Personality is the sum of all the behavioural and mental characteristics of which an individual is recognized as being unique. It has also been defined as a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole physiological system.
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There are many different approaches to personality.
-Nature: is a belief that people are born with personalities and their behaviour traits are genetic.
-Nurture- states that individuals’ personalities take form from the culture they were brought up in, the norms among our families, friends and other influences.
There is one more approach, called “situational” and it implies that people can change their behaviour in different situations.
Looking at these approaches to personality, I feel that nurture is the dominant influence. In my opinion, people form their personality through out their life, it takes shape through the things they experience or people they are surrounded by. I do not believe that people are born with their personalities. For example, if a child is naughty and spoilt, it does not mean it is not going to change when it grows up. I think that personality and other character traits can change with age and experiences in life.
Besides this, there are two other theories describing perspectives from which a personality is looked at. These are the “nomothetic” approach and the “idiographic” approach.
- The nomothetic approach looks at the identification of traits and personality as a collection of characteristics. This approach states that the personality is inherited and cannot be changed; the level of environmental influence is low. It suggests that the amount of possessed traits makes people different.
- The idiographic approach is concerned with understanding the uniqueness of individuals. In comparison to the nomothetic approach, the idiographic approach states that the most important part in shaping personality is the environment.
THE BIG FIVE MODEL
The five-factor model of personality is the most widely accepted model of personality. It consists of five factors, detailed as follows:
-Extraversion- traits of character for this factor could be talkativeness, sociability and assertiveness.
-Agreeableness- agreeable people are likely to be warm, trusting and co-operative.
-Conscientiousness- a personality factor that describes the degree to which someone is responsible and achievement-oriented.
-Neuroticism- factor that describes the degree to which someone is calm, self-confident and secure.
-Openness- people high with a high level of openness are imaginative and intellectual.
I took the “the big personality test” from the BBC website, created by Professor Robert Winston. I used the test to look at my own personality. The test revealed my five traits within 20 minutes and showed the results in the graph below:
Each trait can have its own level: Low, Medium and High.
-Neuroticism- as we can see from the graph above, my level of Neuroticism is high (4.6/5). This means that I am hasty, self-conscious and tense. I do agree with this, because I am a worrier. Being neurotic is not necessarily a bad thing, because it might also work as a very good motivator. People who continually worry about things, get them done quicker or better. However to keep worrying about stuff might cause anxiety or even depression.
-Extraversion- the level of this trait is medium (3.1/5). It means that I am likely to enjoy the benefits of both extroversion and introversion. I could be sociable, risk-taking as well as quiet and reserved. I also highly agree that I am a mix of both of them. There could be moments when I am terribly shy, as well as moments when I am 100% extravert.
-Agreeableness- the level of this trait is medium (3.9/5). This suggests that people with a score like mine are likely to show concern for the feelings of others. Again I need to agree with the test result, because I am an empathetic and trusting person.
-Conscientiousness- the level I reached is medium (3.7/5). It describes how responsible, organised and hard-working a person is likely to be. People with a medium level of this trait are less likely to be workaholics. Instead, they achieve a good work-life balance.
-Openness- my level of this trait is medium (3.6/5). People with a score like mine have a broad range if interests, they are creative and flexible. It also shows that I can come up with original solutions to problems.
Overall, I think that “the big personality test” was very useful. The results were as I expected and in my opinion the test was an ideal tool for outlining my personality. However, I do not think that organisations should use it as a selection tool, as candidates could easily manipulate the test by giving false answers based on the requirements of the employer; the results of the test would then become useless.
REFERENCES:
- Dictionary.Reference. (2011) [Online] Available at: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/personality [Accessed: 12th April 2011]
- Langton, N. and Robins, S.P., (2006) Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour. Third Edition. Ontario : Pearson Education Canada
- Mullins, L.J., (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. Ninth Edition. Harlow : Pearson Education Limited.
- The BBC Lab UK
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