Lecture 5 - Personality & self-concept

Usually when we talk about someone's personality, we are talking about what makes that person different from other people perhaps even unique. This aspect of personality is called individual differences. For some theories it is the central of attention. These theories often spend considerable attention on things like types and traits and tests with which we can categorize or compare people: Some people are neurotic, others are not, some people are more introverted, others more extroverted, and so on.

Hollander's research has established four aspects which help define personality.
The aspects are:

*The External aspect- This illustrates how a person interacts with other people

*The Internal aspect- This is a combination of people's values and attitudes

*The Dynamic aspect- This is when people face new situations and how they behave, for example social adjustments

*The Consistent aspect- People's characteristic style Self Concept

Self Concept refers to "the attitude a person holds to him-or-herself" (Solomon, 2006). For example, a middle aged man may feel more positive and happy about his appearance compared to a same aged man who is rather big i.e FAT. This could also come into self esteem as self concept is broken down into:

• Self Image
  

Who is the person we believe we are

• Our Ideal Self

The person we would like to be like

• Self Esteem

Not liking the way you are, therefore feel happy























Above is a video showing that a women has self esteem problems therefore would go to any extend to look beautiful. As you would see in the end of the clip, she look gorgeous. Don't She. Know where's gone her self esteem?


Personality

Research from Hollander suggests that there are four other aspects to personality which are:

• The External Aspect - how a person interacts with other people

• The Internal Aspect - a combination of their values & attitudes.

• The Dynamic Aspect - faced with a new situation how do they behave e.g. social adjustments.

• The Consistent Aspect - their characteristic style.

One of the main theory on Personality is undertaken by Horney (1945), he talked about a common sense style about the development of neurotic character structure and interpersonal relationships. He means that personality is developed from the level of anxiety a dependent child feels. There are a lot of things which can result from this like Indifference amongst your own self, Lack of Respect and Too Much of Admiration from Others.

Hollander is another important theorist who spoke about Personality. He stated that personality is "the sum total of an individual characteristic which makes him unique". This means that the best way you can understand someone's personality is by looking at the structure. What Hollander means by structuring is that it can be divided into three different but related to one anther's levels.