5 2. How does Geoff influence Ed’s personality development?
C. Benefits of the Study
This study is expected to have some beneficial values. By doing this study, the writer hopes the writer will get a deeper understanding of personality
development. The writer also hopes that this study will give the readers a better understanding of The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel from the psychological point
of view and help them to explore the novel. In English learning activity, teachers may use The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel as their teaching material and at the
end of this study, the writer would like to present the implication of this novel as the teaching material. The writer also expects that this study will give The
Buddha, Geoff and Me readers a deeper understanding in reading this novel. Furthermore, the writer expects that this study inspires other writers to do further
researches on The Buddha, Geoff and Me novel.
E. Definition of Terms
There are some important terms in this thesis which should firstly be understood before working out the next discussion. The terms are character,
personality, development, personality development, and self-concept.
In the term of literary work, Abrams defined character as the persons
presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what
they say – the dialogue – and by what they do –the action 20.
6
The next term is personality. According to Kalish 52-53, personality is
a dynamic organization of characteristic attributes leading to behavior and distinguishing one individual from other individuals. A dynamic person is a
person who is constantly changing. Personality as an organization means that personality is neither a single part nor a combination of many separated parts, but
an organization of a “whole”. Characteristic refers to those distinctive features of an individual, which make him different from other people. Behavior is how a
human being reacts to a situation. In other words, personality is the changing and interrelating organization of distinctive features into a whole that leads a man to
behave as he does and that makes him different from other people.
The term development, according to Pikunas, refers to “all the processes
of change by which an individual’s potentialities unfold and appear as new qualities, abilities, traits, and related characteristics. It includes the long-term and
relatively irreversible gains from growth, maturation, learning, and achievement” 23.
From the definitions of personality and development above, it can be
concluded that personality development is all the processes of changing and
interrelating organization of distinctive features into a whole that lead a man to behave as he does and that make him different from other people.
The last term is self-concept. According to Combs et al, self-concept is
“the organization of perceptions about self which seems to the individual to be who he is” 77. It is how someone thinks of himself and things around him. Self-
concept is very important since it influences one’s behavior.
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