We as social creatures definitely need to socialize with other people. A simple way to socialize is by interacting. By interacting and seeing the response of the person we are talking to, we can find out what that individual’s personality is like. What would happen if it turned out there was a quick way to find out the personality of the person you are talking to? Listen carefully, OK?
Definition of Personality
Experts define personality as follows:
Theodore R Newcombe:
“Personality is an organization of attitudes that a person has as background of behavior.”
Personality is an organization/set of attitudes ( predispositions ) that a person has as a background to the behavior or social actions they carry out towards the surrounding environment.
MAW Brouwer :
“Personality is a set of traits, behavior, and patterns that shape as an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and actions.”
Personality is an individual’s pattern of behavior which includes a person’s opinions/thoughts, feelings, desires, drives, strengths and behavior.
Koentjaraningrat:
“Personality is a number of character traits that a person shows outwardly, consistently and consistently.”
An individual’s personality can be formed in behavior, so that the individual has a special identity that is different from other people. So that one and the other will not be the same.
Sujanto :
“Personality is a complex psychophysical totality of an individual, so that it appears in his behavior”
From the definitions of these experts, personality can be concluded as special traits possessed by a person that influence a person’s thinking, opinions, feelings and actions. Personality can be manifested in a person’s behavior and gestures. By socializing and interacting, individuals will be able to find out the personalities of other individuals.
Basics of Personality Formation
Personality can describe a person as a whole and intact. As we know for example, extrovert and introvert personalities. Someone with an extrovert personality tends to be skilled at initiating topics of conversation with other people. His demeanor is friendly, flexible, outgoing, cheerful and fun. People with extroverted personalities tend to be surrounded by lots of people because they have a high social spirit. His energy will not run out if he is around many people.
Meanwhile, people with introverted personalities are just the opposite. They are more likely to start a conversation if someone starts it first. Because he is closed and does not easily open up to new people, his demeanor seems cold and indifferent. People with introverted personalities tend to have only a few close friends who are really close to them. They cannot stay around people for long because their energy can be drained quickly. On the contrary, they are more often alone and interact a lot with themselves.
But actually how can personality be formed? Was it formed suddenly or was it formed at birth? The following two factors form personality, namely through inheritance by genotypic and phenotypic factors.
Genotype Factors
Genotypic factors are inherited factors that are inherited from parents through genes and are inherited from birth. Every child must have similarities with their parents. This is because the child’s DNA contains the DNA of both parents through biological crossing. For example, a father’s genetics such as height, tooth shape, cheek dimples and fingerprints will be passed on to his children. Meanwhile, a mother will inherit genetic characteristics such as eye and hair color, sleeping style, intelligence and body metabolism type.
Phenotypic Factors
Slightly different from genotypic factors, phenotypic factors are genetic inheritance factors that are influenced by the surrounding environment. For example, parents with light skin will pass on similar skin color to their children. However, because they live in a hot area, over time the child’s skin color will darken. So how do these phenotypic factors influence personality?
Parenting
Genetic personality, which is mostly inherited from mothers, can change and adapt to the child’s parenting style. For example, even though a child inherits the mother’s gentle feelings, when raised with a fairly harsh and firm parenting style, as a result the child will tend to be tough and firm in almost all of his behavior and decision making. This can be conditioned as long as both parents are able to manage the type of parenting that suits the child’s needs and personality.
Culture
Regional differences influence the customs and culture of a region. Personality formation can be greatly influenced by the culture in which the child lives. This not only affects the child’s understanding of cultural norms, but also affects the child’s mindset . This is where personality will be formed.
How to Find Out the Personality of the Opponent
Personality is a complex thing for every individual. Not only genetic factors, but the environment in which a person lives, grows and develops greatly influences personality formation. For this reason, a person’s background needs to be examined and interpreted more deeply to know that person’s personality for certain. However, if applied in a work environment or social environment, of course this is quite a waste of time because it requires in-depth research about a person. Fortunately, in the world of psychology, there is a way to find out ‘a little’ of someone’s personality through gestures, movements or body language.
Body language is a form of a person’s expression which is a language of non-verbal communication and arises from psychological symptoms. If body language occurs repeatedly and persists, it can infer a ‘bit’ of a person’s personality. The point of learning this is for the need to communicate and form social relationships. By providing appropriate communication responses and social behavior to the person you are talking to, good social relationships can be formed. Apart from that, reading personality through body language is very necessary in the work environment.
Reading body language as a representation of personality can be categorized as follows:
Head Movement
Head movements can provide several implicit signals as follows:
Head Down
The head is often bowed, meaning the person needs time to think. However, if someone bows their head too intensely, it can mean that they have low self-confidence.
Head Direction Not Focused
Intense head pointing to a point other than the person you are talking to indicates inconsistent understanding. An intense shaking of the head to the right or left, like breaking the neck, can mean that the person wants to respond to the person they are talking to and is easily bored or tired of communicating for a long time.
Head Up Direction
A person who often tilts his head upwards indicates that this person is the type of person who takes a long time to understand something. This can also mean that the person has good self-confidence and has power in the social sphere.
Focus Head Direction
This attitude indicates that the person tends to be calm, brave and authoritative. The ability to digest information is also good.
Eyes sight
The direction of gaze can provide several implicit cues about personality as follows:
Focused Eye View
Someone with eyes like this when speaking indicates that person has the ability to be a good listener. His personality may be empathetic, easy to appreciate and respect and skilled at communicating with other people.
Unfocused Eyesight
A person with an unfocused gaze could indicate that the person is not in a healthy physical condition or that the person’s emotions are unstable and change easily in a short time. Unstable emotions can include being easily nervous ( nervous ). Not a few people with eyes like this are a bit hard to believe.
Narrowed Eyes
Someone with eyes like this is usually suspicious and doesn’t trust easily. These people also tend to think based on prejudice and are subjective. There are times when this person will be quite arrogant, selfish, haughty and rigid about personal principles and does not like to be defeated.
Hand movements
Hand movements when sitting and talking can provide several implicit cues about personality as follows:
Hands Forming a Tower
Forming a tower means that the fingertips of the right and left hands are together in an open state. Usually this movement is positioned in front of the chest or under the chin. This indicates that the person has high self-confidence.
Two Hands Holding Each Other
This movement is usually done by placing your hands on the table or lap when sitting. This means that the person is signaling hope and is trying to reduce feelings of worry.
Hands in Lap
When someone puts their hands in their lap when sitting, it means that person is lacking self-confidence and is anxious.
Cross your arms
If someone tends to cross their arms when speaking, it means that person tends to be rigid in his own principles and tends to defend his opinions and arguments.
These are some body language movements that can give some clues about the personality of the person you are talking to. Are you going to start observing the person you’re talking to from now on? Are there any other signs or body language movements that you know?
