Personality Development

1. What are the four main factors that affect

the development of personality?
2. How does isolation in childhood affect
development?
 Personality
• To social scientists, personality is the sum total
of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that
are characteristic of an individual.
• Our personality traits determine how we adjust
to our environment and how we react in specific
situations.
• No two individuals have the same personalities.
Each individual has his or her own way of
interacting with other people and with his or her
social environment.
 Personality Development
• People’s personalities continue to develop
throughout their lifetimes. Specific traits change
at different rates and to different degrees.
• Some personality traits seem to remain constant
throughout a person’s life, while others undergo
dramatic changes.
• Personality development is more obvious during
childhood, when people are experiencing rapid
physical, emotional, and intellectual growth.
• At adulthood, personality traits change at a
slower rate. However personality development
varies form individual to individual.
 Nature vs. Nurture
• Sociologists debate what determines personality
and social behavior.
• Some argue that it is heredity – the transmission
of genetic characteristics from parents to
children.
• Others suggest that the social environment –
contact with other people – determines
personality.
• This debate is usually referred to in terms of
nature versus nurture, or inherited genes versus
environment and social learning.
 The Nature Viewpoint
• Since the 1800s this viewpoint states that much
of human behavior is instinctual in origin.
• An instinct is an unchanging behavior pattern.
Instinct is most often applied to animal behavior.
(Ex. Birds building nests)
• Supporters of this viewpoint claim biology as the
basis for human behavior. They claim that
instinctual drives are responsible for practically
everything – laughing, motherhood, warfare,
religion, even the creation of society.
 The Nurture Viewpoint
• From this viewpoint a person’s behavior and
personality are the result of his or her social
environment and learning.
• The work of Ivan Pavlov helped this viewpoint
gain acceptance. He found that supposedly
instinctual behaviors could be taught. (Ex. Dog
Experiment)
• Sociologist John B. Watson suggested that what
applied to dogs could apply to humans. He
claimed that he could take a dozen healthy
infants and train them to become anything he
wanted – doctors, lawyers, artists, beggars, or
thieves.
 Sociobiology
• The emergence of sociobiology – the
systematic study of the biological basis of all
social behavior – emphasized the nature
viewpoint.
• Sociobiologists argue that such varied cultural
characteristics and behavioral traits as religion,
cooperation, competition, slavery, envy, etc. are
rooted in the genetic make-up of humans.
• In general sociobioligists argue that most of
human social life is determined by biological
factors.
 Blending of factors…
• Most social scientists assume that personality
and social behavior result from a blending of
heredity and social environmental influences.
• They believe that environmental factors have the
greatest influence.
• Heredity, birth order, parents, and cultural
environment are among the principal factors
that social scientists see influencing personality
and behavior.
 Heredity
• Everyone has certain characteristics that are
present at birth. (body build, hair type, eye color,
and skin)
• Heredity characteristics also include certain
aptitudes. An aptitude is a capacity to learn a
particular skill or acquire a particular body of
knowledge.
• Example: a natural talent for music and art would be
considered an aptitude.
• However, some aptitudes can be learned and
developed because of environmental factors.
• Example: Parents encouragement
• Heredity provides you with certain biological
needs, but culture determines how you meet
those needs.
 Birth Order
• Our personalities are influenced by whether we
have brothers, sisters, both, or neither.
• Children with siblings have a different view of the
world than do children who have siblings.
• The order in which we are born into our families
also influences our personalities.
• People born first or last in a family have a
different perspective than do people in the
middle.
• Example: first born are likely to be achievement
oriented and responsible. Later born are more
likely to be better in social relationships,
affectionate, friendly, or rebels and risk-takers.
 Parental Characteristics
• Parents influence their childrens’
personalities. The age of the parent can
be a bearing on the children’s
development. (EX. Younger vs. older)
• Other parental characteristics like level of
education, religious orientation, economic
status, occupation, and cultural heritage
can and often do influence a child’s
personality and their social behavior.
 Cultural Environment
• Culture has a strong influence on personality
development. The cultural environment
determines the basic types of personalities that
will be found in a society.
• Each culture gives rise to a series of personality
traits – model personalities – that are typical of
members of that society.
• EX. U.S. personalities are competitive,
assertiveness and individualism.
• EX. The Ik (eek) of northern Uganda