UGC NET Study Notes on Personality

What is Personality?

• Personality is a psychological and behavioural attribute, habits, traits, attitudes that differ from person to person, and are visible externally through roles and statues and internally through motivation, goals, and other features of selfdom.
• The term ‘personality’ is extracted from the Latin word ‘persona’ which means the social mask that people wear to play character imposed by societal conventions and traditions.
• It is the sum total of a person's behaviour, and traits including habits, thinking, attitude, choices and philosophy of life.
• It is a combination of ways in which people retaliate and interact with others.
• A personality trait or characteristic is influenced by two factors
  • Inherited traits (which are acquired by parents or family) such as physical features.
  • Learned traits (acquired by observing, practising and repeating surroundings) such as perception, value and attitudes.

Attributes of Personality

Following are the Attributes of Personality: 

• Locus of control

  • It believes the behaviour of any individual is controlled by his/her code of conduct.
  • Code of conduct has a direct impact on results and consequences.
  • Categories of locus of control: 
    

• Machiavellianism

  • They tend to manipulate the situation to win and they are great persuaders.
  • They are the people who are more practical, have fewer emotions, and assume any means is justified to attain ends

•  Self-esteem

  • It is the major factor to determine and judge an individual's success or failure.
  • It is a self-concept through which people tend to like or dislike themselves.

• Extroversion and introversion

  • An Individual's personality is categorised in two on the basis of the scale of interaction with the environment.

• Type A and Type B Behaviors

  • Identified by Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman

Types of Personality Theories

a) Trait theory

• Proposed by Allport and Cattell, this theory assumes that certain attributes and characteristics comprise an individuals personality. On the basis of behavioural tests, Allport divided two categories of traits:
  • Common traits- Allport identified a distinction between individual traits and common traits which are used to compare people. He established six different common traits in individuals: Economical, Political, Theoretical, Aesthetic, Religious and Social.
  • Personal Disposition- Each individual has their own unique identity and traits called personal disposition, divided into three categories: Cardinal, Central and Secondary disposition.
• Cattell developed sixteen factors of human personality traits: abstractedness, emotional stability, warmth, apprehension, intelligence, liveliness, openness to change, perfectionism, privateness, rule consciousness, tension, sensitivity, social boldness, self-reliance, vigilance, and dominance.
• Big Five personality traits, also referred to as the OCEAN model, are a suggested grouping for personality traits. The acronym OCEAN stands for Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism

b) Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

• According to this theory, a person is encouraged and motivated by unforeseen forces rather than rational thoughts. Freud explained three attributes of the theory:
  • Id- It is the intrinsic element of personality, it is the unconscious part of the mind which requires instant satisfaction of biological needs like hunger, sex, thirst etc.
  • The ego- It is a conscious part of an individual's personality that deals with the external world. It directs postponed satisfaction, unlike Id.
  • Super Ego − It includes the traditional values of a society that guides our behaviour ethically. It helps to analyze the difference between right and wrong.

c) Erikson’s Psychological Theory

• This theory states that individuals and society are interlinked. Environment and social factors play a primary role in shaping personality.
• Erikson presented eight stages of personality development, completion of which leads to a groomed and healthy personality. These eight stages are:

1. Infant
2. Early childhood
3. Young and middle adulthood
4. Mature adulthood
5. Adolescence
6. Oral sensory stage
7. Muscular and anal stage
8. Locomotor genital stage

d) Immaturity and maturity continuum

• Proposed by Argyris, this theory says that personality develops with continuity of immaturity to maturity.
• On the basis of the degree of personality development, he explained seven changes in personality from infant to adult.

 e) Personality development theory by Freud

• This theory is established on the grounds of satisfaction of sexual intuition.
• Progress in personality is a consequence of sources of stress, which affects an individual on five different stages of development:
  • Oral stage (Birth to 18 months of age)
  • Anal stage (18 months to 3 years)
  • Phallic stage (3 years to 7 years)
  • Latency stage (7 years to 12 years)
  • Genital stage (12 years to 20 years)

How to Prepare for UGC NET Labour Welfare?

Candidates preparing for UGC NET Exam as Labour Welfare for Paper 2 must have knowledge about the Personalities and Theories of Personalities.

• All the applicants are also advised to solve as many UGC NET Previous Year Papers as possible. Previous Year Papers give you an idea of what to expect in the examination, it prepares you for the types of questions asked in the examination. 
• UGC NET Mock Tests are also proven to be a great tool for preparation.

Also Read:

Mock tests for UGC NET Exam

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