Running head: Personality Theories Personality Theories PSY/211 Personality Theories The existence of personality theories correspond to how scholars analyze and assess the development of human identity and behavior. Each viewpoint provides a specific understanding of what cultivates personality and the corresponding factors that influence such behavior. One way to analyze personality is through the lens of psychoanalytic theory. The main argument of this theory is that problems or issues pertaining to psychology can be rooted to one’s unconscious (McLeod, 2007). Specifically, the problems are influenced by latent issues surfacing in the conscious mind.
In order to examine this assertion we have to look into some of the theories and findings from different areas in psychology that allows us to understand the importance of these influences. The examples used in this essay are based on general influences that determine human behaviour; personality, friendship and brain function. Personality is considered to be one of the important factors in influencing human behaviour as it can be described in many ways and can be applied to almost any situation involving human behaviour and actions. Generally personality is defined as “a set of stable and enduring individual characteristics or inner dispositions that lead people to behave in a steady way over time and maintain a consistent orientation to other people and the world around them.” (McAvoy Jean, p19). Because personality can be defined in so many ways psychologists had to find a way to categorise and measure personality with individual differences in personality in mind.
Biological and Humanistic Approaches to Personality Many researchers believe that many aspects affect an individual’s personality. This paper is will analyze the biological and humanistic approaches to personality. This paper will also use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to discuss at the extent in which growth needs influence personality formation, describe biological factors that influence the formation of personality, examine the relationship of biological factors to Maslow’s theory of personality and explain the basic aspects of humanistic theory that are incompatible with biological explanations of personality. The concept that individuals inherit their personalities from their parents is the biological approach to personality. Unlike the Big Five, this theory founded by Hans Eysenck establishes three dimensions: extroversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.
Foundations of Psychology Paper PSY/300 Psychology is made up of numerous schools of thought, structuralism, functionalism, psychodynamic, behaviorist, cognitive, and evolutionary. All of these schools of thought have different assumptions which sometimes offer contradicting facts and sometimes offer facts which compliment each other (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). In this paper the six schools of thought found within psychology and their major assumptions will be discussed, along with the primary biological foundations of psychology which are linked to behavior. The first school of thought in psychology is structuralism. Structuralism was developed by a man named Edward Titchener who was a student of Wilhem Wundt.
However, the study of personality is based upon the essential knowledge that all people are the same, yet different in other ways. The most up to date definition of personality is that found in the Feist and Feist texted of Theories of Personalities and that would be “Personality is a pattern of characteristics of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that distinguish one person from another” (Feist and Feist; 2009). In the field of
In our matrix we will discuss Allport’s psychology of the individual theory, and the trait and factor theory. Both theories express how personality can change personalities and, the different associations that we have over time. Allport’s theory, psychology of the individual, sees human personality different from psychoanalytical and behavioral views. Allport believed that individual’s personality and behavior were not only determined by experiences stored in the unconscious but also by conscious decisions made in the present (Feist & Feist, 2009). Allport also believed that humans are not only organisms that react to rewards and punishment instead humans can interact with the environment and vice versa (Feist & Feist, 2009).
This paper seeks to define the effect humanistic and existential theories have on personality as well as interpersonal relationships. Humanistic and Existential Theories Affect on Personality Humanistic theories of personality believe that all humans are good. This theory also stresses the importance to achieve an individual’s full potential. The focus of the humanistic theory is on the self, which translates into "YOU", and "your" perception of "your" experiences. Abraham Maslow’s introduced the hierarchy of needs that emphasizes the importance of self-actualization.
The differences among the early school of thought and the humanistic approach is that the emphasis is on helping individuals reach their highest potential rather than being the center of abnormal human behavior. Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology that focuses on the way people perceive, process, and retrieve informati9on. These functions include, learning, thinking, and perception. Principles of neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics are a form of cognitive
These big ideas can be categorized under social thinking, social influence, or social relations. The idea that we construct our social reality falls under social thinking, it describes the natural human urge to explain behavior, by attempting to attribute it to a cause, in order to make it seem orderly, predictable, and controllable (Myers, 2010). According to social psychology our social intuitions are powerful and sometimes perilous, suggesting that the human ability to understand something immediately, molds or influences behavior because it also shapes fears, attitudes, impressions, and relationships (Myers, 2010). It is also believed that social influences shape behavior as does behavior shape social influences. Myers (2010) provides an example as to how behavior is shaped by social influences making humans social creatures, “We speak and think in words we learned from others (Social psychology, p. 7).
Page 8-9 Biological Perspective …………………………………………………………………….. Page 10 Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………. Page 11 Humanistic Approach Humanistic Approach Humanistic approach is a psychological approach that emphasizes the study of the whole person. Humanistic psychologists look at human behaviour not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving. They believe that an individual's behaviour is connected to their inner feelings and self-concept.