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The famous nineteenth century psychologist, William James, described
personality as the ‘master’ of mental functions. But what lies at the basis of
this integrality? What makes it the ‘master’ of man’s mental life? How is it
related to the way we communicate, receive message, perceive others moti-
vation, attitude and beliefs? In order to answer these questions, we need to
know a little more about personality.
We can simply explain personality as the product of the ‘equally influ-
ential’ effects of innate hereditary psychological characteristics, and, envi-
ronment and culture. Of course personality takes shape as the result of
absorbed socio-historical experience, and on the basis of innate precon-
ditions; but one does not end up with personality just by adding the two
together; just as one does not end up with the steel by simply mixing iron
ore with carbon.

The Self in Communication

The self is the most important agent in the study of interpersonal commu-
nication. Who we are, how we see ourselves, how others see us, what roles
we play for the various audience, what we need and value—all of these are
fundamental questions because what we think we are determines so much
of what we do and which role we choose to play. Again, who we think we
are, is to a large degree, determined by responses we get from others to
our behaviours. These responses shape in many ways the way we see our-
selves, and so we are in an ongoing, spiraling, transactional process called
‘communication’.
A fundamental assumption shared by sociologists such as George
Herbert Mead and Charles Hertonlodey, and by psychiatrists and psy-
chologists such as Harry Stack Sulivan, Haren Horney, R. D. Laing, Carl
Rogers, and Abraham Maslow, is that the concept of self is learned through
interpersonal communication. What they mean is that, we come to see
ourselves as the product of who we see and how others se us. Cooley, for
example, developed the concept of the ‘looking-glass self’ as the process of
imaging how the self appears to be for another person. The concept of self
is but a reflection from the mind of others. Through the process of social-
ization we learn what is good and how we should behave. This process
of personification occurs also in our perception of us. All these develop
because of our interaction with people and on their interpretation of our
behaviours. Thus, we can say that, the transactional nature of self-identity
is like a merry-go-round, that is, how we view ourselves is largely deter-
mined by our perception of how others see us; it is also largely a function
of our self-conceptual action as a filter which shapes our perceptions of
other people’s reactions to us. This entire cycle frequently turns into a self-
fulfilling prophesy .
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