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UNIT – 4 PERSONALITY
⇒ History of Personality:-
- The word “personality” has been traced back by etymologists to the
Latin word “per” and “sonare”.
- The term “per sonare” means, “to sound through”.
- The word persona derives from these two words and originally
meant an actor’s mask, through which the so und of his voice was
projected.
- Later persona was used, to mean not the mask itself but the false
appearance, which the mask created.
- Still later it came to mean the characters in the play.
- It is interesting to note that the word “personality’ by derivation
should mean, “what an individual only appears to be not what he really
is”.
- This meaning is almost the exact opposite of what the word means
in modern psychology.
⇒ Definition of personality:-
1. “The dynamic organisaton within the individual of those psycho-physical
systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.”- Allport
2. “Personality is the organisaton of an individual’s personal pattern of
tendencies.” – R.W.White
3. “Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine
those commonalities and differences in the psychological behaviour of people
that have continuity in time and that may not be easily understood as the sole
result of the social and biological pressures of the moment.”- Theorist Salvatore
Maddi
⇒ Determinants of personality:
1. Biological:
- The heredity
- The brain
- Physical features
2. Cultural factors
3. Family and social factors
- Socialization process – the contribution of family and social group in
combination with the culture is known as socialization.
- Identification process – identification starts when a person begins to identify
himself with some other members of the family.
- Apart from the socialization and identification processes, the home
environment influences the personality of an individual.
→ Personality theories:-
1. Intrapsychic theory:
According to Freud the human mind is composed of three elements –
- The preconscious – the items in the mind that can be recognized only
through Freud’s association method are preconscious.
- The conscious element is concerned with thoughts, feelings, beliefs and
desire that we probe during introspection. It is guided by a “reasoned reality”
principle.
HETAL PATIL 1
4/27/2011
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
UNIT – 4 PERSONALITY
- The unconscious is basically concerned with the ideas and wished that
cannot be learned through introspection but can be determined by
hypnotism, analysis of dreams and Freudian therapeutic techniques. It is
guided by the famous “hedonistic principle” of pleasure.
- Three structures of human mind are:
• The id:
- It is the original and the most basic system of human personality.
- It is primitive, instinctual and governed by the principles of greed and
pleasure.
- Id represents the storehouse of all instincts, containing in its dark depths
all wishes and desires that unconsciously direct and determines our
behaviours.
- Id is largely childish, irrational, never satisfied, demanding and
destructive of others.
- Id is the reservoir of the “psychic energy” which Freud calls “Libido”.
- Notable characteristic of id is that it cannot tolerate uncomfortable levels
of tension within it and seeks to release the tension as soon as it
develops.
- Methods for dealing with tension by id are primary processes and reflex
actions.
- Id is capable of resolving the tension in reality.
- Id represents and individual’s natural urges and feelings.
• The Ego:
- As an individual learns to separate the unreality from reality in childhood,
the ego develops.
- Ego is rational and logical.
- In essence, it is the conscious mediator between id’s impulsive demands
and superego’s restrictive guidance.
- Ego is rational master.
- It is executive part of the personality because it controls the gateway to
action, selects the feature of the environment to which it will respond and
decides what instincts will be satisfied.
- The most important characteristic of ego is that it has the ability to
distinguish between mental images and actual sources of tension release
and it responds to the real sources of tension reduction by observing
accurately what exists in the outside world (perceiving), recoding these
experiences carefully (remembering) and modifying the external world in
such a way as to satisfy the instinctual wishes (acting).
• The Superego:
- Superego represents noblest thoughts, ideals, feelings that are acquired
by a person from his parents, teachers, friends, religion, organisation and
colleagues, etc.
- Superego is the moralistic segment of the human personality.
- The primary concern of superego is to determine whether the action
proposed by “ego” is right or wrong s that the individual acts in
accordance with the values and standards of the society.
- If people violate the prohibitions of superego they may feel guilty.
HETAL PATIL 2
4/27/2011
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
UNIT – 4 PERSONALITY
UNIT – 4 PERSONALITY
HETAL PATIL 4
4/27/2011
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
UNIT – 4 PERSONALITY
HETAL PATIL 5
4/27/2011
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
UNIT – 4 PERSONALITY
HETAL PATIL 6