What Do You Think About These Personality Quotes?

"A multiple personality is a certain sense normal." (George H. Mead)
"I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property." (Norman O. Brown)
"Personality is that which is most intimate to me- that by which I must act out my life. It is that by which I belong to man, that by which I am able to reach after God: and He has given to me this pearl of great price. It is an immortal treasure; it is mine, it is His, and no man shall pluck it out of His hand." (Hugh Reginald Haweis)
"Personality is a mask you believe in." (Dr. White)
"Personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures." (Anonymous)
"Personality is only ripe when a man has made the truth his own." (Soren Kierkegaard)
"Personality is to a man what perfume is to a flower." (Charles M. Schwab)
"Personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that big black space where the audience is." (Mae West)
"Personality is a person among persons. There is no personality of one man on a desert island." (Kilpatrick)
"One's personality can be understood from the people they mingle with." (Kazi Shams)
"We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die." (Albert Camus)
"Personality is everything in art and poetry." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Why People Perceive Things Differently?

George Kelly (1905-1967) explained that "differences in personality result largely from differences in the way people construe the world" (Burger, 2011, p. 412).

According to the cognitive approaches theory, we interpret a situation very differently, leading to different responses to that same situation.

"The relatively stable patterns in our behavior are the results of the relatively stable way we construe the world" (Burger, 2011, p. 413).

How can two or more people participate in the same situation and have different impressions of that particular situation?

Why do we have different perceptions?

Usually I perceive things in a positive way. I am a happy person and I "construe the world" in a joyful way.

Is Human Behavior Learned?

"Happiness is a...by-product of operant reinforcement. The things which make us happy are the things which reinforce us." (B. F. Skinner)

It is believed, and also proven, that certain kinds of consequences have on the frequency of behavior. This is called operant conditioning (Burger, 2011, p. 348).

Since I was a little girl and I started going to school, I learned that by studying hard I would obtain good grades. Therefore, I became very studious!

How Often Do You Use Defense Mechanisms?

Defense mechanisms are used in order to decrease our anxiety. Have you ever felt the need to hide your feelings? Why?

Freud believed that defense mechanisms were used in the attempt to reduce or avoid anxiety by keeping unconscious thoughts from bursting into consciousness (Burger, 2011, p. 46).

Like in the video Split Personality by Pink, sometimes I "split" my personality to avoid pain. Am I using a defense mechanism?

What Motivates You?

"I'm someone who likes plowing new ground then walking away from it. I get bored. I like discovery, not proving." (Abraham Maslow)
Maslow identified two types of motives. The first one, deficiency motives are satisfied, and for a period of time stop directing behavior, once the needed object, such as food for example, has been obtained. The second one, growth needs, are not satisfied once the object of the need is found. Instead, growth need may even lead to an increase of the need (Burger, 2011, p. 284).
"Whether one calls it a growth tendency, a drive towards self-actualization, or a forward moving directional tendency, it is the mainspring of life." (Carl Rogers)

I am never satisfied. The more I accomplish, the more I desire.

Who is to blame?

"Humanistic psychologists argue that our behaviors represent personal choices of what we want to do at a particular moment" (Burger, 2011, p. 277).

The humanistic psychology presents some key elements, such as emphasis on personal responsibility; emphasis on "here and now;" a focus on phenomenology of an individual; and an emphasis on personal growth (Burger, 2011, p. 277).

I am to blame for my mistakes? Why or why not? Should I blame our society?

A Biological Basis for Personality

"Hans Eysenck argued that differences in personality are largely based in inherited biological differences" (Burger, 2011, p. 248).

According to Hans Eysenck, "heritability is not a fixed number. Once you realize what's inherited, there's a lot you can do about it" (Burger, 2011, p. 227).

My looks resemble my mother. However, my personality is just like my father's. What can I do to change the things I dislike about my personality? Can I do anything about it? Let me consult Eysenck...