Personality Psychology and It’s Effect on Someone’s Live

• What is Personality and Personality Psychology??

Talking about personality psychology, I have some references which shared about that specifically. I’ll start from personality. Actually what’s the meaning of personality? In the book named General Psychology by Drs. Alex Shobur, M.Si, he said that a personality is like an electric power. As unclear or suspicious, we know what the meaning is, but if we want to explain the whole of that means, we’re alike lost in the jungle. We cannot explain it in anyway.

“Personality” is coming from the Latin word “Persona”. The word indicates to the mask which usually used by the actors of a drama theater at Rome in the past time, each actor does an act/playing his jester that suitable with the mask which they wear. And in the next time, word of persona or personality becomes popular and changed to a terminology which indicates a certain social image that received by individual from groups or society, and that person is hoped could has a specific behavior that match or suitable with the whole of social image or act that he or she gets.

More than six decades, Allport, a Psychologist has explained in his book named “Personality” that personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environments. So that, personality has some elements, those are:

1. Personality is a dynamic organization. It’s not static but always change every time.
2. That organization is within the individual. So, not overwhelming everythings outside of individual itself.
3. That organization is standing up on the psychophysical systems. Allport said that is such as talents and characteristics.
4. That organization is determined the way of how we could adapt to the environment.

Allport said that personality is lied behind the specific action within a person.

In the other side, Koentjaraningrat explained that a personality is a set of elements of mind and soul which determines the differences behavior or the action of each human individual.

So, from the meaning of personality, we can conclude that the theory of personality psychology is a theory and or a way to understand human personality that can be observable and measureable. This theory is learning a detail and descriptive behavior images without giving a value, and studying about character of human. Schultz said that there were nine theories of personality psychology, and those are:

1. Psychoanalysis theory
2. Newfreudians theory
3. Interpersonal theory
4. Character theory
5. Development theory
6. Humanistic theory
7. Cognitive theory
8. Behaviorism theory, and
9. Some bordered level theory

• Why does someone need to learn it??

I think the answer of that question is “yes, to learn about personality psychology is something must to do”. Because if we knew about personality, we could know and more understand about ourself, more about people around us. How are we? What type personality do we have? We can decide to choose one or some choices exactly depends on our personality. We can solve the problems which the way we choose to solve is suitable with our personality.

In a book named Maturity is a Choice, Kiki Fardiansyah, the writer said that if we understand about our personality, we have chosen to be an older human or have an older maturation automatically. As we know that human maturation is much related with the change of mentality than the age measurement. That means can be if an adolescence who still has between ten and twenty years old could be mentioned as a person that has an older mental maturation if he could fill the life neediness by himself. But the opposite, someone who becomes an old man from his chronological age, couldn’t be mentioned as a person that has mental age maturation if he was only hanging himself on the other person. But, the character itself is not inherited from our parents, but need to learn it to understand and to care it in our daily life.

The point of learning personality is to understand ourself, becomes it becomes a way for us to be a successful person. Because without knowing where’s the place of our abundance and destitute and without finding our talent, it’s hard to decide our vision of life. If we know the place of our abundance and destitute, we can get the successful life easily.

• How Personality knowledge help you a lot in career??

The key for developing self is understanding self. And the key of understanding self is understanding personality knowledge. With this ability, we know our power or abundance and destitute, so we can think on a positive way. We also practice how to do positive things. We’ll aware that we have a big potency which is hidden within our soul. And the opposite, if we don’t have or don’t want to be more understand ourself, we’ll never know what kind of potency that buried in our soul. It makes us have a negative prospective. We feel that we don’t have anything to be obstinated.

In the other side, Ali Shomali, in his book Knowing Self said that through understanding self, we will get some advantages. First, it’s able for us to identify the abilities and our individual talents. Second, it will be the effective way for healing ourself. Third, it will stimulate our awareness that we are as a God creation and not just seeing ourself as an animal which has some instinctions of basic neediness that must to be satisfied.

So that, from that way, I think knowing and understanding about personality knowledge can help us a lot in career for our future. Because of that, we can handle and solve problem with positive thinking in the way we are.

• Does Personality guarantee someone’s success in life??

I think so, as I said before, that the key of developing self is understanding self, and the key of understanding self is knowing personality knowledge. With this ability, we can know or understand and measure our abundance and destitute. Understanding self can make us have a positive mind and it causes we do act everythings in a positive way too.

Success is a process and the process to be successful person is being someone who has positive thinking. Because to be that person is not as easy as reversing your bottom hand or reversing a paper. So that, someone who has positive thinking is definitely understood themselves. They can solve problem without give up reasons and keep focusing on their vision. They always doing affirmations, practicing or training their abundance, and they believe that they are special not just for themselves but also for people around them.

So, how personality guarantee someone’s life is just by applicating or practicing that theory in our daily life, and it depends on ourself.

• My own problem dealing with personality

When I was a young girl, I lived with my parents in my grandmother’s house. In the first sight, my life is very wonderful. But actually in the other side, my life is very uncomfortable and unhappy at all. I was growing became a beautiful and smart girl, but I didn’t have friends. So I always walk alone and do anything by myself. It’s alike no ones life in this world. I always covered myself from people around me. I was so sad and regretful with my condition but that time I thought nothing I can do. That’s all is because my parents are always angry with me and very compulsive in the way how they overprotect me.

In many years, since I sat in elementary school until senior high school in third grade, I didn’t know myself. I just keep silence and I didn’t be a talkative person. I was confused when I was faced on the questions: “What’s your dream of life? What’s your vision? Or what’s your plan to do after you graduated from school?” because I don’t understand and I don’t know what kind of sentences for answering that questions. My friend said those all are very simple questions, but for me, it’s like a condition when you almost burned on the kitchen while you were trapped into. You cannot go anywhere. You need someone to help you out from that situation.

• How do I pope/deal with that problem??

There’s a wise word like “The most difficult phase of your life is not when no ones understand you but when you don’t understand yourself”. The wise word always make me remember that I’ve lost myself. I don’t know what I want to do, what’s my vision of life, and I don’t know how to solve this problem quickly. But fortunately, my friend helped me to go out from that phase. My friend asked me to consult to my teacher, she was a psychologist in the wide of education and student development in my senior high school. She was very expert in psychology consultation.

So, according to that advisement, I was daring myself to share my problem to her. Then, when I was feeling comfortable, I increased my chance to read some kinds of personality and motivation books. So I can try to have and get the positive mind from environment. I try to join and open mind to all of people around me. I didn’t cover myself again and not hiding myself from the world. Finally, time by time I found the answer of that big questions which I have explained before. I started to plan my dream, I start to be a positive woman and walk through the life. I found my deep soul, and I can stand with people because I have understood that we was born is not for hiding from the world but we was born is to face the world by the way we are.

• Bibliography

1. Shobur, Alex. 2003. Psikologi Umum. Bandung: Pustaka Setia.
2. Fardiansyah, Kiki. 2006. Dewasa itu Pilihan. Yogyakarta: Panduan.
3. Atkinson, Rita L, dkk. Pengantar Psikologi Jilid Satu. Batam: Interaksara.
4. Rathus, Spencer A. Psychology Concepts & Connections, international students editions. Newyork: Thompson Wadsworth.
5. Santrock, John. W. Life-Span Development. Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga.