Psychologists have strived to define and explain personality for years and in their endeavors, many of them have arrived at differing, sometimes conflicting conclusions. For example, radical behavioral theorists believe that personality is nothing more than reinforced responses to stimuli while humanistic psychologists theorize that the human personality is exemplified through our enduring need to achieve self-actualization. For some, personality is a dynamic process, unfolding over the course of a lifespan. For others, it is an entity that is unwavering beyond childhood development. These are only a few of the ways personality has been defined over the years. Still, there are further nuances in these already vastly different approaches, creating …show more content…
Feminist psychologists are particularly underwhelmed by his theories due to their complete disregard for non-anatomical personality development. Quite famously, Freud’s lack of consideration for the female experience and development is undeniably his largest transgression as far as ethics and diversity are concerned. Freud’s theory, which states that personality is defined through stages of childhood (oral, anal, phallic, and genital), was groundbreaking and paradigmatic, but it was also sexist. In his work, Freud coined the phrase “Oedipus complex” to explain what he believed was a child’s desire to be with the parent of the opposite sex. The concept is sexist in that he proposed that female children only became attracted to the father because they lacked a penis and therefore could not come to attract their mother. Freud believed that every female experienced what he called “penis envy” and that personality was biologically determined (Hergenhahn & Olson, …show more content…
In future theorizing, it would be helpful to focus on the changes society has made to gender identity and how this will affect the personality development of individuals born during the time of these changes. Consider an individual who is born male but later identifies as a gender-fluid individual. Gender roles as they stood in the 1950s will not apply to this person, therefore, theories built on these concepts will not help us understand the individual’s personality development. Society is an evolving entity, and because we are actors within it, those changes will affect human development. I believe that this dynamism should be remembered in future theoretical developments and
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Show MorePsychologists defined personality as that make people uniquely themselves, to be all-inclusive characteristics, helped people appreciate the challenging environment of each individual Cervone & Pervin (2013). Beginning with, individuals that are unnatural by unconscious traits, push or pull into instant awareness. For example, the things people do to others that normally parents would do to their children without identifying whether they are encouraged by their aspiration to bear a resemblance to their parents. Following, ego forces people that are peculiar that provide a sense of personality or self. For example, we often strive to maintain a logic of comprehensive knowledge and reliability in one behavior. Next, biologically a person with a distinctive physiological, temperamental,
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
The paper below will fully illustrates the purpose of reality, how personality and reality relate to each other. The paper further discusses the core tenets of the named theory, how this theory was drawn and why this theory is important across the world.
After reviewing all of theories of personalities throughout this course, I have found Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory to be my favorite theory of personality because it focuses on the three component parts of the mind: the id, ego and superego. This “structural theory” of personality places great importance on how conflicts among the parts of the mind shape behavior and personality. These conflicts are mostly unconscious. Romans 12:2 new living translation version states, “Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” This scripture is relevant because the mind needs to be renewed.
Sigmund Freud was born on May 6, 1856, in Austria (?). His family moved to Vienna in 1860, and that is where Freud spent, mostly, the remainder of his life (?). Freud is considered the father of Psychoanalysis, the first acknowledged personality theory (?). His theory suggest that a person’s personality is controlled by their unconscious which is established in their early childhood. The psychoanalytic theory is made up of three different elements interacting to make up the human personality: the id, the ego, and the superego (?).
Today, we live on earth holding approximately seven million people. Taking a closer look at the number of people we begin to take notice that not one person is identical to the other. What is it that makes us, as individuals, different from the rest of society? “We come into this little world with our own little nature, our own pattern of behavior, and our own natural reaction to people” (Littauer and Sweet 18). Not only do our features on the outside tell us apart from one another but our personalities also set us aside from others. Personality defends us as our own person. Personality is an individual’s process of thinking, feeling, and taking action toward something. Research helps to define the discovering, structuring, and the understanding
People tend to analyze the personality of someone while meeting new people. This way, they are often unconsciously evaluating how that person reacts of behaves. Out of all the personality theories I chose Freud’s theory, because it was the theory that I could identify myself the most. Sigmund Freud developed the psychoanalytical theory of personality development. He described that personality is the outcome of the interaction between three mental structure levels: ego, superego and id.
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.
Sigmund Freud created strong theories in science and medicine that are still studied today. Freud was a neurologist who proposed many distinctive theories in psychiatry, all based upon the method of psychoanalysis. Some of his key concepts include the ego/superego/id, free association, trauma/fantasy, dream interpretation, and jokes and the unconscious. “Freud remained a determinist throughout his life, believing that all vital phenomena, including psychological phenomena like thoughts, feelings and phantasies, are rigidly determined by the principle of cause and effect” (Storr, 1989, p. 2). Through the discussion of those central concepts, Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis becomes clear as to how he construed human character.
I believe our personalities make up who we are and how others perceive us at times. Personalities are our own unique qualities, that we possess as individuals. In writing this short paper, I have found that psychologists use assessments to define an individual’s personality to determine their qualities and what makes them different from other individuals. Through the Big Five Personality test, I found it difficult to define and understand an individual personality
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
Our personalities are what distinguish us from each other beyond our appearance; without them, we would all behave and react in the same way. Personality is the reason we are outgoing or introverted, persistent or blaze, and anxious or calm. We each have different levels of these competing characteristics that make us unique. But why are personalities so varied? Personality is determined by an array of factors from genetic and biological to the personal experiences and decisions we have faced from the day we are born. The complexity of our personalities cannot be simply explained, and for this reason there exists many different theories of how it’s developed and personality is still deeply under study. I went into this subject with an open-mind
Sigmund Freud was one of the original pioneers in the field of Psychology. The work that he accomplished throughout his lifetime laid a foundation for many theorists after him. The theorists that worked in Psychology, after Freud, were able to form their own thoughts, ideas, and hypotheses about the human mind after learning from his work. Sigmund Freud’s major contribution in the field of Psychology was his theory about the human psyche; which he called the Id, the Ego, and the Super-Ego. This theory was based on the human personality and its formation. Many of Freud’s analysis strategies became common practice in the field of Psychology and are still used today. Sigmund Freud will always be one of the most influential figures in the
Personality is the study of an individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving over time and across situations and it is what distinguishes one individual from another. In the past changes in personality were thought to have only occurred in the developmental stages of childhood and solidifies in adolescence. After the teenage years it was thought to be set like plaster or the change seen to be inconsequential or absent( Srivastava, John, Gosling, and Potter, 2003). However, recent studies have suggested that changes in personality traits continue to occur throughout an individual’s lifespan due to multiple reasons.
The development of personality has long been an area of extreme interest to psychologists and psychoanalysts alike and many different theories of personality have developed over the years. From Sigmund Freud to B.F. Skinner, everyone seems to have not only an opinion of what personality is and how it develops but also an idea as to what is the best way to measure and report their findings. In order to test their theories, it was necessary to formulate methods of research that were effective, ethical and would provide a solid foundation for future personality research.Although both the clinical and experimental methods of personality research have lent themselves to our present day understanding of the human psyche and personality, each has done so in vastly different ways. Freud and his colleagues, who pioneered the clinical research method, chose to observe their clients in an up close and personal fashion.