The main topic of the lecture is the definition and all the aspects of personality as of the complex concept. The first part of the lecture and its purpose were dedicated to different concepts of personality and their description. I found out that we all have our individual differences and behave differently in similar situations. The first thing that came to my mind in this case was my reaction to people’s rudeness: when people swear, I never say them a word, because I think it is their own business, but my mother always reprimands. It is the same situation, but we respond differently. Moreover, our behavior is predictable and we have a sense of continuity.
According to the lecture, there are different kinds of strong personalities. Their impact can be positive or negative. The example of Pope John Paul II Wojtyła and Hitler as the opposite personalities was a bright explanation. I analyzed myself in this case and came to conclusion that I have more positive impact on people than negative. It shows up in the fact that I have many friends who gave up smoking after I persuaded them in its bad influence on their health.
Another interesting problem raised by professor in his next video is the interaction between cognition, emotions and values. It occurred to me that all my actions are controlled by many factors such as heredity, traditions, stereotypes and of course, internal world. The thing is that many problems happen because of our emotional reaction and any problem always has two sides: emotional and cognitive.
Different personality theories were also new for me. Professor’s example of a lazy person which illustrated trait theory was very clear. By analyzing “Big Five” factors I evaluated myself using all of them and here is my self-concept: by neurocritical factor I consider myself as a worrying, emotional and secure person. As for the extraversion factor, I think I am an outgoing, talkative and friendly personality. At the same time I think that I have some features that can characterize me as a timid and inhibited kind. I also think that I am open to new experiences because I like travelling and meeting new people, but I also find myself in some situations as an unadventurous and conforming personality. According to the agreeableness factor, there is no doubt that I am a good-natured and a helpful person, but there are situations when I can be critical and suspicious. As for the last factor, I find myself as a goal-directed and scrupulous kind.
According to the first video the professor displayed, I can make a conclusion that it is very hard for some people to find their identity. We don’t usually present ourselves the way we are and behave differently according to expectations of others.
The purpose of the second video is to show that there are different kinds of statuses. We can pretend to be high status people when in fact we are not. There are many factors that form high status behavior such as eye contact and different gestures that were presented in the video.
The main idea of the last video was in showing self-esteem and identifying ourselves among other people. The man in the video explained that it does not really matter how low you see yourself in this world and if you try hard – you can make it.
Finally, the main idea of the lecture for me is the interaction between people and other factors that impact our personality. All three videos explained this idea from different points of view.