Chapter 2 concept of personality

In this way, we formally talk about a concept: personality. Different people have different ways of living, not only because they are in different situations, but also because they have different personalities; people with different personalities will have completely different reactions to life in the same environment. Personality is a psychological concept, which originally comes from the Latin persona, which originally meant a mask.Defining personality as a mask contains two meanings: one is the various behaviors performed like characters in life; the second is the real self hidden under the mask.

The concept of personality has undergone various evolutions and definitions since it entered the serious study of psychology.Personality psychologist Albert also reviewed fifty definitions of personality. Different definitions indicate different schools of psychology, the starting point of psychologists' research, and also the results of their research. Generally speaking, personality can be regarded as a kind of habitual behavior of human beings. American psychologist B. R. Hegenhan once discussed in his book "Personality Psychology": "Almost all personality theorists agree with the view that personality can be described in terms of a person's habitual behavior patterns. .In various situations, the differences in people's reaction patterns form different personality traits. It is these habitual behavior patterns that make it possible for us to predict people's future behavior with certain accuracy. When we When you see someone you think you know behaves strangely and say, 'That's not like him.' When people no longer respond to a situation the way they used to, then, We say their personalities have changed."

The word personality is "personality" in English. If we make the most concise and relatively authoritative definition for it, we can quote the entry of "Encyclopedia Britannica": "Personality personality is a unique psychological-physiological trait (or characteristics), including genetic and acquired elements, personality makes a person different from others, and can be expressed through his relationship with the environment and social groups. Various theories about personality have been proposed to explain a person How people are like and different from other people, and what factors organize the various similarities and differences of a person into a complete pattern."

If you use Chinese to explain personality, the most appropriate word is personality. In China's "Psychological Dictionary" (edited by Zhu Zhixian), the following annotations are made on this: "Personality (personality), also known as personality. It refers to the entire mental outlook of a person, that is, the psychological characteristics with a certain tendency The sum of the personality structure is a multi-level, multi-faceted whole composed of a unique combination of complex psychological characteristics. These levels include: 1, the characteristics of the potential possibility of completing a certain activity, that is, ability; 2, the motivation of psychological activities Characteristics, i.e. temperament; 3, the characteristics of the attitude and behavior of completing activities and tasks, that is, personality; 4, the characteristics of activity tendencies, such as motivation, interest, ideals, beliefs, etc. These characteristics do not exist in isolation, but are intricate and interactive Connection, organically combined into a whole, regulates and controls human behavior. If the relationship between various components is coordinated, human behavior is normal; if it is out of balance, it will cause personality split (dual personality or multiple personality) , produces abnormal behavior. Personality is not innate, it is formed on the basis of innate physiological structure and under the influence of acquired environmental education. Personality is restricted by certain social and historical conditions and social status. It has national, class, The commonality of the group. Even under the same social and historical conditions, the specific life paths experienced by people are different, and they form unique characteristics that distinguish them from others. Once a person's personality is formed, it has the characteristics of stability, but personality is not impossible It changes more or less with the diversity and changeability of reality. Things that have core significance in personality, such as ideals, beliefs, and world views, slowly change with the changes in production relations and social systems. Changes, life situations, the individual's momentary state of mind, the natural characteristics of the person's body, age and health also affect certain features of the personality."

Different personalities have different responses to the environment, different responses to life, and different ways of living.Since the personality is quite stable, we can see clearly our own inertia of "the country is easy to change, but the nature is hard to change"; the personality is not static, so we can grasp the possibility of transforming our personality. The results of psychological research tell us that the formation of personality is influenced and determined by many factors, the most important ones are: One, genetic factors. This is an inborn factor, which is what we usually say "a person has the blood of his family's parents in his veins".Genetic factors play a more or less decisive role in a person's personality.

Second, social culture. Undoubtedly, a person's personality is closely related to his historical era, national and regional culture, and his class, stratum, and status in society. Third, the family environment. The family in which a person is born and grows up not only concretely condenses social culture, but also has a very specific interpersonal relationship between children and parents, and all family members. Personality gradually formed from day one. Fourth, study. From birth, a person learns the correct rules of speech and actions, how to speak and how to behave, under the punishment and reward mechanism of the family and social environment.In the process of learning speech and behavior, he also learned a whole set of thinking and even psychological qualities.The process of learning is the process of establishing habits, the process of establishing psychological response patterns, and the process of accepting the influence and casting of social culture and family environment.

Fifth, the mechanism of the subconscious mind. In this regard, deep psychology represented by Freud has made the most worthwhile exposition on personality.Whether it is Freud himself, or Jung or Adler, etc., they have made various annotations on the subconscious mechanism of personality. If we don’t stay in overly academic psychological theories, we can say that an old Chinese saying “Three-year-old is juvenile, and seven-year-old is old” very profoundly expresses the important law of personality formation-childhood experience. have decisive significance. Childhood experiences occupy an important position in the history of a person's personality formation.