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Personality
History of the word ‘Personality'
The word 'personality' was derived from the Latin word 'persona' meaning mask (The Greek
actors used to wear masks to hide their identity on stage.)
Definition
Gordan Allport defined personality as the dynamic organisation within the individual of those
psycho-physical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.
Dynamic: Constantly evolving, changing nature of personality, flexibility in adjusting it
to the environment.
Organisation: The different parts of personality that have special relations to the whole.
Psycho physical systems: It is composed of habits, altitudes, emotions states, motives and
beliefs which are psychological in nature, but physical basis in the individual's neural,
glandular or general body states which constitute potentials for activity.
Freud's psychoanalytic theory
Personality dynamics
Psycho-sexual stages of development
Personality 1
, Personality structure
Personality dynamics
According to Freud, the mind is divided into three parts: the conscious, pre-conscious
and unconscious.
The conscious: At the conscious level we are aware of certain things around us and of
certain thought. While studying in a classroom, the tables, chairs, teacher, students etc.
are in our conscious level.
The preconscious: It consists of elements which are part of a person's experiences, but
are presently out of awareness. With a moment's reflection hey can be bought into the
conscious level at any time. Eg: what we had for breakfast, what we studied yesterday.
The unconscious: It contains memories, thoughts and motives which we cannot recollect
easily. It is out of the person's awareness.
The unconscious mind consists of instinctual drives, wishes, desires and demands, that
are hidden from conscious awareness, because of the conflicts and pain they would cause
if they arise to the surface. We repress ideas, memories, feelings and motives that are
especially disturbing, forbidden or otherwise unacceptable to us.
The process of repression is itself unconscious and automatic. When the idea or
experience is so painful and anxiety arousing, we try to escape from it. Our anxiety
triggers repulsion and the unacceptable material is buried in the unconscious.
Freud believed that much of our behaviour is motivated by the unconscious forces. Slips
of tongue, fantasies and dreams are due to the unconscious.
Projective techniques, free association test, dream analysis techniques and hypnosis are
used to study unconscious.
Psychosexual stages of development
Freud put heavy emphasis on sexual development. His idea was that from birth on we
have an innate tendency to seek libidinal/sexual pleasure specially through physical
stimulation of parts that are sensitive to touch such as the mouth, the anus, genitals etc,
he referred to them as erogenous zones (changes with age).
With each shift in the focus of sexual stimulation came parallel shifts in the dominant
psychological issues faced by the person. Freud called each step in this process, a
psychosexual stage.
Personality 2
Personality
History of the word ‘Personality'
The word 'personality' was derived from the Latin word 'persona' meaning mask (The Greek
actors used to wear masks to hide their identity on stage.)
Definition
Gordan Allport defined personality as the dynamic organisation within the individual of those
psycho-physical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.
Dynamic: Constantly evolving, changing nature of personality, flexibility in adjusting it
to the environment.
Organisation: The different parts of personality that have special relations to the whole.
Psycho physical systems: It is composed of habits, altitudes, emotions states, motives and
beliefs which are psychological in nature, but physical basis in the individual's neural,
glandular or general body states which constitute potentials for activity.
Freud's psychoanalytic theory
Personality dynamics
Psycho-sexual stages of development
Personality 1
, Personality structure
Personality dynamics
According to Freud, the mind is divided into three parts: the conscious, pre-conscious
and unconscious.
The conscious: At the conscious level we are aware of certain things around us and of
certain thought. While studying in a classroom, the tables, chairs, teacher, students etc.
are in our conscious level.
The preconscious: It consists of elements which are part of a person's experiences, but
are presently out of awareness. With a moment's reflection hey can be bought into the
conscious level at any time. Eg: what we had for breakfast, what we studied yesterday.
The unconscious: It contains memories, thoughts and motives which we cannot recollect
easily. It is out of the person's awareness.
The unconscious mind consists of instinctual drives, wishes, desires and demands, that
are hidden from conscious awareness, because of the conflicts and pain they would cause
if they arise to the surface. We repress ideas, memories, feelings and motives that are
especially disturbing, forbidden or otherwise unacceptable to us.
The process of repression is itself unconscious and automatic. When the idea or
experience is so painful and anxiety arousing, we try to escape from it. Our anxiety
triggers repulsion and the unacceptable material is buried in the unconscious.
Freud believed that much of our behaviour is motivated by the unconscious forces. Slips
of tongue, fantasies and dreams are due to the unconscious.
Projective techniques, free association test, dream analysis techniques and hypnosis are
used to study unconscious.
Psychosexual stages of development
Freud put heavy emphasis on sexual development. His idea was that from birth on we
have an innate tendency to seek libidinal/sexual pleasure specially through physical
stimulation of parts that are sensitive to touch such as the mouth, the anus, genitals etc,
he referred to them as erogenous zones (changes with age).
With each shift in the focus of sexual stimulation came parallel shifts in the dominant
psychological issues faced by the person. Freud called each step in this process, a
psychosexual stage.
Personality 2
