Environmental Factors That Affect Personality

What is personality? If one is to look at personality from its origin, the word personality comes from the Latin word persona. Persona refers to a mask that was worn by performers to show different expressions and emotions. Personality is made up of different characteristics patters such as thoughts and feelings. All of these things vary from person to person which causes everyone to have different personalities. These personalities that are in everyone usually stays consistent even when they age. (Cherry, 2017) If anything, the type of personality that the person showed at a young age may very well become even more apparent as he/she grows older. If a child is five years old and is showing signs of being out going, chances are that when they are older they will still have that type of personality. Personalities last a lifetime. Outside factors, such as culture, genetics, and environment can also affect personality. These are just three of many factors that can affect personality in human beings. Culture, is one of the main shapers of our personality. It is assumed that people who are born in the same culture, usually share similar personalities. Franz Boas was a psychological anthropologist who came up with the theory Cultural Relativism. This theory stated that personality comes from culture and not …show more content…
The environment is made up of many different factors such as media, parents, friends, school, religion, and so much more. All of these greatly affect the way that you act and type of personality that you may have. The media can affect your personality because of the types of personalities that are being portrayed, one might want to be like someone so they start to act like that person and try to change their personality. Friends and peer groups also pressure you to be different. To fit in with a certain crowd, one must adapt their personality to become accepted by said crowd. If the