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Comparison of Theories on Personality
Abstract
This paper is a comparison of three different viewpoints on the subject of personality. Carl Jung, B.F. Skinner, and Carl Rogers all had very different outlooks on what defined someone’s personality. As an added feature I have included myself as a theorist because my views are also different from the previous mentioned theorists. This paper will also look briefly into the background of each theorist because their views on life began in their childhood. Amazingly you will notice the all had similar backgrounds, but came up with completely different ways of looking at life.
Comparison of Theories 3
Understanding Personality
Personality is the unique, relatively enduring internal and external aspects of a person’s character that influence behavior in different situations. To understand the many different theories of personality you must understand that personalities are as unique as snowflakes. No two people are exactly alike. Everyone has different experiences, parents, and lives.These differences cause all people to view the world a little differently than the person next to them.
There are various thoughts of how and when personalities develop and grow. Psychoanalysts, Humanists, Behaviorists, and a psychology student at Ohio University all have different outlooks to personality. Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner and Don Verderosa represent each of these views. To get a better understanding of each theorist you need to look at where each one is coming from.
The Backgrounds of the Theorists
Carl Jung
According to Theories of Personality by Schultz and Schultz, Jung had a very unhappy and lonely childhood. The only “friend” he had was a woo...
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...theorists is correct in their views because no one can prove them wrong. Each has evidence that theirs is the correct theory or method.
Since there are so many variations in personality traits there will never be a definite answer. What may work for one person may not necessarily work for the next. To treat a personality disorder the person afflicted by it needs to decide what is the cause of the disorder and then seek the correct area. Was it something you learned or it became a habit, was it an issue with something from your childhood, or was it biological? These questions to yourself will help you better determine what is the best course of action to treat it.
Bibliography:
Comparison of Theories 10
References
Schultz, Duane, & Schultz, Sydney Ellen. (1998). Theories of Personality
(6th ed.). New York: Brooks/Cole publishing Co.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Personality is characterized by many dimensions of a person’s overall being. The belief that personality stems from one origin is small minded and on many levels, unsupported. If the scope of personality is expanded, it suggests that there is not a single explanation determining a person’s personality and how it is formed. Personality Theories have been generated for centuries by individuals who desire to identify what distinguishes a person’s personality and how it affects their behaviors. What is it that comprises all the unique characteristics about a person?
As previously mentioned, personality is a concept that primarily focuses on examining the patterns of similarities and patterns of differences among individuals. The view of personality examines individuals comprehensively to look for common dimensions of personal traits in order to make generalizations and comparisons. There are two major approaches used in making these overview and comparisons regarding individual differences i.e. nomothetic and idiographic approaches.
In its most basic form, personality is what defines a person through their “…expression of emotions, relationship building, and their individual patterns of behavior…” (CITE). Two of the most prolific theories on the formation of personality were developed by neurologist Sigmund Freud and psychologist Carl Rogers. Both Freud and Rogers worked in psychotherapy, the area of therapy, which “…focuses on fostering a positive mental well-being…” (CITE). These men based their general theories of personality on their experiences with patients, however their conclusions are worlds apart. Rogers is recognized for his approach to therapy where the “…client…” has a more direct role in the process (CITE). Whereas Freud is best known for his work on the unconscious mind.
Famous psychological theorists Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers were both the greatest researchers in our modern time. They both made a lot of advancement in psychological fields, clinical evidence and expertise. They both developed a theory of 'hidden' personality’, in which the psychologists theorized that people have a ‘hidden' personality within them, one which they are not aware of. This concept indicated that the human nature and the role play in rationale behind the human motivation. Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers do have same common in their theories. They were both influenced by working within their patients and shared the familiarity through the many years of clinical performance. Based on their experimental studies, Sigmund Freud believed that the human nature is inherently aggressive, and Carl Rogers sustained that the people are innately are good. Indeed, Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers have diverse opinions and different assumptions on the personality of a human. During the contemporary scientific research, I prefer to agree with Roger’s theory over the Freudian model because it is more in tune with findings of my experiences.
When discussing personality one must understand the differences between personality and black personality. While it may be difficult to find an all-encompassing definition, personality refers to a person's unique and relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions. According to an excerpt presented in Psychological Principals and the Black Experience, "the personality represents the compromise between inner drives and needs, and the controls that limit and regulate their expression... Personality functions to maintain stable, reciprocal relationships between the person and his environment." Meaning that personality is made up of distinct characteristics that helps a person manage their day to day experiences under ordinary circumstances (Houston, 1990). There are many different theories on how one develops his or her personality. These theories include, the psychoanalytic theory which attempts to explain personality based on unconscious mental forces; the humanistic theory, which is the idea that all people are good and that they are striving for self-fulfillment; the social cognitive approach which states that people develo...
Psychodynamic and behavioural approaches are the two major approaches to personality, however, they view personality from different perspectives. Psychodynamic approach makes the argument that personality is caused by forces in the unconscious that are not learned. The individual has little control over their behaviour as it is predetermined, and early childhood plays a crucial part in shaping a person’s personality. Behavioural approach, on the other hand, recognises personality as learned and focuses only on present behavioural matters. Because of
Personality is a branch of scientific discipline that studies temperament and its variation among people. It is a dynamic and a set of characteristics possessed by their atmosphere, cognitions, emotions, motivations and behaviours in various things. Personality conjointly refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings, social adjustments and behaviour consistently exhibited over time that powerfully influences one’s exceptions, self-perceptions, values and attitudes. It also predicts human reactions to different folks, problems and stress.
My personality plays a big part in my life, the qualities I possess, how I am perceived by others, and how well I interact with them. I believe I have an outgoing personality, I am easy to approach and get along with and much more. As I reflect on Freud and his theory, I can agree with him in some areas, but I don’t believe that the person personality was shaped almost entirely by childhood events. He was well known for his psychoanalytic theory of personality development, believing that the personality is shaped by conflicts fundamental structures of the mind: the id, ego, and superego (Funder, 2016). He was a psychologist who paved the way for others to come behind him. There are many who did agree with his theories
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.
Magnavita, J. J. (2002). Theories of personality: Contemporary approaches to the science of personality. New York: Wiley.
Allport (1937) deemed science as nomothetic and psychology to be concerned with the study of individuals, suggesting that psychology is perhaps not a science, but by combining both the nomothetic and idiographic approaches, science and personality are combined forming a “science of personality” (Beck, 1953) . Allport (1960) reasoned that “unless such idiographic (particular) knowledge is fused with nomothetic (universal) knowledge, we shall not achieve the aims of science”. In which respect, by approaching the study of personality with both nomothetic and idiographic methodology, an agreement can be made that “Every man is in certain respects like all other men, like some other men and like no other men” (Kluckholm and Murray, 1953).
The different viewpoints psychologists have of personality led us to the multiple personality theories we know today.
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).
We begin with our first founder, Sigmund Freud, of psychoanalysis and who is one of the most outstanding psychologists and whose contribution can hardly ever be underestimated. In this regard, Freud 's theory of personality is significant because his theory is changing views of psychologists as well as everyday people
The concept of personality has numerous definitions (Fatahi, Moradi, & Kashani-Vahid, 2016). Schultz and Schultz (2009), define personality in its broad sense as the manner of an individual’s behaviour in different situations. This essay explores the nature of personality, with the intention of highlighting its flexibility. The results of numerous empirical research studies are examined in order to investigate if, and how personality changes over time. It will be argued that an individual’s personality has the ability to change throughout their life.