9 Personality-Theoretical Framework

 

1. Learning Objectives

2. Introduction

3. Stages of personality development

3.1 Freudian Stages

3.2 Erikson’s Stages

3.3 Hall’s Career Stages

4 Theories of Personality

4.1 Psychological Theory

4.2 Neo-Freudian Personality Theory or Social Psychological Theory

4.3 Holistic Theory of Personality or Self Theory of Personality

4.4 Trait Factor Theory

5. Summary

 

Learning Objectives:

 

The basic objectives of this module are:

  • To understand the meaning of Personality
  • To understand the stages of Personality
  • To understand the different theories  of personality

 

2. Personality: Introduction

 

So far in the last module we have learnt about the meaning of personality and what the various traits of personality are. It was clear from the study that a personality is a combination of various traits may be inherited or acquired through learning process. To be employable and to be successful it is required to have a number of traits. Now in this chapter we will discuss regarding the stages of personality development and its various theories. Also we will study the relationship between organisational behaviour and personality.

 

3. Stages of Personality Development:

 

Various stages of personality development are given by various researchers from time to time. These
stages may be either physiological or psychological. The study of these stages is very helpful in understanding the organisational behaviour. The various stages given by some of authors are:

 

Freudian Stages:

  1. The Oral Stage: This stage starts from the birth of a child and goes up-to the age of one year. An infant depends upon others for his survival and the mouth is the source through which he interacts. Infant derives pleasure from oral stimulation through gratifying activities like sucking, biting, eating etc.

Source: http://pensbypsy.blogspot.in/p/stages-of-psychosexual-development.html

 

A sense of comfort and trust is developed at this stage. According to Freud, excessive or insufficient amount of stimulation during oral stage may lead to the development of oral passive personality in adulthood like more dependency and aggression

 

The Anal Stage: The age period from one to three years is recognised as anal stage. At this stage the concentration of parents is on controlling bladder and bowel movements. This stage deals with the toilet training of the child. If the nature of training given by the parents is harsh and repressive this may result in an anal-retentive personality which is characterised by orderliness, punctuality, stringent, rigid and obsessive.

 

Source: http://images.slideplayer.com/25/7905569/slides/slide_10.jpg

On the other hand if parents take a positive approach while training then the resulting personality can be a competent, productive or creative one. Freud also opines that if parents are too lenient in this regard then it leads to the personality traits like messy,
wasteful or destructive.

 

3. The Phallic stage:

 

This stage remains from the age 3 to 4 years. At these stage children starts finding the genital differences between males and females.

 

Source: https://fuzzyscience.wikispaces.com/Psychosexual+Stages

 

Freud describes this stage with the help of Oedipus Complex and Electra Complex, which means a sexual desire that a child feels towards the parent of opposite sex along with jealous feelings towards the parent of the same sex. This complex may result in adult personality disorder when unresolved.

 

4. The Latency Stage: This stage starts at the age of 4 and remains up-to 6 years of age. During this period the child starts going to school and interacting with his peer group.

 

Source:https://www.slideshare.net/kbolinsky/developmental-psychology-42453865

 

At this stage he starts developing his hobbies and other interests. Though the sexual energy is present but it is actually diverted towards understanding the basics of the environment and social interactions. During this stage the traits like self confidence, social and communication skills are developed.

 

5. The Genital Stage: This is the final stage of psychosexual development given by Freud. According to him this stage starts during puberty and remains all through the adulthood. At this stage strong sexual interests are developed in an individual towards opposite sex. Self gratification is not the reason to love others rather they attract for altruistic reasons.

Source: https://www.slideshare.net/AartiSareen/psychosexual-development

 

Freud explained the stages of personality development almost depending them on sex. That is the reason that this theory was criticised by most of the others researchers. Side by side the researchers developed some more theories. So let us discuss one theory that emerged after this theory of Freud.

 

Erikson’s Stages of Personality Development:

 

Known as neo-Freudian stages, the stages given by Erikson are very popular. His point of view was entirely different from that of Freud but was fairly considered as a systematic extension of Freud’s psychosexual stages of personality development. His theory was based on social aspects of personality development. Erikson believed that a crisis occurs when psychological needs of the individual conflict with his societal needs.

 

According to him for a good and healthy personality development it is necessary that these stages should be successfully completed. If these are not successfully completed then it can result in an unhealthy personality. The stages given by Erikson are as follows:

  1. Infant Stage: Infancy stage remains from birth of a child up-to the 18 months of age. Basic conflict arises is of trust or mistrust. During this period the infant is completely dependent on his parents or caretakers. If the child is duly cared he would feel safe and comfortable. He will feel himself in the secured and trusted zone and will develop a confidence in all around him. But if the child is not duly cared or the care is either harsh or unreliable then the child will develop a feeling of mistrust. He will not be able to adjust himself with everyone around him because of the feeling of insecurity and being threatened.
  2. Early Childhood Stage: This age starts from the age of 18 months and remains upto 3 years. The crisis at this stage is regarding autonomy vs shame/doubt. At this age the child start doing small activities like handling and playing with things and toys. If a child is given encouraging and tolerant environment and is allowed to be independent in making choice of what he wants to wear and what he wants to play, he will be developing many skills and abilities. But if the parents do not keep confidence in the child and does not allow the child to do anything or criticize him if he tries to do things because he fails specifically while giving toilet training or wearing clothes or eating, then the child will feel over-controlled and will develop a sense of doubt in himself. He will become a personality which is dependent on others for most of his works.
  3. Play Stage: This is the age from three to five years. During this age child starts playing with his peers and becomes very curious in knowing things and asks too many questions from his parents. The result of this stage is either he becomes initiator or he develops a sense of guilt in himself. If a child is allowed to ask questions and is answered with patience and is free to play with the toys of his choice he starts exploring his interpersonal skills through taking various initiatives. But if a child is scolded every time he asks questions or tries to do something new then he will develop a sense of fear and will always remain in a doubt whether he is doing right or he will be punished for this. Here it is important to note that there should be a proper balance between initiative and guilt. Means some guilt feeling is also required in the child to develop a sense of self control.
  4. School Age: This stage lies between 5 to 12 years of age in which child goes to school, interacts with teacher and other students of his age, and tries to learn a lot of new things. At this age child learn what the competition is and tries to show his competence in various ways. The child will prove to be competent or industrious if he is encouraged and reinforced for his activities and initiatives but if he faces several restrictions at every stage whether he is at home or at school, then he will start developing in his self the feeling of inferiority complex and he will try to avoid facing competitions. It’s not that a child should never be restricted for doing anything. A proper balance is needed to be maintained between modesty and competence to develop a balanced personality.
  5. Puberty and Adolescence: This stage is very important in the development of a personality. This stage occurs between the ages of 12 to 18 years. At this age children are more concerned about their future. They try to understand their role in the society. They try to analyse what they want to become in future. Also some bodily changes also occur at this age so sexual and occupational two roles develop simultaneously at this age. Individual who successfully crosses this stage identifies himself with egos and the individual who fails experience role confusions. If an individual faces much of role confusion and does not get out of it early then it may lead to unhappiness and negativity in that person.
  6. Young Adulthood: This period occurs between the age of 18 to 25 years. At this time people begin to explore relationships. They start feeling sense of intimacy towards some people. A confident individual who successfully reaches this stage develops the capacity to make genuine commitments which can lead to comfortable relationships. On the other hand one who avoids intimacy and has a fear to give any commitments may put himself in isolation.
  7. Middle Adulthood: This stage runs between the age of 25 to 65 years. During this period individuals start settling down in their jobs and relationships, thereby becoming more responsible. Over the years they become more productive in their work as well are ready to take the responsibility of being parents. The successful individuals at this stage are more generative and creative for all but unsuccessful persons at this stage become stagnant. They feel hopeless and meaningless and sometimes go to depression.
  8. Late Adulthood: This stage occurs at the age of 65 when an individual has almost done with his life and see his past in the form of his accomplishments. If he himself is leading a good life and has given a satisfactory life to his children he will develop sense of integrity. But if one is not satisfied with his past he will develop despair which can result to depression.

Source: http://www3.uakron.edu/witt/adol/selfidentity.htm

 

Hall’s Career Stage Model:

 

Hall has given the four stages based on career of an individual. According to him this is the most important and difficult stage for an individual when he shifts himself from studies to work. This stage starts at the age of 15 approximately when he starts thinking seriously about his career. The stages given by him can be summarized as follows:

 

(1)   Exploration Stage: This is a period of self-examination, where one decides to choose the subject for higher studies according to his future career option. In this process his individual traits, family environment, role models play a very important role

 

(2)   Establishment Stage: This stage comes when one is settled down in his work. This stage is considered to be the growing stage when one with his all potential and efforts try to be his best and try to prove his worth to himself as well as to the organization, to his family and to the society.

 

(3)   Maintenance Stage: This is the stage where a saturation points come beyond which there seems to be no scope of progress and the individual has reached to a highly productive plateau. The need here is to maintain this level as long as he can by updating his skills.

 

(4) Decline or Disengagement: This stage comes at the age of retirement when the only need of the individual is to have integrity. One who successfully crosses the above three stages feel accomplished at this stage otherwise a feeling of regret remains in the individual which leads to dissatisfaction and further leads to depression.

 

4. Theories of Personality

 

Several human behavior theorists have done various researches and developed various theories of human personality. The main theories of personality are as follows: