Running head: PERSONALITY 1

Personality
Abigail Woodall
Wellness
September 12, 2014
Coach Taylor
PERSONALITY 2


Personality
Listed Factors that Shape Personality
1. Past experiences: Experience is one of the major determinant of personality; it
could affect a person either positively or negatively (Ramos).
2. Birth order can influence your personality (Cherry). Although this has been
thought of as only a myth, a recent empirical study has found that such things as
birth order and family size may indeed have an impact on personality (Cherry).
3. Your personality is pretty much the same all throughout your life. Long-term
studies of personality, some of the most core parts of personality remain stable
throughout life (Cherry). What this means is that age does not necessarily
impact your personality.
4. There may be only five core personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness (Cherry).
5. Genetics, relationships with peers, high sensitivity, verbal abuse, and childhood
trauma can affect a persons personality negatively (Cherry).
Heredity, Environmental and Personal Behavior
Two friends talking may comment on each others traits by saying things like, youre
always so sweet, or You never tell lies. A persons combination of temperaments,
[character], and personal history of family, culture and time during which they grew up
(Ciccarelli & White). My family owns dogs and horses. I know that when we breed our
Labradors that based on the parents we can expect to get puppies with a certain color of fur, and
a block head shape. I also know that if we cross breed our German Shepherd with the Labrador
that there are temperament issues with the German Shepherd that are not there with the Labrador
PERSONALITY 3


that we have to be careful with if were going to give that puppy to a family with young children.
The same is true about people. Some of our personality has to do with who are parents are and
where we grew up. Studying twins has led researchers to discover that personality can be shaped
by genetics and by the environment that they grew up in (Ciccarelli & White). I think that all of
this makes a lot of sense. I mean, Ive lived all over the world because my Dad is in the military.
When we were in Germany a lot of people were very organized and that just seems to fit the
German profile because they like order and neatness. When we were in Mexico on the beaches,
it was a resort town. Everyone was really outgoing and that makes sense because its a vacation
spot. I know that these are stereotypes or gross over-generalizations of whole countries. But I
do think that there is something to be said for where you grow up in the world and how that
affects your personality. I personally do not know anyone from the Middle East, but my Dad
told me that the girls my age he saw on his deployments were very withdrawn and shy. I think
that living in a repressed country with male-dominated thinking can lead to a girl having a
personality like that. Which leads me to abuse and how that shapes a person; this too seems
pretty understandable. I mean, we all know of someone who has experienced some form of
abuse and that just has to wear you down mentally. If this starts at an early age, I bet that you
begin to act in a certain way to protect yourself from further abuse and your personality probably
becomes shaped by that need to protect yourself.





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Citations
Cherry, K., 10 Fascinating Facts About Personality. Personality Psychology. About
Education. Psychology Expert.
<http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/tp/facs-about-personality.htm
2014.
Ciccarelli, S., & White. J., Theories of Personality. Pyschology. Chapter 13. Pearson
Education. 2012. Print.
Ramos, J., Factors that Affect Personality. Pyschology. Sciences 360.
<http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/facors-that-affect-personality-9375/. 9 July
2010.