UNIT – II
PERSONALITY AND THEORY
PERSONALITY: CONCEPT AND MEANING
Personality is the product of social interaction in group life. In society every person has
different traits such as skin, color, height and weight. They have different types of
personalities because individuals are not alike. It refers to the habits, attitudes as well as
physical traits of a person which are not same but have vary from group to group and
society to society, everyone has personality, which may be good or bad, impressive or
unimpressive. It develops during the process of socialization in a culture of a specific
group or society. One cannot determine it of an individual exactly because it varies from
culture to culture and time to time. For example, a killer is considered criminal in peace
time and hero in war. The feeling and actions of an individual during interaction moulds
the personality. It is the sum of total behaviors of the individual and covers both overt and
covert behaviors, interests, mentality and intelligence. It is the sum of physical and mental
abilities and capabilities.
Personality has been derived from the Latin word “persona” which means “mask” used
by the actors to change their appearance. It is the combination of an individual thoughts,
characteristics, behaviors, attitude, idea and habits.
Definition of Personality
Macionis define as “It is the constant pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.”
Ogburn and Nimkoff define it as the totality of sentiments, attitudes, idea, habits, skills and
behaviors of an individual.”
Types of Personality
Following are the three types of personality
1. Extrovert Personality
This type has the tendency to live mostly outside the like to live with others. Those
individuals are highly socialized and have contact with outside people in the society. They
want to join other groups who are more in number. These type of people are drivers,
excessive drinkers, smokers, robbers, thieves, wicked persons etc.
2. Introvert Personality
Introvert is opposite to extrovert. Those people are always live alone in their rooms and
do not want to go outside. They have their own imaginary world. They are teachers,
scientists, thinkers and philosophers.
1
, 3. Ambivert Personality
Between extrovert and introvert personalities there is a third one type called ambivert.
People belonging to this type enjoy both the groups and attend them. They have middle
mind and want to live in both parties. Sometimes they join outside people but sometimes
they live in their own rooms.
GORDON ALLPORT: A TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY
Trait A trait is a predisposition or way to respond in a manner to various kinds of stimuli. A
trait is what accounts for the more permanent, enduring features of our behavior.
“Generalized action tendencies”. The "Traits" of Traits
i) A trait has more than nominal existence.
ii) A trait is more generalized than a habit.
iii) A trait is dynamic or at least determinative in behavior.
iv) A trait's existence may be established empirically.
A trait is not synonymous with moral or social judgment: Despite the fact that many traits
(e.g. sincerity, loyalty, greed) are subject to conventional social judgment, they still
represent true traits of personality. Ideally, one would first discover traits as they exist in
a given individual and then seek neutral, devaluated words to identify them. A trait may be
viewed in light of either the personality that contains it or its distribution in the population
at large: Take autoeroticism as an illustration. Like any other trait, it has both unique and
universal aspects. When viewed uniquely, autoeroticism could be stuTypes of Traits:
Pervasiveness within a Personality
1- Cardinal Traits:
If a trait is extremely pervasive, so pervasive that almost all a person's activities can be
traced to its influence, it is a cardinal trait in Allport's system. This highly generalized
disposition cannot remain hidden unless, of course, it happens to be something like
exclusiveness, in which case its possessor might become a hermit, whose traits were
known to no one. In other instances, however, this kind of master sentiment or ruling
passion makes its possessor famous or infamous. Allport insisted that very few people
possess a cardinal trait. The meaning of a cardinal trait may be readily grasped by
considering the many trait adjectives derived from historical and fictional characters, e.g.,
when someone is referred to as being a chauvinist, Machiavellian, Don Juan, Scrooge, or
Joan of Arc. Or consider that Albert Schweitzer was said to have had one cardinal
disposition in his life-"reverence for every living organism." Similarly, Leo Tolstoy was said
to have been endowed with a burning passion for the "oversimplification of life."
2 Central Traits:
2
PERSONALITY AND THEORY
PERSONALITY: CONCEPT AND MEANING
Personality is the product of social interaction in group life. In society every person has
different traits such as skin, color, height and weight. They have different types of
personalities because individuals are not alike. It refers to the habits, attitudes as well as
physical traits of a person which are not same but have vary from group to group and
society to society, everyone has personality, which may be good or bad, impressive or
unimpressive. It develops during the process of socialization in a culture of a specific
group or society. One cannot determine it of an individual exactly because it varies from
culture to culture and time to time. For example, a killer is considered criminal in peace
time and hero in war. The feeling and actions of an individual during interaction moulds
the personality. It is the sum of total behaviors of the individual and covers both overt and
covert behaviors, interests, mentality and intelligence. It is the sum of physical and mental
abilities and capabilities.
Personality has been derived from the Latin word “persona” which means “mask” used
by the actors to change their appearance. It is the combination of an individual thoughts,
characteristics, behaviors, attitude, idea and habits.
Definition of Personality
Macionis define as “It is the constant pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.”
Ogburn and Nimkoff define it as the totality of sentiments, attitudes, idea, habits, skills and
behaviors of an individual.”
Types of Personality
Following are the three types of personality
1. Extrovert Personality
This type has the tendency to live mostly outside the like to live with others. Those
individuals are highly socialized and have contact with outside people in the society. They
want to join other groups who are more in number. These type of people are drivers,
excessive drinkers, smokers, robbers, thieves, wicked persons etc.
2. Introvert Personality
Introvert is opposite to extrovert. Those people are always live alone in their rooms and
do not want to go outside. They have their own imaginary world. They are teachers,
scientists, thinkers and philosophers.
1
, 3. Ambivert Personality
Between extrovert and introvert personalities there is a third one type called ambivert.
People belonging to this type enjoy both the groups and attend them. They have middle
mind and want to live in both parties. Sometimes they join outside people but sometimes
they live in their own rooms.
GORDON ALLPORT: A TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY
Trait A trait is a predisposition or way to respond in a manner to various kinds of stimuli. A
trait is what accounts for the more permanent, enduring features of our behavior.
“Generalized action tendencies”. The "Traits" of Traits
i) A trait has more than nominal existence.
ii) A trait is more generalized than a habit.
iii) A trait is dynamic or at least determinative in behavior.
iv) A trait's existence may be established empirically.
A trait is not synonymous with moral or social judgment: Despite the fact that many traits
(e.g. sincerity, loyalty, greed) are subject to conventional social judgment, they still
represent true traits of personality. Ideally, one would first discover traits as they exist in
a given individual and then seek neutral, devaluated words to identify them. A trait may be
viewed in light of either the personality that contains it or its distribution in the population
at large: Take autoeroticism as an illustration. Like any other trait, it has both unique and
universal aspects. When viewed uniquely, autoeroticism could be stuTypes of Traits:
Pervasiveness within a Personality
1- Cardinal Traits:
If a trait is extremely pervasive, so pervasive that almost all a person's activities can be
traced to its influence, it is a cardinal trait in Allport's system. This highly generalized
disposition cannot remain hidden unless, of course, it happens to be something like
exclusiveness, in which case its possessor might become a hermit, whose traits were
known to no one. In other instances, however, this kind of master sentiment or ruling
passion makes its possessor famous or infamous. Allport insisted that very few people
possess a cardinal trait. The meaning of a cardinal trait may be readily grasped by
considering the many trait adjectives derived from historical and fictional characters, e.g.,
when someone is referred to as being a chauvinist, Machiavellian, Don Juan, Scrooge, or
Joan of Arc. Or consider that Albert Schweitzer was said to have had one cardinal
disposition in his life-"reverence for every living organism." Similarly, Leo Tolstoy was said
to have been endowed with a burning passion for the "oversimplification of life."
2 Central Traits:
2
