Personality Determinants: The Role of Heredity and Environment
Contents
- Introduction
- Role of Heredity in Personality Development
- Role of Environment in Personality Development
- Role of Learning in Personality Development
- Process of Socialisation and its Role in Personality Development
- Relative Importance of Heredity and Environment
- Moulding of Personality
- Summary
- References
Introduction
As social life becomes more complex, personality becomes increasingly important. In a complex culture, a "pleasing" personality has "marketable value" and is highly valued and sought after. The word "personality" comes from the Latin word "persona," which literally means "mask." Actors in Greek theatre wore masks to conceal their identities on stage. Persona meant "as one appears to others," not "as one is." This dramatic method was eventually adopted by the Romans, who defined persona as "as one appears to others," not "as one is."
Different psychologists have presented different definitions of personality. They define personality in such a way that it encompasses both motivational and other distinguishing qualities.
Of these, the most widely accepted is the short but all-inclusive definition proposed by Gordon W. Allport. According to him “personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psycho-physical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.”
Role of Heredity in Personality Development
The personality pattern is based on an individual's hereditary endowment, but it is not passed down down the generations. It is the result of learning from long-term social interactions with people both inside and outside the home. Personality, as Anderson has pointed out, is organised around nodal points or experiences that have been given special attention.
Each new human being is born with a genetic heritage that contains all of the potentialities for his behaviour and growth throughout his lifetime. This endowment contains possibilities for a person's physical equipment, the development of specific talents, abilities, and types of behaviour, as well as growth and change patterns during a predictable life cycle.
The Mechanics of Heredity
The male and female germ cells join during fertilisation to generate a fertilised ovum with roughly 46 chromosomes, half from each parent. The chromosomes are tiny threadlike structures that contain hundreds of ultramicroscopic particles known as 'genes,' which are the true carriers of a person's genetic information. The chromosomes likely contain between 10,000 and 15,000 genes, each of which is a complicated molecule made up of thousands of atoms arranged in unique ways. The genes are the blueprint for a person's development, directing his progress from a single-celled organism to an adult. The potentialities for behaviour are hidden inside this inherited structure.
Role of Heredity
The maturation of physical and mental qualities that make up an individual's hereditary endowment determines and is intimately related with the personality pattern. Although social and other contextual influences influence the shape of a personality pattern, it is not instilled or controlled from without; rather, it emerges from the individual's potentials. Heredity provides the primary raw materials for personality: physical appearance, intelligence, and temperament. The environmental influences in which a person grows determine how he or she develops.
Many academics have emphasised the importance of inherited roots in defining personality patterns. The interaction of significant figures (first the mother, then the father and siblings, and finally extra familial characters) with the kid is said to shape personality. The child brings a biological constitution, a set of needs, and intellectual capacities to this connection, which define how a person is acted upon by major figures in her surroundings.
The person picks from his surroundings what matches his needs and rejects what does not as a result of the combination of hereditary and environmental factors. As a result, personality patterns emerge as a result of interactions with the environment that an individual has begun.
One rationale for emphasising the importance of heredity in the development of personality is to acknowledge that personality patterns are limited. A person with a low level of intellect, for example, will be unable to create a personality pattern that will lead to acceptable personal and social adjustment even under the most favourable environmental conditions, whereas a person with a high degree of adjustment will be able to do so. As a result, a person's development is constrained by heredity.
Furthermore, acknowledging the restrictions imposed by genetics emphasises that people are not completely free to choose and develop the personality pattern they desire. Using intelligence as an example, it is possible to argue that a person with low intelligence cannot create the personality pattern of a leader, even if he wishes to do so and has a great desire to do so.
Role of Environment in Personality Development
No trait is so reliant on genetics that it cannot develop without some minimal environmental conditions. This is true of physical characteristics as well as intellectual, social, and emotional ones. An individual is the result of numerous interactions between his genetic endowment and his physical and social surroundings at any given time. The natural world that surrounds an individual is referred to as the physical environment. This includes climate, geography, food supply, disease germs, and so on. The universe of people, customs, values, and man-made items is referred to as the sociocultural environment.
Physical Environment
People all throughout the world live in a variety of climates, terrains, and natural resources. Some live in deep rainforests, while others live in barren deserts, high mountains, and flat plain lands. Some people live in areas where it is exceedingly cold, while others live in areas where it is oppressively hot; some people live in areas where it rains most of the time, while others live in areas where there is a chronic drought. Food and other resources are plentiful in certain regions, but rare in others, so that much of an individual's life must be spent eking out a basic subsistence. Some locations are infected with illness and other physical safety dangers, while others are largely disease and danger-free.
Climate and Terrain
People who live in locations with unfavourable climate or terrain tend to develop adaptive physiological modifications. The Eskimo's circulatory system, for example, is buried deep under a protective fatty layer that keeps his body warm.
Scarcity, Disease and Other Unfavourable Conditions
Millions of people still live in locations where sickness is rampant and food resources are insufficient. Reduced physical vigour, bodily harm, and death are all consequences of such circumstances. Because poor physical conditions have an impact on how a group lives, we can suppose that they also have an impact on the personality development of individual members, at least indirectly. However, determining the specific effect is challenging, as cultural influences frequently complicate the overall issue.
It becomes increasingly difficult to assess the impact of the physical environment on individual and group development disparities. The influence of the physical environment appears to be less essential than that of the sociocultural environment, unless in circumstances where unfavourable conditions result in actual bodily harm, such as starvation and sickness.
Socio-cultural Environment
In the same way that man inherits a genetic inheritance that is the result of millions of years of evolutionary history, he inherits a sociocultural heritage that is the result of thousands of years of social evolution. This inheritance differs considerably from one social group to the next, yet there is enough in common throughout the diverse cultures of the world to allow us to talk meaningfully of "human culture." Every group has its own language, family and social structure, customs, values, music, and art, for example. These "institutions" are uniquely human, and they tend to be passed down through generations in every culture. The directive is sometimes deliberate, but it is also not always. The following are the most important ways in which the sociocultural environment influences individual development.
- Group Membership and Instruction
Each civilization transmits its ideals, values, and approved behaviours to its offspring, both consciously and unconsciously. Social institutions such as the home, school, and temple, or their equivalents, are mostly responsible for this education. As a result, systematic training, together with the examples set by adults or other "models," tends to produce some degree of consistency and establish what might be referred to as the basic personality type of a given culture.
The wider social group, as well as the different subgroups to which an individual belongs–groups based on his family affiliation, religion, occupation, socioeconomic class, age, and sex–have an impact on the individual's basic personality structure. Each subgroup tends to promote specific ideals, beliefs, and acceptable behaviour patterns, which may then be subject to societal limits. Individual differences are produced by the fact that each individual belongs to a particular sort of subgroup, just as common membership in the larger cultural group makes everyone relatively alike.
The groups with which an individual identifies, or would want to be identified, are known as'reference groups,' because he sets his goals, models his behaviour, and assesses his worth in relation to the norms and values of that group. Reference groups from which the individual is excluded can sometimes have a bigger influence on the individual. - Status and Role
In any social organisation there are a range of distinguishing positions - doctor, teacher, carpenter, parent, student, child and so forth - each of which contributes in some manner to the whole group functioning and is granted a specific ‘social status’. Status brings with it both perks and duties. For example, the medical practitioner enjoys the privilege of practising medicine and also is viewed in great regard by other members of society. In return, he is expected to observe the ethical code of profession. If he fails to do so, he may have his medical licence withdrawn and be reduced to an inferior social status.
To define what is expected of a person with a specific position and status, society establishes numerous roles for its members to play, each connected with a certain pattern of anticipated behaviour. Thus the role of an army officer requires for devotion, decisiveness, boldness and inventiveness. Each person of the society, young or old, tends to develop the abilities, behaviour and values that his function seems to demand. If he deviates too far from what is expected him, he is likely to run into troubles in his social interaction
The extent to which role expectations can impact personality development is vividly demonstrated by Margaret Mead’s study (1949) of the Tchambuli, a New Guinea tribe in which the sex roles are almost the reverse of ours. Women are required to earn the living, handle commercial transactions, take the lead in romance, and in general, behave as head of the home. Men on the other hand, are expected to be coquettish, graceful, prone to gossip, good homemakers and engaged in dancing and theatricals. The established roles for men and women among the Tchambuli, evidently tend to channel personality development along lines completely different from those in our culture. - Interpersonal Relationships
Man is a social animal, and his personality development is heavily influenced by his interactions with others. In many communities, one type of interpersonal connection may predominate over others, such as rivalry or collaboration, animosity or friendship. Interpersonal ties, on the other hand, tend to contribute to individuality rather than development similarity, because no two of us have exactly the same acquaintances or have the same relationship with the people we do know in common. Even parents have different relationships with each of their children. Love and hate, friendship and distrust, shared experience and misunderstanding are all unique experiences that characterise our relationships with others.
Although we have many different types of interpersonal interactions throughout our lives, those with our parents and members of our peer groups have the most impact on our development. Aside from that, many other forms of interpersonal relationships, such as those with brothers and sisters, grandparents, instructors, and neighbours, may have a substantial impact on personality development. Even an accidental encounter with someone can alter the course of our lives.
Role of Learning in Personality Development
Learning, in all of its forms, particularly conditioning, imitation, and training, as well as learning under the supervision and direction of another, plays a crucial role in the formation of personality patterns. Attitudes toward oneself, typical modes of responding to people and situations, attitudes toward the assumption of socially acceptable roles, and methods of personal and social adjustment, including the use of defence mechanisms, are all learned through repetition and reinforced by the pleasure they provide. Gradually, the self-concept develops, and the taught responses become habitual, becoming "traits" in the personality pattern of the individual.
What features will be absorbed into the pattern is determined by social forces both inside and outside the household. Because aggressiveness is considered a sexappropriate trait for men, if a kid is taught to be aggressive, he will learn to react aggressively to people and things. If, on the other hand, aggressiveness results in social rejection or dissatisfaction, the person will experiment with alternative coping mechanisms until he finds one that fits his needs. He'll then do it again and again until it's second nature to him.
It is critical to recognise that learning plays a role in the development of personality patterns for two reasons. First, it teaches us that we can exert control over ourselves to guarantee that we establish the kind of personality pattern that leads to successful personal and social adjustment.
Second, it demonstrates that maladaptive self-concepts and socially unacceptable coping habits may be altered. As with all learning, the sooner you attempt a change or modification, the easier it will be.
Process of Socialisation and its Role in Personality Development
The role of socialisation in the development of human
personality may be shown by citing the two cases of
Anna and Isabelle. Anna, an illegitimate child, was
caused to be kept all alone in an upstairs room. When
removed from the room at the age of nearly six years,
Anna could not talk, walk or do anything, that showed
intelligence. She was expressionless and indifferent
to everything. She could not make any move on her
own behalf. This shows that in the absence of
socialisation the purely biological resources are too
poor to contribute to the development of a complete
personality. Communicative contact is the core of
socialisation.
Isabelle was discovered when she was six and a half years old. She, like Anna, was an illegitimate kid who had been isolated as a result. When she was discovered, she appeared to be completely unconcerned about any form of relationship. Her behaviour was similar to that of a six-month-old baby. It was afterwards attempted to teach her to speak. She appeared hopeless at first, but she eventually responded, and by the time she was eight and a half years old, she had attained a normal level of development.
Isabel's case demonstrates that being isolated until the age of six and failing to acquire any type of speech does not hinder later acquisition. However, determining the maximum age at which a person can remain isolated while yet retaining the ability to fully acquire cultural knowledge is difficult. However, both of these examples demonstrate the importance of socialisation in personality formation.
Meaning of Socialisation
Human society is a mental construct that exists entirely within the brains of its members. The human newborn is born as a biological entity with animal requirements. He is gradually shaped into a social entity, and he learns to act and feel in social ways. Without this process of shaping, society would cease to exist, culture would cease to exist, and the individual would cease to be a person. 'Socialisation' is the term for this moulding process. An individual becomes a social person and develops personality through the process of socialisation.
Inducting an individual into the social and cultural environment, making him a specific member of society and its numerous groups, and inducting him to accept the society's rules and values are all part of socialisation. Socialisation is a process of learning that allows a person to take on social roles.
Agencies of Socialisation
Socialisation develops a child's social maturity and makes him a productive member of society. As a result, knowing who socialises with the child is critical. There are two sources of socialisation for children. Those who have power over her fall into the first category, while those who are similar to the youngster fall into the second. Parents, teachers, the elderly, and the government may fall into the first category. The second group consists of peers, friends, and club members.
The following are the major socialisation agencies in brief.
- Primary Agencies
1) The Family
The parents or family constitute the first agency for the socialisation of the child. They are not only closely related to the child but physically also they are nearer to him than others. From the parents children learn language. They are taught societal morality. They start respecting persons in authority. In the family a child learns a number of civic virtues. The family therefore, is rightly called “the cradle of social virtues”. A child gets her first lesson in cooperation, tolerance, self sacrifice, love and affection in the family. The environment of a family influences almost all aspects of growth of a child.
2)Neighbourhood
The neighbourhood is the second important agency of socialisation. Good neighbourhood can make a child to grow as a positive person and responsible citizen.
3) Peer Group or the Play Mates
Peer groups and friends are also key socialisation agents. The child's connection with her playmates is one of equality. As previously said, children learn cooperative morality as well as some of the more informal components of culture such as fashion, fads, crazes, modes of pleasure, and prohibited information. From a societal standpoint, awareness of these items is required.
4)The School
The school is also a significant socialising institution. The youngster receives instruction in school, which moulds his or her thoughts and attitudes. A good education can convert a child into a good citizen, whilst a poor education can turn him into a criminal. The value of education in the socialisation process cannot be overstated. A well-designed educational system can develop competent individuals. - Secondary Agencies of Socialization
All of the above-mentioned organisations are referred to as major socialisation organisations. There are a few different types of socialisation agency known as secondary socialisation agencies. These include:
1) Religion
Religion has been an important factor in society. In the early history of societies religion provided a bond of unity. Though in modern society the importance of religion has diminished, yet it continues to mould our beliefs and ways of life. The child sees his parents going to the temple and performing religious ceremonies, and listens to religious sermons which may determine the course of life and shaped his ideas.
2) The State
The state is an authoritarian socialisation agent. It develops laws for the people and establishes the standards of behaviour that are expected of them. These laws must be obeyed by all citizens. They may be penalised if they fail to alter their behaviour in conformity with state legislation. As a result, the state shapes a person's behaviour and personality.
Relative Importance of Heredity and Environment
There is now ample evidence that the shape a child's personality pattern will take is determined not only by the training methods utilised or the type of environment in which the person grows, but also by the hereditary potentials a person brings into the world.
Conditions Affecting Interaction of Heredity and Environment
An individual's potential at the time of birth has an impact on others, and the individual's potential is influenced by the relationships he or she has with significant people during his or her early years of life. The formation of a personality pattern is thus a far more complex process than previously thought, involving many more elements than would be the case if the newborn infant were "just a plastic blob of protoplasm."
The interaction of significant others with the biological constitution and other potentials determines development. Significant people attempt to mould the child's personality into a culturally acceptable pattern during this interaction. What kind of person the child will become is determined by how they handle the child's basic drives.
Parents', siblings', peers', relatives', and other people's attitudes and behaviours toward the child will influence the interaction pattern and, as a result, the development of personality. A child who has learned to be aggressive at home will form aggressive relationships with people outside the home. In contrast, a child who comes from a home where aggression is kept to a minimum will interact with strangers in a friendly and cooperative manner.
Relative Importance of Heredity and Environment
The relative role of heredity and environment in the formation of personality patterns is determined by at least three factors: the affected trait, the feature of the environment that is brought to bear on the developing trait, and the breadth and intensity of environmental forces. Some traits are more stable than others. They don't change much, no matter what the surroundings is like. Others are insecure and readily swayed by their surroundings. Even the same characteristic may be predominantly the consequence of inherited factors in some people, while it is the result of environmental situations in others. One person may be retiring and reclusive by nature, whereas another may become so as a result of environmental strife.
Inducting an individual into the social and cultural environment, making him a specific member of society and its numerous groups, and inducting him to accept the society's rules and values are all part of socialisation. Socialisation is a process of learning that allows a person to take on social roles.
The type and strength of environmental effects also determine how much different qualities evolve. The amount that environmental influences can modify certain traits depends on whether they are physiological, intellectual, or emotional. Characteristics that are structural in nature are usually more stable than functional features.
Value of Knowing Relative Importance of Heredity and Environment
Which plays a more important role in personality
development, heredity or environment ? The question
cannot be answered in one word. For certain aspects
of personality pattern, heredity is more important and
for others environment. Also, it is the point influence
of the two that is crucial rather than their separate
effects.
For practical as well as theoretical reasons it would be extremely useful to be able to determine which influence is the more powerful. One practical application of such knowledge which has been suggested by Jersild is “If children differ, by reason of their innate characteristics, in their tendency to be sensitive, to become hurt, to be yielding or to be defiant, to acquire attitudes of shame, to tolerate much or little pain and frustration, then we might assume that they differ in their innate tendencies to grow up as neurotic or healthy - minded individuals”.
The relative importance of the two influences on personality can not be determined once and for all because they may reinforce one another in their effect or they may conflict. The influence of the environment depends not on the environment alone but also on the person’s hereditary endowment.
Moulding of Personality
The idea that one's personality is formed early in life is not new. Early in the twentieth century, Sigmund Freud stressed the importance of the early years of life in shaping the shape of one's personality pattern in adulthood. His theory was based on evidence that many of his patients with personality disorders had experienced a traumatic upbringing. The frustration of certain of their inherent drives, according to Freud, was the source of their negative experiences.
Unfavorable early experiences, according to Bartemeier, have a significant impact on personality because the personality pattern is less fully formed than it will be later. It's worth noting that the consequences of early encounters don't have to be lasting.
Why Moulding Begins Early
Because the capacity to learn develops early and is ready to function before the infant reaches her first birthday, personality patterning begins early in postnatal life. What happens in the early years of life, the kind of people with whom the growing child interacts, what they expect of him, and how they attempt to enforce those expectations, all have an impact on the developing personality and decide the type of person she will become.
How the Personality Pattern is Moulded
The cultural group sets the pattern for the approved basic personality and expects every member of the group to conform to it. Personality is shaped and changed by the interactions with the culture in which the individual lives.
The approved fundamental personality pattern remains relatively steady in cultures whose values are relatively rigid. Where values change frequently and dramatically, the approved fundamental personality pattern will likewise alter. Of course, this does not refer to changes in the overall pattern, but rather to specific components of it.
Sources of Moulding
Attitudes, feelings, and behaviour patterns of children are shaped first in the family, then reinforced or changed at school, peer groups, and the larger community.
The 'family' is the most essential source of personality shaping because it is the child's initial social setting and the social group with whom she has the most frequent and closest interaction. The home, school, teachers, peer group, media, religion, occupation, and other relevant sources are also crucial.
Moulding Techniques
In shaping the personality pattern to correspond to culturally recognised standards, two ways of learning are dominant: first, learning via the supervision and control of another's behaviour, and second, learning through the limitation of another's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviour patterns. The first is known as 'child-training' and is an outside directed way of learning. The second is known as 'identification,' and it is self-initiated or inner-directed.
It's tough to say whether child instruction or identification is more significant in the formation of personality patterns. The relative efficacy of the two learning strategies differs from person to person and from age to age. Furthermore, no two persons react in the same way, as has been said.
Summary
In this article, we discussed the factors that influence one's personality. A little notion about personality development has also been provided.
A variety of elements influence the development of one's personality. Heredity, environment, learning, and the socialisation process are all key determinants of personality. Because the main raw materials of personality, such as physique, intelligence, and temperament, are to a considerable part dependent on a person's genetic endowment, heredity of the genetic base is a very important predictor of personality. Personality development is influenced by the environment as well. Physical environment, climate, and terrain are all crucial influences in the development of one's personality.
Learning is crucial in the development of a person's personality. It's crucial for two reasons. First, it teaches us that we may exert control over an individual's personality to ensure that he or she develops the type of personality pattern that leads to successful personal and societal adjustment. Second, it demonstrates that harmful and socially unacceptable coping processes may be altered.
The importance of socialisation in the development of a person's personality cannot be overstated. Individuals develop healthy personalities with the support of socialisation agencies such as family, neighbourhood, peer group, school, church, state, and others.
The topic of whether inheritance or environment plays a greater role in personality formation has remained unsolved to now. There is evidence that inheritance has a bigger role in some aspects of personality, while environment plays a bigger role in others. In reality, the two work together to build a person's personality.
Personality development begins early in life, according to studies, and the first few years are crucial — once the foundations are formed, environmental effects become less important with each passing year.
The family, school, peer group, mass media, religion, and occupation are all factors of personality shaping in the environment. The proportional importance of various moulding sources varies by age group and individual.
Personality development is the result of two types of learning. Outer directed learning, often known as child training, is the first. The second is termed identification and it is directed inward.
References
- Allport, Gordon, W., (1961), Pattern and Growth in Personality, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
- Hall C. and Calvin S. Lindzey (1985), Theories of Personality, Wiley Eastern Ltd, New Delhi.
- Hurlock, E. B. (1984), Development Psychology, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd, New Delhi.
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