1. Personality: Definition and Significance
Sum Total of Physical, Mental, Emotional and Social Characteristics
DefinitionPersonality: The sum total of an individual's physical, mental, emotional and social characteristics which together determine the unique and consistent pattern of behaviour of that individual
Key Points:
- Not merely a biological endowment
- Biological factors provide the basic framework
- Social interaction and continuous social experiences play decisive role
- Develops through the process of socialisation within cultural and social environment
Definitions by Scholars:
| Thinker | Definition |
|---|---|
| G.W. Allport | "The dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment" |
| M.J. Herskovits | "Personality is the totality of habits and behaviour patterns of an individual" |
| Kimball Young | "The patterned behaviour of an individual" |
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In these notes
- Personality: Definition and Significance
- Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory
- Culture Shapes Personality
- Interaction and Communication Shape Personality
- Social Position and Expected Behaviour
- Socialisation: Becoming a Social Being
- Types of Socialisation
- Mead's Theory of the Development of Self
- Cooley's Looking-Glass Self
- Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory of Socialisation
- Agents of Socialisation
- Q: Discuss the Sociological Perspectives on Personality with Reference to Freud, Mead and Cooley
- Quick Revision Summary
- How to Write Answers on Personality
- Expected Questions for OPSC/UPSC
- Complete Summary