EVERY MAN IS LIKE ALL OTHER MEN, LIKE SOME OTHER MEN, LIKE NO OTHER MAN.

Plato stated more than 2000 years ago: “No two persons are born exactly alike; but each differs from the other in natural endowments, one being suited for one occupation and the other for another.” Individual differences can be studied or examined at three levels of focus captured by the well known quote: “Every man is in certain respects (a) like all other men, (b) like some other men, (c) like no other man.” (H.A. Murray & C. Kluckhohn, 1953).
A man is like all other men because some features of his personality are common to the human race. That is, each man possesses certain features that are present in every other man in the human race. These include physical, emotional and mental features. Every man goes through birth and eventually learns how to move about and adapt to his environment. Every man grows in height, matures and dies. He does all of these things including others as a member of the human race. Animals also go through similar stages. However, there are some traits unique to man only. It is only human beings that are able to have an erect posture, hands with ten fingers that hold things and two feet that can walk, a nervous system enabling him to speak and learn. All men are social beings and adapt to the cultures of their societies. As social animals, men are conformed to a system of interdependence with others in their society. As cultural animals also, they must adapt to tradition and its expectations. All humans are birthed into an impersonal world which can present several threats to survival. Human adjustment to the outer environment depends on social as well as cultural life.
In certain particular characteristics of personalities, most men are like some other men. Similarities in personality traits can be found among members of the same societies or members of the same socio-cultural unit. For example, a hundred Gambians will display certain mannerisms and characteristics that a hundred Ghanaians would not display. Scholars all over the world have something in common, so do athletes and so do those who were born into poverty or wealth. Also, there might be certain traits in peoples’ personalities of one society that might remind us of personality traits of people in other societies.
Finally, there is the fact that man in many regards is like no other man. Anthony Giddens said, “Human beings are knowledgeable agents.” This means that humans can perceive things, make choices and are aware of the consequences of their choices. Every man has different ways of perceiving and making choices. Man’s perception and choices are in part influenced by their guardians; that is, how they were brought up and what experiences they have been through. Because men go through various experiences in life- all of which have some sort of uniqueness to them- the perception and choices of one man will be completely different from the next.
In conclusion, quoting from the famous book on personality written by Henry A. Murray and Clyde Kluckhohn, “The personality of an individual is the product of inherited dispositions and environmental experiences. These experiences occur within the field of his physical, biological, and social environment, all of which are modified by the cultures of his group. Similarities of life experience and heredity will tend to produce similar personality characteristics in different individuals, whether in the same society or in different societies.”