Factors That Contribute to a Person's Personality Essays

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Personality

As social creatures, human beings are naturally drawn to interacting with others. Throughout history, different cultures have developed different ways of communicating based on what suits them best. People are often judged on how they present themselves, verbally and nonverbally.
Embracing diversity and different ideals, people in western societies mostly judge others based on their personality. Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character. The person you are today is a result of your adaptations to the countless influences that you’ve encountered throughout your life. For instance, a person who grew up in a Christian household is likely to obtain a religious personality if he or she has built a strong relationship with God. Personality stems from two sources: around 1225 from the Old French word personne “human being” and from Medieval Latin personalitatem, c. 1380.
Although personality dictates how a person reacts and responds to certain situations, it isn't one dimensional. While someone might attribute a person to having a nice personality, this doesn’t mean that that person has never been mean to someone else. Similarly, even though a person may mostly be outgoing, a detrimental event, such as the sudden death of a loved one, might cause them to temporarily diminish close contact with friends and family.
Introverts living in an extroverted culture-driven society, such as the United States, are prone to compromising their personality so they could fit in. In order to accomplish this, outcasts are often encouraged to “fake it ‘till you make it”. In a sense, they create an alter ego in which they act differently than they normally do. Historically, alter ego and personality were indistinguishable. In Shakespeare’s Dramatis Personae, actors wore masks while on stage, it having the power to alter their personalities which complimented the expressions that were engraved on the mask itself. Back in those days, a sad person who would wear a happy mask would be seen by their alter ego instead of their real selves.
Although they are usually deemed similar, personality and character essentially represent different
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