Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Strengths of trait approach to personality
Temperament biological influence on personality
Impact of social networking on individual
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Strengths of trait approach to personality
Many individuals, especially psychologist, question how can they describe a person’s personality using theories in order for society to have an understanding of why people behave the way they do. There have been many debates in regards to this question. Some psychologists state that genetics is one of the main factors why people react a certain way, depending on the circumstance. However, other researchers indicate that the environment plays an enormous role on the individual. Although both of these predictions might be accurate, one will not fully understand unless there is more information linked to their arguments. According to trait theories in the book of Psychology, there are multiple theories that explain different types of possibilities to these behaviors, two of them are called Trait Theory and Social-Cognitive Theory.
Based on the information provided in the textbook, trait theory states that every individual has different personalities due to the traits inherited by their maternal or paternal DNA. For instance, if a child or a grown adult is shy or talkative one is able to observe the person’s conscious thoughts and behaviors; therefore, one can imply that traits are essential when it applies to an individual’s personality, which is why everyone’s personality is different. Foreign psychologist Hans Eysenck and Sybil Eysenck, designed a chart full of different qualities to identify the various types of personalities. Indeed, these categories indicate whether the person is considered extraversion, stable, introversion, and unstable. For example, a person that is considered introverted-stable is considered to be peaceful, caring, and calm. On the other hand, a person who is extraverted stable is seen as someone who is ...
... middle of paper ...
...ent to high school I went back to my old self. Something inside me triggered that made me realize that education was my only option to become successful. Nonetheless, I became more distant with my old friends, especially the people I use to talk to in high school. Moreover, this change associates to one of the researcher's studies. Where he indicates that one’s personality changes as one ages. Based on the factor analysis, I can identify myself as an unstable-introverted. Due to the environment that I am surrounded by, being a college girl, has changed my perspective and behavior. I became more anxious, yet at the same time I can be reserved. Based on this theory, I can conclude that I control my own destiny not others. I have not been in a situation where other people control my everyday decisions. Social-cognitive theory best describes my personality and behavior.
The debate of nature vs. nurture continues today in the world of psychology. The effects of an individual’s genetics and the effects of their environment on their personality and actions is an age old debate that is still inconclusive. However, it is evident that both sides of the argument carry some form of the truth. It can be contended that the major characteristics of an individual are formed by their environment, more specifically, their past experiences. An individual’s past moulds and shapes their identity, if they do not make an effort to move on from it.
The trait approach focuses on describing and quantifying individual differences. The approach tries to categorize people into groups based upon what traits they exhibit. According to the textbook, “The most important factors of personality ought to be found across different sources of data, and he [Cattell] developed a typology of data – including self-report, peer-report, and behavioral observations – that has become part of the foundation of the distinctions between S, I, L, and B data” (Funder, 2013, p. 222). As the essential--trait approach was being developed over the years, the amount of traits drastically changed over time. Multiple psychologists worked on this theory, all having different ideas and amounts of essential ...
Does personality determine behavior? Phelps (2015) dived into this discussion in his article by reviewing the perspectives of personality, how psychology relates to behavior and the idea of self, and further, how behaviorists define personality and all of its components. Phelps (2015) compares and contrasts the common beliefs of personality and the view of self as attributed to personality theorists with those characterized by behavioral theorists. A typical understanding of personality is one that defines it as an internal substance that drives behavior, and therefore, by seeking to understand a person's personality we can almost assume their actions (Phelps, 2015). Behavioral theorists, on the other hand, do not lean on vague internal conditions to explain behavior, but rather they evaluate a person's past and present settings to define behavior, according to Phelps (2015). The conclusion is that behaviorists' perspectives on these topics are far more parsimonious in nature and most popular views of personality speak to a more internal and far-reaching position rather than the behavior itself (Phelps, 2015). Likewise, Phelps (2015) addresses the issue of meeting specific criteria for discerning whether a theoretical viewpoint is valid in helping us understand people. He continued to remark that behaviorists' stances meet a large portion of the criteria as presented by Gordon Allport (Phelps, 2015). For example, they have less assumptions, they are consistent, and not to mention, they are testable and falsifiable, Phelps (2015) supports. In my opinion and critical review, this article is useful because it provides an unbiased assessment of a variety of personality theories and definitions of personality and the self. Likewise, it is simple and easy to understand, thus qualifying it as parsimonious. Overall, I think the article did its ultimate job of evaluating different perspectives and
Many psychologists throughout many years present theoretical approaches in an attempt to understand personality. Hans Eysenck’s approach of personality differed from that of Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytical theory of personality. Eysenck’s theory of personality relies on the scientific basis of biology in explaining human personality. Although Freud’s theories are intriguing to an open mind, Eysenck’s approach made measurable scientific sense. He relied on the use of trait and factor analysis, which is a statistical method. Freud relied on faith and his personal opinions based on observational research to reach the assumptions that set forth his theories (Feist & Feist, 2009). Eysenck and Freud did not agree on anything about understanding how and why the mind operates the way, it does.
Eysenck ' identify three dimensions of personality which are extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism (McLeod, 2014). He came up with this theory while working in Maudskey psychiatric hospital in London. He was making "assessments of each patient before their mental disorders where diagnosed by a psychiatrist. He would ask questions too soldiers who were being treated for neurotic disorders. His technique is called the factor analysis. The factors are grouped into dimensions. The two dimensions are introversion and extraversion, neuroticism and stability which are also called the second order personality traits. The extraverts are sociable and crave excitement and change, and thus can become bored easily they tend to be carefree optimistic and impulsive"(McLeod, 2014). Introverts are "reserved planned actions and control their emotions. They tend to be seriously reliable and pessimistic"(McLeod, 2014). Neurotics and stables tend to be anxious worrying and moody. They are overly emotional and find it difficult to calm down one upset (). Stables are "emotionally calm unreactive and unworried. In 1966 Eysencks that is another trade called psychoticism. This trait exhibits "a lack of empathy, is cruel, a loner, aggressive and troublesome" McLeod, 2014 (McLeod,
Hans Eysenck believes that genetics is the main reason of personality, although he thinks training also plays a role. According to Eysenck, personality traits are hierarchical, with a few basic traits giving rise to a large array of more superficial traits. Genetically determined differences in physiological functioning make some people more vulnerable to behavioural conditioning. Eysenck suggests that introverted people have higher levels of physiological arousal, which allows them to be conditioned by environmental stimuli more easily. Because of this, such people develop more inhibitions, which make them more shy and uneasy in social situations.
A layman would define personality as an individual’s characteristics in terms of how they think and behave. Many theorists, however, interprets personality differently resulting in various personality theories. Personality is determined by traits which are behaviours displayed by a person in most given situations. How a person reacts to common circumstances may also be used to foresee future behaviours. Traits are then categorized into types that allow easier comparisons to be made between each individual’s attributes. The focus of this paper would be on the biological aspects of personality whereby traits are thought to be inheritable through genetics and associated with the central nervous system. Behavioural genetics are research that makes use of results from studies done on family, twins and adoptions. The findings of how both genes and environment influences personality from the studies will be discussed. Some researchers found possible issues with the representativeness of such studies. The outline of Eysenck’s biological model of personality and arousal, Gray’s BAS/BIS theory and Cloninger’s biological model of personality will further explain the biological effect on personality.
Trait theory is "an individuals relatively consistent way of thinking, feeling, and behaving across situations" in relation to communication (Littlejohn & Foss, 2011). Trait theory could also be classified as a personality theory since personality is what causes a person to behave a certain way due to his or her emotional qualities, or way of thinking and feeling. Communication is " the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else" ("communication," 2013). Komarraju et al. (2011) define communication as a process to encode, recall, organize, and apply information. When comparing the definitions for both trait and communication, it becomes clear that personality is a large factor in communication since both utilize behaviors due to thoughts and feelings. Although thoughts and feelings are associated with emotions, emotions and personality are not synonymous, though emotions are often mistaken as an individual's personality (Hall, Gunnery, & Andrzejewski, DATE).
Personality is patterns of thinking, behavior and emotional responses that make up individuality over time. Psychologist attempt to understand how personality develops and its impact on how we behave. Several theories attempt to explain personality, using different approaches. The social-cognitive and humanistic approaches are two of many theories that attempt to explain personality. This essay will identify the main concepts of social-cognitive and humanistic approach, identify perspective differences and discuss approach limitations.
Personality can be defined as an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. Many personality theorists have put forward claims as to where personality is derived from and how it develops throughout an individual’s life. The two main personality theories this essay will be focusing on is the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986) and the Trait Theory – Five Factor Theory (FFT) (McCrae and Costa, 1995). The SCT allocates a central role to cognitive, observational learning and self-regulatory processes (Bandura, 1986). An individual’s personality develops through experiences with their sociocultural environment. Whereas the Trait Theory proposes that all individuals are predisposed with five traits (Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) which determines our personality. This theory also puts forward that personality is stable and cannot change as it’s biologically determined.
Raymond B. Cattell (1906-1998) studied the personality traits of large groups of people, calling the visible features of their personalities “surface traits.” During his studies, Cattell observed that certain “surface traits” would appear simultaneously in individuals. When Cattell noticed this trend occurring frequently he renamed the group of “surface traits” “source traits”. At the conclusion of his research Cattell identified sixteen “source traits.”
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 study of personality traits is beneficial in identifying the many variables that exist from human to human; the combinations of these variables provide us with a true level of individuality and uniqueness. In the field of psychology, trait theory is considered to be a key approach to the study of human personality (Crowne, 2007; Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2009). This paper aims to identify a number of significant contributors who have played crucial roles in both the development and application of trait theory. This paper then moves focus to these theorists, outlining their theory and analysing both the strengths and weaknesses of those theories. An illustration of the methods used in trait measurement is given and includes the arguments for and against such procedures.
Hans Eysenck is notable for his theory of crime and personality, which explains how personality types are related to criminality. His theory is based on three traits affecting behaviour, holding that extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism in conjunction with social experiences produce personality (Center and Kemp 2002). The first dimension, extraversion, describes individuals as sociable and needing people around. Extraverts thrive off of excitement, take risks, and are impulsive and unreliable. Meanwhile, introverts are the opposite, have control of their emotions, and are rarely aggressive. Extraverts will usually have less well-developed consciences because of their poor conditionability, which is associated with their low arousal (Farrell
This theory is a set of assumptions that a person makes, often unconsciously, about the correlations between personality traits, including such widespread assumptions as that warmth is positively correlated with generosity, so that a person who is warm is perceived as being likely also to be generous, and that coldness is positively correlated with seriousness, so that a person who is cold is perceived as being likely also to be serious. Some implicit personality theories also include correlations between psychological and physiognomic traits, such as the belief that intelligence is positively correlated with forehead height or that meanness is negatively correlated with distance between the eyes. Additionally, describes the specific patterns