Abstract:
This work is aimed at finding out whether the groups of self-knowledge and personal development favor the improvement of functional and adaptative personality styles, and whether they increase university students’ hope and self-esteem. The sample was made up of freshmen divided into two closed groups of eight and seven members, respectively. Facilitator resources of self-knowledge from the Gestalt and cognitive perspective were used for eight sessions in four months. To assess personality styles –functional / dysfunctional, Millon Inventory of Personality Style (1997) was applied. To learn about the level of Hope /Despair, Pereyra’s test (1996) was applied. Self-esteem level was assessed by Rosenberg’s Self-esteem Scale (1966). The research work was carried out in three stages: i) Pre-test stage, in which the abovementioned psychological instruments were applied, ii) facilitator resources of self-knowledge were used during the eight sessions with the groups of students, and iii) post-test stage, in which the psychological instruments were once again applied. The results show a significant increase of hope and self-esteem levels and of scores of functional styles of personality.