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What is Personality? A practical force in determining success and failure in life.

. Mysterious aspect of life Traditional believes of the personality

Chip off the old block personality inherited from parents Certain personality traits automatically accompany certain physical traits e.g. red hair fiery temper, big forehead brain

Physical traits are inherited and not subject to change Personality changes automatically accompany body changes

Body changes are a part of development sequence over which individual have no control Physical changes accompanied by personality changes at two times during the life span At puberty when the childs body transformed into that of an adult At old age when the individual losses the reproductive capacity These are all false notions about personality Then What Personality is? Is it something a few lucky people born with, a gift from the god? Is it within the reach of everyone? If it is than why so many people have personalities that bring them the things they do not want Failure, Unhappiness and lack of Social Acceptance? Meaning of Personality: The term personality Latin term persona mask (Greeks) as one appears to other (Romans) Cambridge Dictionary - the type of person you are, which is shown by the way you behave, feel and think Social skill or adroitness Non-scientifically personality is an expressiveness of the individual (objective aspect of personality) Quality of the individuals total behavior - Woodworth

Total picture of individuals total behavior Dashiell Personality is the most characteristic integration of an individual structures and activities Munn Most of the early psychological definitions emphasized the expressive aspects of personality and ignored or only indirectly implied the interior organization that is responsible observable aspects. To fully understand what personality is one must understand the motivational aspects Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine the characteristic behavior and thought Gordon Allport Organization: Patterning of the independent parts of the personality structure, each of which has a special relation to the whole. Personality is not the sum of traits but it is traits together Degree of organization exists differentiates normal and abnormal personality. Dynamic: Dynamic refers to the constantly evolving or changing nature of personality. Quantitative rather than qualitative changes. Psychophysical Systems: Composed of habits, attitudes, emotional states, sentiments, motives, and beliefs All above are psychological but have a physical basis in the individuals neural, glandular or general bodily states. Personality is neither exclusively neural (physical) nor exclusively mental but it is both mental and neural in some inextricable unity Determine: The word emphasizes the motivational role of the psychophysical systems Characteristics: The adjective characteristics refers to the distinctiveness or uniqueness of the persons behavior as an expression of the pattern of these particular psychological systems. Behavior and Thought: Anything whatsoever an individual may do.

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