DYANAMICS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK THEORY AND PRACTICALS OF PSYCHOLOGY

The Meaning of Personality

The term personality is derived from the Latin word persona meaning a mask. Personality is a patterned bodyof habits, traits, attitudes and ideas of an individualas these are organized externally into roles and statuses and as they relate internally to motivation, goals and various aspects of selfhood.

According to Robert Park and Earnest Burgess Personality is the sum and organization of those traitswhich determine the role of the individual in the group.

According to Linton, personality embraces the total organized aggregate of psychological processes and status pertaining to the individual.Parsonality says Maclver is all that an individual is and has experienced so far as this all can be comprehended as unity. According to Lundberg the term personality refers to the habits, attitudes and other social traitsthat are characteristic of a given individual’s behavior.

By personality Ogburn means the integration of the socio-psychological behavior of the human being, represented by habits of action and feeling, attitudes and opinions.

On the basis of these definitions it may be said there are two main approaches to the study of personality:

1.The psychological 2.The sociological

The psychological approach considers personality as a certain style peculiar to the individual. This style isdetermined by the characteristic organization of mentaltrends, complexes, emotions and sentiments. The psychological approach enables us to understand the phenomena of personality disorganization and the role of wishes, of mental conflict and of repression and sublimation in the growth of personality. The sociological approach considers personality in terms ofthe status of the individual in the group, in terms of his conception of his role in the group of which he is a member. What others think of us plays a large part inthe formation of our personality.

Thus personality is a sum of the ideas, attitudes and values of a person which determine his role in society and form an integral part of his character.

Personality is acquired by the individual as a result of his participation in group life. As a member of the group he learns certain behavior systems and symbolic skills which determine his ideas, attitudes and social values. These ideas, attitudes and values which an individual holds comprise his personality.

In brief it can be said:

1.Personality is not related to bodily structure alone. It includes both structure and dynamics.

2.Personality is an indivisible unit. 3.Personality is neither good nor bad. 4.Every personality is unique

5.Personality refers to persistent qualities of the individual. It expresses consistency and regularity.

6.Personality is acquired. 7.Personality is influenced by social interaction. It

is defined in terms of behavior.

Theories of personality: Personality psychology is the focus of some of the best known psychology theories by a number of famous thinkers including Sigmund Freud andErik Erikson. In this section of the personality study guide, learn more about some of the major theories of personality and the psychologists who developed them.

Biological Theories

Biological approaches suggest that genetics are responsible for personality. Research on heritability suggests that there is a link between genetics and personality traits.

One of the best known biological theorists was Hans Eysenck, who linked aspects of personality to biological processes. For example, Eysenck argued that introverts had high cortical arousal, leading them to avoid stimulation. On the other hand, Eysenck believed extroverts had low cortical arousal, causing them to seek out stimulating experiences.

Behavioral Theories

Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and the environment. Behavioral theorists study observable and

measurable behaviors, rejecting theories that take internal thoughts and feelings into account.

Behavioral theorists include B. F. Skinner and John B. Watson.

Psychodynamic Theories

Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud, and emphasize the influence of the unconscious mind and childhood experiences on personality. Psychodynamic theories include Sigmund Freud's psychosexual stage theory and Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development.

Freud believed the three components of personality werethe id, the ego, and the superego. The id is responsible for all needs and urges, while the superegofor ideals and moral. The ego moderates between the demands of the id, the superego, and reality.

Erikson believed that personality progressed through a series of stages, with certain conflicts arising at each stage. Success in any stage depended upon successfully overcoming these conflicts.

Humanist Theories

Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free willand individual experience in the development of personality. Humanist theorists emphasized the concept of self-actualization, which is an innate need for personal growth that motivates behavior. Humanist theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Trait Theories

The trait theory approach is one of the largest areas within personality psychology. According to this theory, personality is made up of a number of broad traits. A trait is basically a relatively stable characteristic that causes an individual to behave in certain ways. Some of the best known trait theories include Eysenck's three-dimension theory and the five factor theory of personality.

Personality Traits:

Each of the traits, or factors, identified as the Big Five are independent of each other and account for the infinite number of unique aspects that comprise human personality. Understanding each of the Big Five factorswill help you better grasp the concept of personality traits.

The Big Five personality traits are:

Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism

An easy way to remember the Big Five is to remember theword 'OCEAN.' The first letter of each trait creates the word ocean.

The Big Five traits have been subjected to rigorous testing over the past several decades. The research continues to support the notion that we all possess

each of the five personality characteristics to some degree. And even though we share only five common personality traits, the possible combinations, or personality types, are endless when you consider the varying degrees of each trait. For example, not all of us are equally agreeable or neurotic.

Openness refers to traits, such as how inclined someoneis to conform to societal or cultural norms, how concretely or abstractly someone thinks about things, and how open or resistant someone is to change. A person who is a creative thinker and always looking forways to do things better would likely score high on measures of openness.

Conscientiousness has to do with a person's degree of organization, level of discipline, and how prone he or she is to taking risks. The college student who never misses a class and has a 4.0 GPA would probably prove to have a high degree of conscientiousness as measured on a personality assessment.

Extraversion is a personality characteristic that describes things like how social a person is or how warm and loving they tend to be. Extraverts are people who would typically prefer to go out to a party with lots of friends, as opposed to stay in and watch a movie with one or two friends.

Agreeableness takes into account how kind, dependable, and cooperative a person is. People who score high on scales of agreeableness are typically more interested in doing things for the common good, as opposed to fulfilling their own self-interests.

Neuroticism is a personality characteristic that describes how nervous or anxious a person tends to be, as well as the degree of self-confidence and self-contentment he or she possesses. Individuals who score high on levels of neuroticism will often be preoccupiedwith the 'what ifs' of life. They tend to be worrisome and preoccupied with things that might not be within their control.

Prejudice

Prejudice refers to a positive or a negative attitude or belief directed toward certain people based on theirmembership in a particular group. The root word of prejudice is "pre-judge." It is "a set of attitudes which causes, supports, or justifies discrimination. Prejudice refers to a tendency to "over categorize." Prejudiced people respond to others in a more or less fixed way (Farley, 2000:18).

1.     Cognitive Prejudice

Cognitive prejudice refers to what people believe is true

2.     Affective Prejudice

Affective prejudice points to peoples likes and dislikes

3.     Conative Prejudice

Conative prejudice refers to how people are inclined tobehave. Note that this is still an attitude because people don't actually act on their feelings. An exampleof conative prejudice might be found in the statement "If I were in charge I'd send all the Wallonians back to where ever they came from."

While these three types of prejudice are correlated, they don't have to all be present in a particular individual. Someone, for example, might believe a particular group possesses low levels of intelligence, but harbor no ill feelings toward that group. On the other hand, one might not like a group because of intense competition for jobs, but still recognize no inherent differences between groups.

What is Family Systems Therapy?

Family systems theory was the brainchild of Dr. Murray Bowen of Georgetown University; a psychiatrist working with patients with schizophrenia in a hospital setting in the 1940’s and 50’s. At that time, the predominant thinking came from Sigmund Freud and his followers who believed that the psychology of human behaviour was rooted in the individual. Dr. Bowen’s family systems perspective was a major challenge to the psychiatric thinking of his day. He deviated from the mainstream ofpsychiatric thinking of the 40’s and 50’s in two important ways:

1.Systems theory was developed on the assumption thatan understanding of a person’s emotional functioning must extend beyond psychological constructs to recognize his/her relatedness to all life

2.He made the assumption that a comprehensive understanding of human behavior must rest on a foundation that moved beyond the study of the individual to include the human’s relationship system. In other words, Bowen proposed that the human family operated in ways that were consistent with its being a system and that the system’s principles of operation were rooted in nature.

Family Systems Theory:

is a way of understanding present situations in terms of past relationships or family histories.

understands the family as a single emotional unit made up of interlocking relationships existing overmany generations.

suggests that individual behavior throughout life is more closely related to the functioning in one’soriginal family than most people realize.

attempts to move beyond cause-and-effect thinking to a more comprehensive understanding of the multiple factors which interact across time to produce problems or symptoms.

recognizes an interplay between biological, genetic, psychological, and sociological factors indetermining individual behavior.

identifies some of the ways that human functioning is similar to the functioning of all other forms of

life, and postulates that certain principles governing behavior are common to all life forms.

views most of human life as being guided by emotional forces which to a varying degree can be regulated by an individuals ability to think. (Emotional here includes a smorgasbord of automaticresponses such as those driven by instinct, genetics, biology, and hormones as well as automatic feeling or sensory responses.)

postulates that the degree to which individuals maybe able to exercise some choice regarding how much they respond to their automatic emotional input canbe predicted by understanding the functioning of the family unit.

indicates that people are able to modify their responses to the automatic emotional input by undertaking a study of their own patterns of behavior and their link to those in their multigenerational family.

How groups form, conform, then warp our decision-making, productivity and creativity.

WHEN WE’RE IN A GROUP other people have an incredibly powerful effect on us. Groups can kill our creativity, inspire us to work harder, allow us to slack off, skew our decision-making and make us clam up.

The keys to understanding human behaviour—our lives as citizens, as workers, as friends—are in the research ongroup psychology, which PsyBlog has been exploring overthe past few months.

This post provides an overview and you can follow the links to explore the experiments that reveal the power groups hold over us.

Formation, influence and leadership

The seeds of group behaviour are sown even before its members meet. Just knowing that some people are on ‘ourside’ and others are not begins to shape our social identity. Group affiliation soon grows even stronger, though, bending our behaviour further, if we undergo aninitiation rite. A rite as simple as reading rude wordsout loud can produce a measurable effect

Once we are in a group it starts to shape us through conformity, pulling our attitudes and behaviour in linewith others, threatening us with ostracism if we dare to rebel and, when facing rival groups, firing our competitive spirit.

We try to shape the group as well, perhaps by repeatingour opinions. This helps to convince others we are voicing the majority view. Still, people are notoriously resistant to change. One way newcomers can influence groups is by displaying loyalty, toeing the line and by creating psychological distance from previous group affiliations.

A group takes its cue from a leader, but where do leaders come from? When leaders are allowed to emerge naturally from a group, they do so first by being the ultimate conformers, then later starting to lead in new

directions wether conforming or not, a sure sign of a leader is someone who

By the time groups are well-established chatter flows easily up and down the grapevine. This is not just rumour and suspicion, though, as research has found that grapevines are surprisingly accurate with up to 80% being true.

Productivity

The amount and quality of the work we do (or don’t do) is regulated by the group. Sometimes groups have a social facilitation effect on performance, spurring us on to greater achievements. This is most likely to happen when our own contribution is obvious and when weare judged in comparison to others.

At other times groups encourage social loafing, resulting in a drop in our productivity—sometimes by asmuch as 50%, perhaps more. This is likely to happen when it’s easier to hide in the group, when we think the task isn’t important and when our individual performance isn’t being judged separately.

Psychologists have found that social loafing can be decreased by boosting group and task importance as wellas decreasing the ‘sucker effect': the feeling that others are slacking off.

Definition:

Prejudice is a baseless and usually negative attitude toward members of a group. Common features of prejudice include negativefeelings, stereotyped beliefs, and a tendency to discriminate against members of the group. While specific definitions of prejudice given by social scientists often differ, most agree that it involves prejudgments (usually negative) about members ofa group.

Types of Prejudice

Prejudice can be based upon a number of factors including sex, race, age, sexual orientations, nationality, socioeconomic status and religion. Some ofthe most well-known types of prejudice include:Racism

Sexism Classicism Homophobia Nationalism Religious prejudice Agism

Prejudice and Stereotyping

When prejudice occurs, stereotyping and discrimination may also result. In many cases, prejudices are based upon stereotypes. A stereotype is a simplified assumption about a group based on prior assumptions. Stereotypes can be both positive ("women are warm and nurturing") or negative ("teenagers are lazy"). Stereotypes can lead to faulty beliefs, but they can also result in both prejudice and discrimination.

According to psychologist Gordon Allport, prejudice andstereotypes emerge in part as a result of normal human thinking. In order to make sense of the world around

us, it is important to sort information into mental categories.

"The human mind must think with the aid of categories,"Allport explained. "Once formed, categories are the basis for normal prejudgment. We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly living depends upon it."

This process of categorization applies to the social world as well, as we sort people into mental groups based on factors such as age, sex and race.

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However, researchers have found that while when it comes to categorizing information about people, we tendto minimize the differences between people within groups and exaggerate the differences between groups. In one classic experiment, participants were asked to judge the heightof people shown in photographs. People in the experiment were also told that:

"In this booklet, the men and women are actually of equal height. We have taken care to match the heights of the men and women pictured. That is, for every womanof a particular height, somewhere in the booklet there is also a man of that same height. Therefore, in order to make as accurate a height judgment as possible, try to judge each photograph as an individual case; do not rely on the person's sex."

In addition to these instructions, a $50 cash prize wasoffered to whoever made the most accurate judgments of

height. Despite this, participants consistently rated the men as being a few inches taller than the women. Because of their prejudgment that men are taller than women, the participants were unable to dismiss their existing categorical beliefs about men and women in order to judge the heights accurately.

Researchers have also found that people tend to view members of outside groups as being more homogenous thanmembers of their own group, a phenomenon referred to asthe out-group homogeneity bias. This perception that all member of an out-group are alike holds true of all groups, whether based on race, nationality, religion, age, or other naturally occurring group affiliation.

Ways to Reduce Prejudice

In addition to looking at the reasons why prejudice occurs, researchers have also explored different ways that prejudice can be reduced or even eliminated. Training people to become more empathetic to members ofother groups is one method that has shown considerable success. By imaging themselves in the same situation, people are able to think about how they would react andgain a greater understanding of other people's actions.

Other techniques that are used to reduce prejudice include:

Passing laws and regulations that require fair and equal treatment for all groups of people.

Gaining public support and awareness for anti-prejudice social norms.

Making people aware of the inconsistencies in theirown beliefs.

Increased contact with members of other social groups.

Leadership Theories: The 8 Major Leadership Theories

What exactly makes a great leader? Do certain personality traits make people better-suited to leadership roles, or do characteristics of the situation make it more likely that certain people will take charge? When we look at the leaders around us – beit our employer or the President – we might find ourselves wondering exactly why these individuals excelin such positions.

People have long been interested in leadership throughout human history, but it has only been relatively recently that a number of formal leadership theories have emerged. Interest in leadership increasedduring the early part of the twentieth century. Early leadership theories focused on what qualities distinguished between leaders and followers, while subsequent theories looked at other variables such as situational factors and skill levels.

Leadership Qualities List Leadership Management Theories Management and Leadership Situational Leadership 2

While many different leadership theories have emerged, most can be classified as one of eight major types:

1. "Great Man" Theories

Have you ever heard someone described as "born to lead?" According to this point of view, great leaders are simply born with the necessary internal characteristics such as charisma, confidence, intelligence, and social skills that make them natural-born leaders.

Great man theories assume that the capacity for leadership is inherent – that great leaders are born, not made. These theories often portray great leaders asheroic, mythic and destined to rise to leadership when needed. The term "Great Man" was used because, at the time, leadership was thought of primarily as a male quality, especially in terms of military leadership.

2. Trait Theories

Similar in some ways to Great Man theories, trait theories assume that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership. Trait theories often identify particular personality orbehavioral characteristics shared by leaders. For example, traits like extraversion, self-confidence, andcourage are all traits that could potentially be linkedto great leaders.

If particular traits are key features of leadership, then how do we explain people who possess those qualities but are not leaders? This question is one of the difficulties in using trait theories to explain leadership. There are plenty of people who possess the personality traits associated with leadership, yet manyof these people never seek out positions of leadership.

3. Contingency Theories

Contingency theories of leadership focus on particular variables related to the environment that might determine which particular style of leadership is best suited for the situation. According to this theory, no leadership style is best in all situations. Success depends upon a number of variables, including the leadership style, qualities of the followers and aspects of the situation.

4. Situational Theories

Situational theories propose that leaders choose the best course of action based upon situational variables.Different styles of leadership may be more appropriate for certain types of decision-making. For example, in asituation where the leader is the most knowledgeable and experienced member of a group, an authoritarian style might be most appropriate. In other instances where group members are skilled experts, a democratic style would be more effective.

5. Behavioral Theories

Behavioral theories of leadership are based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born. Consider it the flip-side of the Great Man theories. Rooted in behaviorism, this leadership theory focuses on the actions of leaders not on mental qualities or internal states. According to this theory, people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation.

6. Participative Theories

Participative leadership theories suggest that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the input of others into account. These leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and help group members feel more relevant and committed to the decision-making process. In participative theories,however, the leader retains the right to allow the input of others.

7. Management Theories

Management theories, also known as transactional theories, focus on the role of supervision, organization and group performance. These theories baseleadership on a system of rewards and punishments. Managerial theories are often used in business; when employees are successful, they are rewarded; when they fail, they are reprimanded or punished. Learn more about theories of transactional leadership.

8. Relationship Theories

Relationship theories, also known as transformational theories, focus upon the connections formed between leaders and followers. Transformational leaders motivate and inspire people by helping group members see the importance and higher good of the task. These leaders are focused on the performance of group members, but also want each person to fulfill his or her potential. Leaders with this style often have high ethical and moral standards.

Forms and nature of psychology

Environmental Psychology deals with behavior in relation to the environment. Concepts regarding the environment and aesthetic preferences are studied and represented in behavioral maps. Environment influences behavior at different levels. Immediate behavior is a function of the setting in which it occurs. The personality make-up of people of a country is shaped bythe nature and type of environment in which they live. In unnatural or caged conditions animals show `behaviorstarvation' and their behavior breaks down. Population stress and the artificial character of urban conditionsare supposed to be the reasons for the increased rates of crime and incidence of mental disorders of people living in urban areas. Applied Environmental Psychologyattempts to provide norms for better management of the environment for better life and personality development. It studies effective ways of promoting conservation of the natural environment and better waysof designing buildings, towns and cities, taking into consideration the behavioral needs and responses of people.

1. Introduction

Environmental Psychology deals with behavior in relation to the physical environment. The physical environment includes material objects, plants, animals and human beings. Environmental Psychology does not emphasize the interactional processes among people, which form the subject matter of other branches of Psychology. Environmental Psychology follows the systems approach which has become the modern approach in several branches of science. It is holistic and naturalistic and studies the adaptation of organisms to

their settings. Organisms are studied as part of the ecosystem, stressing the balance and interdependence oforganisms and the `environment. This field of science took shape during the 1960s and `Environmental Psychology and Population' has been included as a division of the American Psychological Association.

The importance of the field has increased in recent years owing to the increased concern with the environment resulting from the pollution problems, problems posed by population explosion, depletion of natural resources and the felt need to conserve wilderness.

2. Concepts of Environmental Psychology

Behavioral Geography studies the cognitive maps of the individual regarding his environment. It traces environmental values, meanings and preferences. Behavioral maps are prepared relating activities to surroundings. Lines to represent direction of movement,colors to represent time spent and so on are techniquesused in the preparation of such maps. Behavior maps canbe prepared for exploratory behavior, neighborhood feelings, etc. Environmental aesthetics studies preferences in terms of aesthetic judgements. Recently attempts have been made to relate environmental preferences to personality characteristics, race and national character (Hall 1976; Berry 1976).

3. Influence of Environment on Behavior

It has been hypothesized that environment influences behavior at several levels. Immediate behavior is a function of the settings in which it occurs. For example, the arrangement of furniture in a room influences the way in which people in the room interact. The characteristic personality make-up of persons in a country is shaped by the nature and type of environment to which they are subjected for long periods of time. Racial differences in personality can to a large extent be traced to the influence of different environments to which people of different races have been subjected for generations (Moos 1976).

For example, it is supposed that climate influences temperament. The cold climate presumably makes people `Rajasik'. The possibility of freezing induces insecurity and in a cold place one has to keep working to warm up the body. People in a cold region have to plan ahead. hoard food and firewood and make warm clothes and footwear for winter. The hostile and scarceenvironment makes people aggressive and aggressiveness necessitates artificial moral control. People in such environments develop linear intelligence and they become practical, their approach to the environment being characterized by one of aggression, competition, exploitation and manipulation. It is said that science and technology are the result of this kind of approach to the environment.

In contrast, people in a very warm climate are likely to be `Thamasik'. This kind of temperament is characterized by laziness and inertia. In a very hot place, it is unpleasant to keep working, because of perspiration and fatigue. In the tropics, the seasons

do not change much and resource extraction is easy throughout the year. This kind of climate makes for an attitude of surrender and the approach to the environment is marked by fear and superstition.

The moderate climate is most conducive for the `Sathwik' temperament. This is characterized by an awareness of oneself and the relationship of the environment to one's adjustment. Consequently the Sathwik approach involves living in harmony with the environment. The insight into the role of the environment in our well being leads to a felt need to conserve the natural environment. The Sathwik temperament is holistic, intuitive and well balanced.

Every animal is at home in its natural environment and in unnatural settings, its behavior becomes deranged. It has been shown that animals have behavior needs related to their natural habitats. For example, a polarbear which catches fish has the need to perform the movements involved in catching fish. In captivity, if the bear is deprived of the opportunity to satisfy thisneed, it will exhibit symptoms of behavior starvation, even though it is given enough food. Many caged animalsshow symptoms of abnormal behavior like compulsions. Increase in population density beyond the optimum pointis also part of alteration of the environment and this leads to population stress causing aggression and breakdown of behavior.

Many studies demonstrate the deleterious influence of urbanization on human behavior (Baum et al. 1978). Instinctual behavior patterns of human beings also seemto break down under artificial and overpopulated urban

conditions. It has been shown that the incidence of mental illness increases with urbanization. The highestincidence of schizophrenia is at the center of cities. Only about one fifth of the population of big cities seems to be relatively free from debilitating symptoms of pathology. Crime rates in big cities are increasing at an alarmingly high rate and many of the major citiesof the world have come to be known as crime cities. Theincreasing violence of mothers towards children reflected in high rates of baby battering and the rising rates of divorce and illegitimacy point to the breakdown of instinctive behavior patterns in human beings.

Environmental Psychologists also study effects of different types of neighborhood like housing scheme area, flats, red light area, slums, etc. on emerging behavior patterns. Effects of immediate social environment like size of group on immediate behavior (Ittelson et al. 1974) are also studied. Effects of various characteristics of institutions on the behaviorof inmates is another topic of study. Research on the effects of monotonous environments and isolation also can be included in this section. Ergonomics, the study of aspects of the working environment like heating, lighting, etc., in relation to productivity also forms part of Environmental Psychology.

4. Applied Environmental Psychology

Applied Environmental psychology aims at better management of the environment for better life and psychological growth. It studies effective ways of conserving the natural environment, better ways of

designing towns and cities and means of promoting environmental awareness among people.

Psychology has a great deal of application in town planning. Studies on how the community works, the psychological needs of the people and their likes and dislikes should be considered while planning the growthof towns. Since the environment shapes and limits behavior, proper planning to ensure maximum satisfaction, efficiency and growth is essential.

The Psychology of Architecture studies how architectural styles reflect the needs and preferences of people and how different designs mould and shape behavior. A proper investigation of cultural, social and personal needs of potential inmates is required before an acceptable design can be made. An effective design should maximize freedom of behavior, mobility and flexibility. Some of the other considerations are possible use and misuse of space, and contrasting needsof privacy and socialization. Training people for effective space utilization and follow-up studies of the effectiveness of various types of designs are necessary. Knowledge of modern points of view regardinghow an office, school or hospital should function is essential while preparing a design for the purpose. A detailed knowledge of the kinds of activities and programmes and patterns of human interaction that are expected to take place in the type of building is necessary for successful architectural design.