Mind It

According to Eysenck, Personality is the more or less stable and enduring organization of a person’s character temperament, interact and physique which determines his unique adjustment to the environment.

Our emotional, mental, spiritual and physical well being all build up our so called personality. We become observant of the people around us and those we interact with and study each ones personality. When someone has a rude and unlikeable behavior, we say that the person possesses an undesirable personality. On the other hand, someone with an appealing and admirable behavior is considered to be a good personality. Having an appealing personality gives not only more career opportunities but also a healthy social and psychological life.

Development comes through change that leads to progress. In whatever status or standard a person may be he may either move forward or just drift backward. When a child is nurtured with proper care and parental guidance throughout his developmental age there is no doubt that the child will progress actively in developing his personality. Improving ones personality in the later years of an individual can be done by changing behaviors to inculcate good personality traits and limit the negative ones.

Each man has his own line and his own vocation and the successful building up of his personality will depend upon how close he gets to the personality that belongs to him. The more balanced a man is and the more social and humanitarian his deeds are in his ever so challenging world, he will be definitely be recognized among his fellowmen and thus securing a name and place in their midst.

Many personality theorists have tried to explain the development of human personality. According to Daniel Levinson, an individual’s life can be divided into adult, mid-life and late adult stages. The personality of an individual, Levinson argues, develops to some extent at each stage of his lifecycle. Another theorist, Hall, suggested that the personality development of an employee takes place in four stages: exploration, establishment, maintenance and decline. Chris Argyris (immaturity – maturity model) proposed that human personality moves along a continuum from immaturity (infancy) to maturity (adulthood).

One way to effectively deal with sorting out individual personality could be by introspecting i.e. maybe by writing down a list of one’s good as well as ones negative traits. However, when listing these traits, one should keep in mind on how one portrays their own self and not by how others view them to be. Thus we may conclude that a certain personality can be developed but at what extent will surely depend on the efforts and will power of the personality-owner. If he tries hard he can actually transform into quite a new personality as perseverance and sincere efforts are the key factors of progress and of course no person can be successful in his goal if he leaves it halfway. And in this developing society many believe that personality development should be one of the regular exercises for any person who wishes to lead a satisfactory life.

[Contributed by Angie Pereira, post graduate student of psychology, during her internship.]