I have just taken a personality test and I can reveal that I am an INFJ personality type. Which is a visionary apparently. It is also one of the rarest personality types as only 1.7% of the UK population have this personality type. which I guess is why no one laughs at my jokes. That makes me feel better, there was me thinking I was just a little bit crazy but there are people out there like me. Well a few people anyway. When comparing my results to a Simpson's character I have the same personality type as Lisa. This is a good and bad thing, am i organised and caring well yes but am I also a pedantic worrier who occasionally get's right on people's nerves? unfortunately that ones a yes as well.
The most common type of personality in the UK is ISTJ. These people are protectors and they honour their commitments and take criticism well however they do sometimes think that they are always right. Don't you just hate those people!
According to Kotler there are various factors that influence our behaviour including our culture and Social Class. This then leads to our status and role socially as well as our Family. Personal factors then come into the equation such as our age and what stage we are at in our lifecycle. After this comes our personality and motivation and our behavior. So your personality can change according to these factors. This means that if I was to move to Australia that my personality may well change because of the environment that i'll be in. So I may well go from Lisa Simpson to Homer Simpson, I'm not sure which one I would prefer.
Having a certain personality type is not a good or bad thing and doesn't represent any intellectual or social class of a person, it merely explains what type of person you are and how you work. Employers will often use this to understand what their employee values and what type of worker they may be. This is called the Miles Briggs type indicator and is based on the theory of Carl Jung.
Companies often look at this and create products for different personalities. This is coming into effect more and more nowadays as the public is becoming irritated by the perfect image that is put accross in many advertising campigns. I mean lets face it are there going to be many guys who will look like Christiano Ronaldo or David Beckham in their Armani briefs?.... Exactly. Do you think that all women's hair is going to look like Cheryl Cole's? No whether their worth it or not the fact is unless they have their own personal stylist it's not going to happen. That's why campaigns such as Dove that use 'real women' with real curves who don't look like twigs was so successful. This type of campaign gave people that don't have that much confidence in their figure more confidence because in the adverts they were seeing people that they could relate to therefore they would feel empowered by the advertisement and buy the product.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4umCDmKDxc
Companies also create personlities for themselves as a brand or for individual products. This is so the consumer can relate to the product and form a relationship with a brand. An example of this would be Calvin Klein, now if you were thinking about a person from the Calvin Klein ad's for arguments sake i'll call him 'Mr K' you would think he would be uber cool, in his mid 20's or early 30's; wear aviator sunglasses; enjoy long work outs; shop at Urban Outfitters; have a high flying job in the City; enjoy long weekends in the country with his siizzling bit on the side whilst driving the new Audi R8. What i have just done is profile the personality of 'Mr K'. He is the target market that Calvin Klein would be aiming at. Because 'Mr K' does actually exist. Not in person of course but the type of person that 'Mr K' is are out there waiting for their next delivery of CK's and they can relate to 'Mr K' which is probably why they buy CK undies and also why they have just ordered the latest CK fragrance.
Soloman defines perception as 'a person's make up which consistently influences the way the person responds to his or her environment'.
Self Concept on the other hand is defined by Soloman as 'the beliefs that a person holds about his or her attributes and how he or she evaluates those qualities'
So someone's personality is the way in which they are and someone's self concept is the way in which they think they are. For example I thought that I wasn't that nice however according to the test I am caring and nice. And by the way you can look that up it's true I promise.
Often people try and adapt their own self concept by portraying a certain persona as they are aware that if they wear certain things it will enhance their external status. For example when I make the occasional trip to dare I say it to Primark (which by the way is only to be whispered) I dont like to be spotted as my self concept is of a classier persuasion than Primark (or so I like to let evryone else think) On the other hand when I make a trip into Hollister I parrade out of their with the paper bag feeling happy as I am aware that others will see this and will think of me in a better light. You may be thinking that this is all very shallow and surely not true but i'm afraid it is. We like to build what we as individuals consider a good self concept as we would like others to think of us as highly as possible. To be honest i'm so bad for this I refuse to even refer to Primark by it's real name and I now prefer Primarni. It just sounds better don't you think?
This is also partly the reason why we are obsessed with celebrity culture and why for days after the X Factor we are still discussing Simon's botox; Cheryl's hair; Danni's dresses and er well maybe not Louis but the reason for this is because it is a fantasy and nothing like the majority of peoples day to day lives. We pit the ideal against the actual, this is why Danni Minogues new fashion line is doing so well because she has worn some of the dresses on the show and it is seen as an escape as ordinary girls want to emulate their idol and the perception that she gives off as being a style queen. Its also why red hair colouring will go through the roof as Chezza is now rocking the look. Simon Cowell may get mocked for his brilliant white nashers but I bet you would have yours done as well and Louis...... well I guess that's why Ireland is in trouble.
Cooley (1902) saw self concept as the 'looking glass self' and says that feedback from others plays a huge part in our self concept. We adapt our self concept to try and make us out to be the best we possibly can. Ever wondered why girls hit the town with 5 lots of foundation slapped accross their face? No it's not to look like a tangerine but to create a self image that they are happy with and one that they believe others will approve of.
so there you have it. Our personalities are the way we are and can be affected by many different things, basically it's our make up and the way we are as a person naturally and our self concept is the way that we think we are. Often these two things are poles apart.
