Personality is the characteristic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors distinctive to every person. It is relatively stable throughout life, and is shaped by both nature and nurture. There are limitless combinations of genetic inheritance and life experiences, resulting in the uniqueness of personality. One of the many contributors to personality is health care. Health care encompasses both nature and nurture, as it deals with health related to genetic inheritance as well as health related to our experiences. When considering Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a theory of personality development, health care is a basic need, specifically a physiological need and a security need. When basic needs are unmet, personal growth is extremely difficult, making it nearly impossible to meet one’s full potential. Access to quality health care encourages positive personality development. Because our personality develops during childhood and adolescence and then remains quite constant for the rest of our lives, childhood and adolescence are the most critical years, regarding personality development, to have access to health care. Prior to childhood, though, the prenatal environment and infancy have an impact as well: even before we see the world or know how to speak, our personalities are forming. Prenatally, for example, it has been suggested that our temperament is inherited (Dennis & Hassol, 1983, p. 34). Proper prenatal care is important for preventing birth defects because the nine-month period in the intrauterine environment is a time of incredible development. Cells are dividing rapidly, forming organs, including the brain, which is the control center for personality. It is recommended that pregnant women have at least one prenatal visit d... ... middle of paper ... ...rtant consideration, as well. Providing equal access to high quality health care is perhaps the biggest investment we can make in our country because it would dramatically increase the number of healthy Americans. Children that are in good physical and mental health are more likely to develop positive personality traits, such as altruism, ambition, optimism, and compassion. When more people possess these positive traits, our entire society benefits. As stated by Abraham Maslow in his work Toward a Psychology of Being (1962, p. 5), “…sick individuals make their culture more sick [and] healthy individuals make their culture more healthy. Improving individual health is one approach to making a better world.” Ensuring that children and adolescents, specifically, all have access to age-appropriate, high quality health care is truly an investment in our nation’s future.
Simons, Janet A., Donald B. Irwin, and Beverly A. Drinnin. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Psychology: the Search for Understanding. St. Paul: West Pub., 1987. Print.
From the moment a person is born, his or her personality begins to take shape. As they grow and develop, they may become extroverted, introverted, kind, strict, or take on any number of traits that will define who they are. However when certain traits, such as lack of empathy, recklessness, and anxiety, seem to cause strange patterns of behavior that interfere with their daily lives and relationships with other people, it is easy to assume that some form of mental disorder may be the culprit. What many people fail to realize is that instead of it being a mental issue, it may be something in their personality. Although mental disorders and personality disorders are associated with one another, clinicians often pay more attention to mental disorders and disregard the fact that a personality disorder may have been the catalyst for the development of a certain mental disorder, such as depression and schizophrenia. If signs of a personality disorder can be identified in early childhood or adolescence, which is when they are most ignored, this will not only make the disorder more manageable for the person and everyone close to them, but it will also prevent the disorder from spiraling out of control and affecting their adult life.
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.
Today’s generation needs to be able to fend for itself when its members join the workforce and start families of their own. A child’s success is the dream of many parents, but kids need to posses that dream for themselves, whether they are born with it or not. Medical histories are just another example of the Nature vs. Nurture debate that can relate to almost everyone. There are some diseases, like diabetes, Huntington’s disease, and heart failure, that are common in families due to genetics. There are also those that are entirely separate from genetics, but are contracted, like Cholera. Many things can make a person who he or she is, but where it comes from is the trick. A personality can be made either through the genetics passed down from parents, or the experiences that one faces throughout his or her entire
Numerous studies have shown correlation between birth rate and personality. Birth rate can be defined as the ratio of total live births to that of the total population, in a specific community during a certain period of time. It is usually expressed in numbers of live birth over 1000 population in a year. Birth order is believed to have a lasting effect on psychological development. On the other hand, personality refers to a set of behaviors and mental characteristics possessed by an individual that makes him/her unique, in another words, it’s the distinctive qualities of an individual, and it is made up of the way we think,
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.
Individual’s “possess inner needs and are motivated by the desire to fulfill these needs” (Phillips & Gully, 2014). Abraham Maslow, and Clay Alderfer offer two separate models that explore the needs of individuals. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs contests that people have five levels of needs which they progress. Alderfer suggests there are three groups of individual needs and he views his model more as a continuum rather than a hierarchy. (Phillips & Gully, 2014) The lowest level on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs depicts an individual’s basic physiological needs for food, water, and comfort. This need runs parallel to Alderfer’s existence needs that describes an individual’s desire for physical and material well-being. The second level on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is safety and security needs such as ones desire for health, and job security. The third level on Maslow’s hierarchy is social needs for friendship and belonging which coordinates to Alderfer’s relatedness needs; desires for respect and relationships with others. The fourth level on Maslow’s hierarchy is self-esteem needs for self-respect and respect for others. The last and highest level on Maslow’s hierarchy is self-actualization needs which include self-fulfillment and the realization of one’s full potential. Alderfer’s growth needs which describe ones desire to make useful and productive contributions coincides with Maslow’s self-actualization needs. (Phillips
In Maslow’s theory, the needs of belongingness, esteem and self-actualization are placed in higher hierarchies of physiological as well as safety needs. In other words, only when people’s basic needs and safety are ensured, will they begin to pursue higher level of needs. Whereas, it is not exactly true. The theory can not apply to the starved poets, the eremites who cut off the contact with society or the mountaineers caring less about security on his way to reach the top (Kremer and Hammond, 2013). All those people can be idealists that disregard physiological and safety needs but care more about self-actualization. It can be seen that people’s needs vary from person to person. Therefore, there is no doubt that Maslow’s theory is proved to be wrong. Also, it is evident that all the human needs are equal. Even if the individuals’ physiological and safety needs are not fulfilled, they still have the strong desire to be loved, receive respect and achieve their life objectives. Tay and Diener (2011) pointed out that whether other needs were satisfied had slight effect on the relevance of subjective well-being (SWB) with the fulfillment of particular needs. To be more specific, in the workplaces, employees work not only for salary to ensure their physiological and safety needs, but also for life evaluation at the same time. If
Unlike many of his colleagues at the time who were focusing on psychopathology, or what is wrong with individuals, he focused on how individuals are motivated to fulfill their potential and what needs govern their respective behaviors (McLeod)). Maslow developed the hierarchy over time, adjusting from a rigid structure where needs must be met before being able to achieve a higher level, to where the individuals can experience and behave in ways across the hierarchy multiple times daily depending on their needs. The hierarchy is comprised of 5 levels; Physiological, Safety and Security, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. The bottom two levels are considered basic needs, or deficiency needs because once the needs are met they cease to be a driving factor, unlike psychological needs. Loving and Belonging and Esteem needs are considered psychological needs, and are different from basic needs because they don’t stem from a lack of something, but rather the desire to grow. Maslow theorizes that individual’s decisions and behavior are determined based on their current level of needs, and the ideal level to achieve full potential culminates in self-actualization; however, operating on this level cannot be achieved until the preceding levels of needs have been
...f expensive unanticipated medical events that could impair their quality of life. This will help maintaing the work force knowing that 81% of the uninsured are from working families. This proposal will also help creating a healthier America and establishing a new culture of following a healthier behavior. According to Cockerham "an important fact of health behavior includes contact by healthy people with physicians and other health personnel for preventive care".
When the word “personality” comes to mind, numerous factors that influence person characteristics accompany it. Personality is defined as being the uniqueness of an individual accompanied by an adopted idiographic view. (Theories of Personality, 2014) Over the years, scientists and psychologists have tried to figure out the link between genetics, environmental factors, and cultural influences with the way an individual’s personality is strengthened. Have you ever wondered if your personality is a result of the nature or nurture theory? Is it genetics related or environmentally driven? An extremely important question that must be included during the study of personality deals with the extent of which nature or nurture is involved in shaping
Cunningham, C. H., & Wakefield Jr., J. A. (1975). An Empirical Comparison of Maslow's and Murray's Needs Systems. Journal Of Personality Assessment, 39(6), 594.
Two proponents most noted for humanistic approaches to personality are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Both the Person-Centered Theory (Rogers) and the Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow) considered that humans ' true nature was good and that each has the potential for growth. A comparison of the two approaches demonstrates a compatibility between theory and practice. Furthermore, each approach focuses on individual choices and rejects the theory that biology will determine human potential.
Environment determines to some extent the personality of a person. There are numerous factors in the environment which could determine variations in the personalities of different individuals. There are factors which are inherent to the environment and there are those determined by the manner by which individuals enter into a particular environment. In much the same way, how an infants entrance into the world determines in large part how parents and others will respond. In this paper particular view will be taken on the matter of timing that an infant is born.
Personality is the expression of a person’s traits according to ones feelings, mentality and behavior. It involves understanding individuals’ traits such as withdrawal and willpower and how various parts of an individual link together to form personality. Personality expresses itself from within an individual and is comparatively regular throughout in an individual’s life. Different people have different personalities dependent on factors such as environment and genetic composition. Our personality is dependent on the success or failure of our development in the eight stages of life. This is proposed by Erik Erikson. Success in the development stages lead to virtues while the failure leads to malignancies.