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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Social and Cultural Factors Affect Personality

We learned that our personalities are greatly influenced by biological and environment factors. In addition there are the social and cultural factors in personality.Our relationships with other human beings involve what is called social interaction. Social interaction is the give-and-take process through which human beings affect one another's behavior. This process is well illustrated when We play a game or carry on a conversation. One person's move-the batter in baseball making a hit, for instance-may star chain of reactions in others, whether players in his team or in the opposing team as well as among the spectators. A nasty remark from one among a group in conversation will set another chain of reactions.The resulting interaction may involve many persons and affect their behavior patterns. To learn why one reacts as he does, one must understand the social interaction process, through which he has learned his ideas, habits, and attitudes.

The social interaction process is clearly seen in the development of one's idea of "self." The idea of self starts developing as the infant learns one thing after another in the world around him. The members of his family exert a great influence on his idea of self. As a child grows older, he gains experiences and learns to make definite responses to the attitudes of others, particularly attitudes that praise or blame. He learns to play the role expected of him. This pattern of behavior expected of one in any particular relationship with others is called social role.

How different is the social role of student from that of teacher, or of a carpenter from that of an office executive, a farmer from that of a businessman. But once we know how others see us, react to us, and expect of us, we can begin to see how to play our own role. We can decide how we should act to obtain the best possible adjustment to the situation . We learn to play our role or roles in one group as well as in different groups. Consider that in one day you may have played the roles of son, student, athlete, customer, errand boy, churchgoer, and visitor.

As time goes on and you mature, you play more and more roles. Your idea or concept of self enlarges as you gain experience in understanding the attitudes of other people and their reactions to you. There is no completeness to one's idea of self. New experiences continually present new opportunities to "see ourselves as others see us" and to revise all early ideas of what we are and what we can do.

The pattern of living of a group called culture. Patterns of living differ in different places within the same country. All over the world people have developed different patterns of living. Differences in culture explain why there are different ideas about the "proper" ways of doing things. These patterns of living are not inherited. They are learned from generation to generation as the young are taught and trained by their elders. They are modifiable patterns that have been tested and improved upon for ages. Culture helps decide our social roles. In addition, culture sets certain limits on these roles. For example, culture sets a pattern of behavior for your role as a student, a son, or a daughter. Culture sets a pattern of behavior for you as a leading or supporting participant on the stage and even as a listener or onlooker among the audience. You do not do as you please but behave as you are expected to behave.

There are times when there is a conflict between the roles you are called upon to play. At such times, you must make sacrifices to adjust to the situation. A member of a basketball team or of an orchestra may, for example have to forego the pleasure of going to a movie, a party or an excursion for he has to spend long hours practicing with his teammates or the rest of his band. The adjustments made in response to conflicts in roles can cause changes or develop new behavior patterns in one's personality.

Your goal in personality development is a well-rounded personality that can help you meet situations in life successfully. You have learned the different factors at work in personality growth. By now you should be able to improve your own behavior patterns and make the best adjustment to those of others.

Bear in mind the fact that what you are going to be you are becoming now. You have the power to direct what you want to become. Use that power!

29 comments:

Geovanny Moreno said...

Hi, I realy liked your post, I've never asked myself on what depends my personality development. I've always thought that we never finished defining our personality because there's something everyday that attracts our interest, like new friends, they contribute with something of their own personality to ours and vice versa. From some of the factors that you describe I realized that they are present in my life, specially when social roles depends on culture, now I know why I am a born leader who is capable of taking the best decisions for any situation and correct any mistake that could have been done in the past or could happen in the future, a psychologist that is always disposed to listening the emotional problems of my friends, and a exceptional teacher that can explain the most complex information in a single way that each one can understand. I think if I continue writing the list would be longer but the idea is clear. After reading your post, I'm totally sure that the most important factor in the development of personality, is culture as a influence of social roles, because social roles are what defines our personality better.

Jenny Mancero said...

I agree family is a big influence in the development of our personality. As we grow up, there are a lot of things that occur around us like conflicts or changes that can affect our values or beliefs. Depending on this maybe we could become independent or insecure. In my life, conflicts have made me a stronger, I am very secure when I have to make a decision and also I have become closer to God. I think Social interaction is the way in which we can show who we are but also we can learn new things from other people that we can adapt to our lives such as the kind of music we listen, different hobbies, etc. Our culture is something that differ us from the rest of the people, but I think that we develop it because of our parents and everything that they teach us every day. So finally I consider that my family plays an important role in the development of I am and who I am going to be.

Andrea Moreno Quevedo said...

I find very interesting this article, I had the feeling you mixed sociology and psychology to get to your point. Well I’m studying psychology right now and i should tell you that personality is not an inheritance, at least not in a very high degree, but what has been proved is that temperament it is. I believe that the personality and the roles a person plays in society are based in experiences, but this does not follow a pattern because if you give the same situation to two different kinds of people the probabilities that they react in the same way are null.
Another thing that called my attention was the quote you used to describe the self “see ourselves as others see us”, this is most of the times used to say in simple and clear words that we, the human being, live in a constant change of masks. By this I mean that we learn how to behave in certain circumstances with certain people, you don’t talk with your parents or your boss at work, the same way you talk with your friends. Or you don’t behave the same way in a fancy restaurant than in dinner in a friend’s house. We are here for learning; we are in constant evolution and learning. We chose which things to keep to improve our personality and remind and we just forget the thing we do not wish to have in our minds

cristina parrales said...

i agree that family is a big influence in our personality, because our family is with us from the moment we`re born. with our family we go through bad moments to really special memories. with them we learn essencial values and important facts of life. facts that that make us stronger.
with family we may get closer to religion specially to God, and this will help us to make decission without having problems. having a close family means having close friends, and friends are important for a good personality deveplopment.
so for me my family plays a so important role in my personality. for them i am how iam right now and because of them someday i´ll be a professional.

Hans von Buchwald said...

Cultural influences surrounding us are a true factor which determines our behavior and personility development. We do have the power to decide and determine how to act and react in our lifes so that we become our own “selfs”, but experiences will always be constantly shapping our personality. When I was seventeen I went to Washington DC to visit my uncle. Til this time I had shaped my personality, maybe a little shy, I didn't appreciate family company and I was a very “indoors” boy. When I had this new experience of going away by myself to another country I started developing my personality into another level. I had become more confident and secure, walking by myself in the streets and I started appreciating more the time I shared with the people around me, specially my family. When I got back to Ecuador I had grown up and changed my point of view on how my family saw me and i became more united to them and my behavior as sun changed completly.

Cristina Duran said...

As written I agree to personality development, all the factors involved are certain. As social role which is the environment where you develop as a human being comes directly from the principles, behaviors and politeness that we learned in life. Most likely we tend to imitate our parents behaviors as we grow up, even at school and college we develop much more because we learn how to deal with different people and their personalities in order to get along well with everybody, we get the opportunity to know them, as a consequence treat them as they wish. My personal experience was by the time I graduated from high school, I started to work with my dad in his office, there I had to learn the particular behavior that this company required like : to be on time, to wear uniform, to be polite and to work full time which is not the regular behavior I had at my house. Never forgetting that different cultures demand different patterns of behaviors and living.

Cristina Duran said...

As written I agree to personality development, all the factors involved are certain. As social role which is the environment where you develop as a human being comes directly from the principles, behaviors and politeness that we learned in life. Most likely we tend to imitate our parents behaviors as we grow up, even at school and college we develop much more because we learn how to deal with different people and their personalities in order to get along well with everybody, we get the opportunity to know them, as a consequence treat them as they wish. My personal experience was by the time I graduated from high school, I started to work with my dad in his office, there I had to learn the particular behavior that this company required like : to be on time, to wear uniform, to be polite and to work full time which is not the regular behavior I had at my house. Never forgetting that different cultures demand different patterns of behaviors and living.

Carlos Galarza said...

As culture sets a pattern of behaviour, sometimes we need to repress ourselves in order to behave as we are supposed to behave, but that is not always the best option. Repression prevents us from understanding ourselves. It is true we all have social roles in everything we do, but this roles doesn´t always bring us the inner joy we are supposed to feel, or let us express in a honest way. We should use the "power to direct ourselves" to find a way to enjoy the social role we are in.

Anonymous said...

I agree what you said in your post. I think there exist factors that help you to build your personality. I have a same thought about that you start to build your personality when you are just a child in a growing process. Every habit that you saw that your parents did when you was a child is essential to make you define who you are, and maybe you'll continue practice them. Also the way you are educated may define who you are and what things you agree or not from other people, you could have very similar thoughts with people that is from a same region, or are part of a culture. Your family will always be a factor that makes you build the way you are, because family is influential in any ones life, no matter what, because you grow with them or in some cases there are people without a family but the fact they don't have one makes them build a personality too, maybe different from people that do grew with a family. And another thing for me that makes you and defines who you are are the experiences you traverse along your life, many happy or hard moments during your life will influence in your personality and will define you as a person.

Emilio Mantilla said...

I agree what you said in your post. I think there exist factors that help you to build your personality. I have a same thought about that you start to build your personality when you are just a child in a growing process. Every habit that you saw that your parents did when you was a child is essential to make you define who you are, and maybe you'll continue practice them. Also the way you are educated may define who you are and what things you agree or not from other people, you could have very similar thoughts with people that is from a same region, or are part of a culture. Your family will always be a factor that makes you build the way you are, because family is influential in any ones life, no matter what, because you grow with them or in some cases there are people without a family but the fact they don't have one makes them build a personality too, maybe different from people that do grew with a family. And another thing for me that makes you and defines who you are are the experiences you traverse along your life, many happy or hard moments during your life will influence in your personality and will define you as a person.

Mericia Ramirez said...

I find your article very interesting. the truth is that I never analized the reason of the way I am (my personality) from that perspective. I always thought that I have been taking certain aspects of both my dad and my mom. for example: the similar likes and oarganization from my mom, my sociability from my dad, creativity and innovation from both, etc... but it is also true that I've noticed that there are many things about my personality that are very diferent from them and I think that's because waht you said about the enviroment in which I'm surrounded, my friends, and so on. I also noticed that we act diferentlt, depending on the group of people we treat with and the situations in wich we face off. Your words made me reflect a lot about why I am like I am and for that I'm very thankful ;)

Nicole MUentes said...

Well I really really like your post, because is so true in many parts, I'm totally agree with the fact that familly is a big influences in our personality, because with them you pass the majority of your time, they are with us in the good times, bad times, and they always support you, and help you to form your character with good values and actitudes, in my case, my two big brothers help me to make by strong, my mom love others, my sister to help others and my dad to always put the best to achieve our goals.

Anonymous said...

I've been asking myself for a long time why do I act like I do? or why I act in one way with a group of friends and act in another way on a different group? I'm actually agree when it says that personality gets influenced by biological and enviorment factors, we develop different roles unconsciously because we just want to fit in a group, we want to feel we're part of something, that's a basic human need. I'm also agree when it says that developing somes roles we must take sacrifices, I think thats just because we like to develop that specifc role, and it depends of what kind of sacrifices we must take.

Silvia Toledo said...

I can just say that the author of this article is very right. I come from a multicultural country, Ecuador, known for its variety of cultures and etnic groups, so, most of the time I am surrounded with different manners, languages, etc. Because of this wide assortment of cultural groups, moral is seeing in distinct points of views depending of the origins of these societies. In every community, people develop their roles in a distinctive way too. That is an important factor that clearly shows the reasons of the variations of personality through time and relations with people. It is worth to compare our course in life to a sponge; we are constantly absorbing new things, observing behaviours and adapting to people´s attitudes. Personality is definately a beautiful but subjetive part of ourselves.

Silvia Toledo said...

I can just say that the author of this article is very right. I come from a multicultural country, Ecuador, known for its variety of cultures and etnic groups, so, most of the time I am surrounded with different manners, languages, etc. Because of this wide assortment of cultural groups, moral is seeing in distinct points of views depending of the origins of these societies. In every community, people develop their roles in a distinctive way too. That is an important factor that clearly shows the reasons of the variations of personality through time and relations with people. It is worth to compare our course in life to a sponge; we are constantly absorbing new things; observing behaviors and adapting to people´s attitudes. Personality is definitely a beautiful but subjective part of us.

karen rosero said...

I sure that my personality depends on my parents teaching , my values and beliefs because in every moment that I need support my family is there and specially God that always is taking care of me , also depends on the good or bad experience that i have lived. Social factors affects but that depends on the way that people can react about the reality that they have and how they could take advantage of the situations because finally you decide how to be and what personality takes.

karen rosero said...

I sure that my personality depends on my parents teaching , my values and beliefs because in every moment that I need support my family is there and specially God that always is taking care of me , also depends on the good or bad experience that i have lived. Social factors affects but that depends on the way that people can react about the reality that they have and how they could take advantage of the situations because finally you decide how to be and what personality takes.

Xavier Ruilova said...

This is a very interesting topic that makes me think about masks. We use a different mask for every situation in our life. We decide how to behave depending on how the others could react to us and our behavior is our mask which never let us be ourselves in essence but who they expect of us to be. Therefore we live adjusting ourselves to the situations, adding and extracting parts of our identity, to please the others.
As you mentioned, “see ourselves as others see us” I think it can also be said “see ourselves as others expect to see us”.

Anonymous said...

ako meronng disorder pero walang personality..pahiram nga!!!wheee..

Anonymous said...

isa pa..isa pa...whe..
asan na ako..nasa munod pa ba ako?..
galing naman ng post mo...buti na lang wala akong personality..andami lang ng disorder...wa ha ha ha :0

Karin Orna said...

I think it’s an interesting topic. Personality development involves our role in life and how we decide to interact with others. Throughout life we play an important role according to the stage where we are, each role must be played as best as possible because people that surround us at any stage of our lives, expect us to fulfill our role. Sometimes people depend on how we play our role. Our social interaction reflects how we are and how well we can deal with different people at any situation, this helps us to get to know new people and to determine their behavior and how it affects us and other people.

Karin Orna said...

I think it’s an interesting topic. Personality development involves our role in life and how we decide to interact with others. Throughout life we play an important role according to the stage where we are, each role must be played as best as possible because people that surround us at any stage of our lives, expect us to fulfill our role. Sometimes people depend on how we play our role. Our social interaction reflects how we are and how well we can deal with different people at any situation, this helps us to get to know new people and to determine their behavior and how it affects us and other people.

SittieCates said...

I love how this article discussed the social and cultural factors affecting one's personality. Your views are presented well in this piece, MarieClara. Nicely written! ;-)

Pablo Montalvo said...

I have a mixed view about forging one's personality, it has to do with your surroundings and your personal choices. You can have traditions passed by your family onto you, have points of views taught within your social circle, knowledge from your schools, but also you are the one in charge of your decisions, thus making it impossible to you to be the same as any other person in the world, and I prefer it that way because everyone has a choice to take responsability of their actions. When conflict arises, that is when your true person arises from the shell within yourself, forged by one's actions and its surroundings.

Octavio Córdova said...

It's amazing how personality can be related to different internal and external factors such as family and culture. Family takes a huge role on it, because while you are growing you confront different adversities that start marking your personality; everything depends on how you control the situations that life gives you.
By the other side, culture gives another perspective of personalities. For example I can say that depending on the place you were born you personality is reflected. We all know that generally most europeans are known as cold people, not that sociable. But, in my country Ecuador, everybody is very kind, affective and known as warmers.

Octavio Córdova

Stefanie Armendariz said...

It's a very interesting article, specially because I wanted to study psychology.
I think family help you to form your personality but just at the beggining of your life, they help you to develop your personality and express yourself, but naturally it is in you because you was born with that.
Culture is an important factor in the development of your personality because it is something that will be always with you, a part of you, even if you don't want. It helps you to discover other ways to express your emotions and feelings.
Throughout your life you also get experience and whit it you learn a lot of things you never imagine and it can change your points of view but not your personality because it's your essence, it's who you are.

Stefanie Armendáriz.

Maria Fernanda Mina said...

I have always heard that we are what we are surrounded by, and I agree that the environment where we grow is a big influence in our personality. The people we meet, the culture, the religion will always be factors that affect the way we think, the way we act and the way we respond to everyday challenges. I also think personality can change depending on the experiences we have for example : when I travelled to Europe , I was surrounded by a new culture , different thoughts and that made me realize that I needed to be more open mind and get immersed in that culture , so this environment affected on me , my thoughts and personality.

Mafer Rizzo said...

Mafer Rizzo
Im agree with this post. I have always think that the person that we are, is a mix of everything that we have inherited from our family and ancesters. The way we behave is the way our parents taught us, they inculcated us manners, principles and we put in practice in the way that we consider the best.
Personality is not defined at an early age, i think that we have to pass by a process to learn form our mitakes and to define how we should act and be with the rest.

Patty Lopez said...

This is an ever changing life; we are going making our own path in agreement with our personality. The human being is adaptable to any situation or is always available to catch any stuff, tought, behavior, lifestyle or whatever and incorporate it to our lifes because it interfers our personality in different ways. For exmaple, when I travel to another country and see how is the behavior of those persons, I return different if it seems good for me. I have always thought that every thing that is around us interferes with the formation of our personality so we are always chaning our opinions or likes until we can be mature enought to learn what aspcts and things really define us.