What is personality? A composite of influences!
Monday, May 16, 2011 at 11:18PM Hello readers,
While personality theory and brain typology help us notice our tendencies in interacting with others and our way of going through the world, it's agreed that there is more than just our natural personality or "nature"(think nature vs. nurture) that make us who we are. In other words, many factors affect, modify and adapt our personality. We are in other words a composite of influences.
Let's talk about some of the key aspects that make us "who we are". Which sadly leads me to think of the Kesha song, which I'm ashamed to say I know, "We R who we R".
Nature: Every one of is born with a certain temperament. Mothers often note that one baby may be generally happy, while another may cry a lot. One baby may be very calm while another may be fiery. And generally this tendency to have a baseline of behavior carries out through our lives. Part of what makes us who we are is our natural temperament.
Birth Order: Another popular theory and to some a absolute truth is that the birth order of a child strongly plays into personality development. The idea is if you have three children, each one(oldest, middle, youngest) has a role to play which is given to them by society's expectations. In turn the parents will project these expectations on them and it influences their behavior.
Stereotype(for 3 children): The oldest is supposed to be the most responsible, the middle one is the wild child who acts out to get attention that their older and younger siblings naturally get and finally the youngest child is the "baby" who is irresponsible and becomes dependent on the parents from being placed in the baby role. Then there are variations depending on how many children there are, if it is two siblings that changes the dynamics. Similarly the theory goes that only children develop differently, etc. All of us have seen some cases where the birth order stereotypes are really enforced and therefore take a large role in shaping the child. But it is safe to say not all families enforce or encourage these "roles". So does the older sibling become more of a J were responsibility is highly promoted because of the oldest child role(think Peyton Manning) while the younger child takes more of a P role as they are encouraged to become dependent and as a result "go with the flow" more(think Eli)?
Family: On a related note to "birth order theory" family plays a big role in influencing who we are. Obvious. Family influences could also be known as nurture, a large part of nurture at least. Many children simply repeat what they see at home. In fact many adults hold on to family rituals and attitudes for the rest of their life. They have an emotional bond to these beliefs and they have seen the beliefs validated repeatedly. So let's ask, how has family influenced you?
Is your family dysfunctional? Does your family solve problems by yelling, do they avoid conflict, do they rationally solve it and own it? If your family avoids conflict and values harmony, will you be more likely to express F traits as an adult? Likewise if your family trend is to rationally go over the facts of a conflict, will this help you develop your T side more? I think both of the former questions leave us with a a simple response, yes.
Is religion encouraged in your family or is rule breaking and gaming the system encouraged? What is the socioeconomic status of your family: is there a sense of entitlement a natural belief in one's own intelligence or does your family have a helpless and hopeless attitude that permeates? Do you even have a family? Many children nowadays don't have a stable family influence or may only have a single parents, as a result they often turn to their peer group as a family figure. This can be good or bad. Divorces can also have a strong effect on how children develop.
Culture of your Home Country or City: As we explored previously in the typology blog, cultures are often very defined and different from region to region in the world. While in the United States the culture encourages structure and directness, Latin culture encourages emotional expression and spontaneity. If you are born into one culture will you be more likely to develop certain aspects of your F or T? I would say so.
Even within a country, different cities can have drastic differences which affect one's personality. It is the author's humble belief that small towns tend to take on an S personality commonly(in touch with reality and being hands on are highly encouraged, so is sticking to the proven method) while big cities take on an N bent(exploration of style and lifestyle highly encouraged, early adoption of new technologies encouraged, all more N tendencies). So if you grown up in the jungle concrete of New York do you think you'll be a more balance N if your natural inclination is to be an S? Or to flip the script, if you are a natural N growing up in a rural environment, will you be more in touch with your S side?
Social issues in your home country: Did you grow up in a war torn nation? If so did this make you strongly value security? Or were you born in a prosperous nation without much poverty? In the second case you might not think twice about financial security or physical security. It is taken for granted in the second case. Is your home country capitalist or communist? Is competition encouraged or are communal values more encouraged? Would the person born in a war torn nation become more of a J as they learn to cope with their fear by controlling their environment? Likewise, would the person born in a prosperous nation be more inclined to be a P as they don't have to worry about planning ahead since the infrastructure and opportunities in their country are greater.
Educational System: Did you go to a public or private school? How much accountability was there at your school? Were the children encouraged in areas like public speaking and drama? Were you in a poorer area without high quality education and motivators to push you to greatness? If you were to go to a performing arts school obviously you would be more inclined to develop your E trait. On a non typology comment, those children who attended poorer educational systems without strong role models or motivators probably grew up with less drive and confidence that succeeding was actually a possibility.
Above, I've discussed various aspects that shape and mold us into the person and into the personality that we are today. I encourage you all to think about how you became who you are now. Also, how can you shape your future by putting yourself around the right nurture environment to gain balance? Think about people who encourage you to grow and situations that encourage you to grow(whether it be finding the right job or positive out of work communities) that develop you through the right activities!
Reader Comments (1)
-latest Marc Jacobs Pumps If you were to go to a performing arts school obviously you would be more inclined to develop your E trait.