There are many definitions of personality, all similar and all interesting, but I want to make sure that the sense of what I want to focus on is included in that definition.
For that reason, I'll be going with this definition from Very Well Mind which says that personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.
The first impression we get about a person is their personality. We might think that someone is cheerful, or timid or energetic. We also talk about introverts, extroverts and ambiverts. So it's pretty much how we feel being around a person for the first time.
Now before I move on to propose the test, I just want to say this: since personality is something that arises from within the individual, we can say that there are myriads of personalities out there, so there is no way one can talk about a good personality or a bad personality. We usually judge other people's personality based on our own preference, which means that we might think that someone has a likeable personality, while we might not really like to associate with someone else.
Personality is subjective, unlike character which is objective. Character practically tells you if someone is good or bad, but it takes a whole lot of time for someone's character to transpire. Instead you will often witness a person's personality on a daily basis.
Because personalities cannot be classified as good or bad because there are literally a billion and they are all peculiar to the individual, what psychologists did instead was to identify those personalities that are perceived as abnormal or dysfunctional. These abnormalities are not necessarily bad, but they can create a major impact on the individual's ability to interact properly with the rest of the society. These abnormalities are classified as personality disorders.
A personality disorder can be defined as a a deeply ingrained pattern of behaviour of a specified kind that deviates markedly from the norms of generally accepted behaviour, typically apparent by the time of adolescence, and causing long-term difficulties in personal relationships or in functioning in society. (Google)
Personality disorders work like autism. There is a spectrum and based on how many of the characteristic traits you possess, one can be said to have a mild, moderate or severe personality disorder. You do not have to fit into every description. One or two matching traits can be enough to start asking yourself questions and perhaps enough to do a self assessment.
A while ago I started having doubts about my behaviours. I would compare my actions to those of my friends and see a remarkable difference. Also the way I reacted to situations made me wonder if there could be something off with me.
For a very long time, I heard that I have a bad character, and I did believe it because I didn't know what character is and I assumed that it was about how I reacted to situations and people. However, I researched the meaning of character, did a test and found out that I do have a good character as I do possess a good set or moral values.
On the test I scored high in qualities such as kindness, generosity, empathy and compassion. I also scored high in loyalty, honour and integrity, then I scored low in patience, adaptability, commitment and forgiveness.
The test revealed that I am not one to pose a problem to the society at large, so I won't be committing crimes or just making people miserable, and that I am good at interpersonal relationships. However it also revealed that I may have difficulties maintaining these relationships because besides being particularly demanding, I do not invest a lot of time in second chances.
I was very pleased with the results. I did flunk the Nigerian test by scoring a resounding 0, but, honestly, I couldn't care less. Nigerians are known to judge a person's character based on how much the person conforms to existing social and cultural norms and how submissive they are to figures of authority.
Without much further ado, let's move on to the next stage and put ourselves on the chair. This is practically like going to the shrink and getting assessed. I won't lie and I will accept all the results with an open mind.
Off to the next post then. Stay tuned.
For that reason, I'll be going with this definition from Very Well Mind which says that personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.
The first impression we get about a person is their personality. We might think that someone is cheerful, or timid or energetic. We also talk about introverts, extroverts and ambiverts. So it's pretty much how we feel being around a person for the first time.
Now before I move on to propose the test, I just want to say this: since personality is something that arises from within the individual, we can say that there are myriads of personalities out there, so there is no way one can talk about a good personality or a bad personality. We usually judge other people's personality based on our own preference, which means that we might think that someone has a likeable personality, while we might not really like to associate with someone else.
Personality is subjective, unlike character which is objective. Character practically tells you if someone is good or bad, but it takes a whole lot of time for someone's character to transpire. Instead you will often witness a person's personality on a daily basis.
Because personalities cannot be classified as good or bad because there are literally a billion and they are all peculiar to the individual, what psychologists did instead was to identify those personalities that are perceived as abnormal or dysfunctional. These abnormalities are not necessarily bad, but they can create a major impact on the individual's ability to interact properly with the rest of the society. These abnormalities are classified as personality disorders.
A personality disorder can be defined as a a deeply ingrained pattern of behaviour of a specified kind that deviates markedly from the norms of generally accepted behaviour, typically apparent by the time of adolescence, and causing long-term difficulties in personal relationships or in functioning in society. (Google)
Personality disorders work like autism. There is a spectrum and based on how many of the characteristic traits you possess, one can be said to have a mild, moderate or severe personality disorder. You do not have to fit into every description. One or two matching traits can be enough to start asking yourself questions and perhaps enough to do a self assessment.
A while ago I started having doubts about my behaviours. I would compare my actions to those of my friends and see a remarkable difference. Also the way I reacted to situations made me wonder if there could be something off with me.
For a very long time, I heard that I have a bad character, and I did believe it because I didn't know what character is and I assumed that it was about how I reacted to situations and people. However, I researched the meaning of character, did a test and found out that I do have a good character as I do possess a good set or moral values.
On the test I scored high in qualities such as kindness, generosity, empathy and compassion. I also scored high in loyalty, honour and integrity, then I scored low in patience, adaptability, commitment and forgiveness.
The test revealed that I am not one to pose a problem to the society at large, so I won't be committing crimes or just making people miserable, and that I am good at interpersonal relationships. However it also revealed that I may have difficulties maintaining these relationships because besides being particularly demanding, I do not invest a lot of time in second chances.
I was very pleased with the results. I did flunk the Nigerian test by scoring a resounding 0, but, honestly, I couldn't care less. Nigerians are known to judge a person's character based on how much the person conforms to existing social and cultural norms and how submissive they are to figures of authority.
Without much further ado, let's move on to the next stage and put ourselves on the chair. This is practically like going to the shrink and getting assessed. I won't lie and I will accept all the results with an open mind.
Off to the next post then. Stay tuned.
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