Personality Development

Personality is the word which is being excessively used by the people in today’s world. Everybody talks about the personality of people without knowing the real meaning and definition of personality. Actually, the word personality is derived from the Latin word “Persona” which means the mask. In ancient times, the people of Greece used to wear masks to represent themselves in the theaters. In the absence of advanced electronic media, the mask-worn actors became famous and the “Persona” became the symbol of the character of actors.

 

The concept of personality can be understood with the help of a simple example. For example if someone says that Pierce Brosnan (James Bond) has a lot of personality. It means that Pierce Brosnan is a good looking, interesting, jubilant and an attractive person. It does not mean that Pierce Brosnan has more personality than others because personality cannot be more or less in quantity but can be good or bad in quality. Generally, a person with good dressing, lovely hair style, expensive watch, polished shoes is considered to have good personality. But in sociological perspective, personality is not what one wears; rather it is the totality of behavior of a man in different circumstances. It changes from person to person, time to time and place to place. For example, a policeman behaves harshly towards the criminals but kindly with his children. Similarly he behaves politely in front of his officers while frankly with his wife. This indicates that a man represents himself differently in different situations.

 

Factors in the Development of Personality

There are various factors of personality development. Some of those are given and discussed below.