Development of Personality

Study of the psychological theories on personality, intelligence and adolescence is indispensable in any attempt to understand human development and the factors responsible for it. Assumptions about how the child develops and his inherent characteristics, which give him his personality, have been made and reasonable conclusions have been arrived at. These conclusions paved the way for further researches and the circle continues up to today. Our concern as educationists is not just on the results of the researches par se, but also on their implications to parents and classroom teachers. Early childhood educators are expected to make use of the knowledge to properly guide the teaching and learning process of the young children. Based on this knowledge as well, you will be in a position of adequately get the parents informed about their children and what they need to do to help them.

Understanding the child as the basis for basic human development takes us to another important and most delicate stage of child development. The stage is called the adolescence stage.

In this Module, we fully shall examine theories on personality development, intelligence and adolescence. In our attempt to understand the child and the adolescents fully, we shall take a deeper look at the way they learn and how the school will aid their learning process. Simply put, an exposition of their intelligence will be made.

As a school old teacher and lecturer in higher institutions, one need to gather the knowledge and experiences on general growth and development patterns of your students and their implications to education. You will then need to synthesize the best teaching approach that would aid their successful sailing in their academic endeavors.

Development of Personality

Discussion on personality and how it develops is not a new exercise. The issue has been severally discussed right from the pre-Freudian era during which the early years of a child were assumed to be insignificant and of no effect in his personality. He was assumed to be only a human in the making, beginning to interact only at the age of six and seven. Based on this early conception of the child, attention of different societies and cultures shifted to satisfying adult needs only, ignoring that of the child. This has left the most vital parts of his life unattended to and with entirely no psychological significance in the study of his growth and development.

A shift in this perception of the child started with the work of Sigmund Freud, who believed that adult personality can only be understood viewing from the early childhood experiences(before entering school). These experiences, according to him, have everlasting implications on the kind of his personality later in life. He identified three important stages of development, namely, the oral stage (10 - 18 months), the anal stage ( 11/2 to 3 years) and the phallic stage (3 to 7 years). These years are very incredible in the development of adult's personality.

Oral Stage

At the oral stage, the infant child is heavily dependent upon is parents for the satisfaction of his basic needs, and unless these needs are catered for the child will experience serious developmental problems with an everlasting consequence on his personality. These basic needs are that of food, security, love and affection to mention but just a few. Freud therefore suggested good child rearing habits such as breast feeding, personal care, love and affection etc. This stage is called dependency stage.

Anal Stage

The anal stage is described in the biological sense of the word. The child would need to be controlled and guided in the satisfaction of anal desires. This will teach him self control and independent tendencies. The two combines are very important in the emotional growth and development of children.

Phallic Stage

The phallic stage is referred to as the stage of identity. It covers a period between the ages of 7 to 12 years. During these years, the oral and anal dimensions integrate and no new elements are added thereafter. The interplay of these elements determines the personality of adolescents and beyond and their character. The more positive the elements determines the personality of adolescents and beyond and their character. The more positive the elements, the more propounding characters are achieved.

The implications of this discovery by Freud are that parent should care very much on the kind of nurturing they provide to their children. They must affectionately interact and train their children towards the objectives of each of the identified stages of emotional development.