Chapter 4: Personality Development
Imagine you are filling out a dating profile. When you are asked to describe yourself, do you include characteristics such as extroverted/introverted, down-to-earth, adventurous, laid back, etc.? Do you discuss the things that are important to you, such as being an honest person, loyalty, speaking up for yourself, being respectful? What about a job interview, do you use descriptors such as hard working, punctual, efficient? Questions such as these on a dating profile or in a job interview are attempting to reveal aspects of your personality. Personality has been a major topic and research area of modern psychology since the early 20th century. Having a good understanding of your own personality is beneficial to how you interact with others.
To further build upon our foundation for understanding human relations we will now examine the role that our personality plays and the personalities of others in our personal and professional experiences. In this chapter you will explore various theoretical perspectives of personality, major trait theories of personality, how values, behaviors, and attitudes affect the workplace, and the influence of culture on personality. To begin, we will look at the definition of personality and the various theoretical perspectives of personality.
You can open the pdf version of the Chapter 4 reading if you want to view it in a book page format or want to print out a physical copy to read: Chapter 4 – Personality
