The Whole Person
The characteristics that make up personality include physique, intellectual and other abilities, interests, attitudes, beliefs, values. and expressive styles, In all these things we differ from one another. There is no such thing as an "averap" personality. Personality has a quality of uniqueness; no one person is quite like another.
The Origins of Personality
The individual is a product of heredity and environment, Genetic differences play a large role in individual differenses in personality, as well as in physical characteristics. Our physiological system manufactures and secretes many chemical agents that affect behavior. Even a slight imbalance in the hormones secreted may produce changes in appearance I physique, temperament. and how we react to. stress. Physiological variables provide the foundation ancl limitations for personality development, In much of this we have little control. In contrast, the roles played by the environment provide's us with some measure of control. Through the process of socialization the person learns what to do and what not do. Agencies of socialization change or the individual matures. Fi:rst coines the influence of the family. Studies show that negative me atmospheres, rather than specific practices, produce ,poorly justed people. The personality development of a child depends both how-he interacts with ethers and how he sees that interaction. When the baby first discovers the difference between "me" and "not me," he or she is beginning to learn the concept of self. In the family, the child learns reactions that become typical in an individualistic sort of way.
In later childhood 'flnd in adolescence, it is the peer group and the school that become important; sometimes, of -ourse, these two conflict with the family structure. As adults we tend associate with people our own lilge and of a similar social status. In :erms of influence, it is within the peer group that the child often finds persons to imitate and identify with. These people do much to shape j€rsonality development.
Influences on Personality. Chapge and our reaction to change force s to reevaluate our self concept. Four things are important in this connection. First, people respond at different rates to sodalization. Any person's characteristic response continues throughout life, but at a decreasing rate. When we are young, social changes seem to 'ncrease "parent obsolescence." As adults we become more and more other-directed" as the environment exerts more influence on our '"e-styles. We seem to get entrapped in both work and social "systems." Second, opportunities differ for each of us and this has an influence on the development of our personality. Third, we learn from experience. We learn not only what to do and what not to do but also ."hat is most likely to work or not work. Having "been there before"
mfluences behavior. Fourth, the structures of impersonal systems schools, colleges, industries, governments) provide sources of frustration for each of us that, repeated, begin to affect personality.
Body Image. One's body is such an intimate thing that it has an , effect on what we are in terms of personality. We look atour hands in' relation to what they can do, at our eyes and mouth in terms of sense reception and behavioral expression, and at our skin in terms of the reaction it may evoke in others. We feel the tiredness of the body, and \'e perceive the body in terms of form and shape and, at last in
theory, we type people accordingly. Our perceptions tend to stay linked to our bodies in varying degrees. We perceive ourselves as being beautiful or ugly, awkward or graceful, superior or inferior, all in varying degrees. Sometimes we clearly see how we affect other people; at other times, this perception, is colored by wishful thinking. Probably one reason why some people like to view themselves on television tape, or listen to their own recorded voices, is that it lets them see themselves as others see them.
The way the individual perceives his or her body has psychological consequences. The male adolescent may become unduly selfconscious as he exaggerates the awkwardnesc of his mvvements. The beautiful girl may be motivated to become an actress, only to find later that other qualifications also are necessary for success. Because we are conscious of how we look and are aware that otbers react to us at least in part because of our physical appearance, our body image is an important part of our self concept throughout life. Studies show that among college students many initial dates are set up On the basIs of body build. But as important as body image may be to us, continuing relations between individuals depend even more on that aspect of personality related to mood and mood changes, and te ~he ways we expend energy or, in other words, to our temperament.
