then the social group

6. CULTURAL FACTORS The culture largely determines attributes toward independence, aggression, competition, and cooperation. The culture in which one lives in, traditional practices, norms, customs, procedures, rules and regulations, values, are determinants of personality. The creed, religion and believes are also very important factors of personality determinants.

7. SITUATIONAL According to Milgram "Situation exerts an important press on the individual”. Situational factors do alter a person’s behavior and response from time to time. Situational factors can be commonly observed when a person behaves contrastingly and exhibits different traits and characteristics.

8. CONCLUSION A person’s personality should be seen as on-going development process. Every person has a different personality . According to Linton, personality embraces the total “ organised aggregate of psychological processes and status pertaining to the individual.”