The concept of personality has numerous definitions (Fatahi, Moradi, & Kashani-Vahid, 2016). Schultz and Schultz (2009), define personality in its broad sense as the manner of an individual’s behaviour in different situations. This essay explores the nature of personality, with the intention of highlighting its flexibility. The results of numerous empirical research studies are examined in order to investigate if, and how personality changes over time. It will be argued that an individual’s personality has the ability to change throughout their life. The period of development from adolescence to adulthood offers an abundance of opportunities and confronts (Kroger, 2007). Many theorists argue that an individual’s personality has an increased …show more content…
However, few studies focus solely on the plasticity of personality in the elderly, as they too are confronted by various life changes (Maiden, Peterson, & Caya, 1999). A longitudinal study conducted by Maiden, Peterson, & Caya (1999), is significant in measuring personality change among the elderly through a sample of elderly women, averaging eighty years old. Maiden, Peterson, & Caya (1999) hypothesized that personality change takes place predominantly in times when the conditions of one’s existence change dramatically, anticipating moderate change. Participants were sampled multiple times, revealing that as negative life changes were made, personality followed suit. For example, Maiden, Peterson, & Caya (1999) found that participants felt they were less extroverted when suffering poorer health. Likewise, participants indicated that nervousness and irritability intensified, also owing mainly to undesirable life changes. The conclusions drawn by Maiden, Peterson, & Caya (1999) allow the confirmation of their hypothesis. Therefore, the plasticity of an individual’s personality throughout their life, even in it’s final stages, is undeniably
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Personality is characterized by many dimensions of a person’s overall being. The belief that personality stems from one origin is small minded and on many levels, unsupported. If the scope of personality is expanded, it suggests that there is not a single explanation determining a person’s personality and how it is formed. Personality Theories have been generated for centuries by individuals who desire to identify what distinguishes a person’s personality and how it affects their behaviors. What is it that comprises all the unique characteristics about a person?
I believe our personalities make up who we are and how others perceive us at times. Personalities are our own unique qualities, that we possess as individuals. In writing this short paper, I have found that psychologists use assessments to define an individual’s personality to determine their qualities and what makes them different from other individuals. Through the Big Five Personality test, I found it difficult to define and understand an individual personality
Cervone, D., Pervin, L. A. (2008). Personality: Theory and research (10th Ed.). New York: Wiley.
An individual’s behaviour may differ depending on the circumstances they are in though there are definite signs of repetitive behaviour when placed in majority of the situations. These characteristics are known as traits which make up the personality of each person (Engler, 2014). Personality theorists do not have a mutual agreement on how the term personality should be used. They each have their definition of personality thus providing a large number of diverse personality theories (Engler, 2014). For example, Eysenck (1970) defined personality as a relatively permanent and consistent composition of an individual’s disposition that in turn establishes how the person adjusts to their
Over time, some aspects of personality change, whereas others remain stable. For example, according to Costa and McCrae's study on adult personality, in early adulthood, neuroticism decreases, openness to experience increases, and in middle adulthood agreeableness increases. However, it is important that an individual’s personality remains relatively stable over the lifespan because we expect that our traits and characteristics remain relatively stable during our lifespan. The results of the studies on adult personality indicate stability changes in adult personality.
organizing principle. It propels you on your life path. It represents the orderly arrangement of
As a college student I am faced with many situations throughout my daily life, while I believed I maintain a certain consistent personality through the process of this paper I was able to identify how my personality differed or stayed the same based on situations I was in. Through the course of this study, I was able to identify when five of what I feel are my most prominent personality traits were most prevalent and how they changed depending on the situation. The five personality traits I chose were humorous, imaginative, sarcastic, optimistic, and helpful. The situations I choose to look at were me in class, at work, with a friend, with family, and when I was alone studying.
P.J. (2004). Personality: Theory and Research. USA: Wiley. SMITH. T. W. and WILLIAMS.
What is my personality? How do we develop our individual personalities? Was I born with a preset personality? And if so can my personality be changed well into adulthood? These are questions I asked myself, while I gather my thoughts as to what my personal theory of personality is. So far in my quest of self discovery and introspection, I can see that individual personality can be altered and is very adaptive throughout life. I see this in the ways that may individuals go into counseling and with time and true determination are able to move at times from unstable personality condition into healthier state of being. I truly believe that many aspects of theories already developed can be used to explain the development of personalities. Some of the most important theories that impact the development of my personality theory are the biological, attachment, and cognitive theories.
Personality traits can affect success in school and many other long-term outcomes. Traits affect daily moods as well (Feist & Feist, 2009). An individual’s personality may seem unstable from one situation to the next: this means that an individual may be acutely aware of his or her academic work, but not aware of the cleanliness of his home or the working condition of his car (Feist & Feist, 2009). The lack of interest in the cleanliness of the home and the working order of the car may be from any number of factors, but it still points out that his trait of being conscientious is situational. A person’s disposition will only affect his behavior under certain conditions or in specific situations (Feist & Feist, 2009). This observation seems to suggest that an individual’s perceptions of self and situation play a strong role in behavior, as opposed to personality as the only indicator (Feist & Feist, 2009). Another example of situational changes in personality includes dating. A person that is outgoing and friendly may be shy and reserved when on a date with a new person, or when they around someone they are interested in. This may be because the person wants to make a good impression; it co...
Personality can be defined as an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. Many personality theorists have put forward claims as to where personality is derived from and how it develops throughout an individual’s life. The two main personality theories this essay will be focusing on is the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986) and the Trait Theory – Five Factor Theory (FFT) (McCrae and Costa, 1995). The SCT allocates a central role to cognitive, observational learning and self-regulatory processes (Bandura, 1986). An individual’s personality develops through experiences with their sociocultural environment. Whereas the Trait Theory proposes that all individuals are predisposed with five traits (Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) which determines our personality. This theory also puts forward that personality is stable and cannot change as it’s biologically determined.
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2012). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (5th ed). Boston , MA, USA: Pearson
Personality is the study of an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving over time and across situations and it is what distinguishes one individual from another. In the past changes in personality were thought to have only occurred in the developmental stages of childhood and solidifies in adolescence. After the teenage years it was thought to be set like plaster or the change seen to be inconsequential or absent( Srivastava, John, Gosling, and Potter, 2003). However, recent studies have suggested that changes in personality traits continue to occur throughout an individual’s lifespan due to multiple reasons.
Of life. My research question is that do people personality change as they age? I think the
Personality is the expression of a person’s traits according to ones feelings, mentality and behavior. It involves understanding individuals’ traits such as withdrawal and willpower and how various parts of an individual link together to form personality. Personality expresses itself from within an individual and is comparatively regular throughout in an individual’s life. Different people have different personalities dependent on factors such as environment and genetic composition. Our personality is dependent on the success or failure of our development in the eight stages of life. This is proposed by Erik Erikson. Success in the development stages lead to virtues while the failure leads to malignancies.