Personality

• Personality

  The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.
• Personality

  The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to hisenvironment”
• Personality Traits

  Most often described in terms of measurable traits that a person exhibits, such as shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal and timid
• What determines the personality?

  * Heredity

  * Environment

  *Situation
• Heredity Approach

  ➢ Heredity is the most dominant factor
• • The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.
• The study of twins who were separated at birth.

  Genetics accounts for about 50 percent of the variation in personality differences and over 30 percent of occupational and leisure interest variation.
• The genetic underpinnings of human behavior and temperament among young children. Evidence demonstrates that traits such as shyness, fear, and distress are most likely caused by inherited genetic characteristics.
• The consistency in job satisfaction over time and across situations. Individual job satisfaction is remarkably stable over time. This indicates that satisfaction is determined by something inherent in the person.
• Counter Argument:Personality characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity. If they were, they would be fixed at birth and no amount of experience could alter them.
• Environmental Approach

  Factors that exert pressures on our personality formation:

  – The culture in which we are raised – Early conditioning– Norms among our family– Friends and social groups
• The environment we are exposed to plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities.
• Culture establishes the norms, attitudes, and values passed from one generation to the next and creates consistencies over time.
• • Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but an individual’s full potential will be determined by how well he or she adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment.
• Situation Approach


  Influences the effects of heredity and environment on personality
• Situation Approach

  • The different demands of different situations call forth different aspects of one’s personality.
• •  Situations seem to differ substantially in the constraints they impose on behavior.
• Measuring Personality Traits

  The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

  A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types.

  Personality Types:

  • Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I) • Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)• Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)• Judging vs. Perceiving (J or P)
• A Myers-Briggs Score

  – Can be a valuable for self-awareness and career guidance
• A Myers-Briggs Score

  – Should not be used as a selection tool because it has not been related to job performance!
• The big 5 model personality theory is widely accepted today because this model presents a blueprint for understanding the main dimensions of personality. Experts have found that these traits are universal and provide an accurate portrait of human personality.
• The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions

  * Extroversion

  *Agreeableness

  *Conscientiousness

  *Emotional Stability

  *Openness to Experience
• Extroversion

  Sociable, gregarious, and assertive
• Agreeableness This dimension refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to othersGood-natured, cooperative, and trusting.
• The conscientiousness dimension is a measure ofReliability. Responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized.
• Emotional Stability taps a person’s ability to withstand stress Calm, self-confident, secure (positive) versus nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).
• Openness to Experience range of interests and

  fascination with novelty

  Imaginativeness, artistic, sensitivity, and intellectualism.
• Emotional stability is most strongly related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and low stress levels. This is probably true because high scorers are more likely to be positive and optimistic and experience fewer negative emotions.
• (Conscientiousness)to have higher job performance in most if not all occupations.

  Individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend
• Individuals who score high on openness to experience are more creative in science and art than those who score low. Because creativity is important to leadership, open people are more likely to be effective leaders, and more comfortable with ambiguity and change
• Extraversion is a relatively strong predictor of leadership emergence in groups; extraverts are more socially dominant, “take charge” sorts of people, and they are generally more assertive than introverts.
• Major Personality Attributes

  ➢ Core Self-Evaluation (Self-Esteem, Locus of Control) ➢ Machiavellianism➢ Narcissism➢ Self-Monitoring

  ➢ Risk Taking➢ Type A vs. Type B Personality ➢ Proactive Personality
• People who have positive core self-evaluations like themselves and see themselves as effective, capable, and in control of their environment.
• Those with negative core self-evaluations tend to dislike themselves, question their capabilities, and view themselves as powerless over their environment.
• Self-Esteem– Individuals’ degree of liking or disliking themselves, degree of

  thinking they are worthy or unworthy as a person
• Self-esteem

  • The degree to which a person likes or dislikes himself
• Self-esteem

  • It is directly related to expectations for success
• Low Self Esteem

  • The most generalizable finding is that low SEs are more susceptible to external influence than are high SEs.
• Low Self-esteem

  • Low SEs are dependent on the receipt of positive evaluations from others.