Comment briefly on the following statement: (a) Personality is shaped by the phsical structure of the body. ~ Vivek Economics

 

Comment briefly on the following statement: 

(a) Personality is shaped by the phsical structure of the body.

Answer

It is true that Personality is shaped by the physical structure of the body elucidate according to the theory put forward by William Sheldon. Mesomorph - People with moderate physical characters show high aggression, restlesnnes and competitive spirit.

Popkins intends to determine the extent to which people's nature influences their environment by looking at how physical appearance influences environment. He proposes this as a cause-and-effect relationship that should explain the development of personalities. He suggests that the most promising results should come from studying relationships between physical appearance and others' opinions, self-opinion, and self-esteem.

From the start, Popkins asserts that much of appearance is genetically determined and therefore independent of personality. Thus, he believes that physical appearance affects environment which affects personality. This is where I begin to question his argument. How has he determined that appearance is unrelated to personality? As I see it, there are many personality traits that lead to changes in physical appearance.

Take for example long distance runners, weight-lifters, gymnasts, or wrestlers. They are dedicated to their athleticism and have a dedication to their sport and their body. As part of their high work ethic and training, they test their limits and attempt to lose or gain the weight to fit a specific requirement. It is not their appearance affecting environment affecting personality, but rather a relationship in the opposite direction.

I also disagree with his hypothesis that children will conform to others' opinions by changing their dress and look to fit this expectation. This seems to ignore two common phenomena among teenagers. Many children who may have been labeled "ugly" by classmates try to overcome their title by wearing "cool" or "popular" clothes in attempt to fit in or even raise their status. Other teenagers rebel against their peers, purposely looking "bad" or "different" in order to gain attention for their new look.

Additionally, I do not follow Popkins' use of the Kleinke (1978) results. According to his interpretation, Kleinke was able to lower or raise a male's self-esteem simply by giving false reports on a personality test. How does hearing about one's personality affect one's self-esteem? How does one know whether one has made someone more or less confident based on how one describes someone's personality to him or her? This question leads to the problems in Popkins' proposed experimental procedure.

Popkins contends that his design will demonstrate that attractiveness is a main contributor in the development of personality. Unfortunately, I fail to believe that his proposal will fulfill proper scientific procedure. The experimenter would need to pre-screen participants' pre-existing self-consciousness and self-opinion to determine how various people will react to being made to look bad. Reactions will vary according to how aware participants are of their appearance, their concern over looking "good," and how they think of themselves. Due to the large numbers of conditions, this experiment would require huge numbers of participants to fill all the groups.

I am not sure that making this experiment a "social situation" has scientific validity. I find it hard to believe that experimenters would be objective while monitoring personalities and recording reactions of participants. The participants themselves would not act normally in such a contrived "social situation" and may serve more as actors or actresses playing the role of the "ugly" or "dirty" character. Although Popkins' idea is an interesting one, it will certainly not "tip the scale" in the ongoing nature versus nurture debate. Perhaps one way to determine the effect of appearance on personality would be to look at naturally (and unnaturally) occurring changes in appearance. It would be interesting to compare personality measurements both before and after a major change such as injury or illness and even plastic surgery. Although there are still problems with confounding variables in this design, it would provide some enlightenment into the role of appearance in personality development.

Comment briefly on the following statement:  (a) Personality is shaped by the phsical structure of the body. ~ Vivek Economics