A Comparison of the Main Approaches to Personality Psychology
Psychology of personality is a difficult concept to define and
quantify, therefore most personality theories, however different they
may be in other respects, share the basic assumption, that personality
is a particular pattern of behaviour and thinking, that prevails
across time and situations and differentiates one person from another.
Most theories attempting to explain personality represent part of the
classic psychological Nature verse Nurture debate. In other words, is
personality “inherited”, or developed through our interactions with
the environment. In addition, we shall compare and contrast two of the
main approaches to personality psychology by concentrating on
Psychoanalytical Theory (Freud) and Social Learning Theory (Bandura).
By looking at the Psychodynamic approach, developed by Freud, we can
argue that it emphasizes the
interplay of unconscious psychological processes in determining human
thought, feelings, and behaviours. The basis of this approach is that
psychological factors play a major role in determining behaviour and
shaping personality. Freud argued that personality is composed of
three major systems the id, the ego, and the superego. The id
(biological part of personality) is present at birth and consists of
inherited instincts and all psychological energies. The id operates
according to the pleasure principle, seeking to reduce tension, avoid
pain and obtain pleasure. The ego (executive part of personality) is
conscious part of the mind, the “real” us. The function of the ego is
to express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance wit...
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This essay will explore one of the possible combinations of theories on personality and explain how it can be applied in practical therapy.
The relationship between personality and resilience has become a topic of interest due to the prevalent concept that some people are less vulnerable to the impacts of stress and recover faster from stress. Personality is regarded as a crucial factor that affects the behavioral aspects of humans in their social and personal life. The personality of an individual represents different patterns of behaviors that are relatively predictable and stable. In this perspective, personality can be seen as an expression of distinction from one person to the other and allows for the enables in the prediction of relative behaviors in various situations. Personality type is regarded as a psychological method of classifying various types of people. Personality
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The purpose of this research report is to investigate the personality of Beyoncé Knowles in terms of humanistic and trait conceptions of personality.
Personality Theories The Big Five Approach plays a major role in the process of understanding and analyzing a child’s outcome, as well as any adjustment issues that may occur during a child’s development. Along with these accomplishments, the Big Five approach has proven to be able to cover children, adolescents, and adults under one spectrum (Van den Akker et al., 2013). The article, “The development of personality extremity from childhood to adolescence: relations to internalizing and externalizing problems” provides an intense amount of information on personality theories and goes into depth about how personalities develop and how to distinguish between them as well. This study not only incorporated the study of personality extremity throughout childhood and adolescence, but the issues between personality extremities and personality adjustments as well (Van den Akker et al., 2013).
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It is driven by the reality principle by attempting to rationalize the situation and act accordingly in order to achieve satisfaction while doing it in a socially acceptable manner. The ego is ‘like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse’ (Freud, 1923). For example, while out at a restaurant, Tom was thirsty but knew that the waiter would return to refill the water glass, so he waited until then to get a drink, even though he just really wanted to drink from Mrs. Smith’s glass. The super ego sits, omnipresent, at the top and acts as a moral compass for both the id and ego.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something- your gut, destiny, life, home, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life” (Steve Jobs, 1955). Throughout all of my 25 years blessed on planet earth, my personality have somewhat been compared to that of a roller coaster, filled with many ups and downs, positives and negatives, rewards and punishments. As such, I have frequently embarked on numerous journeys in a dyer attempt to discover and recollect the shattered fragments left of me. With this being said, the term personality however, could be defined as “the patterns of behavior and ways of thinking and feeling that are distinctive for each individual” (Tischler, 2007). At the completion of this paper, I intend to achieve answers to some pertinent questions for instance how has the development of personality affected or impacted on human nature. I also hope to discover the various transitions of my personality starting from infancy to present and the reason or motives behind such changes. Finally, I would like to be able to gain an in-depth understanding of a variety of Personality Theories especially the Psychoanalytical Theory of
When we are born, over time we grow up and develop a personality. For each person, our personalities differentiate between one another which presents a wide variety of individuals. According to psychology, there are different factors that make up who we are. Today, I will be talking about the four major theories of personality (Psychodynamic, five-factor model, humanistic, and social-cognitive).
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 3. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
We tend to describe and assess the personalities of the people around us on an everyday basis. While our informal assessments of personality tend to focus more on individuals, personality psychologists instead use ideas of personality that can apply to everyone. Personality research has led to the development of a number of theories such as: Erikson with ‘Ego Psychology’, developing the eight stages of ‘Ego strength’, Freud with ‘Psychoanalytical ideology’, developing ‘defense mechanisms’, and Horney with ‘Neurosis’ developing ‘The Etiology of Neuroses in the family.’ These theories like many other help explain how and why certain personality traits develop.
The ego struggle to keep the id happy. The ego meets with obstacles in the world. It occasionally with objects that actually assists it in attaining it goals. The ego keeps a record of the obstacles and aides. It also keeps a record of punishments and rewards administered out by the two must influential objects in the world of a child, its mom and dad. This record of things to avoid and strategies to take becomes the superego. As stated earlier the primary function of the id is to satisfy its immediate instincts, drive and urges it superego that links the mind to society and reality. As Freud (1960) states \"superego is however, not simply a residue of the earliest choices of the id; it also represents an energetic reaction formation against those choices\" (p.24).