Personality development - Research Paper Example

Although there are numerous institutions that establish the ethical standards for us, yet religion happens to be the most important and dominating institution amongst all of them. This is so because the level of seriousness with which we understand and try to implement the religious teachings in our lives is second to no level of seriousness that we maintain toward such other institutions as laws and regulations. Religion guides us in every matter of life from birth till death. It teaches us how we have to lead our lives and what approach should we develop in our life toward others as well as the various challenges that we encounter in the life.

“In orthodox Christianity, one’s faith can help them through the stressors of life. It allows them to see a different perspective and continue to have faith in something greater than they are” (Taylor). We tend to deal with others in due accordance with our religious teachings so that we execute the behaviors that are appreciated by our religion and do not execute the behaviors that are condemned by our religion. Over the passage of time, these behaviors become our habits and become fundamental features of our personalities.

The role of culture in shaping our personalities The culture we live in affects our personalities a lot. This is why people living in a certain countries are said to have common personalities. We can easily access literature demonstrating how Germans are very particular about the deadlines in business and how Indians are very hospitable towards the guests. For example, “Since Germans respect schedules and deadlines, it is not unusual for managers to expect people to work late and even give up weekends in order to meet target deadlines” (Payne).

These notions develop about people belonging to particular countries because of the influence of cultures of their homelands on their personalities. Our personalities change as we move from one culture into another. First, we experience a culture shock, but gradually, we merge into the new culture, thus getting our personalities modified. The impact of our experiences on our personalities Every individual thinks about things differently because he/she has had a different experience with the thing in life in the past.

Basically, when we live in a setting where certain activities are against are norms but they are practiced quite frequently, we tend to develop an indifference to them and they do not affect us much. On the other hand, when we are in a locality where such activities are condemned, we show a very strong reaction to it when such activities occasionally happen. For example, heterosexual people are not much affected by gay marriages happening around them in countries where gay marriages are legal, but the same cannot be said for the heterosexual people in countries where gay marriages are condemned.

Likewise, an individual who has had faithful friends in the past tends to trust anybody in life whereas people who have been cheated upon by friends in the past do not trust others easily. Our perceptions about things are shaped by the kind of experience we have had with them. However, such perceptions are very flexible because we do not have the same experience with a certain thing every time we encounter it. As we learn more, and experience differently, so do our perceptions modify. This has a direct impact