Personal Development
Personal Development
Personal Development
What comes into your mind when you think of the concept “self’?
What makes a person himself or herself? In this module, though there are a lot of
definitions of the word “self”, oneself will be treated synonymously with the
term “personality”. The word personality came from the Greek
word “persona” which means mask. The term came from the Greek custom of
putting up a show wherein actors wear masks to portray different personalities or
selves. The activity that you did about creating a mask somehow asks you to
describe the things that you know about yourself and how you want “to be
seen” by the external world.
The self encompasses one’s body, feelings, emotions, thoughts,
values and relationships. It is a unique personal identity made up of one’s
experiences, beliefs, convictions, as well as one’s longings, dreams, life’s
purpose and meaning. As we look deeply within ourselves, we will realize that it
is every human person’s goal to strive harder to acquire a positive view of
oneself or a Positive Self-Concept.
But what is self-concept? The term self-concept is a general term
used to refer to how someone thinks about, evaluates or perceives themselves.
To be aware of oneself is to have a concept of oneself. Lewis (1990) suggests
that the development of oneself has two aspects:
1. The Existential Self - This is 'the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-
concept; the sense of being separate and distinct from others and the
awareness of the constancy of the self' (Bee, 1992). The child realizes that they
exist as a separate entity from others and that they continue to exist over time
and space.
2. The Categorical Self- Having realized that he or she exists as a separate
experiencing being, the child next becomes aware that he or she is also an
object in the world. Just as other objects including people have properties that
can be experienced (big, small, red, smooth and so on) so the child is
becoming aware of himself or herself as an object which can be experienced,
and which has properties.
EXPLORE
Social Roles: We are all social beings whose behavior is shaped to some
extent by the roles we play. Such roles as student, housewife, or member of the
football team not only help others to recognize us but also help us to know what
is expected of us in various situations.
Personal Traits: These are the third dimension of our self-descriptions. “I’m
impulsive...I’m generous...I tend to worry a lot”...etc.
4) Existential Statements (abstract ones): These can range from "I’m a child of the
universe" to "I’m a human being" to "I’m a spiritual being"...etc.
3. 3. Social Roles
Some social roles carry prestige e.g., doctor, airline pilot, TV. presenter,
premiership footballer and this promotes self-esteem. Other roles carry a stigma.
E.g., a prisoner, mental hospital patient, refuse collector or unemployed person.
4. Identification
Roles aren’t just “out there.” They also become part of our personality i.e.
we identity with the positions we occupy, the roles we play and the groups we
belong to.
Michael Argyle (2008) says there are four major factors which influence its
development:
Personality
Another important lesson that we will discuss under self-development
is Personality. Gordon Allport (1990) defines personality as a “pattern of habits,
attitudes, traits that determine an individual’s characteristics, behaviors, and
traits.
Components of Personality
Personality according to Amparo and Tuazon (1960) can be one of two things:
One’s biggest asset leading to success
One’s heaviest liability leading to failure
1. Open Area - the area known to oneself and to others. Examples are age,
gender, etc.
2. Hidden Area – the area known only to oneself and not known by others. It
refers to one’s secrets in life
3. Blind Area – the area not known to the self but is known by others.
Examples are expressions and mannerisms.
4. Unknown Area – the area not known to the person or others. This area
remains untapped and undiscovered until the right time or opportunity.
According to Luft and Ingham, a person can use the Johari Window to
improve the self by widening the open area and reducing the blind and hidden
areas. Doing so will eventually lead to the reduction of the unknown area as
well as pave the way for one to discover more about oneself in terms of
attitude, talents, capabilities and other skills. These can be made possible by the
following:
Knowing Oneself
THE MASKS WE WEAR
The self encompasses one’s body,
feelings, emotions, thoughts,
values and relationships. It is a
unique personal identity made up
of one’s experiences, beliefs,
convictions, as well as one’s
longings, dreams, life’s purpose
and meaning.
In our discussion, though there are
a lot of definitions of the word
“SELF”, oneself will be treated
synonymously with the term
“PERSONALITY”.
What
is
Personality?
The term “Personality” is
derived from the Latin
word “persona” meaning
“a mask”.
Personality refers to the
individual differences in
characteristic patterns of
thinking, feeling and
behaving
We will talk more about personality
as we go on through our
discussion. For the meantime, let’s
first talk of the main goal why we
need to discuss the self or
personality, and that is developing
a POSITIVE SELF CONCEPT.
Positive Self-Concept
The term Self-Concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks
about, evaluates or perceives themselves. To be aware of oneself is to have a
concept of oneself. Lewis (1990) suggests that the development of oneself has two
aspects:
1. The Existential Self - This is 'the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-
concept; the sense of being separate and distinct from others and the awareness
of the constancy of the self' (Bee, 1992). The child realizes that they exist as a
separate entity from others and that they continue to exist over time and space.
2. The Categorical Self- Having realized that he or she exists as a separate
experiencing being, the child next becomes aware that he or she is also an object
in the world. Just as other objects including people have properties that can be
experienced (big, small, red, smooth and so on) so the child is becoming aware of
himself or herself as an object which can be experienced, and which has
properties.
A renowned psychologist,
Carl Rogers (1959),
believes that the self-
concept has three different
components: The view you
have of yourself (self-
image), how much value
you place on yourself (self-
esteem or self-worth),
what you wish you were
really like (ideal-self
SELF-IMAGE
(how you see yourself)
Mountain Sate Center for
Independent Living explain that:
“Self-image is how you perceive
yourself. It is a number of self-
impressions that have built up over
time. These self-images can be very
positive, giving a person confidence
in their thoughts and actions, or
negative, making a person doubtful
of their capabilities and ideas.”
What you see when you look in the
mirror and how you picture yourself
in your head is your self-image
THE TWENTY STATEMENT TEST
Kuhn (1960) investigated the self-image by using
The Twenty Statements Test. He asked people to
answer the question 'Who am I?' in 20 different
ways. He found that the responses could be divided
into two major groups. These were social roles
(external or objective aspects of oneself such as son,
teacher, and friend) and personality traits (internal
or affective aspects of oneself such as gregarious,
impatient, and humorous).
The list of answers to the question “Who Am I?” probably include examples of each of the
following four types of responses:
2) Social Roles: We are all social beings whose behavior is shaped to some extent by the
roles we play. Such roles as student, housewife, or member of the football team not only help
others to recognize us but also help us to know what is expected of us in various situations.
3) Personal Traits: These are the third dimension of our self-descriptions. “I’m
impulsive...I’m generous...I tend to worry a lot”...etc.
4) Existential Statements (abstract ones): These can range from "I’m a child of the universe" to
"I’m a human being" to "I’m a spiritual being"...etc.
SELF-ESTEEM
(the extent to which you value yourself)
Self-esteem (also known as
self-worth) refers to the
extent to which we like,
accept or approve of
ourselves, or how much we
value ourselves. Self-
esteem always involves a
degree of evaluation and
we may have either a
positive or a negative view
of ourselves.
High self-esteem (we have a
positive view of ourselves)
This tends to lead to:
● Confidence in our own
abilities
● Self-acceptance
● Not worrying about
what others think
● Optimism
Low self-esteem (we have
a negative view of
ourselves)
This tends to lead to:
● Lack of confidence
● Want to be/look like
someone else
● Always worrying
what others might think
● Pessimism
Michael Argyle (2008) believes there are 4 major factors that
influence self-esteem:
3. Social Roles
Some social roles carry prestige
e.g., doctor, airline pilot, TV.
presenter, premiership
footballer and this promotes
self-esteem. Other roles carry a
stigma. E.g., a prisoner, mental
hospital patient, refuse collector
or unemployed person.
Michael Argyle (2008) believes there are 4 major factors that
influence self-esteem:
4. Identification
Roles aren’t just “out there.”
They also become part of
our personality i.e. we
identity with the positions
we occupy, the roles we
play and the groups we
belong to.
IDEAL SELF (what you'd like to be)
If there is a mismatch between how you see
yourself (e.g., your self-image) and what you’d
like to be (e.g., your ideal-self) then this is
likely to affect how much you value yourself.
Therefore, there is an intimate relationship
between self-image, ego-ideal and self-
esteem.
A person’s ideal self may
not be consistent with
what actually happens in
the life and experiences
of the person. Hence, a
difference may exist
between a person’s ideal
self and actual
experience. This is called
“INCONGRUENCE”.
Where a person’s ideal self and
actual experience are consistent or
very similar, a state of
“CONGRUENCE” exists. Rarely,
if ever does a total state of
congruence exist; all people
experience a certain amount of
incongruence. The development of
congruence is dependent on
unconditional positive regard.
Rogers believed that for a person to
achieve self-actualization they must
be in a state of congruence.
Self Concept
Self-concept
The value we
The way we The way we
put on
see ourselves would like to be
ourselves
1. Habits – reactions
so often repeated as to
become fixed
characteristics or
tendencies
COMPONENTS OF PERSONALITY
2. Attitudes – certain ways of
viewing things gained from the
environment, changed by the
working mind and imagination
and somewhat influenced by the
physical environment,
particularly by emotions.
COMPONENTS OF PERSONALITY
3. Physical Traits –
include facial
appearance, height,
weight, physical defects,
complexion, strength
and health.
COMPONENTS OF PERSONALITY
4. Mental Traits –
include our ability to
control the mind
COMPONENTS OF PERSONALITY
5. Emotional Traits –
give an individual the
capacity to face
different situations in
life and still maintain
his/her composure.
COMPONENTS OF PERSONALITY
● One’s biggest
asset leading to
success
● One’s heaviest
liability leading to
failure
Our personality is our biggest responsibility. It
ought to be treated with the most intensive care
because it may turn out to be our worst enemy or
our best friend. It may be our best friend because
when treated with care, a mature personality
makes us acceptable to the society and thus be
successful in the fields of our endeavour. When
neglected, however, it will hinder our personal
growth.
THE JOHARI WINDOW
Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham, two noted
psychologists, introduced the concept of Johari
window. The term “Johari” was coined from the
first syllables of their names. Johari Window is a
mechanism designed to help an individual grow
through learning more about oneself and others. It
consists of four windowpanes which is also known
as the four windows of truth.
According to Luft and Ingham, a person can use the Johari
Window to improve the self by widening the open area and
reducing the blind and hidden areas. Doing so will eventually
lead to the reduction of the unknown area as well as pave the
way for one to discover more about oneself in terms of attitude,
talents, capabilities and other skills. These can be made possible
by the following:
• Self-disclosure and Sharing
• Establishing Trust
• Asking for feedback and giving feedback
Journal Entry No. 2