Instead, there are several popular models competing for dominance, and the supporters of each model are having trouble understanding each other. ("Evolutionary Psychology ", 2009). Psychology is a discipline that asks and answers the fundamental question, why do we behave the way we do and think the way we think? The best way to characterize the different approaches that are taken to answer the question of psychology is to identify them as major perspectives. The major perspectives represent fundamental assumptions that underlie the research questions and methods that are used in order to answer the questions of psychology.
Personality can mean many things but collectively the definition according to Feist & Feist in 2006, “…a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior” (Feist & Feist, 2006). It is hard to understand personality when no one can even agree about the true definition of personality so that is why we have to study it and assess the information that will help us understand what influences our own traits and characteristics. Quantifiable Human Nature The field of psychology is based on the basic ways in which humans will react through perceptions, position, and the point of views from of a lot of theorists. In the area of psychology according to Feist and Feist in 2009, “there are six dualistic dimensions on human nature and they are determinism versus free choice, pessimism versus optimism, causality versus teleology, conscious versus unconscious determinants of behavior, biological versus social influences, and finally uniqueness versus similarities” (Feist & Feist). First a thing where a human does anything willingly is called free choice.
Most of the major definitions refer to culture as a set of shared values, beliefs, and practices. These definitions embody specific behavioural, motivational, and other psychological aspects depending on the research emphasis. Generally, anthropologists tend to define
There is no doubt counsellors have to be aware of the complications when it comes to culture (Pederson & Ivey 1993). Within a culture people develop patterns of behaviour that they have learnt. Cultural identity differences can be perceived between themselves and other groups and can also be based on personal preferences i.e. Language, religion, lifestyle, Birthplace or even life experiences. There is a danger that if counsellors minimise cultural differences they are likely to impose the larger multicultural groups similarities upon the smaller multicultural groups and uphold one group as being more important than the other.
Running head: PERSONALITY OVERVIEW Personality Overview Joyce Hauk University of Phoenix Theories of Personality PSY/405 Jackie Grimmett Jun 16, 2012 Personality Overview Various theories allow a multitude of perspectives and since there are numerous personalities that differ from each other immensly, diverse theories are necessary for a better perspective of an individual. Personality theories are best explained by viewing two different theories and comparing how they operate against one another. Comparing these theories can help one discover more about their own personal strengths and weaknesses, assumptions, limitations, as well as what information is considered when attempting to enlightenment an individual about
The definition of personality in which this essay will refer to must first be established. According to Pastorino and Doyle-Portillo (2010), personality is a unique combination of feelings, attitudes, thoughts, impulses, behaviour and habits that characterize how the individual will typically react across a range of situations. Personality is currently widely believed to have some innate qualities and other qualities which are developed through the interaction which the environment (Pastorino, & Doyle-Portillo, 2010). An important area to note is that it is how one will typically react, thus personality will guide our behaviour but it is not fixed. There are various other views of what personality is according to different psychologists, yet this is the definition which has been adopted for this paper.
Understand Sociological Perspectives and Approaches This assignment will explain the principle psychological perspectives and it will also assess the different psychological approaches to study. This will include behaviourist theory, social learning theory, psychodynamic theory, cognitive perspective and the biological and maturation perspective. The Behaviourist theory states that psychology it should be seen as a science, to be studied in a scientific manner, behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal events like thinking and behaviour is a result of a stimulus, a response. An example of this can include all behaviour no matter how complex; it can be reduced to a simple stimulus, which is response features. This therefore results in behaviour being determined by the environment for example conditioning.
Cross Cultural Studies of Gender Roles Cross cultural studies are important as they help us to explain the nature / nurture debate. The nature side of the gender argument focuses on the biological explanations of gender roles stating that gender differences result from innate differences between males and females. The nurture side of the argument, on the other hand, focuses on social explanations stating gender differences result from our life experiences as we grow up. There is also an interactionist approach which is often more realistic as it takes both of these factors into account stating that gender differences are caused by innate tendencies which are modified by environmental factors, e.g. The biosocial theory.
They help us to differentiate between those responses that are specific to local cultural types and those that are general to mankind. Beyond this, they help us to gauge and understand they immensely important rôle of culturally conditioned behaviour" (p. 20). In an effort to determine what traits are specific to certain cultures and what traits humans invariably posses, Benedict presents a “great arc of potential human purposes and motivations” (p. 237). This “arc” consists of a range of traits that cultures select from, cultures may have the same traits but “the nature of the traits will be quite different in the different areas according to the elements with which it has combined” (p. 37). The cultures presented in Patterns of Culture are broken down and are given a one-word description to sum up the overall gestalt of the culture.
In other words, though critical thinking principles are universal, their application to disciplines requires a process of reflective contextualization. Critical thinking is considered important in the academic fields because it enables one to analyze, evaluate, explain, and restructure their thinking, thereby decreasing the risk of adopting, acting on, or thinking with, a false belief. However, even with knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, mistakes can happen due to a thinker's inability to apply the methods or because of character traits such as egocentrism. Critical thinking includes identification of prejudice, bias, propaganda, self-deception, distortion, misinformation, etc. Given research in cognitive psychology, some educators believe that schools should focus on teaching their students critical thinking skills and cultivation of intellectual traits.