Personality Analysis: Factors, Levels, and Effects on Life Aspects

This essay delves into the multifaceted aspects of personality psychology, exploring the various factors that influence personality development, including biological, cultural, family, and situational elements. It presents an analysis of a selected individual's personality through the lens of three levels: human nature, individual and group differences, and individual uniqueness, providing a comprehensive understanding of their traits and behaviors. Furthermore, the essay examines the effects of personality on different facets of life, such as social relationships, health, spiritual well-being, learning capabilities, and potential work preferences, illustrating how an individual's personality shapes their experiences and outcomes. This detailed exploration offers valuable insights into the complexities of personality and its profound impact on various aspects of human life.

RUNNING HEAD: Psychology
Psychology

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Various Factors Influencing Personality.........................................................................................3
Analysis of the Personality of Selected Individual..........................................................................4
Five Effects of Personality on Individual’s various aspects of life.................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Personality psychology is that branch of psychology that focuses on the variation of personality
among different individuals. In other words, the aim of this branch of psychology is to present
the fact that psychological forces brings about individual differences in people (Buss & Cantor,
2012). The term personality can be defined as the combination of physical, mental and moral
qualities that makes one individual different from others (Engler, 2013). The difference of
personalities found in human beings can be measured by traits (Kreitler & Kreitler, 2013). A
person having trait of extroversion is likely to be sociable and outgoing in majority of the
situations rather than inhibited and shy (Ellis, Abrams & Abrams, 2009). Differences in
personality are also due to people’s experiences, genes and environment (Buss & Hawley, 2011).
Figure 1 Personality & Individual Differences
Source: (Teach Pe, 2018)
This assignment focuses on three key objectives namely the factors influencing personality,
analysis of the personality of selected individual and effects of personality on the various aspects
of life of such individual. The factors influencing personality of an individual determine whether
an individual will be categorized in the group of sick personality or healthy personality. In this

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assignment, an individual is selected and an analysis of the personality is made from the
viewpoint of three levels of analysis i.e. human nature, individual and group differences and
individual uniqueness. On the basis of the observations and analysis made, explanation is made
regarding the effects of personality on the various aspects of life of that individual.
Various Factors Influencing Personality
Personality is an organized and dynamic set of characteristics owned by a person that brings
about a distinctive influence on their cognitions, environment, motivations, emotions and
behaviors in different situations. It also refers to the pattern of feelings, thoughts, behaviors and
social adjustments consistently demonstrated over time that have a strong influence on one’s
self- perceptions, expectations, attitudes and values.
The factors affecting the personality of an individual include biological, cultural, family and
situational factors (Citeman, 2009).
Biological Factors- Personality is affected to a great extent by the biological factors which
include heredity, physical stature and the brain. According to geneticists and psychologists
argument, an important role is played by heredity in one’s personality. However, such
importance of heredity is varied from one personality trait to the other. For example, an
important role is performed by heredity in the determination of the temperament of a person than
in the determination of ideal and values. Another factor is brain which gives signal to the body
which reflects in the personality of an individual (Makrani, 2016). On the other hand, physical
stature also has an influence on the personality of an individual. For example, the facts that a
person is fat or skinny, tall or short, good looking or not have an influence on others and
ultimately affects the person himself. It also includes genetic traits and characteristics such as
innate drives, reflexes and intelligence (Altman, Valenzi & Hodgetts, 2013).
Cultural Factors- There is a great contribution of cultural factors on the personality of an
individual. Culture consists of values and beliefs shared by a group of people and is transmitted
from one generation to another. The difference in the behaviors and perspectives of people living
in one culture often results in difference in personalities from the people living in other cultures.
The concepts, techniques and needs of child rearing along with the set of expectations regarding
behavior are different in each culture.

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Family Factors- The personality of an individual also is shaped by the family and social factors.
The personality development starts with the contact with the mother and then to the other
members of the family and social groups. The overall environment create in the home by the
parents of an individual is critical to the personality development. The social class of an
individual also leaves an imprint on the personality. For example, the interactions and
experiences of a black man raised in a ghetto are different from a white man raised in upper-
class community. As a result, the methods of coping with the world and self-perceptions are
influenced in several ways thereby leading towards different behavioral response patterns.
Situational Factors- Human personality is also influenced by situational factors. There is a strong
effect of the environment on the personality (Ismail, 2007). The language, knowledge and skill
are acquired by a person in accordance with the environment and are known as learned
modifications of behavior. These learned modifications are incapable of being passing on to the
children. Therefore, these are acquired by the children on the basis of their personal experience,
effort and interaction with the environment.
Analysis of the Personality of Selected Individual
I selected my closest friend for the purpose of observation and analysis of personality. The
analysis is made with the help of three levels of personality analysis i.e. human nature, individual
and group differences and individual uniqueness.
My friend, Harry, is a tall and good looking individual which means he has an attractive
personality. But he is an introvert person who always prefers minimally stimulating and calm
environments. He has only few friends but has a desire to belong to social groups and to live
with others. His introvert nature comes in his way when he tries to socialize with people. He is
an intelligent person who not only scores good marks in exams but has an intellectual mind who
loves coming up with new and innovative ideas. Since he is an introvert person, he never
expresses himself to anyone which results in difficulty for him in dealing with his feelings.
Moreover, he always finds himself unable to revert back to those people who try to create harsh
situations and circumstances for him. This has made him emotionally week over a period of time
though he looks strong physically. His parents also applied a lot of restrictions on him in the
childhood in exploring and manipulating the environment since they were over protective which

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ultimately resulted in lack of motivation in him. The over- protection made him complaint,
submissive and passive. This also resulted in lack of confidence in him regarding his abilities and
strengths. When the personality of my friend was analyzed on the basis of three levels of
personality analysis namely-
1. The human nature level (like all others)
2. The level of individual and group differences (like some others)
3. The individual uniqueness level (like no others)
Human Nature- Human nature consists of the first level of the personality analysis which
describes the mechanisms and traits of personality that are typical of our species and are
possessed by everyone or nearly everyone (Larsen, 2011). As far as Harry is concerned, he
possesses fundamental psychological mechanisms such as the desire to belong to the social
groups and to live with others. His intellectual mind encourages him to learn new things,
languages and culture in accordance with his surroundings. In this way, he is like every other
person.
Individual and group differences- The next level of personality analysis comprise of individual
and group differences. Individual differences consist of unique qualities that make him different
from others (Kazdin, 2013).The first individual difference is his introvert nature. Secondly, he
always put little value on his ideas and opinions and therefore has low self- esteem. Group
differences include the personality features in common of one group that make the group
different from other groups. His group of friends consists only of boys and no girls. All of them
are of similar age i.e. around 20 or 21 years belonging to upper middle class families. None of
them is violent or aggressive and therefore have pleasant personalities. These qualities make
their group different from any other group.
Individual uniqueness- The personal qualities that every individual possess which are not shared
by any other person in the world comes under individual uniqueness. Harry’s individual
uniqueness includes his sharp mind that enables him to perform better in exams than anyone else
in college. In this way, he is known to everyone as he is the topper of the college who gets prizes
every now and then. Harry is also an innovative person who tries to find innovative way for

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performing every task. Moreover, he is also a good singer and has a desire to be selected in the
singing contests.
Figure 2 Differences in Introvert and Extrovert
Source: (The Green Rooms, 2014)
Five Effects of Personality on Individual’s various aspects of life
The personality of an individual significantly impacts the various aspects of life (Nettle, 2007).
The aspects of life considered here are social, health, spiritual, learning and work. Similarly, the
various aspects of life of Harry face the effects of his personality as described below.
Social Relationships- The social aspect of life includes the relationship of Harry with others. The
introvert personality of Harry stops him from expressing himself freely. As a result, he does not
have a strong relationship with his friends because he does not talk much. He shows less
involvement in other’s lives. He still has a desire to belong to social groups but his personality
stops him from doing so. Therefore, his personality significantly impacts his social relationships
by lacking social support.
Health- This aspect of life includes the physical health of Harry. The lack of social support in his
life results in difficulty in coping with worse situations and unhealthy behaviors. His lack of
bonding with others results in increase in stress level and harmful effects to the immune system
(Haupt, 2010). Excessive stress can also make him susceptible to mental health issues and
depression.

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Spiritual- This aspect of life include the relationship with greater power. Since he does not
express himself to his friends and family, he believes in a religious process known as spirituality
which is oriented at the image of god. The empty feeling inside Harry despite of being so
successful in academics makes him feel that everything he has achieved is meaningless (Life
Optimizer, 2018). He tries to get out of his loneliness by having faith in god. The effect of his
personality is seen in him when he tries to follow his life purpose by following his heart in the
things he do along with making time for praying and reading spiritual text every day.
Learning- This aspect of life refers to the personal development of the individual. The introvert
personality of Harry has effect on his learning capabilities. Introverts prefer processing ideas and
information in their own minds and same is the case with Harry. He performs better by working
and studding on his own. He generally focuses on individual ideas and concepts rather than
making a discussion of the problem with others.
Work- This aspect include the career of an individual. He is not working yet as he is still
studying for achieving his career goals. However, when he will start working, he will be good for
positions related to information technology that will keep him behind computers for whole day
or accounts payable job which does not require much interaction with staff members and
vendors. He will be unsuitable for jobs of customer service as it requires greater interaction with
others and are meant for extroverted personalities (Munroe, 2018).
Conclusion
Every individual have different personality due to their personal experiences, genes and
environment (John, Robins & Pervin, 2010). In this assignment, the factors having influence on
the personality of an individual i.e. biological, cultural, family and situational factors are
discussed. These factors help in concluding that the personality of an individual is not an in-born
characteristic but is shaped as a result of these factors. This assignment also provided a complete
analysis of the personality of my friend Harry with the help of three levels of personality analysis
which helped in concluding regarding his introvert personality and his qualities and weaknesses.
Moreover, the effect of personality is discussed on the various aspects of life of Harry.
Therefore, it can be concluded that personality of human beings makes them different from one
another.

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References
Altman, S., Valenzi, E & Hodgetts, R. M. (2013). Organizational Behavior: Theory and
Practice. Elsevier.
Buss, D. M. & Cantor, N. (2012). Personality Psychology: Recent Trends and Emerging
Directions. Springer Science & Business Media.
Buss, D. M. & Hawley, P. H. (2011). The Evolution of Personality and Individual Differences.
Oxford University Press.
Citeman. (2009). Factors influencing personality. Retrieved February 19, 2018 from
https://www.citeman.com/7039-factors-influencing-personality.html
Ellis, A., Abrams, M. & Abrams, L. (2009). Personality Theories: Critical Perspectives. SAGE.
Engler, B. (2013). Personality Theories. Cengage Learning.
Haupt, A. (2010). How Your Personality Affects Your Health. Retrieved February 19, 2018 from
https://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/heart/articles/2010/09/22/how-your-
personality-affects-your-health
Ismail, J. H. J. (2007). CHAPTER THREE: PERSONALITY. Retrieved February 20, 2018 from
http://lib.kedah.uitm.edu.my/psblibrary/notes/am110/layout/subject%20material/notes/
dpa/PAD%20330/CHAPTER%203.pdf
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Research. Guilford Press.
Kazdin, A.E. (2013). Individual Differences. Retrieved February 19, 2018 from
https://www.personality-project.org/revelle/publications/ids.html
Kreitler, S. & Kreitler, H. (2013). The Cognitive Foundations of Personality Traits. Springer
Science & Business Media.
Larsen. (2011). Personality Psychology. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

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Life Optimizer. (2018). The Five Aspects of Optimizing Life. Retrieved February 20, 2018 from
https://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2014/06/17/aspects-of-optimizing-life/
Makrani, I. (2016). A Psychological Study of Personality Creativity. RED'SHINE Publication.
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Nettle, D. (2007). Personality: What makes you the way you are. OUP Oxford.
Teach Pe. (2018). Personality & Individual Differences. Retrieved February 19, 2018 from
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