UNIT 9: PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL COGNITION

Meaning of personality – self-concept, self-acceptance, self-actualization, self-confidence, self-interest, self-disclosure, self-development, self-help– symbols of self –culture and the self –self discrepancies – threats to self-esteem –social Cognition.

9.1 DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY

             Personality is a dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical systems that determines his/her unique adjustment to his environment. (Allport, 1948)

9.1.1 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

             There are five classifications in the ‘Theories of Personality’.  They are: 

(A) Type theories (Hippocrates, Kretchmer, Sheldon and Jung),

(B) Trait theories (Allport and Cattell),

 (C)Type-cum-Trait theories (Eysenck),

(D) Psycho-analytic theory (Freud),

(E) Social Learning theory (Bandura) and

(F) Humanistic theory (Maslow and Carl Roger)

9.2 SELF

            SELF is the retrospective view of himself/herself. Self is of two parts (a) Self-esteem and (b) Self-Identity.

(a)  Self-esteem refers to an individual’s overall view of himself/ herself.

Self-esteem refers to the way we see and think about ourselves. Our Self-esteem is made up of all the experiences and interpersonal relationships that we have had in our life. People, who feel good about themselves, do have more confidence to try new health behaviors. Building esteem is a first step towards your happiness and a better life. High self-esteem increases your confidence.

People with high Self-esteem are (i) More ambitious in what one hopes to experience in life, (ii) Seeks the challenge of worthwhile and demanding goals, (iii) Self-confident –wants to be with other self-confident people, (iv) More capable of having open, honest and appropriate communications with others, (v) Accept failure, (vi) Believes in self, (vii) Willing to try new things and (viii) Appreciate life.

People with low Self-esteem are (i) Fearful of change –seeks the safety of the familiar and undemanding, (ii) Uncertain of own thoughts and feelings, (iii) Feels anxious about the listener’s response, (iv) People with low self-esteem are often drawn to each other – these relationships are often destructive – hurtful rather than helpful, (v) postponing decision, (vi) Set unrealistic goals and (vii) Exaggerated sense of self. These forms the threats to Self-esteem.

Reward yourself - Stop comparing yourself to others - Laugh more - Take care of yourself - Do something for someone - Keep a diary of all the good things you notice about yourself are the six golden rules to build Self-esteem. 

(b) Self-Identity: Self Identity is extent of an individual’s exploration and commitment of an individual provides Self-identity. Exploration involves examining meaningful alternative identities. Commitment means showing a personal investment in an identity and staying with whatever that identity implies.  It is encompassed with four kinds of Identity status. 

            (i) Identity Diffusion: Identity Diffusion is a way of diffused state of self.  It occurs when individuals have not explored the meaningful alternatives or made any commitments.  (No Exploration and No Commitment)

            (ii) Identity Foreclosure: Identity Foreclosure is a commitment without facing a crisis. It occurs when individuals have made a commitment but have not experienced any kind of crisis.  (Commitment without Crisis)

            (iii) Identity Moratorium: Identity Moratorium is meant for the absence of commitment when crisis occurs. It occurs when individuals are in the midst of a crisis, but their commitments are either absent or only vaguely defined. (No Commitment even in crisis). 

            (iv) Identity Achievement: Identity Achievement is meant for the presence of commitment when crisis occurs. It   occurs when individuals have undergone a crisis and have made a commitment. (Commitment when crisis occurs). 

9.2.1 NEED FOR SELF

c To have a more positive self-awareness

c To see yourself honestly and to like or at least accept yourself

c To remove the internal barriers that keep you from doing your best.

9.2.2 STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SELF

            Self starts only at the starting of fourth month.  There are four stages in the Development of Self of an individual namely, (i) Self-awareness (from 4 to twelve months), (ii) Self-recognition (from 13 to 18 months), (iii) Self-definition (from 18 to 36 months) and (iv) Self-concept (above 36 months).

9.3 SELF AND RELATED VARIABLES

            Psychologists refer ‘I’ as the SELF. It possess different variables namely,

(i) Concept of an individual by the same individual –retrospective self, called as SELF-CONCEPT.

(ii) Acceptance of Self – called as SELF-ACCEPTANCE.

(iii) Motivation to develop an individual’s overall potential – SELF-ACTUALIZATION.

(iv) A positive belief and feeling on himself/herself – SELF-CONFIDENCE.

(v) Individual’s desires and needs –SELF-INTEREST.

(vi) Sharing with someone on certain information of himself/herself and at the same time disclosing certain information – SELF-DISCLOSURE

(vii) Improvement of Self-awareness and Knowledge on Self of an individual – SELF-DEVELOPMENT

(viii)  A guided improvement economically, intellectually, or emotionally, confronted with substantial psychological basis in the individual – SELF-HELP

9.3.1 SELF-CONCEPT

Self-concept is an individual’s perception of self and is what helps make each individual unique. Positive and negative self-assessments in the physical, emotional, intellectual, and functional dimensions change over time.  Self-concept affects the ability to function and greatly influences health status.  It evolves throughout life and depends to an extent on an individual’s developmental level.

9.3.1.1 FORMATION OF SELF-CONCEPT

            At first stage, Infant learns physical self different from environment. If basic needs are met, the child has positive feelings of self. The Child internalizes other people’s attitudes toward their self and internalizes with the standards of the society. 

There are different factors that affect Self-concept.  They are (i) Altered Health Status, (ii) Experience, (iii) Developmental considerations, (iv) Culture, (v) Internal and external resources, (vi) History of success and failure, (vii) Crisis or life stressors and (viii) Aging, illness, or trauma.

9.3.1.2INTERRELATIONSHIP OF COMPONENTS OF SELF-CONCEPT (SYMBOLS OF SELF)

(A) IDENTITY: A sense of personal identity is what sets one person apart as a unique individual. Identity includes a person’s name, gender, ethnic identity, family status, occupation, and roles. One’s personal identity begins to develop during childhood and is constantly reinforced and modified throughout life.

(B) BODY IMAGE: Body image is an attitude about one’s physical attributes and characteristics, appearance, and performance. It is dynamic because any change in body structure or function, including the normal changes of growth and development, can affect it. Self-Ideal is the perception of behavior based on personal standards and self-expectations. Self-ideal serves as an internal regulator to support self-respect and self-esteem.

(C) SELF-ESTEEM: Self-esteem is the judgment of personal performance compared with the self-ideal. It is derived from a sense of giving and receiving love, and being respected by others.

(D) ROLE PERFORMANCE: Role refers to a set of expected behaviors determined by familial, cultural, and social norms. The level of self-esteem is dependent upon the self-perception of adequate role performance in these various social roles.

9.3.1.3 BUILDING OF SELF-CONCEPT

            An individual can build his/her Self-concept, by means of the following hierarchical ways introspectively:

(i)                List and develop the personal strengths and abilities,

(ii)             Set attainable goals based on the individual’s wants and needs,

(iii)            Search for the positive relationships with others and

(iv)           Recognize what the individual has to accomplish. 

9.3.2 SELF-ACCEPTANCE

Self-acceptance is acceptance of Self. It is an    individual's satisfaction or happiness with oneself, and is thought to be necessary for good mental health. Self-acceptance involves self-understanding, a realistic, subjective, awareness of one's strengths and weaknesses. It results in an individual's feeling about oneself that they are of unique worth.

9.3.3 SELF-ACTUALIZATION

            Humanistic Psychology, the so-called third force in Psychology (the other two being behaviourism and psychoanalysis) reflects a humanistic trend in dealing with and understanding human behaviour.  It believes in the goodness of man and reposes optimistic confidence in man’s positive nature.  Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are notable to this school. 

Abraham Maslow adopts humanistic approach for studying human behaviour and personality.  According to this theory, human beings are basically good rather than evil and there lies in every one an impulse or craving towards growth or the fulfillment of one’s potentials.  The goal is to seek self-actualization.  The personality of a human being depends upon his/her style of striving towards the ultimate goal of self-realization. His theory of Self-Actualization suggests a hierarchy of needs. The pattern of behaviour is always governed by the satisfaction of our needs from the lower, base level to the upper top level.  (From biological needs to till self-actualization)  That is, the realization of one’s basic human potential to the maximum extent and as effectively as possible.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, individuals’ needs must be satisfied in this sequence.

·         Physiological: Hunger, thirst, sleep

·         Safety: Ensuring survival, such as protection from war and crime

·         Love and belongingness: Security, affection, and attention from others.

·         Esteem: Feeling good about oneself

·         Self-actualization: Realization of one’s potential

Carl Roger’s Personality theory stresses the importance of an individual’s self for determining the process of his growth, development and appropriate adjustments to his environment.  There are two basic systems underlying his personality theory-the organism and the self.  Rogers considers them as systems operating in one’s phenomenological field.  The organism is an individual’s entire frame of reference.  It represents the totality of his experience – both conscious and unconscious. The second system, the ‘self’ is the accepted, aware part of experience.  The self as a system of one’s phenomenal field can perhaps be best understood in terms of our concept of oneself.  Also he propagated that one’s personality is the interaction between the organism and the self or the inner-world and the experiences. 

Roger stresses the Self-actualizing tendency.  He introduced the terms Congruence and Incongruence. A high degree of congruence means that communication (what one expresses), experience (what is occurring in the field) and awareness (what one is noticing) are all similar.   Incongruence takes place when there are discrepancies between awareness, experience and communication of experience.  At that time, the individual does not express what he is actually feeling, thinking or experiencing. This kind of incongruence is perceived as defensiveness. 

 The cognitive perspective proposed the concept competence motivation.  It is the idea that people are motivated to be effectively with their environment, to master their world, and to process information efficiently.   The social perspective proposed the need for affiliation it is the motive to be securely connected with other people.  This involves establishing, maintaining and restoring warm, close personal relationships.  Students’ need for affiliation or relatedness is reflected in their motivation to spend time with peers, their close friendships, their attachment to their parents, and their desire to have a positive relationship with their teachers.

The characteristics of matured Personality are as follows: (i) Ability to perceive reality accurately, (ii) Willingness to accept reality readily, (iii) Naturalness and spontaneity, (iv) Ability to focus on problems rather than on themselves, (v) Need for privacy, (vi) Self-sufficiency and independence, (vii) Capacity for fresh, spontaneous, non-stereotyped appreciation of objects, events and people that they encounter,(viii) Ability to attain transcendence, (ix) Identification with humankind and shared social bonds with other people, (x) They may have few friends but have deep relationships with at least some of these friends, (xi) A democratic, egalitarian attitude, (xii) Strongly held values and a clear distinction between means and ends, (xii) A broad, tolerant sense of humours,(xiii) Inventiveness and creativity with the ability to see things in new ways, (xiv) Resistance to conform to social pressures and (xv) Ability to go beyond dichotomies and bring together opposites.

Self-actualization is the motivation to develop one’s full potential as a human being. It is possible only after the lower needs namely, physiological needs, safety needs, love and belongingness needs, esteem needs and to reach self actualization.  According Maslow, self actualized individuals include being spontaneous, problem-centered rather than self centered and are creative.

9.3.4 SELF-CONFIDENCE

            Self-confidence is a collection of positive beliefs and feelings that your child has about him or herself. It is the belief in one’s own capability to accomplish a task and select an effective approach to solve a problem. It includes confidence in one’s ability as expressed in increasingly challenging circumstances and confidence in one’s decisions or opinions

People with high Self-confidence: (i) Are tend to trust their opinion even in the face of opposition, (ii) Are decisive, (iii) Take risks and try new things and (iv) Have a presence in all aspects.

People with low Self-confidence: (i) Avoid confrontation with people, (ii) Do not trust their judgment, (iii) Hesitate to try new things (iv) Avoid challenges and (v) Unable to stand up for their rights. 

                        Self-confidence (i) Arouses positive emotions, (ii) Facilitate concentration, (iii) Affects the setting and pursuit of challenging goals, (iv) Increases effort, (v) Affects individual’s strategies and (vi) Affects psychological momentum. 

9.3.5 SELF-INTEREST

            Self-interest refers to a focus on the needs or desires (interests) of the self. A number of (a) Philosophical and (b) Psychological theories examine the role of self-interest in motivating human action. 

(a) With respect to Philosophy, Self-interest includes:

(i) Enlightened Self-interest: Enlightened Self-interest is a philosophy which states that acting to further the interests of others also serves one's own self-interest,

(ii) Ethical Egoism: Ethical Egoism is the ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest,

(iii) Hedonism: Hedonism is the school of ethics which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good,

(iv) Epicureanism: Epicureanism is a philosophical system related to hedonism,

(v) Individualism: Individualism is a philosophy stressing the worth of individual selves and

(vi) Rational Egoism: Rational Egoism is the position that all rational actions that are done in one's self-interest.

(b) With respect to Psychology, Self-interest includes:

(i) Psychological Egoism: Psychological Egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by Self-interest and

(ii) Narcissism: Narcissism is an unhealthy self-absorption due to a disturbance in the sense of self.

9.3.6 SELF-DISCLOSURE- AN EXPLANATION FOR SELF-DISCREPANCY

            Self-disclosure is sharing with someone information which helps him/her  to understand oneself. It is most revealing when the sharing is in the present and least revealing when the sharing is about the past. It is a     process of communication by which one person reveals information about himself or herself to another. The information can be descriptive or evaluative, and can include thoughts, feelings, aspirations, goals, failures, successes, fears, and dreams, as well as one's likes, dislikes, and favorites.

            Ability to cope up with others,  to maintain meaningful relationships with others, to maintain psychological health and to stabilize the knowledge of Self every individual is to move for Self-disclosing. 

            For better control over emotions, preserving mental and physical self, to maintain better relationships and more likely to get help from others in times of necessity, Self-disclosure occurs in individuals.

            Personality, Culture, Gender and Emotions are the factors affecting Self-disclosure.

JOHARI WINDOW

Self disclosure is transferring information from the hidden self to the open self. Carl Roger beliefs an individual’s for determining the process of growth, development and appropriate adjustment to environment.  There are two basic systems underlying the personality, the organism and the self. Self-discrepancy is the gap between two of these self-representations.

9.3.7 SELF-DEVELOPMENT

            Self/Personal Development is a lifelong process. It's a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realize and maximize their potential.

            Personal Development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. Not limited to self-help, the concept involves formal and informal activities for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, life coach or mentor. When personal development takes place in the context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment systems that support human development at the individual level in organizations

9.3.7.1 ACTIVITIES OF SELF-DEVELOPMENT

Personal development may include the following activities:

·        improving self-awareness
·        improving self-knowledge
·        improving skills or learning new ones
·        building or renewing identity/self-esteem
·        developing strengths or talents
·        improving wealth
·        spiritual development
·        identifying or improving potential
·        building employability or (alternatively) human capital
·        enhancing lifestyle or the quality of life
·        improving health
·        fulfilling aspirations
·        initiating a life enterprise or (alternatively) personal autonomy
·        defining and executing personal development plans (PDPs)
·        improving social abilities

            Children learn to use what they have learned in previous circumstances to adapt their responses to a new situation.  This is called as Self-modification. Self-efficacy is the belief that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes. 

Personal development can also include developing other people. This may take place through roles such as those of a teacher or mentor, either through a personal competency (such as the skill of certain managers in developing the potential of employees) or through a professional service (such as providing training, assessment or coaching).

Imagine you are in your car waiting for another driver to pull out of a parking space. The car pulls out of the space, but before you can pull in, another car whips around the corner and takes it. You lay on your horn, roll down your window, and yell, “Can’t you see I was waiting for that parking space!” The driver gets out of his car, laughs, and walks away. You get out of your car and yell, “How dare you! Come back here!” YOUR INTENSE RESPONSE IN THIS SITUATION could be considered a loss of self-control or a breakdown in emotional regulation.

Self regulation:

Shonkoff and Phillips (2000) define self-regulation as a child’s ability to gain control of bodily functions, manage powerful emotions, and maintain focus and attention. The growth of self-regulation is a cornerstone of early childhood development and is visible in all areas of behavior (Shonkoff & Phillips 2000). When caring for an infant or toddler, parents and caregivers act as extensions of or supports for the child’s internal ability to regulate.

The most of the  important developmental tasks is moving from external regulation to self-regulation (Shonkoff & Phillips 2000; Perry 2005).

9.3.8 SELF-HELP

            Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis such as recovery, dysfunctional families, co-dependency, friendship, emotional support, experiential knowledge, identity, meaningful roles, and a sense of belonging.