What is Personality

Title

What is Personality

Language

English

Year

1939

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

WHAT IS PERSONALITY? STUDIES made under the auspices of the Carnegie Foundation have brought out the fact that even in such a technical line as engineering. success was due more to personal qualities of the individual than to his technical knowledge and skill. Taking these studies as a cue, Professor Newman L. Hoopingarner came to the conclusion that success in practically every field of business and the professions, is due about "15 per cent to technical knowledge of the particular field and about 85 per cent to those personal qualities which have to do with successful dealing with people." One of Professor Hoopingarner's chief contributions to the study of personality is his recognition that a sound working basis "must take into consideration all of the major factors in human ability, that is, one's physique, mental alertness, aptitudes, skills and temperament-factors which are present in everybody, which vary with each individual, which are necessary in varying degrees to the performance of every type of work and which can be improved; and that unless all these factors are taken into considera14 tion at any one time the picture of the individual's ability is incomplete and the basis for 1mprovemeqt is inadequate." The underlying basis for "Personality and Business Ability Analysis," is an evaluation of each of these factors: physique, mental alertness, skill, aptitudes, temperament. Twelve personality traits are stndied as follows: (1) Impressiveness - "the combination of personal and physical qualities wnich influence favorably those with whom one comes into contact. This includes, physique, energy. personal appearance, manner and presence." (2) Initiative-"a combination of originality, determination, perseverance, and enthusiasm. It means having ideas and getting things done." (3) Thoroughness - "involving accuracy and dependability in performing any task; not taking things for granted; and reliability in the assumption of any duty." ( 4) Observation - "involving both memory and perception. It is the ability to see and to remember details of a picture PANORAMA which is observed for a definite length of time." (5) Concentration - "the ability to disregard other problems and to focus attention on the particular task in hand." (6) Constructive Imagination-"the ability to apply present knowledge and experience towards the solution of new problems. It is the ability to see the relationship of what you already know to new situations and is the basis of originality." .(7) Decision - "involving qu~c.kness of comprehension, the ab1hty to think through a situation and to arrive at a conclusion, and the ability to put a problem aside and to go on to the next, once a line of action has been decided upon.'' (8) Adaptability-"the inherent ability to adapt oneself to new problems easily and quickly, which involves mental alertness, speed of thinking, and facility in changing mental set." (9) Leadership-"the ability to get others to do willingly what you want them to do, to get results from men rather than from tools and machinery.'' (10) Organizing Ability"the ability to see the elements of a problem and to keep them in their proper relationship; and to be resourceful in planning methods for their solution.'' ( 11) Expression-"the ability to think clearly and to convey one's ideas to others-to know and to let others know you know." . (12) Knowledge - "knowing facts and having ability to use them, that is, to recall them when wanted." Everyone has a varying degrees the abilities which go to make up personality. The degree to which some traits or combination of traits exceed others results in more or less clearly defined types of persc;mahty.-Harriet Babe-0ck, condensed from The Personnel Journal, New York. MARY," inquired the lady of the house, suspiciously, "did you wash this fish carefully before baking?" "H~avens, ma'am," replied Mary, "what's the use of washm' a fish that's lived all his life in the water?"-Open Road For Boys. MARCH, 1939 16

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