Social Sciences

1. Personality

2.  Physical skills &  Mental skills &
abilities abilities
 Strength  Numerical
 Flexibility  Verbal
 Stamina  Perceptual
 Physical balance  Inductive

3.  Personality might mean
 The social appeal and effectiveness of a person
 An individual’s striking characteristic.
 Individual differences

4. Defining Personality
“ Characteristic patterns of behavior and
modes of thinking that determine a person’s
adjustment to the environment”

5.  Implies consistency in individual actions
 People tend to act or think in different ways.
 E.g.
one person suppresses anger, the other
expresses anger without any reason.

6.  Resultof interaction between personality
characteristics and the social and physical
conditions of the environment.
 Internally controlled behavior: determined
by the characteristics of the individual and is
fairly consistent
 Externallycontrolled behavior: determined
by the particular situation in which the
behavior happens

7.  The “you” others observe and listen to.
 Itincludes expressive features, manners
(speech patterns, the way you carry
yourself), general disposition (general mood –
cheery or grumpy), the way you react to
threatening behaviors, the attitudes you
express etc.
 Behaviors are different in different social
gatherings.

8.  Fantasies,thoughts, and experiences that
you don’t share with others.
 Special experiences, wishes that seem too
childish and immature, dreams and memories
are all part of

10.  Biological influences
 Common experiences
 Unique experiences

11.  Body build:
 Low co-relation between body build and
personality
 Mostly stereotyping
 E.g. fat people are jolly
 Body physiology
 Certain enzymes and chemicals in a human body
affect the personality
 E.g .thrill seekers have a different chemical
makeup than calm people

12.  Families in one culture share the same beliefs,
customs and values.
 Children are taught accepted behaviors.
 E.g. how to behave a formal reception , a sports
event
 Even then, individuals may not have the same
personality because
 They are transmitted by adults who may not all share
the same values and practices
 The individual has some experiences which are
unique.

13.  Experiences shape an individual
 A sick person who has been cared for a long time,
may want to be cared for the same way and
exhibit this desire.
 A chance to show heroism may cause someone to
change views about himself and act more
courageously next time.
 A traumatic experience may teach someone to be
more careful.

14.  Trait approach
 Every person has identifiable dominant traits (a
quality that differs from person to person). Those are
in born characteristics like aggressive, cautious etc.
 Social learning approach
 Personality development based on learning, people
learning from the society through various methods.
 Psychoanalytic approach
 Focuses on private personality; motivated by
unconscious impulses.
 Freud’s 3 functions of personality, id, ego and super
ego.
 Phenomenological approach
 Subjective study of human behavior; conscious views.

15.  Regularities in personalities
 Consistency over time
 Consistency over situations