Personality, Role, Relation
Personalities develop as we continue to interact with our environment we inherit fifty percent of a personality characteristic’s from our genetic background. The other fifty percent is acquired through environmental experiences.
The way our personality shapes us effects the functioning of our inner world like expectations, perceptions, attitudes, thoughts and self-esteem. Some personality structures have more vulnerability to illness. Obsessional personality for example: are very rigid, highly conscientious and place high expectations of self and others. This type personality make up can be susceptible to a higher level of anxiety and depression as compared to non-obsessional personalities. People with avoidant personality disorder, tend to defer problems and thus develop fewer skills to deal with life situations. People with paranoid personality disorder continue to have the perception that they are not treated fairly and tend to be suspicious and litigious.
Personality disorders are not considered a disease, but the characteristics of personality do significantly influence our behavior and functioning in society. Understanding how each of us operate and what guides us to behave in a certain way, may help us adjust to both inner and outer world.
Our personality structure can significantly affect the way we play our roles in life. Our roles are varied and change frequently, as we continue to perform our responsibilities we can be father, mother, son, daughter, employer, and employee and find ourselves playing different roles at different times of the day. We have to be fairly adjustable to make these changes quickly and appropriately. Relationships can be strained if we are not able to roll with the dice. Certain personality structures have difficulties in shifting from one role to another. A good example of this was portrayed in the movie Sound of Music, where a retired army general found it difficult to adjust to the role of a father with his seven children. He brought his military style discipline to the family and was unable to play the affectionate role of the father. Many corporate executives also display similar difficulties in shifting their roles and start treating family members as employees, ordering things to be done like he would at work rather than sharing love and affection with them.