psychologists who, with commendable patience, hard work and
ingenuity, have tried to solve this difficult problem. They first
analysed personality into traits and then discovered that each trait
had a certain dimension. The next step was to devise and perfect the
technique of accurately measuring each trait. By combining the
results of measurement we get an overall picture of personality or
personality profile, as it is termed. Rorschach, Thurstone, Likert and
Goddard have achieved remarkable success in this field. The
modern psychologist now has a repertoire of special techniques for
measuring each of the basic traits of human personality.
However, although the application of scientific methods to the
study of personality has yielded a rich harvest of results, most of
these have little bearing on the questions which loom large in
religion. What is it in man which impels him to embark on the
perilous and seemingly desperate enterprise of coming to terms
with the Ultimate Reality? Why and how does he hope to fulfil
himself by establishing a close and intimate contact with God?
Let us first see how far psychology and philosophy can help us to
answer these questions. When we question the psychologist on the
point, he refers us to the psychological definition of personality.
Unfortunately, there is no definition which is accepted by all the
major psychologists of the present age. Personality has been
defined as the total quality of the individual’s behaviour. This
definition brings out both the unity and complexity of personality.
Personality is inclusive, so that no important motive, tendency or
capacity remains outside it, and yet it has a unity which is not
paralleled anywhere else in nature. For our present purpose it will
suffice to state one more definition. Personality is the integration of
the individual’s measurable characteristics and motivational
undercurrents. This process begins in early childhood and proceeds,
at first slowly and then at an accelerated pace, during adolescence
until the emergence of the mature personality of the adult.
Thereafter too, personality continues to undergo at least some
changes, though slight, throughout the life of the individual. With
senility, or through disease or traumatic experiences, a process in the
reverse direction may set in. The process of disintegration may lead
to the splitting or even fragmentation of personality. Cases of dual
and multiple personality have been observed and intensively studied
The Function of Deen 55