Personality development

Definition:

Personality development is the development of the organized pattern of behaviours and attitudes that makes a person distinctive. Personality development occurs by the ongoing interaction of temperament character, and environment.

Description:

Personality is what makes a person a unique person, and it is recognizable soon after birth. A child's personality has several components: temperament, environment, and character. Temperament is the set of genetically determined traits that determine the child's approach to the world and how the child learns about the world. There are no genes that specify personality traits, but some genes do control the development of the nervous system, which in turn controls behaviour.

KEY TERMS:

Behaviour- A stereotyped motor response to an internal or external stimulus.

Character- An individual's set of emotional, cognitive, and behavioural patterns learned and accumulated over time.

Cognition- The act or process of knowing or perceiving.

Cognitive- The ability (or lack of) to think, learn, and memorize.

Gene- A building block of inheritance, which contains the instructions for the production of a particular protein, and is made up of a molecular sequence found on a section of DNA. Each gene is found on a precise location on a chromosome.

Identity- The condition of being the same with, or possessing, a character that is well described, asserted, or defined.

Maturity- A state of full development or completed growth.

Personality- The organized pattern of behaviours and attitudes that makes a human being distinctive. Personality is formed by the ongoing interaction of temperament, character, and environment.

Socialization- The process by which new members of a social group are integrated in the group.

Temperament- A person's natural disposition or inborn combination of mental and emotional traits.