Psy105a1
Personality Development
Daniel-Glenn Harvey
Strayer University
PSY105
Professor Brian Kester
When we have reached old age and reminisce of days long ago, will we look back on ourselves and note the changes we have gone through? Is it possible that we are exactly the same person we were dozens of years ago, or have certain parts of our personalities changed while other parts have stayed the same? I can at least say that for myself, I have undergone significant changes with my personality throughout the course of my life. My personality development was not only a product of nature, or genetics, but the environment as well. Possibly the most notable change I have undergone is from being an introvert, mostly keeping to myself, to someone who likes and sometimes prefers to be around other people. The introverted stage of my life occupied my entire childhood and the early stage of my adult life. When I graduated high school and joined the Navy, I was forced to not only be in close proximity of others, but to interact with and rely on those same people. Throughout the course of my service, it was this forced closeness that eventually got me out of my shell. I changed from the person who would sit in the corner by his lonesome into the person who would gather people together for a night out on the town. This was very contrary to how much of my family thought I would act as an adult. As stated in the Soomo Webtext (2012), “we cannot predict all of our eventual traits based on our early years of life”. This is not to state that every last aspect of my personality has changed; in fact, many personality traits haven’t changed at all. Although I am more sociable than I was in my adolescence, I am still for the most part on the quieter side. What I mean by this is that I’ve never really been the type of person to project my voice throughout an entire room unless absolutely necessary. I like to keep my conversations within my immediate group. Looking back on this
Daniel-Glenn Harvey
Strayer University
PSY105
Professor Brian Kester
When we have reached old age and reminisce of days long ago, will we look back on ourselves and note the changes we have gone through? Is it possible that we are exactly the same person we were dozens of years ago, or have certain parts of our personalities changed while other parts have stayed the same? I can at least say that for myself, I have undergone significant changes with my personality throughout the course of my life. My personality development was not only a product of nature, or genetics, but the environment as well. Possibly the most notable change I have undergone is from being an introvert, mostly keeping to myself, to someone who likes and sometimes prefers to be around other people. The introverted stage of my life occupied my entire childhood and the early stage of my adult life. When I graduated high school and joined the Navy, I was forced to not only be in close proximity of others, but to interact with and rely on those same people. Throughout the course of my service, it was this forced closeness that eventually got me out of my shell. I changed from the person who would sit in the corner by his lonesome into the person who would gather people together for a night out on the town. This was very contrary to how much of my family thought I would act as an adult. As stated in the Soomo Webtext (2012), “we cannot predict all of our eventual traits based on our early years of life”. This is not to state that every last aspect of my personality has changed; in fact, many personality traits haven’t changed at all. Although I am more sociable than I was in my adolescence, I am still for the most part on the quieter side. What I mean by this is that I’ve never really been the type of person to project my voice throughout an entire room unless absolutely necessary. I like to keep my conversations within my immediate group. Looking back on this