The Mature Personality Flashcards
Defining the Mature personality
Allport [1961] believed that the emergence of personal maturity is a continuous and lifelong process of becoming.
The behaviour of a mature person is functionally
autonomous and is motivated by conscious processes.
While the behaviour of immature persons is dominated by unconscious motives stemming from childhood experiences, Allport concluded that the psychologically mature adult is characterised by six attributes, namely
1) Has a widely extended sense of self
2) Has a capacity for warm social interactions
3) Demonstrates emotional security and self acceptance
4) Demonstrates realistic perception, skills and assignments
5) Demonstrates self insight and humour
6) Has a unifying philosophy of life.
- Extended sense of self
Six attributes of a Mature Personality
1) The mature person has a widely extended sense of self:
Truly mature persons can get ‘outside’ of themselves. They actively participate in work, family and social relationships, hobbies, political and religious issues, or whatever else they experience as valuable.
- Warm social interactions
Six attributes of a Mature Personality
2) The mature person has a capacity for warm social interactions:
There are two kinds of interpersonal warmth, that is, intimacy and compassion. The intimate aspect of warmth is seen in a person’s capacity to show deep love for family and close friends.
Compassion is reflected in a person’s ability to tolerate differences (concerning values or attitudes ) between the self and others ,which allows the person to show profound respect and appreciation
for the human condition and a sense of kinship with all people.
- Emotional security and self-acceptance
Six attributes of a Mature Personality
3) The mature person demonstrates emotional security and self-acceptance:
Mature adults have a positive image of themselves and are thus able to tolerate frustrating or irritating events as well as their shortcomings without becoming inwardly hostile.
They also deal with their emotions, like, depression, anger, guilt, in such a way that they do not interfere with the well-being of others.
- Realistic perception, skills and assignments
Six attributes of a Mature Personality
4) The mature person demonstrates realistic perception, skills,and assignments:
Healthy people see things as they are, not as they wish them to be. They are in direct contact with the reality.
They do not distort it perceptually to fit their needs and fantasies.
Healthy people possess appropriate skills for their
work, provisionally setting aside personal desires and impulses while task takes a priority.
- Self-insight and Humour
Six attributes of a Mature Personality
5) The mature person demonstrates self-insight and humour:
Mature adults have an accurate picture of their own strengths and weaknesses.
Humour is an important aspect in self insight because it prevents unnecessary self glorification and just plain phoniness.
Humour is the ability to laugh at the things one cherishes (including oneself) and still cherish them.
- unifying philosophy of life:
Six attributes of a Mature Personality
6) The mature person has a unifying philosophy of life:
Mature person can “put it all together”, with a clear, consistent, and systematic way of seeing
meaning in their lives.
A person needs to have a value system that will
present him a dominant goal or theme that makes his life meaningful.
Different people may develop different central values around which their lives will revolve. A mature person has a set of deeply held values which
serve as a unifying foundation of his/her life.
A unifying philosophy of life therefore provides a kind of overriding value orientation that gives meaning and significance to everything the person does.
What is values
Application : The Study of Values
The unifying philosophy of a mature person is founded upon values, that is, basic convictions about what is and is not of real importance in life.
Measuring value dimensions
Application : The Study of Values
Believing that a person’s efforts to find order and meaning in life are governed by values, Allport identified and measured basic value dimensions.
He helped to develop a personality test, the Study of Values. Allport’s model is based on the work of Eduard Spranger, a European psychologist.
Six major value types
Application : The Study of Values
In his book Types of Men, Spranger outlined six major value types.
These values are found in varying degrees in all people. People construct the unity of their lives around them (Allport,1961). Thus, no person falls exclusively under any one value category. Rather, different value combinations are more or less salient
in the lives of different people.
For Allport, these values are best described as deep level traits. They are described as:
i) The Theoretical
ii) The economic
iii) The aesthetic
iv) The social
v) The political
vi) The religious.
i) The Theoretical:
Six major value types
Application : The Study of Values
The person is primarily concerned with the discovery of truth. Such a person is characterised by a rational, critical, and empirical approach to life.
The person is highly intellectual and tends to pursue a
career in science or philosophy.
ii) The Economic:
Six major value types
Application : The Study of Values
The economic person places highest value on whatever is useful or pragmatic. Such a person is highly ‘practical’ and is keenly interested in making money.
iii) The Aesthetic:
Six major value types
Application : The Study of Values
This person places the highest value on form and harmony.
Every single experience is given importance from the point of view of grace, symmetry, or fitness.
iv) The Social:
Six major value types
Application : The Study of Values
The highest value of the social type is love of people. Such a person is likely to view the theoretical, economic, and aesthetic attitudes as cold and inhuman, and thus would regard love as the only suitable form of relationship.
v) The Political:
Six major value types
Application : The Study of Values
The main interest of the political person is power.
Such people look out for personal power, influence, and renowned above all else.
