Pattern And Growth In Personality Book PDF Free Download
Excerpt From The Book
Let us start by comparing two statements: (1) “What an interesting personality Walter has.” (2) “What an interesting thing personality is.”
In the first statement, I exclude Sam, Jim, and Ruth; I am calling attention to the unique psychological pattern that marks Walter as an individual.
In the second statement, I mean to include Walter, Sam, Jim, Ruth, and everyone else in the world.
The two statements are poles apart in their coverage: one man and billions of men. But both statements are equally true.
The term personality refers both to mind-in-particular and to mind-in-general.
If we wish to study personality at all we must be ready to shift our attention rapidly from the particular to the general, from the concrete person to the abstract person, and back again.
This shuttling is helpful. What we learn from Walter helps us to know man-in-general, and what we know about man-in-general is in part applicable to Walter.
The pages of this book contain many instances of shuttling. Our purpose is to discover general principles of development, organization.
And the expression of personality, even while we emphasize the fact that the outstanding characteristic of man is his individuality.
He is a unique creation of the forces of nature. There was never a person just like him, and there never will be again. Remember the fingerprint; even it is unique.
All sciences, including psychology, tend to neglect this paramount fact of individuality for reasons that we shall soon examine.
In daily life, on the other hand, we are in no danger of forgetting that indi. visuality is the supreme mark of human nature.
All during our waking life, and even in our dreams, we recognize and deal with people as separate, distinct, and unique individuals.
We know they are born and die at definite times and throughout their life span manifest their own special pattern of physical and mental traits.
In view of the uniqueness of each person’s inheritance and environment, it could not be otherwise.
| Author | Gordon W Allport |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 610 |
| PDF Size | 60.5 MB |
| Category | Self Improvement |
Pattern And Growth In Personality Book PDF Free Download