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Explain theories of personality
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The role of personality theory in psychology
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1. What is personality, anyway? Personality is academically defined by the book as the unique, relatively enduring internal and external aspects of a person’s character that influence behavior in different situations. I would define personality as a collaboration of an individual’s biological and learned reactions to the world around them. 2. a. What are the major contributions and shortcomings of each of the personality theorists we studied? Sigmund Freud’s idea of psychological tricks that we conduct without really knowing we are doing so is known as ego defense mechanisms. This idea is applied in society today. His thoughts that displacement is one’s way to place an emotion into another object, is a common explanation to some people’s …show more content…
According to Jung, our psyche produces energy that can be channeled externally or internally. When one channels energy externally, to the outside world, Jung says that person is an extrovert. When that energy is channeled internally, toward one’s own emotions and ideas, that person is introverted. Jung also arranged four functions of personality: sensing, intuiting, thinking, and feeling. His idea has conjured new ideas of personality tests. Katharine and Isabel Myers, mother and daughter, used Jung’s personality theory to create the well-known personality assessment, The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The one part many cannot accept is the collective unconscious idea Jung proposed. He believed that everyone has a folder of memories that contain human past. Everyone goes through similar life experiences and these universal experiences are passed on to the next generation. The idea that we are all connected by experiences from human history is hard to approve, just like reincarnation is difficult to accept. Adler’s theory pertains to humans as individuals; we are all unique concoctions of traits, motivations, interests, and values. He believed we were not bad or good, just chooser in situations. Adler says that we are in control of our own outcomes in life; this is a contribution of his. Another of Adler’s contributions is his style of life theory. There is a unique character structure that each of us contain helps us strive for our final goal. A shortcoming of Adler’s theory was his lack of biological influence in personality. He focused mainly on the social aspect of individuals’
Feist, J., & Feist, G. J. (2009). Theories of Personality (7th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.
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?
(2000) originated from. Jung’s theory laid down the foundation for the concept of introversion/extraversion within personality. His concept of attitudes, the predisposition of an individual’s behavior, is either introverted or extraverted, and his theory believed that this aspect of personality is on a scale; individuals are not one or the other. The study done by Nakao et al. (2000) exhibits Jung’s notion that extraversion and introversion are on a scale by not classifying participants as an introvert or extravert, but how participants score high or low on traits indicating extraversion and placing them on the scale of introversion/extraversion. This study also used concepts from Adler’s theory of personality. Adler believed that birth order plays a role in personality development. Nakao et al. (2000) used birth order in their scale of the aspects of family environment to assess. Also, like Adler, the study focused on the environmental aspects that influence personality. Adler’s theory placed on the nurture continuum in the dimensions of humanity, his theory revolved around the concept that humans are motivated by social interest and the strength of social interest is influenced by social interactions. Thus, the environment plays a role in Adler’s theory along with the study conducted by Nakao et al. (2000). Environment plays a role in developing the introversion/extraversion aspect of personality, but environment, such as a country’s culture, can also be more welcoming to different types of personality
Jung’s personality theory is known as analytic theory. He expanded his knowledge on unconscious to apply hidden thoughts and ideas of an individual. He believed that every mind had conscious and unconscious levels (Cloninger, 2013). Jung created eight personality types from two attitudes: Introversion and Extroversion. Introversion is known as being aware of one’s inner world, while extroversion is surrounding one’s self with the environment becoming expressive. There are four functions within the two attitudes: Feelings (a person understanding the value of a conscious activity), Thinking (understanding the meaning of things), Sensation (a person that know something exist), and Intuition (knowing about something with unconscious
There are many people in this world; no two people are the same. When considering personality theories it is important to note that not all theories apply to all situations or all people. Different theories have different approaches. It is important to know the person before making assumptions about the proper theory to apply to the person or in any given situation. The purpose of this paper is to analysis how different personality theorists could interoperate different individual circumstances and behaviors based on case examples provided by the instructor.
Much of Jung’s work, controversial as it was, is still in use or extended upon to some degree today. Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers developed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator based on Jung’s categorization of the psyche. Through taking this test, one can be identified as being one out of sixteen different categories such as ENFJ (extroverted feeling with intuiting) or ISTJ (introverted sensing with thinking). Jung’s Word Association test is also in wide use in the psychiatric field today.
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.
Magnavita, J. J. (2002). Theories of personality: Contemporary approaches to the science of personality. New York: Wiley.
Different people describe the word ‘personality’ differently. Martin et al. (2010,p.610) describes personality as a “particular pattern of behavior and thinking that prevails across time and situations, and differentiates one person from another”. According to Mullins and Christy (2013,p.136), they explain that Personality may be perceived as “consisting of stable characteristics that explains why an individual behaves a certain way. Independence, conscientiousness, agreeableness and self-control are all examples of personality characteristics”. Mullins and Christy (2013, p.136) further explain that we can only identify and understand a person’s personality from listening, watching and observing them. For instance, an independent person may show independence characteristic by demonstrating a strong sense of self-sufficiency. It would be expected that this individual would not be dependable on other people around him and if this is established, it can support the characteristic being a consistent part of the person’s behavior. Individuals are therefore generally consistent in the way they respond to situations. At...
“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
The book defines personality as a person’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. Psychologist study a broad range of biological influences such as; personality development across the lifespan, personality aspects of learning, emotions, and motivation. There are two theories that are widely accepted referring to psychology, the humanistic theory, which states that personality comes from inner growth and self-fulfillment, and the psychoanalytic theory that focuses on childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations as influences. The Invisibila podcast discussed the inconsistency of personality regarding students who cheat in one class but not the other. My theory regarding personality states that personality derives from
The first major theory of personality I will be talking about is the psychodynamic theory. Psychodynamics is an approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience. It is especially interested in the dynamic relations
Freud, Jung, and Adler each contributed essential concepts in accordance to one’s personality and environment. Focusing on one’s personality, each theorist assisted in the understanding of personality and each theory is still being used today throughout many therapy sessions. Throughout one’s education, one will go through personal development, seeking to find who he/she is and along the way react to life’s events accordingly. Academic success and developmental are hand in hand, allowing persons to set goals and develop plans to reach each goal. Each theory provides a different aspect in one’s personality which leads to the behaviors of that individual. According to Richard E. Watts, “Adlerian counseling theory affirms that humans are characterized by unity across the broad spectrum of personality-cognitions, affect, and behavior. Style of life, the Adlerian term for personality, is a cognitive blueprint
Adler’s theory holds that conscious aspects of behavior are central to the development of personality. A major tenet of the theory is that individuals strive to become successful, the best that they can be. This theory places a lot of emphasis on the birth order. It is believed that birth order is not just the simple biological ordinal position; born first, second, third. To the contrary it is a second system of birth order of youngest child, oldest child, middle child, determining an individual’s psychological position. He believed
What makes are personality develop the way it does? How do we each develop a unique personality? These questions psychologist have been trying to answer since the founding of modern psychology. Sigmund Freud is the founder of modern psychology and mental health treatment. There have been many theorists that have come after him that ether keeps his ideas of personality development and many who did not. My theory is how kids develop schemas about college life. The idea of schemas comes from a theorist named Kelly. He came up with the theory of personal construct psychology. A schema is the way we expect things to be that we haven’t experienced yet.