PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Definition

• Zorka Hereford in her book Essential Life defined that

• Personal Development as “The Process of striving to be the best that
you can be in order to reach and realize your full potential”
• It is a journey of self-discovery, self-improvement and self-realization
• According to Carl Rogers
• It is only human beings who have the capacity to reflect upon itself,
and in the process develop awareness, analytical thinking and self-
evaluation, motivation, decision making and reflective thought.
KNOWING YOURSELF
• Open Area- traits that everyone knows including yourself
• Blind Area- traits that everyone knows except you
• Hidden Area- secrets that nobody knows except you
• Unknown Area- traits and capability that no one knows even you

SOCRATES- the most important thing to pursue is self-knowledge and

admitting one’s ignorance is the beginning of true knowledge

PLATO- the beginning of knowledge is self-knowledge

Self-essence of a person, includes a person’s life purpose, meaning

and aspirations (thoughts, feelings, and actions, experiences, beliefs,
values, principles, and relationships)

Psychological Definition: The cognitive and affective

representative of one’s identity. It is defined in terms of human
characteristics such as thought and behavior.

PERSONALITY- essence of who we are and is the embodiment of

one’s physical and psychological behavior
- set of behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and motives that
identifies an individual

VIEWPOINTS OF PERSONALITY BY PSYCHOLOGISTS

• Personality refers to the unique and enduring set of behaviors,

feelings, thoughts, and motives that characterize an individual
• (making of a personality) Personality is a complex combination
of genes, environmental exposure and experiences and
cultural backgrounds.
• Asian’s exhibit strong “interpersonal relatedness
• Westerners look at their behavior and its impact on their
personal goals
TRAIT THEORY

• An approach in identifying types of personalities based on

certain traits or attributes which vary from one person to the
other

Categorized Scheme by COSTA and McRAE (psychologists)

O- openness to experience (curiousity, interests, new ideas)

C- conscientiousness (careful or vigilant, organized, responsible)

E- extraversion (enjoys with many people rather than being alone)

A- Agreeableness (kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm)

N- neuroticism (moody, anxiety, frustration, depression)

MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

E or I (extraversion & introversion)

S or N (sensing & intuition)
reasoning beliefs

T or F (thinking & feeling)

J or P (judgement & perception) organize Anything
comes

DEVELOPING THE WHOLE PERSON

• Rene Descartes – influenced mankind’s thinking with his theory

of duality (separation) of body and spirit
• Gen. Jan C. Smuts- introduced the academic terminology for
holism as “the tendency in nature to form wholes which are
greater than the sum of the parts through creative revolution”.
• Wolfgang Kohler- introduced the concept of gestalt
“something that is made of many parts and yet is somehow
more than or different from the combination of its parts”

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONS

• Physiological- physical attributes
• Cognitive- intellectual functions
• Psychological- thinking, feeling, and behaving
• Social- manner by which an individual interacts
• Spiritual- attribute of a person’s consciousness and beliefs
 ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOR
➢ Attitudes are person’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions about
another person, object, idea, behavior or situation based on
his/her values and belief systems
➢ Behavior is a manifestation of your attitude

VALUES
➢ Core of every person lies a system of beliefs that adheres to
the highest ideals of human existence; these create meaning
and purpose in a person’s life, these ideals are called values.

VIRTUES
➢ Peaceful, calm, reputable, responsible, honest…
➢ Essence of our character and moral excellent of a person has
a character made up of virtues as good.

10 COMMON VALUES by Shalom H. Schwartz

1.) Self-Direction- Independent thought and action—choosing,

creating, exploring.

2.) Stimulation- Excitement, novelty and challenge in life.

3.) Hedonism Pleasure or sensuous gratification for oneself.

4.) Achievement Personal success through demonstrating

competence according to social standards.

5.) Power- Social status and prestige, control or dominance over

people and resources.

6.) Security- Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of

relationships, and of self.

7.) Conformity- Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely

to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms.

8.) Tradition- Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the

customs and ideas that one's culture or religion provides.

9.) Benevolence- Preserving and enhancing the welfare of those

with whom one is in frequent personal contact (the ‘in-group’).

10.) Universalism- Understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and

protection for the welfare of all people and for nature.