Discuss the physical or biological determinants of personality development.
Physical or biological determinants are very important factors in affecting personality development. Some of the factors are body build, physical attractiveness, Homeostasis, physical defects and health conditions.
Body build refers to whether an individual is taller than his age group or lean and thin or average built or fat and obese. Body builds are classified into ectomorphs (Thin and lean), endomorphs (Round and soft) and mesomorphs (strong and muscular). It mostly happens that those who have a body build too tall or too short or too thin or too fat will suffer from an inferiority complex as their peer group may make fun of them.
People who have tall and lanky bodies will be more agile and quick in their actions, so they will have good confidence levels. Obese people will lack confidence as they will be unable to do normal tasks in normal time. Mesomorphs are found to be superior to the other two.
When it comes to physical attractiveness, it is common knowledge that physically attractive people have better confidence levels and they get wider acceptance of people. People are more tolerant towards the mischief of good looking children than of children with plain looks. Attractive people always enjoy an advantage everywhere, at the workplace, or at social gatherings.
Homeostasis refers to maintenance of normal body temperature, sugar level, blood pressure, water balance, etc. It is seen that persona with normal homeostatis will have more balanced personalities. Those who suffer from any imbalance like diabetes or high blood pressure will be easily irritable, may become depressed, etc.
Suppose, disturbance in homeostasis leads to excessive release of hormones causing a person to become too tall, this will be beneficial for his personality in case people see the height as something favorable and vice versa.
Overall, a balance homeostasis will lead to a balanced, cheerful and relaxed personality with socially acceptable behavior patterns.
If a person suffers from any physical defect, he may face rejection in life. Other people do not have a very favorable attitude towards persons with defect. Such persons again become less confident, develop inferiority complex, lack the feeling of self-satisfaction and are unable to keep pace with their contemporaries.
Lastly, health conditions have major impact on personality. Healthy people are cheerful, confident, happy, active in society and well adjusted.
On the contrary, if a person is unhealthy, suffers from some illness, he will be irritable, unable to keep pace with social demands and may become depressed.
If a person has experienced some illness in childhood for a considerable time it will adversely affect his personality development even after the person is cured of the illness or when the child grows up.
A very common example regarding health is menstrual and menopausal women who suffer from depression and mood swings because of their health conditions.
