Read the text carefully and answer the questions:
Meenakshi is ten years old. The psychologist assessed her intellect and her mental age was found to be twelve years. Based on the normal curve, she is considered to be on the extreme side of the curve.
IQ scores are distributed in the population in such a way that the scores of most people tend to fall in the middle range of the distribution. The frequency distribution for the IQ scores tends to approximate a bell shaped curve.
Meenakshi is also extraverted and enjoys being with people. She has the ability to understand the motives, feelings and behaviours of other people. She also believes strongly in non violence and her entire life is guided by this value. Her friends call her Gandhian due to these traits. Further, they believe that she has developed these traits because of the culture in which she grew up.
When Meenakshi's friends state that Meenakshi's culture has played an important role in the development of her personality, it reflects which of the following perspective of personality ?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Cultural
Option (1) Biological — Incorrect. A biological explanation looks for the roots of personality in the body: Hippocrates grouped people by the body fluids (humours) that he believed decided temperament, and Sheldon by their body build. Meenakshi’s friends point to her culture, not to her body.
Option (2) Psychodynamic — Incorrect. The psychodynamic approach of Freud explains personality through unconscious conflicts among the id, the ego and the superego, which take shape in early childhood. The friends say nothing about inner conflicts.
Option (3) Cultural — Correct. The cultural approach attempts to understand personality in relation to the features of the ecological and cultural environment: the conditions of a group shape its child-rearing practices and so the skills, behavioural styles and value priorities of its people. The friends believe Meenakshi’s traits developed because of the culture in which she grew up.
Option (4) Humanistic — Incorrect. The humanistic approach of Rogers and Maslow stresses the person’s own drive for growth and self-actualisation, the fulfilment of her/his potential. It does not trace personality to the culture one grew up in.
Note: The case study is taken from the chapter ‘Variations in Psychological Attributes’, but this question is based on the chapter ‘Self and Personality’. However, since it is a case-study based question, all the questions on this case study are tagged to the chapter the case study is taken from.
NCERT (2025-26): “Cultural Approach … This approach attempts to understand personality in relation to the features of ecological and cultural environment. It proposes that a group’s ‘economic maintenance system’ plays a vital role in the origin of cultural and behavioural variations. The climatic conditions, the nature of terrain of the habitat and the availability of food (flora and fauna) in it determine not only people’s economic activities, but also their settlement patterns, social structures, division of labour, and other features such as childrearing practices. Taken together these elements constitute a child’s overall learning environment. People’s skills, abilities, behavioural styles, and value priorities are viewed as strongly linked to these features. Rituals, ceremonies, religious practices, arts, recreational activities, games and play are the means through which people’s personality gets projected in a culture. People develop various personality (behavioural) qualities in an attempt to adapt to the ecological and cultural features of a group’s life. Thus, the cultural approach considers personality as an adaptation of individuals or groups to the demands of their ecology and culture.…” |