As a person grows from childhood to adulthood their personality develops too. Growth and personality development covers all aspects of a person’s physical and mental qualities. The qualities that are covered by the term personality are height, weight, dress code, intelligence, speaking as well as reasoning skills. On the basis of how one behaves or seen in society, they can be branded as having a strong or weak personality (Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 2014)). The fact still remains that the true personality of a person comes out through free association when a person speaks freely, anything that comes into their mind without caring about what others will think of them (Myers & DeWall, 2014)). During the growth and development stages of life, a person tends to incorporate societal values into their developing superegos, and it is through that that their personalities become curved. Personality defines the totality of a person, and it comes as a person gets older throughout their lifespan.
All the abilities that people have, whether inherent or acquired are only distinguishable through personality as exhibited through the way they behave. And it is an outcome that is achievable through the behavior of oneself not only through their internal world but also expressed in the external world (Wright, Pincus, & Lenzenweger, 2011). There has to be a balance between the ego, superego and the Id and anyone’s behavior heavily relies on these three. It is possible to understand one’s internal world by seeing what they exhibit in the external world through their actions in order to know their personalities. In fact, that is the most critical way of understanding growth and development. As a child grows so do they continue exhibiting character and behavior that is expected of them at every age (Wiggins, 1996). It is behavior that will help others determine whether they are growing as expected or not. By the time one reaches adulthood, they are expected to exhibit a personality that defines them.
It becomes clear that individuals differ from one another and that difference is created by their distinctive personalities. There are qualities and attributes that set aside even identical twins from one another. What brings out the uniqueness of a person can only be traced back to personality. That makes it understandable when it is assumed that personality is influenced by a person’s experiences, perceptions and even influences (Wright, Pincus, & Lenzenweger, 2011). Social support systems are the greatest influencers of personality because what a person eventually becomes is dependent on the social environment in which they live. The conscious is often engaged according to their cultures or societal influences. In the end, it becomes very difficult to ignore how one stage of development relies on the previous one.
All in all, personality development can be summed as a lifelong developmental process that in the end helps define who a person is in society. Humans have the capability to change, and that makes it very hard to determine the personality of a person. It is easier to judge people through their past experiences and actions as a way of determining their personality, but it is a lot harder to determine what they will become in the unknown future. It is for that reason that development through the lifespan contributes to the eventual personality that can be used to identify the uniqueness of every individual. Personality is not something that happens overnight but is shaped throughout the lifespan. It is shaped by associations, experiences, and the internal world of a person depending on how they relate to their immediate environment (Wiggins, 1996).
References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. & Rathunde, K. (2014). The Development of the Person: An Experimental Perspective on the Ontogenesis of Psychological Complexity. Applications of Flow in Human Development and Education, Vol. (2) 7- 19
Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C. N. (2014). Psychology in Everyday Life (3rd ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
Wiggins, J. S. (1996). The Five- Factor Model of Personality: Theoretical Perspectives. New York: Guilford Press
Wright, A. G. C., Pincus, A. L. & Lenzenweger, M. F. (2011). Development of Personality and the Remission and Onset of Personality Pathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 101(6) 1351- 1358
