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INITIAL SELF-ASSESSMENT 6

Initial Self-Assessment

Jemma Phillipus-Hodge

PSY 330: Theories of Personality

Instructor Giselle Gourrier

May 29, 2017

Initial Self-Assessment

Personality is defined as a set of characteristics and behaviors that distinguishes a person from others. Everyone possesses unique qualities and traits formed from the integration of genetic inheritance and experience. Traits are believed to encompass behavioral, psychological, and physical aspects of a person. The personality of an individual influences the way one interacts and associates with the environment. There are various distinguishing features that reinforce on the definition of personality. First, personality is stable and constant such that it does not change from one day to another. In some cases, change can occur, though under specific experience such as trauma. Secondly, personality is made up of properties and mechanisms whereby there are different characteristics and components that encompass personality. Finally, personality is ever present and ingrained in someone’s being. Because of this, a person’s personality affects how one adjusts and handles situations in life. With that said, a self-assessment is conducted on my personality type in regards to traits, behaviors, interactions, and handling stress among others.

Self-Assessment of My Personality

A self-analysis of my personality reveals that I am a very quiet person with poor social skills. Because of this, I can conclude that I have an introverted personality that prefers to spend more time alone than socialize with others. Despite being quiet I do socialize with very close friends and people I am comfortable to be around with. My quiet nature has made me to have very few and selective friends whom we rarely interact on a frequent basis. I am also quite withdrawn though I never get bored being alone to my thoughts. When it comes to my behavior, I find that I have highly organizational and methodological abilities. I therefore prefer to be in environments that are organized and lack any form of disorder (Wang, et al. 2017, 172).

Because of my organizational tendencies, I also remember and take not of trivial details and specifics. Unfortunately, because of my quiet and less interactive personality many people mistake me for being shy. However, that is not the case because I can confidently interact and speak my thoughts. I believe myself to be highly artistic whereby instead of speaking and expressing my mind verbally, I prefer to write and draw. In addition to the above, I have a systematic and steady personality. Any form of abrupt changes or spontaneity disrupts me psychologically. I am also highly conscientious evident in the manner I handle roles and responsibilities. Emotionally, I am not expressive and open with my feelings. Instead of expressing them out, I bottle up my emotions unless it is necessary. Such a behavior stems from the feeling I get once I express my emotions; the feelings of being exposed. Despite being emotionally unexpressive, I am highly sensitive and get hurt over small issues.

I believe there are many factors that were in play to make me have the personality and traits described above. Well, social factors can be traced from my childhood whereby I came from a large family. A large family that has more that has four kids is always noisy and chaotic. Unlike other siblings who grew up to love the noisy and highly interactive environment, I developed an affinity to quiet and peaceful environments. Furthermore, the crowded environment in my childhood made it impossible to have an opinion or find the platform to speak out as everyone was fighting for our parents’ attention. As a result, I believe I grew up to with the habit of speaking less and observing the environment more.

In the aspect of psychological factors, noisy and crowded environments give me a feeling of confusion. When in a crowded environment I become disgruntled and thoughts become disorganized. Due to this reaction, I prefer being in small crowds that can enable me maintain my mental balance. Still on my childhood, I due to the large number of people in our home, there was no ample time interact and spend time with my parents. Out of this, I find it difficult to express emotions, either positive or negative.

Handling Stress

Everyone comes across stressful situations in the day to day life and interactions. There are different ways to handle stress in individuals. It all depends with the method one finds to be most relieving. On my part, I have the tendency of dealing with stress alone. I find it quite difficult to go to someone; either a friend or anyone close and confide in during my stressful moments. Instead, most of the times, I usually cry to lent painful emotions out before getting in deep thoughts on the best ways to handle stress. The above behavior is stemmed by the assumptions I have that I am in the best position to solve my problems. There is therefore no need to go to someone for help about a stressful situation unless when it’s necessary. Well, I believe the tendency to cry is caused by the hormones present in women (Spinhoven, et al. 2016, 105). Overall, personality encompasses the behavioral, psychological, and physical characteristics of an individual.

Reference

Spinhoven, P., Elzinga, B. M., Van Hemert, A. M., de Rooij, M., & Penninx, B. W. (2016). Childhood maltreatment, maladaptive personality types and level and course of psychological distress: A six-year longitudinal study. Journal of affective disorders, 191, 100-108.

Wang, M. Z., Chen, W., Zhang, C., & Deng, X. L. (2017). Personality types and scholarly creativity in undergraduate students: The mediating roles of creative styles. Personality and Individual Differences, 105, 170-174.