Embracing Varied Personalities

“Man is a social animal by nature whose inclination is to live in the company of others” by Aristotle.

There is something in us which compels to live in the society of others. We, humans, tend to group with others to socialize. This raises a huge question of why the tendency to live in the company of others is ever beyond the stage of very small tribes of enclaves. What are the purposes of elaborative bonds in social life? Here, Aristotle claims that one can’t have police with one person who is the same scenario with communication.

Similarly, one can also not have police with a thousand or more than a thousand people at all. This seems that Aristotle made his point very clear. It reflects the presence of the right size or numbers of people with whom one can have communication or socialization. However, communication leads to encounter varied sorts of personalities which is one of the important features in communication. Whenever one discusses communication one thing is essential which is one need to include more than one person. Moreover, the situation was complicated in history.

This was the ideology of Greek era where thinkers and other humans questioned about the right size or numbers of people and if we consider this then it is pronounced to claim that in ancient time period lack of communication was much higher than modern era but to make further any generalization will be injustice to that era because every history has its different situation and context.

Specifically, when we dissect the present situation of 21st-century, it is very clearly evident from the current scenario about which Sherry Turkle[1] has described in her book, “Alone together – Why we expect more from technology and less from each other”. This book talks about the importance of being connected and the adverse effect of technology on it.

Definitely, with technology, the communication pattern has changed, in a broader sense through social media, one can know many people and make many connections comparatively. But, do we know these people, or we just see a part of them which they wanted to show. There is no denying in the fact that with technology, rather than acceptance from a group of people we meet in our day to day life, we have started looking for “social acceptance” that too from mass number of people.

Logically, can verbal communication have one opinion or perspective which is similar to another? It is not possible because everyone has a different set of experiences which changes the way towards looking at things with a unique structure which is called essence. This essence differentiates one human from another in terms of opinion building and perception, which in India becomes even more different because one is socialised and differentiated based on caste, religion, status and many more.

So, with all these, it becomes difficult for an individual to connect mutually, but we are doing an immensely amazing job in this arena in such a way that it seems technology is using us instead. Here is an instance to better understand the context. These days if a friend or a relative comes home, rather than talking and sitting together, the company is enjoyed more with our phones, laptop or other devices. In short, we are more concerned about our virtual relations. It becomes pointless to comment on our blunders and foolish acts despite knowing the way to act wisely.

While discussing mental awareness very especially about “lack of communication and human relationship” it is tried to incorporate, discuss and highlight some common issues which are arising as a huge problem. It’s high time to look for the solution and if not the solution then some advice which is quite applicable to all.

Firstly, claiming to abandon technology is nor a solution neither a suggestion but using it with a sense of alert mode that is in within a standard limit is advisable.

It is believed that “India needs to be serious about mental illness” because statistically, every sixth Indian need help for sound mental health, mental problems are more in the age group 30-49 or above 60; low income is seen as linked to the occurrence of mental disorders. This data is collected by the National Mental Health Survey of India (2015-16). People of almost all age groups are suffering from some mental disorders, whether it is depression, anxiety issues, eating disorders, impulse control, addiction disorder, personality disorder and many more.

Living in the world of virtual reality, the awareness of mental health is not only critical, but one’s a priority. With time things are changing, but this priority remains constant. With the lack of effective communication, a person not only feels alienated but suffer from a pain which is inexplicable. To refrain oneself from suffering and pain one finds out alternative ways such as alcohol and consumption of other kinds of stuff as a result of escapism even if it is for short time.

There are various types of personalities according to psychologists who are extrovert, introvert, conscientious and extraversion as reported till September 7, 2017. All of these personality types behave differently, and the pattern of their communication becomes different. It is just like ‘qualia’[2] by Thomas Nagel a specialised thinker in the field of philosophy of mind wherein mind means the experiences which are purely subjective and one’s experience can never be similar to another. Likewise, the behaviour is also purely subjective which makes every individual different from another and in consequence of this the way of communication also differs like some people critical; some are emotional, some are robust in talking and many more.

One thing which one needs to articulate is that excess of anything is bad that is doing everything a little too much. We need to feel gratitude for the uniqueness around us of multiple personalities. It is necessary to believe and practise one’s preaching. However, when one overview the dimension of communication it is correlated with one’s personality.This is very important to understand about oneself and accepting the type of personality one has, and once this notion of accepting each other the way they are and treating them without any prior baggage or biasness is accepted, then it will lead to effective communication which can reverse the graph of mental health heading upwards.

[1] Turkle, Sherry. Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Hachette UK, 2017.

[2] Qualia- Philosophers often use the term ‘qualia’ (singular ‘quale’) to refer to the introspectively accessible, phenomenal aspects of our mental lives. In this broad sense of the term, it is difficult to deny that there are qualia. Disagreement typically centers on which mental states have qualia, whether qualia are intrinsic qualities of their bearers, and how qualia relate to the physical world both inside and outside the head. The status of qualia is hotly debated in philosophy largely because it is central to a proper understanding of the nature of consciousness. Qualia are at the very heart of the mind-body problem from Tye, Michael, "Qualia",The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/qualia/>.

Shivangi Goel

Research Associate at Policy Change Initiative

Shivangi is currently associated with the Policy Change Initiative as a Research Associate. Prior to this, she was an M.Phil student at Madras Christian College, Chennai wherein she completed her M.Phil in Philosophy.

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