Self and Personality – important questions for Boards 2027
CBSE Class 12 Psychology
How can a person’s self-concept be shaped and modified over time?
Answer
A person’s self-concept is shaped by interactions, experiences and their meanings, and modified through later experiences with other people.
In psychological terms, what does personality refer to?
Answer
In psychological terms, personality refers to characteristic ways of responding to individuals and situations. It comprises unique and relatively stable qualities that characterise an individual’s behaviour across different situations over time.
Distinguish between the personal self and the social self, giving one characteristic of each.
Answer
1. Orientation — The personal self makes a person primarily concerned with oneself; the social self emerges in relation with others. 2. Emphasis — The personal self emphasises personal freedom, responsibility, achievement or comforts; the social self emphasises cooperation, unity, affiliation, sacrifice, support or sharing. 3. Values — The personal self relates to aspects concerning the individual; the social self values family and social relationships and is also called the familial or relational self.
Describe the areas in which children form self-esteem by about six to seven years of age. Explain how evaluations in separate areas contribute to an overall sense of self-esteem.
Answer
Self-esteem is a person’s judgment of their own value or worth. 1. By about six to seven years of age, children form self-esteem in academic competence, based on their evaluations of their ability in academic tasks. 2. Children also form self-esteem in social competence, which concerns their perceived ability in social relationships and interactions. 3. Self-esteem develops in physical/athletic competence, reflecting children’s evaluations of their physical or athletic abilities. 4. Children also evaluate their physical appearance. With age, these areas become more refined, and the capacity to view oneself in terms of stable dispositions allows separate self-evaluations to combine into a general psychological image. The combined evaluations form an overall sense of self-esteem.
Explain the aim of Freud’s psychoanalytic therapy and describe his three conceptual structures of personality, including the way the id functions.
Answer
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory explains personality through unconscious forces and aims to resolve emotional conflicts. 1. The goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring repressed unconscious materials to consciousness, helping people live in a more self-aware and integrated manner. 2. The id is the source of a person’s instinctual energy. It seeks immediate gratification of primitive needs, sexual desires and aggressive impulses, operating on the pleasure principle to seek pleasure and avoid pain. 3. The ego is patient and reasonable. It works by the reality principle, dealing with the id’s demands in relation to actual circumstances. 4. The superego is the moral branch of mental functioning. It guides the id and ego by judging whether gratification is morally acceptable. Together, the id, ego and superego are conceptual forces that shape personality and behaviour.
Define personality as a relatively stable pattern of behaviour. Explain what self and personality tell us about a person, and describe how the self is related to personality.
Answer locked. Unlock all answers on SmartKalike
Name two methods used to assess personality.
Answer locked. Unlock all answers on SmartKalike
Describe how consistency in behaviour, thought, and emotion characterises personality, and note how situational variations may occur.
Answer locked. Unlock all answers on SmartKalike
Explain how a person’s self-concept may be positive or negative overall, yet differ across specific abilities. Give an example.
Answer locked. Unlock all answers on SmartKalike
Explain how warm, positive parenting can support children’s self-esteem and how unnecessary parental assistance may affect it. Describe how self-esteem can be assessed using statements presented to a person.
Answer locked. Unlock all answers on SmartKalike
101 more probable questions in this chapter, every one with a full answer.
Unlock all answers on SmartKalike