Different Facets of Individual Personality

Running head: DIFFERENT FACETS OF INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY

Uniqueness of individual personality restrained

Uniqueness of individual personality restrained

Personality is the entire pattern of psychological characteristics - thinking, feeling, and behaving - that differentiates us [one individual] from other (Nairne, Lindsay, Paulhus, & Smith, 2001). It reflects and dictates our living in society on the conscious and the subconscious levels. The way society perceives each an every individual is different and is graded on the basis of personality and uniqueness of each. Personality can not be defined by itself without mentioning the traits associated with it. Traits are tendencies of an individual to set their behaviour in way that it remains stable over prolonged periods of time (Nairne et al., 2001).

Personality by itself or outlining the traits exhibited by an individual can not suffice the need of analysing and predicting an individual's behaviour in different circumstances. Due to this reason, Personality theories started developing in the field of psychology (Nairne et al., 2001). These theories contrasted the other cognition based theories to the core since these depended on the mere reactions based on appropriate stimulus a person would be exposed to. Therefore, studying such theories is integral to the study of psychology and also helps us perceive our individual uniqueness in comparison to the standards that are built for us by the society (Nairne et al., 2001).

The objective of this discussion is to analyse an individual's personality and gather the defining traits. This analysis of individualistic behaviour through the "Big Five" and Allport's trait theory would provide insights to how well the psychological aspect fits into the uniqueness of an individual rather than of cognitive thought processing.

Individualistic view of Personality

In terms of my individual personality, the manner in which I perceive my role in society is that of being conventional and inhibited. The first thing that comes to mind as I think about personality is a mask. It is worn when an individual interacts with another individual or a group of people. The combination that makes up personality gives every individual their own identity and a uniqueness that sets them apart from everyone else. The price of being different in terms of my individuality would be my uniqueness in personality. The price I pay to be different is incorporated into my personality in such a way that it adds the darker shades that would truly set me apart.

On an individual scale, my personality has a few grey shades of its own that are usually covered up or brought forth by the lighter shades of the same. Grey shades in the personality do not always necessarily suggest evil, but can also be observed as the ones that are not considered conventional in the society. For instances, rude behaviour towards others or the inability to forgive and forget are a few that fit the bill. I personally consider myself quite reserved and different when it comes to assessing my individual traits with respect to personality. On a very basic level of traits I would consider myself to be kind, but not necessarily reasonable in all circumstances. I can be a listener, but not necessarily an adviser. But all of the above mentioned traits can be circumstantial. Therefore, it becomes necessary at this point to introduce a standard that can be used in order to assess the consistency in behaviour throughout all the traits.

Different facets of an individual personality

Just as every other individual, I have my strengths and my weaknesses just the same. As I grow, learn and experience different things I realize the consequences of my actions and hence see the need to describe and analyze my behavior.

On a consistent basis, I have noticed myself becoming unreasonable at time with others merely on the basis of lack of judgment from my part. I tend to lack stability on an emotional side of my behaviour. This has been witnessed time and again by people that are around me and those who have known for a long time. I believe that I do have the ability to handle stress and pressure, but it usually occurs at the costs of others. Learning to control my temper is one of the traits that I still need to build on.

Over the past few years I have noticed a significant amount of grudge building within myself, which is probably due to my inability of forgiving those who might have caused me harm in one way or the other. This inability to accept facts and to let go of the bygones is a weakness in my personality that does not let me move on. On a level of cooperation and support, I believe my behaviour does complete justice to the role. Initiating an action or implementing a rule is where I tend to face problem with my personality. Sometimes I have difficult getting my point across to another person merely because of the fear of rejection. I tend to be over possessive of my belongings due to which a sense of insecurity always resides within me.

On a more positive note, a few personality traits that I exhibit without any inhibition are helping anyone in need, appreciating someone else's creation or work, accepting people the way they are, and always being there for friends, family and colleagues when need be. I tend to overanalyse things around me, due to which I am extremely cautious due to which I always tend to watch my step ahead. It is quite the other way when I am talking. Mostly, I say things that are on my mind without thinking of the due consequences. Sometimes I am misinterpreted as being rude and sometimes appreciated for telling the truth.

Analysis of the personality traits using different standards

Big Five

The "Big Five" is a set of five personality dimensions that include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. In terms of the scientific community, these are considered as the underlying basic principles of personality through which it can be assessed meaningfully (Nairne et al., 2001).

Extraversion. Extraversion refers to ability of an individual to communicate and engage in meaningful conversations in social situations. This dimension of personality is considered to include traits such as, talkative, sociable, fun-loving and affectionate (Nairne et al., 2001). Assessing the personality of an individual on this dimension would assess their ability to mingle in a social environment and