Mead’s model of human existence

Mead’s model of human existence
George Herbert Mead model of human existence is a theory based on social psychology. A collection of Mead's work dealing with thinking, behaviorism social consciousness, and
social control was compiled by Charles Morris in 1936. This edited work tried to explain the nature of human existence in a world full of conflicts. Much of Meads work focused on self -development and human existence within the social realm.  An individual thought is only relevant if interpreted by other people. Thus a person existing alone could not have relevant thought and he will not be in conflict with any other person.
Mead interpreted human existence through symbolic interactionism. Human is always in constant reaction with the world. A person interacts with the world consciously. A conscious individual is able to interpret the social world as he interacts with other people. Thus, human interactions are intentional and can be controlled. If the interactions are fair and satisfactory to different actors they enhance social interactions. These social interactions can result in a conflict if one actor is biased or has an ill motive.
According to mead social interactions are successful through communication. He classified communication between people as social behaviorism.  Human actions are given meaning through communication. An individual is able to pass a message to another through the use of gestures and words. Social behaviorists value the role of the mind in communication. The mind plans actions and executes them through different body parts. Social interactions are formed as a result of human thought. The mind and the human body work simultaneously to achieve an action. The action is then communicated to other people through a language.
George Herbert Mead identified the process of communication. According to him the communication process involves two phases; gestures and language. Communication through gestures is unconscious. Gestures are mostly used by animals. In most cases the involved animals don’t respond because they don’t perceive them accordingly. When used by human beings they must be put under a certain context so that they can be understood. Gestures form the basis of language. Communication through language is conscious. The involved people can understand one another. Communication is dynamic. Using language for communication is core for social interaction. Communication enables individuals to socialize and minimize conflicts It keeps on changing as people interact. Language evolves from simple forms to complex forms as social interaction advance. A developed speech enables people to communicate through symbols. These symbols are common and all the community members understand them. Thus in communication a person is able to get correct response.
Meads communication models laid a lot of intensity on the significance of symbols for effective communication. Gestures are interpreted because they are significant. An intelligent mind is able to give meaning to any significant gesture. Through thinking the gestures are allocated a particular meaning. As a result of a common socialization people are able to give a similar meaning to a particular gesture. According to mead the mind is not a substance separate from the body. It is a series of events that take place within the human physiological structure. Thinking is shaped by socialization. A person’s social behavior is shaped by his thoughts.
Mead was able to identify causes of social conflicts. He identified some components of disputes such as attitudes, roles of individuals or group. He argued that disputes emerge as a result of insufficient differentiation of roles and adoption of self-centered attitudes by individuals or groups during social interactions. According to him, disputes can be solved by adopting other centered attitudes and sharing roles on the basis of merit among the conflicting parties.
Meads tried to form a consistency in explaining the nature of disputes but his theoretical explanations have several inconsistencies. He cherished the principle of sociality as the foundation of disputes.  According to this principle, disputes are as a result of a broken social contract. In this case, then the conflicting parties must operate on the same social practices. This can only apply to an equal society. Unfortunately, the world societies (whether capitalist or socialist) have remained to be socially stratified. Mead failed to acknowledge the domination of the ruling class over the peasants. Therefore sociologists have been forced to look for other theoretical explanation to the concept of conflict.
Mead played a major role in the formation of modern social theories. His theoretical explanation of the relationship between the mind and communication has been scientifically proved by modern scientists. Modern language develops in the mind. The language is shaped by community members through socialization. A person can learn any language provided he is in the right social environment. Today proper communication is the best method of avoiding and solving conflicts.





GROUP B
PERSONALITY
Introduction
Personality is a combination of inherited and acquired characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s character. Personal traits include values, attitudes, habits, skills and social relationships. These personal differences can be easily observed when an individual exhibit similar tendencies. These personal traits persist in an individual’s daily actions despite prevailing circumstances or change of environment, (John, 2008). Personality becomes part and parcel of an individual life. A person finds it extremely difficult to adapt to changing situations. Therefore, personality controls an individual’s thinking, feeling, and behavior.
Measuring personality
Personality temperament can be determined through a variety of tests. Examples of personality test tools include:
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It was created by University of Minnesota psychologists. It measures different families of pathologies.
The California Psychological Inventory. It measures ordinary personality concepts.
Personality factors test pioneered by Raymond Cattell. It is a psychometric test that measures personality over 16 dimensions/ independent scores
These personality tests are not accurate, they lack validity and consistency. They rely on individuals voluntary data only analyzed on a scale. Such data cannot be scientifically proved. All the same personality test results enable Human resource managers to get a perception of employee’s personalities.

Components of personality
Personality is broken into five stable components:
Openness to Experience.
This is willingness to accept new changes and adapt to a new environment. Those people who are open- minded pursue self-actualization by seeking out intense experiences. They are willing to take risks and get results. Those people who are closed minded are easily fulfilled by little things on sight. They are not willing to adventure and learn new things.
Conscientiousness.
This is a personality trait of being careful. Conscientious people are efficient and organized in their tasks. The act with a lot of care and they are scared of making mistakes. Low conscientiousness is easy going. Sometimes they can be sloppy, disorderly and unreliable.
Extraversion.
It is a personality trait that shows how a person is social. People with high extraversion are very social. They talk with other people including strangers. They are likely to attend social gatherings and even give public speeches. People who score low extraversion are self-absorbed. They rarely speak in public and they don’t interact most of the time.
Agreeableness.
It is a personality trait that explains the behavior of people who are kind and sympathetic. They can easily identify another person’s needs and try their best to offer any available help. Those with low agreeableness are highly competitive and challenging people. They always question situations. They think critically and easily engage in arguments over issues.
Neuroticism.
It is a psychological disorder associated with anxiety. Individuals who score high Neurotism scores experience feelings of anger and depression. They are likely to suffer a mental dis-order.
Personality and self-efficacy
A good personality leads to self-efficacy. Self -efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in his or her capacity. It reflects confidence and ability to exert control over one own behavior and manage prospective situations. Self-efficacy determines how humans think, behave and feel. Self-efficacy determines how an individual reacts when he/she faces a difficult situation. It plays a major role in how we perceive situations and how we behave when we are exposed to different situations. This concept is connected to Albert Bandura social cognitive theory which praises observational learning and social experience in developing an individual personality. As an individual personality develops he acquires self-efficacy.