Personality Development
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Personality is the sum total of behaviors,
attitudes, beliefs, and values that are
characteristic of an individual. It determines
how we adjust to our environment and react to
specific situations.
Heredity: the transmission of genetic
characteristics from parents to children
Instinct: an unchanging, biologically inherited
behavior pattern
Sociobiology:
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Nature: scientists have found over 10,000
human instincts including motherhood,
warfare, laughing, and the push to form a
society and build a civilization.
Nurture: a person’s behavior is the result of
social environment and learning. The idea
that all infants have infinite potential to
taught or trained to be anything.
Pavlov’s dogs**
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Heredity:
Characteristics that are present from birth
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Body build
Hair type
Eye color
Skin pigmentation
Aptitude: capacity to learn a particular skill or
acquire a specific body of knowledge
Heredity sets limits on individuals
◦ Ex. A 5’ foot tall person will most likely not play in
the NBA
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Birth Order
Personality is influenced by whether or not we
have siblings and chronologically where we fall
among them.
Certain roles have specific characteristics
(generally)
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Oldest
Middle
Youngest
Only Children
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Parental Characteristics
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Age of parents at time of birth
Level of education
Religious orientation
Economic status
Cultural heritage
Occupational background
**Parents personality
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Cultural Environment
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Region of nation
Ethnicity
Religion
Gender
Age
**All affected by culture of the nation
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Anna and Isabelle
Genie
Institutionalization: children negatively
impacted by lack of socialization and human
interaction, even while physical needs (food,
medicine) were provided
◦ Ex. Orphanage, hospitals, etc.
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