ABSTRACT
Everyone has a personality: an established pattern of behaviour, ways of reacting and attitudes. A well-known example is the man with a short fuse who blows up into shouting or worse at the slightest provocation and keeps his family and colleagues on tenterhooks. Personality arises from constitution, from example and training at home, school and the outside world, and from individual circumstances. These include health and wealth, position in family and life-events, particularly the adverse ones. Potent influences are early separation, bereavement, physical or sexual abuse, accident or major illness, real poverty, a single parent, and so on. Age also has a marked effect on personality, although traits of immaturity may extend through the life-span in lack of responsibility and foresight, difficulties in self-discipline, dependency and inability to stand frustration; altruism is out. At the other pole, advancing age leads more or less rapidly to rigidity of views, hatred and fear of change, intolerance, loss of humour, increasing caution and a shrinking of interests except self-concern.
