Retrospective Analysis of Personality

Retrospective Analysis of Personality

Andrea Perrucci

Professor Sandra Scheier

Intro to Psychology (PSY105)

06/06/2016

Retrospective Analysis of Personality

Personality Changes and Constants

Personality makes us who we are and makes us each an individual.  Some personality traits are thought to be positive and some negative.  Most personality traits you are born with but can be manipulated through nurture or your environment.  

Some personality traits that I feel I was born with and that are still with me today are compassion, patience, shyness and being picky.  I can remember even as a small child having compassion for people and animals alike and always feeling sad when I saw someone or something struggling.  I have always been patient when it comes to learning new things and listening when others a speaking.  

Some personality traits that I believe have evolved along the way are adaptability and confidence.  I have learned that in this great big world of ours you need to learn to adapt in order to survive.  Whether it is at work in an environment that you are not used to or comfortable with

or with a group of people and you need to be able to fit into the crowd and go with the flow.  Confidence comes with time.  When you continue to challenge yourself and come out on top it builds your confidence and you feel better and more self-assured next time you are in the same situation and in fact it may even help you to have more confidence when you try something new.

Today I am still that same shy quiet girl I was as a child, but try my best not to let that get in the way of anything that I want to do professionally or personally.  I constantly challenge myself to improve my shyness by joining conversations in a room full of people that I don’t know and by giving presentations (occasionally).  I have grown up to be a self-reliant, confident woman that does not need or want anyone’s approval for the choices and decisions I make in my life.

Nature versus Nurture

I believe that nurture plays a big role in forming your personality.  Yes, you are born with certain if not most of your personality traits but nurture can cause those traits to become more or less dominant depending on your upbringing.  

My father was definitely an authoritative parent and we were to do as we were told just because he said so.  I believe in some ways this type of upbringing caused me to be more shy, less confident and more reserved.  I easily conformed to my peers to fit in even if we were heading down a dangerous path.  I don’t like to cause controversy or disagreements and always try to roll with the punches.  

I truly believe that if my environment was more of a positive one, where we were able to make mistakes, give our opinions and have meaningful conversations I may not have turned out as shy, have low self-esteem or be quite as reserved as I am.