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The Personality Development

By Ass. Prof. Dr. Diyar Hussein TahirM.B.Ch.B. --F.I.C.M.S.Psych.

Department of psychiatry, College of Medicine, Hawler Medical University.

Why we study personality ?

It is important for the daily work of teachers, students & others to know themselves well & to know others ……..

So they can deal in the best way with the surrounding & can avoid crisis & conflicts as much as it is possible.

Most of the daily problems occur from misunderstanding of ourselves & others.

What is Personality?

It is the enduring patterns of thinking, feeling and behaviour which makes one individual distinguishable from another.

So personality is stable or at least relatively stable, i.e. we do not change dramatically from week to week.

Jekyll-and-Hyde personality changes

are, thankfully, extremely rare.

Personality development:

People’s personalities continue to develop throughout their lives. Specific traits change at different rates and to different degrees.

Some personality traits seem to remain constant throughout a person’s life, while others undergo dramatic changes.

Personality development is more obvious during childhood; in which there is rapid physical, emotional, and intellectual growth.

Nature versus Nurture:

It is debated what determines the personality.

Some argue that it is heredity, & others suggest that the social environment determines it.

The Nature Viewpoint:• States that much of human behavior is instinctual in

origin.• Instinct is an unchanging behavior pattern, & it is most

often applied to animal behavior. • They claim that instinctual drives are responsible for

practically everything: laughing, motherhood, religion, even the creation of society.

• 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 Known genes that specify personality traits, but some genes do control the development of the CNS.

The Nurture Viewpoint:States that the person’s behavior and

personality are the result of his social environment and learning.

Pavlov supported this viewpoint, by showing that what is supposed to be instinctual behaviors could be taught.

Watson suggested that what applied to dogs could be applied to humans. He claimed that he could take a dozen of healthy infants and train themto become anything he wanted as doctors, lawyers, artists, beggars, or thieves.

Blending of factors:Mostly it is assumed that the personality results

from a combination of heredity and social environmental factors.

But it is believed that environmental factors have the greatest influence.

Heredity, birth order, parents, prenatal stage, & cultural environment are among the principal factors that influence the personality and behavior.

parental characteristics like the level of education, religious orientation, economic status, occupation, and cultural traditions can influence the child’s personality

The cultural environment:

Each culture gives rise to a series of personality traits (model personalities) that are typical of members of that society.

E.g. U.S.A. personalities are competitive, assertiveness and individualism.

Our personalities are……?

Personality disorders: They characterized by deeply ingrained maladaptive patterns of behaviour that are recognizable from adolescence & continue onto adult life. The abnormality may be in the balance of personality elements, their quality or expression, or in its total aspect. The person and/or society suffer as a result. …So: Everyone has a collection of personality traits but if these traits lead to a personal distress or to problems in the social or occupational functioning, the person may have a personality disorder.

Prevalence- About 10-13% of the population has one or more PD

- Most people with PD never come to the attention of mental health professionals

General characteristics of PD - They tend to be rigid & inflexible, show a restricted range of traits with

a dominant single trait.- They have low grade chronic problems with no insight, and often no

enough pain to seek help themselves; therefore they often forced to treatment, but difficult to be assessed.

The Specific Personality Disorders:

A-Cluster A (odd & eccentric) PD:1- Paranoid PD: ….. highly suspicious 2- Schizoid PD: .....withdrawn & reserved 3- Schizotypal PD: ..…odd thinking & behaviour

B-Cluster B (dramatic , emotional, or erratic) PD:1- Antisocial PD: …violation of the rights of others 2- Borderline PD: …feelings of emptiness & boredom 3- Histrionic PD: …wants to be the center of attention 4- Narcissistic PD: ..inflated sense of their own importance

C- Cluster C (anxious & fearful) PD: 1- Avoidant PD: …chronic feeling of inadequacy 2- Dependant PD: …over & continuous dependence on other people 3- Obsessive-compulsive PD: … inflexibility, stubbornness & continuous desire for perfection

D- Personality disorder not otherwise specified: 1- Depressive PD: …depressive cognitions and behaviors 2- Passive aggressive: ...Outwardly compliant but inwardly hostile 3- Mixed PD: … features of more than one PD but do not meet the full criteria for anyone alone.

Parking a Lot of the Personality Disordered:

1) PARANOID Cornered again2) SCHIZOID Can’t tolerate closeness 3) SCHIZOTYPICAL Intergalactic (odd) parking4) ANTI-SOCIAL Obstructs other cars5) BORDERLINE Rams into car of ex-lover6) HISTRIONIC Parks in centre for dramatic effect7) NARCISSIST Largest car, prominent decoration8) AVOIDANT Hides in the corner9) DEPENDANT Needs other cars to feel safe10) OBSESSIVE Perfect alignment in parking spot11) PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE Angled across two bays (fields)

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THANK YOU

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Questions?