W1Q1: Knowing Oneself

Personality and Human Development

Personality

Personality is defined as the distinctive and characteristic patterns of thought, emotion and behavior that make up an individual’s personal style of interacting with the physical and social environment (Smith et al., 2003).

Human Development

Human development is one of the most interesting topics that we need to understand. Our personality has something to do on how we grow from womb to tomb. For us to attain mental health, we must balance every aspect of our individuality. As mentioned in Sia’s Psychiatric Nursing, “Mental health is a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or his own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community."

Human development and personal development are classified into physical, cognitive & psychosocial development.

Physical Development

Physical in the sense that it covers growth of the body and the brain, motor and sensory skills and even physical health.

Cognitive Development

Cognitive in the perspective that it covers our capacity to learn, speak, and to understand as we can reason out and be creative in our ways.

Psychosocial Development

Psychosocial because it includes our social interactions with other people, our emotions, attitudes, self-identity, personality beliefs and values.

Self-Awareness

In order for us to know other people, we must first know and understand our self-first. One must know their weaknesses and strengths. SELF AWARENESS is the first step in creating what you want and mastering your life. Where you focus your attention, your emotions, reactions, personality and behavior determine where you go in life. Having self-awareness allows you to see where your thoughts and emotions are taking you. It also allows you to take control of your emotions, behavior, and personality so you can make changes you want. Until you are aware in the moment of your thoughts, emotions, words, and behavior, you will have difficulty making changes in the direction of your life.

Self-Concept

Your ideal self is the self that you aspire to be. It is the one that you hope will possess characteristics similar to that of a mentor or some other worldly figure.

Your actual self, however, is the one that you actually see. It is the self that has characteristics that you were nurtured or, in some cases, born to have.

Actual Self and Ideal Self

The actual self and the ideal self are two broad categories of self-concept. Self-concept refers to your awareness of yourself. It is the construct that negotiates these two selves. In other words, it connotes first the identification of the ideal self as separate from others, and second, it encompasses all the behaviors evaluated in the actual self that you engage in to reach the ideal self.

The actual self is built on self-knowledge. Self-knowledge is derived from social interactions that provide insight into how others react to you. The actual self is who we actually are. It is how we think, how we feel, look, and act. The actual self can be seen by others, but because we have no way of truly knowing how others view us, the actual self is our self-image.

The ideal self, on the other hand, is how we want to be. It is an idealized image that we have developed over time, based on what we have learned and experienced. The ideal self could include components of what our parents have taught us, what we admire in others, what our society promotes, and what we think is in our best interest.

Negotiation between Actual Self and Ideal Self

There is negotiation that exists between the two selves which is complex because there are numerous exchanges between the ideal and actual self. These exchanges are exemplified in social roles that are adjusted and re-adjusted and are derived from outcomes of social interactions from infant to adult development. Alignment is important. If the way that I am (the actual self) is aligned with the way that I want to be (the ideal self), then I will feel a sense of mental well-being or peace of mind. If the way that I am is not aligned with how I want to be, the incongruence, or lack of alignment, will result in mental distress or anxiety.

Freud’s Structures of Personality

Have you ever asked yourself the question: Who am I? For Plato, one of Socrates’ students, the beginning of knowledge is self-knowledge. Self is the essence of a person: his thoughts, feelings, actions, experiences, beliefs, values, principles, and relationships. Self includes a person’s life purpose, meaning and aspirations.

According to Sigmund Freud, human personality is complex and has more than a single component. In his famous psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three elements. These three elements of personality - known as the id, the ego, and the superego - work together to create complex human behaviors. Each component adds its own unique contribution to personality and all three elements work together to form complex human behaviors.

Key Components of Personality

The Id (Bad Self)

• The id is the only component of personality that is present from birth.
• It is entirely unconscious and includes the instinctive and primitive behaviors.
• According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary component of personality.
• The id is driven by the pleasure principle, which strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs. If these needs are not satisfied immediately, the result is a state of anxiety or tension.
• For example, an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat or drink.

The Ego (Balancer - Own Self)

• The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality.
• According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world.
• The ego functions in both the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.
• The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways. The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses.
• In many cases, the id's impulses can be satisfied through a process of delayed gratification - the ego will eventually allow the behavior, but only in the appropriate time and place.

The Superego (The Good Self)

• The last component of personality to develop is the superego.
• The superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society - our sense of right and wrong.
• It provides guidelines for making judgments.
• According to Freud, the superego begins to emerge at around age five.

Id, Ego, and Superego

The Interaction of the Id, Ego, and Superego

With so many competing forces, it is easy to see how conflict might arise between the id, ego, and superego. Freud used the term

ego strength

to refer to the ego's ability to function despite these dueling forces. A person with good ego strength is able to effectively manage these pressures, while those with too much or too little ego strength can become too unyielding or too disrupting.

According to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance between the

id

, the

ego

, and the

superego

.

The Big 5 Personality Traits

Many contemporary personality psychologists believe that there are five basic dimensions of personality, often referred to as the

"Big 5" personality traits

. The five broad personality traits described by the theory are:

• Openness: curiosity, interest, imagination, and creativity to new ideas
• Conscientiousness: planning, organizing, hardworking, controlling, persevering, and punctuality
• Extraversion: sociable, talkative, active, outgoing, and fun-loving
• Agreeableness: friendly, warm, trusting, generous, and kind-hearted
• Neuroticism: calm, relaxed, and comfortable