LASAN ABDU SALAMATU
FACULTY OF EDUCATION, INTERNATIONAL
UNIVERSITY BAMENDA (IUB), CAMEROON - AFRICA
Abstract
Human behaviour vary among individuals
within a culture, some of the variance may results from social class, racial
background and place of residence. Personality of an individual is a dynamic
thing in the relationship of that individual with other people. Children
behaviour and attitude has affected their behaviour either negatively or
positively as they advanced to maturity. Their negative behaviour has caused a
lot of societal ills. The objective of the study is to look at the impact of
social and personality development on growing children in Bauchi State
metropolis of Nigeria. Two hundred (200) respondents were interviewed,
questionnaire were administered. They involved parents, masters and mistresses
of daycare centres and viewing centres. Published and unpublished material were
also used. Hypothesis statement was formulated and tested to know whether
parent child and peer relationship contribute significantly to the development
of social skill and personality in childhood. The findings shows that a child’s personality has several components of
genetically determined traits that determine the child’s approach to the world
and how the child learns about the world. It was recommended that parents and
caregivers should strive to help children in their development process in order
to build a strong enviable personality.
Key
words: personality, social, development, children. Parents,
behaviour.
i. Background
to the Study
The
personality of an individual is a dynamic thing in the relationship of that
individual with other people. Dynamic because it is not static, it can change
because of one reason or another. The development of the personal
characteristics of a child is greatly determined by the child’s parent, but
funny enough, even the child personal characteristics too also influence the
parent behavior. The personality of a person quality or attributes and the
peoples general habitude behavior. Every child develops his personalities as he
grows and interacts with his environment. This paper is interested in factors
such as home, cultural factor, love and independence, crisis in the life of
individuals; the school etc., all of which affect personality development and
the impact these have on the development of the child.
ii. Statement of the Problem
It has been observed that children
behaviour and attitude has affected their behaviour either negatively or
positively as they advanced to maturity. Their negative behaviour has caused a
lot of societal ills such as stealing, rudeness to parents and society among
others.
iii. Objectives of the Study
The
objective of the study is to examine the impact of social and personality
development on growing children in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
iv. Literature Review
Perhaps
there is no concept in psychology as important or as elusive as personality.
Like intelligence, personality might be thought of as “hypothetical construct”,
that is personality can be imagined rather than real and true. Psychologists
observe an individual’s behavior and on the basis of this observation, they
grow inferences about his personality; however, often times, personality is
more than just a descriptive concept, it becomes explanatory.
A
child stays away from other members of his class because he has an introverted
personality, thus, the child behavior has been explained by assuming that it
reflects his “basis nature” and by attaching a label on it. Furthermore, the
child can be linked with other children who are introverts. His behavior has
been elucidated, inferences are drawn from selected observation of behavior in
which attention is focused on only one aspect or characteristics, the notion of
personality, however, is thought to include all aspects of the individual so.
Therefore in order to understand this child more fully necessitates rating him
on many different bases, it is not enough to consider just his tendency to
remain apart from others in a group situation; this neither explains his
behavior nor describes his personality.
Attempts
have been made by scholars to describe stages in personality development, it is
not certain whether there are specific, inevitable, well-defined stages, but
one assumption concerning their existence is worth attention; and the
assumption is that, an individual can move on to be the next, more mature
stages only after having successfully completed the demands of the previous
stage and having satisfactory met its requirement.
Erikson
(1950) described eight (8) stages in personality development, with each stage
having its own distinctive goal normally to be attained within that period i.e.
Stage Normal
goal to be attained
Infancy a
basis sense of trust
Early
childhood a
sense of autonomy
Play
age a
sense of initiative
School
age industry
and competence
Adolescence personal
identity
Young
adult intimacy
Adulthood generatively
Mature
age integrity
and acceptance
It
is important to note that, the advanced stages of psychological maturity cannot
be approached unless the goals of the preceding period have been met
successfully; for instance, an infant has to attain a sense of trust before it
feels sufficiently secure to strive for autonomy, i.e. it has to have trust in
both the reliability of people, and satisfaction of basic physiological and
psychological needs.
Personality Antecedents
The
antecedents of personality include aspects such as maturation, learning,
cultural factors, the home and family setting, including parental and sibling
influences, the peer society and finally, aspects of community. However, it may
be argued that, the influences that occur earliest in a life tend to have the
broadest impact on the individual personality because they are the first to be
incorporated into it and therefore, play a part determining the effects of
subsequent experiences.
Because
personality is conceived of as the product of interaction between hereditary
and environmental factors (nature and nurture), Johnson&Medinnus (1974),
say that, it is important to examine both areas of influences. Since from birth
onward, hereditary and environment interact, it is not possible even at the age
of two (2) years to say how much of a Childs personality attributable to one or
the other. A child may inherit an irritable temperament from his father, but it
is the mother who reacts to it with resulting consequences for the child
personality.
As
an infant they say, is an active system that affects its environment and in
turn, the environment affects it. Flexible and resilient, the infant selects
those aspects of the environment to which he responds.
Innate
characteristics determine both his selectively and its initial responses to the
environment.
According
to Johnson&Medinnus (1974), malfunctioning of the endocrine glands produces
deviant behavior in only few individuals and that there is a link between
behavior and granular secretion, e.g. underactive thyroid causes a low rate of
metabolism, resulting in sluggish behavior and lack of confidence, contrarily,
too high a rate of thyroid secretion engenders restless and nervousness. The
sex hormones influences a number of behavior and characteristics and the
secondary sex manifestations, such as lower voice pitch , facial hair growth
and grow in musculature appearing in boys at puberty, exert broad influences on
personality and adjustment. Furthermore, the rate of sexual maturation, which
is largely determined by hereditary forces, bears an important relation to
certain personality tendencies at adolescence.
Janes&Bayley
(1950), says that the girl who matures early and the boy who matures late, both
encounter adjustment problems about that late matures persisted in childlike
patterns of activity, eager and animated; in situations of this nature, their
peers considered them restless, talkative, and attention seeking, while early
matures are viewed as popular and having older friends, a sense of humor about
themselves and good appearance.
M.C.
Jones (1957), observed that, on a standard personality test administered at age
30, early matures described themselves as able to make a good impression, as
poised, responsible, achieving in conformity to society’s expectations, and as
relatively free from neurotic symptoms and by their late thirties, the late
matures showed ability to cope with different situations, although, their
adaptability was accompanied by some fearfulness and vulnerability to threat.
The role of intelligence in the development of personality is not easy to
determine, but evidence does exist that, there is a tie between intelligence
and adjustment.
Cattell
(1945), has shown that intelligence does correlate highly with self-control,
reliability, industriousness, emotional independence, conscientiousness and
perseverance, all of these are traits of character. Just as intelligence exerts
broad and complex influences on personality development, aspects of personality
affect intellectual functioning. Children who gained or lost in I.Q during
elementary school years were seen to differ significantly in the following
personality traits, independence, aggressiveness, self-initiative, problem
solving, anticipation and competitiveness.
When
we talk about a person’s personality we are talking about what make that person
different from other people, perhaps even unique various facets of personality
have been talked about, but the problem here is whether the pieces fit together
and how? Which causes what? Whatever the situation, the personality
psychologist is concerned about genetics and physiology, learning and
development, social interaction and culture, pathology and therapy, all of
which come together in the individual.
Environmental Factors
What
a child brings to a situation helps to shape the responses of others to him in
the situation, and it goes on to determine how he will approach future
situations. Some social influences that bear on personality include social
expectations for child behavior and personality. Anything that affects the
individual willingness or ability to respond to his environment is certain to
influences his view of himself and his reaction with others. Often times,
physical handicap endangers resentment and frustration in the child, so also
does parental non-acceptance of the Childs handicap and his person, is
particularly damaging to the Childs sense of self-worth.
Socio-cultural Factors
The
difference among cultures is so strong and pervasive that model personality
types are often noted by anthropologists. Adjective, “modal to signify common
or fashionable is made use as in “a la mode”. It has been suggested that, there
is a modal American personality which is changing largely as a result of
technological, educational, and economic development within the culture.
Behavior
and personality vary among individuals within a culture, some of this variance
results from social class, occupation, racial background, and place of
residence. These sociological variables have considerable bearing in the
creation of individual differences in personality and behavior. The family
setting also contributes to the shaping of an individual’s web of responses.
The biological forces on one side and the social forces on the other fix the
limits within which parents influences the development of dependence or
independence of activity level, and ability for the child to resist stress.
Theoretical Framework
This
theoretical theory is based on a model of reality that helps people to
understand, explain, predict and control that reality. Personality theorists
are just interested in the commonalities among people, structure of the
individual, and the essence of being a person. It is a guide to action, which
is a little like a map, but not the same as the country side it describes, it
does not give you every detail and may not even be accurate, but it does
provide a guide to action, it gives us something to correct when it fails.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychoanalysis
involves both a method of psychotherapy and a theory of personality.
Psychoanalysis as a method and as a theory of personality has been the most
influential and therefore deserves more space than the others. According to the
Freud (1953) psychoanalytic theory has three main themes:-
a) A
theory of personality structure
b)
A
theory of personality development
c)
A
system of personality dynamics
In
the personality structure, Freud considered personality as having a three
structure part, the id, the ego and the superego. The “id” functions as the
storehouse of motives and “instinctual” reactions for satisfying motives. The
“ego” consists of elaborate ways of behaving and thinking that learned for
dealing effectively with the world. The “superego” consists of restraints,
acquired in the course of personality development, on the activity of “the ego”
and “the id”. The “superego” corresponds closely with what we call conscience
and may condemn as wrong. Those things which “the ego” might do toward
satisfying “the id” motives. Freud (1953) also conceived of personality development
as developing from infancy to adulthood through four overlapping stages:-
i.
The oral stage
ii.
The
anal stage
iii.
The
phallic stage
iv.
And
the genital stage
Anxiety Theory
According
to freud, anxiety is an outcome between “the id” and “the ego”. Another theorist
Karan Horney makes basic anxiety as the central concept of her theory. In her
own submission, she considers anxiety to arise from social influences in the
development of the child, rather than from the conflict between biological
motives and “the ego” or “superego”.
Horneys
theory, just like Freuds and most others, has a place in it for conflict, to
her; the major conflict is between needs, because some needs are incompatible.
If a person develops both a need to have someone to depend on, for instance,
and a need to be self-sufficient and independent, these needs will often
conflict.
Self-actualization Theory
This
is a multi-factor by Abraham Maslow, which posits five levels of need and
arranged in a hierarchy, from lower to higher levels thus:-
a) Physiological
needs such as hunger, thirst and sex
b) Safety needs such as security,
stability, and order
c) Belongingness and love needs, such
as needs for affection, affiliation, and identification
d) Need for self-actualization.
Trait Theory
Allport,
(1973) says, trait gives no finite list of needs or traits. It only assumes a
multiplicity of needs that are never quite the same form one individual to the
next. It may be distinguished from other theories in two ways.
i.
The concept of the uniqueness of
personality where each person, with his unique background of childhood
experiences, develops a set of traits that is unique to him.
- The concept of functional
autonomy of motives in the course of human development, each person
acquires motives as a part of satisfying other motives. These motives
according to Allpots (1973) concept of functional autonomy continue to
function autonomously without further reinforcement of the physiological
conditions originally concerned in their acquisition.
Learning Theory of Personality
Learning
plays a major role in the development of the characteristics which
differentiate personalities. Complex motives are learned and that such motives
are important characteristics of personality, in addition, abilities, attitudes
and interest are shaped by reinforcements.
According
to the learning theory, many of the modes of adjustment, and the defense
mechanism are examples of learned habits, (after all, the defense mechanisms
are techniques for reducing anxiety and the reduction of anxiety is
reinforcing), thus, particular responses, the defense mechanisms, which reduce
anxiety are increased in strength, this way, some of the terms and dynamics
Freudian psychoanalysis can be translated into the terms of experimental
psychology.
Components of Personality in Children
Considerable
research has been carried out on particular components of personality that seem
to be central in the personality fabric of childhood, yet relatively
independent of one another; these are dependent- independence; aggression,
anxiety, conscience development, dominance-submission and social acceptability.
According to Heathers (1955), the condition of the human infant is dependency,
he is dependent on the mother, this is so because the infant associates the
mother with the satisfaction of his basic biological needs, he also develops a
rewarding emotional dependence on her, heathers went on to say that, as the
child grows older, these is an increase in independent behavior; while in the
nursery school, children exhibits less behavior reflecting reliance on adults
and as shift towards a more active, assertive dependence on peers.
Mccard
and others (1961), also posit that among pre-school children, a negative
connection has been shown between dependence on adults and popularity among
peers. The question here is; is independent or dependent behavior related to
other aspects of behavior? Actually, those children depending most on adults
participate least with peers that is to say that, dependence on adults
presumably hinder a Childs interaction with his peers. Independence relates to
achievement and motivation for achieving, dependent children to reinforcement
from adults, particularly if it involves social approval, children who rated
high in emotional independence from parents showed in I.Q. during their
pre-school years.
Our
culture seems uncertain as to how aggressive behavior should be regarded.
During childhood aggression is discouraged, attitudes toward it are highly
restrictive, yet aggressiveness carries a premium in adult society. Peterson
(1971) observes that, boys who are low in aggression have been found to exhibit
aggression when retaliation is expected than when it is not. Most people
experience frustration in the course of a day’s event, goals are blocked,
rewards not received desires remain unfulfilled. Dollard et al (1939) developed
the frustration aggression hypothesis, which olds that “aggressive behavior is
the typical response to frustration”.
Generally,
adults set examples for children. Logically, it would seem that the more aggressiveness
the adults behavior, the more aggressive the Childs many studies have supported
this view, for instance, Bandura et al (1961) say that pre-school children
imitated or reproduced the behavior of the person who conducted the experiment,
as he was their model; an aggressive model elicited a greater amount of
aggressive behavior than the non-aggressive model. Conditions promoting
aggressive behavior e.g. frustration and modeling, are often found in
combination in the Childs environment.
v. Research Methodology
A
survey research was conducted, two hundred (200) respondents were sampled which
comprised of parents, form masters, children, mistresses and some gathering
places like viewing centres in Bauchi State metropolis of Nigeria.
Questionnaire were administered, interview was conducted and observation made.
Internet facilities, published and unpublished materials were also used.
vi. Data
Analysis and Research Findings
The
data gathering were analyzed using simple percentage. The hypothesis statement
formulated was tested. The findings revealed that parent child and peer
relationships contribute significantly to the development of social skill and
personality in childhood.
vii. Conclusion
and Recommendations
In
conclusion, personality is what makes person a unique person and it is
recognizable soon after birth. A Childs personality has several components of
genetically determined traits that determine the Childs approach to the world
and how the child learns about the world. There are no genes that specify
personality traits but some genes do control the development of the nervous
system which in turn controls behavior.
Social
and personality development continues through adolescences and adult years, and
it is influenced by some social, biological and representation influences.
Changing social relationship and representational and roles and how the
individual represents experience and self, continue to form the basis for
development throughout life, when an adult looks forward rather retrospectively
to ask “what kind of person am I”? A festination, complex, multifaceted
interaction of developmental process lies dead.
Recommendation
This
study hereby proffer the following recommendations
Conscience development expands as
young children begin to represent moral values and think of themselves as moral
beings, they think of themselves as people who want to do right thing, who feel
badly after misbehaving and who feel uncomfortable when others misbehave.
Parents and caregivers should strive to help children in this developmental
process in order to build a strong, enviable personality.
Peer
relationships are particularly important to children, they can be supportive
but challenging, peer rejection can lead to behavior problems later in life.
Parents are advised to monitor peer relationship of their children.
References
Centtell,
R.B (1945). Personality traits
associated with abilities, in with intelligence and drawing abilities education
&psychological measurement.
Dollard,
J. (1939). Frustration and Aggression. New Haven, Conn: Yale University
Erikson,
E.H. (1950). Childhood & society. New
York: Nortorn.
Johnson,
R.C & Medinnus, G.R. (1974). Child psychology; behavior &development;
john Wiley & Sons, New York.
Mccord,
W. et al (1962). Familial & behavioural
correlates of education, 3rd year book.
