What Is Personality - Essay Example

Personality What is personality? Personal philosophies, defining what people believe in differ among individuals. Personally, I believe in personality, an important integral to the success and development of an individual in the society. Not only do personalities affect the relationship between people in the society, it also influences on their organizational success, personal development, and attainment of goals in life. Despite this belief however, the very understanding of the meaning of personality among people is an important aspect of understanding personal philosophy. Additionally, it helps in the understanding of people’s behavior and character, thus establishing and maintaining sustainable relationships among the people. In fact, the very failure by individuals to understand each other’s behaviors and character stemming from their personality is the perquisite for the escalated differences among the people. Group break ups, fights among family members and declining trust among the people are examples of the influence of lack of understanding people’s personalities. This begs the question, what is personality and how does it influence our actions? Personality defines the underlying individual differences among the people within a sociocultural context (Burger 4). Different people have varying personalities, which define their diverse differences in characterization. Although sociologists attribute shared beliefs, practices, and thoughts to culture and increased integration, the inner self defines the outward character of a person. As such, these differences exist among the people in the society. How much we like people to consider us as either good or bad define our personality. People do not live in isolation and as such, various elements influence our behavior. The desire to impress others is part of the defining elements of personality. There is a relationship between an individual’s personality and their character. A pleasant person has a good personality, while a bad person has a poor personality. Despite these defining characteristics of an individual’s personality, the fact that an individual’s character defines the personality is the biggest determining factor for who a person is. The inner character of an individual is the biggest determining factor for an individual’s personality. It is possible to acquire a personality from the environment, especially from people one relates with mostly (Burger 5). This has little influence on a person’s personality, with the biggest determining factor being the individual’s inner self. It is important to note that social groups influence people’s ways as people coexist together in these social groupings. One has to belong to a particular group. These groups thus influence the personality of an individual. According to the law of association, people are likely to pick traits of behaviour and character from those they spend most of the time with and engage constructively or unconstructively (Matthews, et al. 278). As such, this determines their temperament, how they dress, eating manners, communication and areas where they hang out. It is relatively difficult for one to feel comfortable around the people, especially those who one does not engage with most of the time. Thus, spending time with such people negatively or positively influence the personality of a person. Psychologists argue that two of the most important factors influencing a person’s character are personality traits (Matthews, et al. 12). Intrinsic and extrinsic personalities are the most important personality traits exhibited by people. While the intrinsic personality denotes personality A of a person, extrinsic personality denotes personality B of a person. There are differentiating factors and characteristics of these two personalities. While personality A people portray elements of good temperament and pleasant personality. Sociologists assume that nobody lives in a vacuum and thus we all have a sense of belonging. By conforming to certain groups among the people in the society, we establish relationships with people we consider as of our likeness. However, the inability of people to understand each other in these groups leads to increased levels of conflict among the people. One of the major reasons for these conflicts is lack of understanding among each other. The only way to understanding is the creation of an enabling environment where people can communicate outwardly about their character; share their behaviour orientations, weaknesses and strengths. Some individuals argue that individual principles determine their personality. To some extent, this is true. However, the bandwagon effect does not allow an individual the allowance of individualism whenever one belongs to any group, be it social, political, or economic. Regardless of the principles a person could exhibit, external factors influences the personality of a person (Matthews, et al. 14). These factors affect how the person perceives himself in relation to the world surrounding him/her, consequently influencing their personality. Various studies conducted on stress management, ability to interact with other people and the success of a person, both career wise and socially reveal the underlying influence of personality. Type A personality, characterized by highly ambitious, rigidly organized and highly conscious people in most cases exhibit characteristics of highly sensitive and impatient people (Hofstede and Robert 54). These therefore strive to achieve more and show concern for their character. What other people say about them is important. Negative criticism and mocking does not go well with these individuals. They are of low temperament, cool and composed nature and highly value privacy. It is very easy for people to consider them as of pleasant and good character, if their conservative nature is anything to go by. Subsequently, there is a high likelihood of people liking these people. Interestingly, they rarely make new friends and if they do, they retain them for a long time (Matthews, et al. 24). There are however, a number of misconceptions crowding this personality type, which their cool and near-timid nature automatically means that they are friendly and easy to deal with. This is however not true, as type A personality are difficult to trust, highly reserved and is mingle less with other people (Matthews, et al. 278). Type B personality on the other hand describes people exhibiting lower levels of urgency, typically work steadily, and enjoy their achievements. They take some time off work to mingle with other people. Although these people portray low levels of satisfaction in their achievements, they are less anxious like the type A personality and as such, they have more time for their friends and relatives (Matthews, et al. 278). Being highly outgoing, people mostly consider type B personalities as less pleasant and less friendly. On the contrary, the outgoing nature of these individuals helps them in making more friends (Hofstede and Robert 54). People exhibiting extroverted personality tend to be happier with their lives and their achievements than their counterparts introverts are. Moreover, they tend to perform better than the introverts and require strong interpersonal interaction, contrary to the normal assumption. Because of their high level of social dominance, they exhibit a comparatively higher level of assertion compared to the introverts (Walsh 41). Thus, they are more likely to engage in more risky behaviour, sometimes considered as a nuisance among the society. These will rarely chase their dreams, especially if they knew that the dream appears rather challenging. They rarely maintain friends, despite their ability to make friends easily. Extroverts hold the belief that personal happiness that matters most. Therefore, they go to any extent to make their selves happy, regardless of whether this has any effects on people around or not (Walsh 43). Living with them is a challenge. Personality also defines the happiness and agreeable nature of an individual. There is a significant difference between happiness, agreeable and disagreeable people. Agreeable people show good personality while less agreeable people portray poor personalities (Hofstede and Robert 54). While agreeable people tend to do better in the society, commanding better relationships with others, less agreeable people have poor personality traits. In addition to this, they are more compliant, and thus less likely to be involved in quarrels, disagreements, and conflicts with friends and relatives. Despite these qualities though, such people have poor career success. On the other hand, less agreeable people have better relationships with other people in the society, show high levels of happiness and maintain poor relationships. They mostly end up having better careers, especially because they strive to win the support of other people as most people consider their personality as rather unpleasant (Hofstede and Robert 55). Contentiousness is yet another element defining the personality of an individual. Because conscientious people engage in fewer risky activities, whether socially or career life, they tend to live longer. Additionally, they also take better care of themselves, avoiding any conflicts with each other. Works Cited Burger, Jerry M. Personality. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Hofstede, Geert, and Robert R. McCrae. "Personality and culture revisited: Linking traits and dimensions of culture." Cross-cultural research 38.1 (2004): 52-88. Matthews, Gerald, Ian J. Deary, and Martha C. Whiteman. Personality traits. Cambridge University Press, 2003. Walsh, Bryan. "The Upside Of Being An Introvert (And Why Extroverts Are Overrated)." Time 179.5 (2012): 40-45. Read More