The PsyCreative Column

  A child needs its parents like it needs oxygen to survive. Growing up our parents have a major influence on our lives and they greatly sway our likes and dislikes. They guide us to overcome obstacles and problems in life since infancy and shape our personalities, and thus us into who we are. Having been a huge part of our life, it is almost impossible to imagine our journey of growth without them or how different we would grow up to be, had we not had their support under difficult circumstances, or through life in general. The care of a parent is considered a vital factor that helps us foster cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. The involvement of a parental figure encourages children to meet their goals and achieve their objectives. It helps inculcate good morals and behaviours depending on the way the parent behaves and the nature of the parent-child relationship.  The loss or lack of a parental figure in the child’s life impacts their development greatly. It hinders the...

  Have you ever found yourself mimicking the accent, fashion sense, or certain traits of your favourite character from the last show that you just watched? I’m sure most of us have experienced this. This is not only limited to the content we watch. Acquiring or imitating the gestures, vocal inflexions, expressions, opinions, and attitudes of someone else is called mirroring. In layman's terms, you mirror the behaviour or actions of the other person. This behaviour is more often seen around us but goes unnoticed. You must have seen children mimicking their parent’s actions, and words. Young children tend to imitate their elder siblings as well. If your elder sibling is being praised by your parents for a particular action, you are also likely to copy that. If your friend posted an aesthetic picture of hers that caused her to become the talk of the town, you are also likely to post a similar picture if you desire that attention too. Most of the time, you try to pick up the attitude o...

Did your parents ever tell you that they don’t care how everyone else scored on their paper, they only care about your grade and then ironically proceed to compare you to sharma ji ka beta ? Or assuring you that you’ll get a brand new bike or a new iphone IF ONLY you score 90% above in your 12th board exams? You tend to forget after a point if giving the NEET exam and becoming a doctor was YOUR dream or you’ve been conditioned to choose that career path since your parents said so. ‘Arts mei scope nahi hai’ .  Before I begin to tell you how your mom shouting at you in third grade to get the spelling of ‘helicopter’ right, has now led you to be a perfectionist in your workspace ; let’s talk about what personality really is and whether it really does bend around depending on how your parents wanted you to be ‘ responsible ’ since 6th grade. Personality as all of us know is the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character. Personality re...

  The number of intricacies and nuances that make up every miniscule process in this world are innumerable. Every aspect of our lives can be viewed from a different lens and every instance can be evaluated through perspectives exponential. Each stage in life brings along a different set of demands, placing an intrinsic pressure on each one of us to meet them. Adversity and variance in experience bring about massive transformations in the personality of an individual. We adapt to keep up with changing needs and redesign our entire cognitive framework to perceive the ever - dynamic world in a more comprehensible manner. Abraham Maslow, an American humanistic psychologist as well as psychiatrist, was one of the first to draw a link between motivation and personality. His thesis proposed that a set of wants basic in nature must be achieved before moving on to other secondary wants. His first book ‘Motivation and Personality’ published in 1954 gives a detailed insight into his theories ...

  Personality is defined as persistent traits, interests, motivations, values, self-concept, and emotional patterns that make up a person's particular way of adjusting to life. Different theories have varied explanations for the origin and structure of personality but they all concur that personality influences behaviour. Although some people might tend to believe that we have complete control over our personalities, the truth is that many factors outside of our control have an impact. One such factor is culture. The culture of a place is the distinctive customs, values, beliefs, knowledge, and language of a society or a community. These values and concepts are passed on from generation to generation and are the basis for everyday behaviours and practices. Since culture affects every area of our lives, we may look at many cultural factors when studying personality. However, a few key elements stand out and have been the focus of much psychological research. These are religion, race...

  A thing or two about personality Our personality starts to mould right from our childhood. It can be described as an organised pattern of behaviours and attitudes that make a person unique. As infants grow up, they go through rigorous personality development at various stages of their total developmental period. Personality development is an acquired process that keeps varying constantly, in which, features can be learned and unlearned throughout an individual’s lifespan. More often, one tends to misinterpret a child’s temperament with their personality. Temperament is genetically predetermined traits that influence how a child will learn and interact which the external environment. Personality development is a result of the interaction between temperament, character and environment. Nine temperamental traits in humans influence personality development in childhood crucially - the child’s activity levels, distractibility, intensity in terms of loudness, regularity of biological f...

 It is a known fact that love has always had an important role to play in the life of any given person, no matter who they are or where they belong . It is a naturalistic emotion that enjoys giving something, desired or needed rather than receiving it . But the beauty of love is that it disregards factors such as race, religion, morality, and even illnesses of the body or mind. The right person or group of people will love you and accept you no matter what and will help you grow in the best way possible. In this blog, I’d like to unravel the effects and importance of love with respect to Bipolar disorder and people suffering from it. So, what is “Bipolar disorder”? Also referred to as manic depression, bipolar disorder is a lifelong mental health illness that is characterised by a severe fluctuation in a person's mood, energy, thought processes, and behaviour. A patient of bipolar disorder may experience a sense of euphoric to almost manic high followed by an acute sense of low. T...

  Tall and short!  Outspoken and quiet!  Emotional and logical!  For years, social scientists have analyzed and attempted to understand the relationship between opposing traits in human personalities. Our personalities are almost like a mosaic of hues- varying, changing, and often blending. The American Psychological Association describes personality as the enduring characteristics and behaviours that are unique to a person. The field of personality psychology studies its nature, dynamic processes, and examines interpersonal relationships through the lens of personality. One of the more potent topics within this sphere is the effect of opposing traits on attraction- both platonic and romantic. The portrayal of seemingly perfect romantic relationships between individuals with opposing personalities, in both media and real life, thrive on how each member compensates for the other’s weaknesses with their own strengths. This constant portrayal of attraction between oppos...