Dev

elopmentofHumanPer
sonal
i
ty
Per
sonal
i
ty:

Personali
tydevelopmenti
st hedev
elopmentoftheorgani
zedpat t
ernof
behav i
ors and att
it
udes t
hatmakes a person di
sti
nct
ive.Personal
it
y
developmentoccursbytheongoi
ngint
eract
ionoft
emperament,charact
er,
andenv ir
onment.

Descr
ipt
ion:

Personali
tyiswhatmakesaper sonauniqueperson,anditisrecognizable
soon af ter bir
t h. A chi l
d's personalit
y has sev eral component s:
temperament ,env i
ronment,and char acter.Temperamenti st he setof
geneti
call
ydet erminedt r
aitst hatdeterminethechild'
sappr oacht ot he
worldandhow t hechildlearnsaboutt hewor l
d.Therear enogenest hat
specif
yper sonal
itytrai
ts,butsomegenesdocont rolthedev el
opmentof
thenervoussy st
em, whichint urncont
rolsbehavi
or.

Asecondcomponentofper sonali
tycomesf r
om adaptivepatter
nsr el
ated
toachi ld'
sspecif
icenvi
ronment
.Mostpsy chologi
stsagreethatthesetwo
factors—temperamentandenv i
ronment —inf
luencethedev elopmentofa
person's per
sonali
tythe most.Temper ament,withi t
s dependence on
genet i
c factor
s, is someti
mes r eferr
ed t o as " natur
e," whil
e t he
environmentalf
actorsar
ecall
ed"nurture.
"

Whilether eisstil
lcont r
ov ersyast owhi chfact
orr ankshigherinaffect i
ng
personalit
ydev el
opment ,allexpertsagreethathigh-quali
typarent
ingpl ays
acr i
ti
calr oleint hedev elopmentofachi ld'
sper sonali
ty.Whenpar ents
understand how t heirchi ldr esponds to certain sit
uati
ons,they can
anti
cipatei ssues thatmi ghtbe pr obl
emat i
cf ort hei
rchild.Theycan
preparet hechi l
df ort hesi tuati
onori nsomecasest heymayav oida
potenti
allydiff
icultsituat
ional together.Parent
swhoknow how t oadapt
thei
rpar enti
ngappr oacht ot hepar t
icul
artemper amentoft heirchi
ldcan
bestpr ovidegui danceandensur ethesuccessf uldev el
opmentoft heir
chi
l
d'sper
sonal
i
ty.

Fi
nal l
y,t he thir
d componentofper sonal
it
yi s charact
er—the setof
emot ional,cogni
ti
ve,andbehav ior
alpat t
ernslear
nedfrom experi
encet hat
determi neshowaper sont hi
nks,f
eels,andbehav es.Aperson'
schar acter
continuest oev olv
et hroughoutlife,alt
houghmuchdependsoni nbor n
tr
aitsandear lyexperiences.Characterisalsodependentonaper son' s
mor aldev el
opment.

In1956,psy chiatr
istEr i
kEr iksonpr
ov i
dedani nsi
ghtfuldescripti
onast o
how per sonality dev elops based on hi s extensiv
e exper i
ence in
psy chotherapywi t
hchi ldrenandadol escentsfr
om low,upper ,andmi ddle-
classbackgr ounds.Accor dingt oEr
ikson,t
hesocializat
ionpr ocessofan
i
ndi vidualconsi st
s of ei ght phases,each one accompani ed by a
"psy chosocialcr i
sis"thatmustbesol v
ediftheper sonistomanaget he
nex t and subsequent phases sat i
sfact
ori
ly.The st ages si gni
fi
cantly
i
nf l
uence per sonalit
ydev el opment,withfive ofthem occur r
ing dur
ing
i
nf ancy ,
childhood, andadol escence.

Dev
elopmentofPer
sonal
i
ty:

Thepersonal
i
tyofani
ndi
vi
dualdevel
osinmanystagest
hroughoutt
hel
i
fe,
fol
l
owingaresameoft
hemajorstagesofper
sonal
it
ydev
elopmen.

I
nfancy
:

Duri
ngt hefi
rsttwoy ear
sofl if
e,aninf
antgoesthroughthef i
rststage:
Lear
ningBasicTr ustorMi str
ust(Hope).Well-
nurt
uredandl oved,the
i
nfantdevel
opstrustandsecuri
tyandabasi
coptimism.Badlyhandled,t
he
i
nfantbecomesinsecureandlearns"
basi
cmist
rust.
"
  Toddl
erhood

Thesecondstageoccur sduri
ngearlychil
dhood,bet
weenabout18mont hs
tot wo y
ears and three tofoury ears ofage.Itdeals with Learni
ng
AutonomyorShame( Will
).Wel l
-parent
ed,thechil
demer gesf rom thi
s
stagewit
hself-
confidence,el
atedwithhisorhernewlyfoundcont rol
.The
earl
ypartofthisstagecanal soincludestor
myt antr
ums,st ubbornness,
andnegati
vi
sm, dependingonthechild'st
emperament.

 Pr
eschool

Thet hirdstageoccur sdur i

ngthe" playage, "orthelaterpr
eschooly ears
from aboutt hreet oentryintoformalschool .Thedev el
opi
ngchi l
dgoes
throughLear ningI ni
ti
ati
v eorGui l
t( Purpose).Thechi ldlearnstouse
i
magi nation;t
obr oadenskill
sthroughact i
v eplayandfantasy;t
ocooper ate
wi t
hot hers;andt oleadaswel last ofollow.Ifunsuccessful,t
hechi l
d
becomesf earf
ul,isunabletojoingr oups,andhar borsguil
tyfeeli
ngs.The
child depends excessi vel
y on adul ts and i sr estr
ict
ed bot hint he
dev el
opmentofpl ayskill
sandi nimagi nat
ion.

 School
age

Thefourt
hstage,Lear
ningI
ndustryorI
nfer
ior
it
y(Competence),occurs
dur
ingschool
age,uptoandpossi
blyi
ncl
udi
ngjuni
orhi
ghschool.Thechi
l
d
l
earnst
omast ermoref
ormalski
ll
s:

r
elat
ingwi
thpeer
saccor
dingt
orul
es.

 progr
essi
ngfr
om fr
eepl aytoplayt
hati
sst
ruct
uredbyr
ulesand
requi
rest
eamwor
k(team spor
ts)
.

 l
ear
ningbasi
cint
ell
ect
ual
ski
l
ls(
readi
ng,
ari
thmet
ic)
.
Att hisst age,theneedforself
-di
sci
plineincreasesev eryyear.Thechil
d
who,becauseofhi sorhersuccessfulpassaget hroughear l
i
erstages,i
s
trusti
ng,aut onomous,and fullofi nit
iat
ive,wi l
lqui ckl
yl earnto be
i
ndust rious.Howev er
,themistr
usti
ngchi ldwilldoubtt hefutureandwill
feelinferi
or.

 Adol
escence

Thef if
thstage,LearningI denti
tyorI dentit
yDi f
fusion( Fi
delit
y),occur s
duringadolescencefrom age13or14.Mat ur
it
ystar tsdevelopingduring
thi
st i
me; t
hey oungpersonacquiresself -
cert
aint
yasopposedt oself
-doubt
andexper i
ment swithdifferentconstructiv
er ol
esr atherthanadopt inga
negativeidentit
y,such as del inquency .The wel l-
adjust
ed adol escent
actuall
ylooksf orwardt oachiev ement ,and,inlateradol escence,clear
sexualidenti
tyisestabli
shed.Theadol escentseeksl eader
ship( someone
toinspir
ehim orher),andgraduallydevelopsasetofi dealstoliveby.

TheChi l
dDev elopmentI nsti
tute( CDI)rightfull
ypoi ntsoutt hatveryl it
tl
e
knowledgeisav ail
ableont het y
peofspeci ficenv i
ronmentt hatwi l
lr esul
t,
forexampl e,int r
aits oft r
ustbei ng mor e developed in a per son'
s
personal
it
y.Helpingt hechil
dt hrought hev ariousstagesofemot i
onaland
personal
it
ydev elopmenti sacompl exanddi ffi
cul
tt ask.Searchingf orthe
bestway sofaccompl i
shingt hi
st askaccount sformostoft her esearch
carri
edoutinthef i
eldofchilddev elopmentt oday.

Renowned psy chologi

st Car l Rogers emphasi zed how chi ldhood
experiencesaff
ectper sonalit
ydev el
opment .Manypsy chologi
stsbeli
ev e
thatt her
earecertaincri
ticalperi
odsi npersonalit
ydev el
opment —peri
ods
whent hechil
dwi llbemor esensi t
ivetocer t
ainenv ir
onment alf
actors.
Mostexper tsbeli
evethatachi ld'
sexperiencesint hefamilyareimportant
forhisorherpersonali
tydev el
opment ,al
thoughnotexact l
yasdescribedby
Erikson'sst
ages,buti ngoodagr eementwi t
ht hei mportanceofhow a
chi
ld'
sneedsshouldtobemeti nt hefamilyenvir
onment.Forexampl e,
chi
ldr
enwhoar etoi
l
ettrai
nedtooear l
yorhav ethei
rtoil
ett
rai
ningcarr
ied
outtoo st
ri
ctl
ymaybecomer ebel
li
ous.Anotherexampl eisshownby
chi
ldr
enwhol ear
nappropri
atebehav i
ortothei
rsexl i
veswhent her
eisa
goodrel
ati
onshi
pwitht
heirsame-sexparent
.

Anot her envir

onment alf actor of impor tance i s culture.Resear chers
compar i
ngculturalgroupsf orspecifi
cper sonalit
yt ypeshav ef oundsome
i
mpor tantdif
ferences.Forexampl e,Nor thernEur opeancount ri
esandt he
United Stateshav eindivi
dual i
sti
ccul turest hatputmor eemphasi son
i
ndiv i
dualneedsandaccompl ishment s.Incont r
ast ,Asian,Afr
ican,Cent ral
Amer i
can,and Sout h Amer ican count ries are char acteri
zed mor e by
communi ty-
centeredcul t
urest hatfocusonbel ongingt oal argergroup,
suchasaf amily,ornation.Int hesecul t
ur es,cooper at
ioni sconsidereda
mor ei mportantv al
uet hancompet i
ti
v eness,whi chwi l
lnecessar il
yaffect
personal i
tydevelopment .

THEEND.