How does psychologists differentiate between personality traits and a disorder? According to What is Psychology, “Personality is the unique collection of attitudes, emotions, thoughts, habits, impulses, and behaviors that define how a person typically behaves across situations.” (Pastorino & Doyle-Portillo, pg. 462, 2015). How about the definition of a personality disorder? Well according to the video Personality Disorders, defining a personality disorder isn’t easy. Some psychologists believe it’s the definition of a person’s character while others believe it’s their behavior. Due to this inconclusive definition of a personality disorder, it can be difficult to distinguish a disorder from a personality trait. Now, the overview of the video Personality Disorders details 3 personality disorders and their symptoms or behaviors. However, it additionally explains the numerous factors that can affect or even change someone’s personality which includes genetics, drug use, drug interactions and even the environment (Personality disorders, 1997). These numerous factors can in turn manipulate someone’s personality and cause changes in their behavior that may not contribute to a disorder. To …show more content…
Many conducted research by looking into identical twins and their personality types. Even when the twins were separated, they expressed some of the same behaviors and traits as their twin which concluded that some traits are inheritable. This thought can go deeper into the brain through a domain called personality neuroscience where people have discovered the dopamine receptor gene (Pastorino & Doyle-Portillo, pg. 479, 2015). This gene influences the amount of serotonin in the brain and can cause greater anxiety levels in these people. The founding of this gene solidifies the fact that biology and personality are indeed
In psychology, the nature versus nurture argument is a long-debated topic. With each new discovery, there are two famous questions, "Did genes make this happen or did one's environment cause it?" Torgersen (2009) confronts this battle by gathering data of the effects of the environment on the development of personality disorders, explaining that – due to research in Norway and other regions – the progression and endowment of personality disorders may actually boil down to genetic predisposition rather than environmental factors. In other words, it is suggested
The video states that two factors affect personality: dispositional and situational. Dispositional factors are those that are a part of us and internal, such as genetics, attitude, and personality. Situational factors are those that come from the environment, such as sensory stimulation, rewards, and punishments. Emanuel Donchin studies the effects of situational factors on the brain's activity. Donchin showed a list of names to various individuals and recorded their brain signals.
Personality, defined by Merriam-Webster, is a set of enduring behavioral and mental traits that distinguish human beings from one another. Therefore, a personality disorder “is a type of mental illness in which you have trouble perceiving and relating to situations and to people—including yourself” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In general, someone who suffers from a personality disorder has a long-term pattern of behaviors and emotions that are very different from the society’s view of “normal”.
A personality disorder is an unhealthy group of mental illness (Personality Disorders , 2013). These thoughts and behaviors cause a series of problems in a person’s life. The disorder has often been linked to destruction in social, occupational, and an overall functioning of life (Soeteman, Verheul, & Busschbach, 2008).The person has often had problems associating with other people and managing stress (Personality Disorders , 2013). Personality disorders are consistently noted in a person that has obsessive-compulsive disorder (Butcher, 2010).
There are multiple criteria that come into play when determining a psychological disorder. One reason is because, it is hard to know for sure if an action is abnormal or not. Something could be abnormal in our country, but a custom in another.
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.
Personality Disorders Personality disorders indicate the presence of chronic rigid and maladjusted personality traits, through which the person's interpersonal or professional functioning is negatively affected, or which lead to personal unhappiness and problems (Louw, 1990). Discuss this statement from a biopsychosocial frame of reference and refer to one personality disorder in any cluster to illustrate your answer. The Biopsychosocial model: = ==
Personality disorders are a group of mental conditions that are characterized by maladaptive patterns of behavior. An individual with a personality disorder will have an unhealthy and rigid pattern of functioning, thinking, and behaving. In addition, he/she has a difficulty perceiving and relating to people and situations. Because of all these, these individuals encounter problems and limitations in dealing with personal issues, relationships, school and even work. Personality disorders are prevalent in teenage years all the way through early adulthood.
Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting (Myers, 2014). Depending on the person’s personality, some people are more inclined than others to become a drug addict. However, the addictive personality is a serious psychological Trait- a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as asserted by self-report inventories and peer reports (Myers, 2014)- that develops due to environmental factors and circumstances. For example, people who smoke marijuana every night, after a hard day of work to relax or a person who works hard all the day to make money, but then, spends all of it in bets. Those examples can be considered as addictive personality signals. Without noticing, those people create and increase a self-destructive compulsive behavior. Personality of drug addicts is be based on different cycles and types of addiction, such as shoplifting, bets, pornography, alcohol, drugs and simple things as eating chocolate. Human beings are an interesting group of living beings because each person differs from another, which can be challenging and exciting at the same time for a psychological approach. Not only an individual’s personality characteristics differ, but also, the individual 's ability to react in certain situations. For example, when someone becomes addicted, is hard to predict when the person will lose her self-control. The reason is that, the person’s personality can change drastically depending on the substances of the drug that the person it’s
There is something to be said for heredity, and the traits that we inherit from our elders. With recent advancements in genetics, such as the mapping of the human genome and the study of epigenetics, scientists have a better understanding of what traits are inherited. There are the obvious traits such as eye color, hair color and skin color that are inherited from one’s parents and there are genes making a person predisposed to certain diseases such as breast cancer. However, the line becomes slightly blurred when it comes to behavior, mental psyche and intelligence. The nu...
The main idea behind this paper was to answer this question: "Who are you?" The article makes you think about how psychologists are able to determine whether a trait being physical or psychological is hereditary, is it taught over your upbringing by your parents, or is that just part of your own personal make up. The article states that “most humans feel that the way that they act and perceive the world is built around an environmental basis rather than being a genetic trait. ”(Are You a Natural)
Neurophysiology is the study of the brains behavior. Personality affects how a person will behave in certain situations. Human’s attitudes are determined by their environments, personal preferences and dislikes all reflex their everyday actions. Personality is 50%-70% hereditary and that home environment has little impact on child development. Motivated behavior; extraverts demonstrate an increased sensitivity to reward signals. There are three criterions necessary to establish the neurobiological basis of such a personality: a) define the network of neural structures associated with the trait, b) explain how individual differences occur within the functioning of that network and c) identify the sources of individual differences. Neurobiology investigates these questions with a reductionism approach, examining chemical release at synapses and correlating such activity with behavior. Personality research has a long history in the field of psychology. Only in the last forty years, however, have scientists begun to look for biological explanations. Is it possible that eventually neurobiology will be able to explain personality on the same level as motor responses or our sense of hearing? Still, the chemical basis of personality gives us great insight into how and why we behave as we do. It can help explain why different people react differently to similar situations. Perhaps most importantly, it offers the potential to alter such behavior, from treating mild cases of anxiety to severe personality disorders.
Pediatric psychiatrist, Stanley Greenspan is a strong believer of both nature and nurture playing intricate parts but not independent of each other. Even though one affects the other the saying like father like son is not guarantee true but it is highly possible to activate that inherited gene due to external influences. To pinpoint for instance what temperaments are inherited, scientist at Allegheny University, are hard at work and are looking closely at twins for answers. It is a hard and long process because each gene has to be singled out and look at in conjunction with the environment. Those with the dopamine-4 receptor gene are thrill seeker says Greenspan but can be retrained to behavior otherwise this is accomplished by giving alternative way of meeting their needs. It was clear to Professor Kagan when he studied 500 children for more than 17 years. He even got to the stage where he could detect sig...
A study in 1986 in Minnesota found that genetics play a larger role on personality then it was to be previously thought to be.
The Biological approach to personality places emphasis on the genetic influences related to the development of an individual’s personality. Some may believe that children and their parents can have very similar personalities, for example a young boy having his father’s anger (Stelmack, 1990). Though this approach has often been questioned by psychologists, it is not disregarded all together. Some believe that genetics do have a role in an individual’s personality development; however environments, as well as personal experiences all work in forming personality.