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Humanistic theories of personality essay
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Personality doesn't just have one meaning, it has many. Nobody’s personality can be the same, they can be similar, but never the exact same. They can also change, but it depends on what kind of situation you are in and how you take on that situation. It can also change how you say and do things when your around certain people. Personality is big when you are holding conversations with others, meeting new people, job interviews, etc. Psychologists have different theories in which they think personalities transpire over a person’s lifetime. Theories expressed in this chapter are; psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, and social-cognitive. Theories are made by many different psychologists. The psychodynamic theory was founded by Sigmund Freud, and he looked at human personalities from the conscious and unconscious mind (Meyers). He thought that is a person’s behavior was not normal, then it had to do something with sexual meanings. Founded by Maslow and Rogers, the humanistic theory focused on how people controlled their own life. Allport, along with Cattell, came up with the trait theory and how a humans personality was defined through their behavior, emotion, and thoughts. The social-cognitive theory was founded by Bandura in which he stated that when people’s traits and situations came together, thats what formed their personality (Meyers).
When discussing personality one must understand the differences between personality and black personality. While it may be difficult to find an all-encompassing definition, personality refers to a person's unique and relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions. According to an excerpt presented in Psychological Principals and the Black Experience, "the personality represents the compromise between inner drives and needs, and the controls that limit and regulate their expression... Personality functions to maintain stable, reciprocal relationships between the person and his environment." Meaning that personality is made up of distinct characteristics that helps a person manage their day to day experiences under ordinary circumstances (Houston, 1990). There are many different theories on how one develops his or her personality. These theories include, the psychoanalytic theory which attempts to explain personality based on unconscious mental forces; the humanistic theory, which is the idea that all people are good and that they are striving for self-fulfillment; the social cognitive approach which states that people develo...
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?
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
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.
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.
The social-cognitive theory suggests that personality consists of learned behaviors and mental processes. The social-cognitive theory emphasizes thoughts, feelings, thinking, values and expectations.
As individuals we all have something within us that sets us apart, and makes us unique, our personality. Maybe you’ve come across someone who isn’t the easiest to get along with, and someone utters, “Don’t take it personally; they were born with a bad personality.” While some believe personality is entirely dependent upon your parents, your friends, and merely the way you were born, people neglect the science behind the traits of personality. Personality is defined as an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. It is through personality that we are able to explore our innermost being and determine why we act and react to things the way we do, and what makes us make the decisions we choose.
There have been many theorists when in comes to Psychology but the main three are Sigmund Freud, who discovered psychoanalysis, Carl Rogers, who founded the Humanistic approach, and Albert Bandura who discovered the social cognitive theory. All three of these individuals are important and their opinions are highly valued. Each of them gives different ideas and attempt to give an explanation about the way personality develops.
When applying different theories to different individuals it is important to consider your own thoughts and feelings about the person and the situation being analyzed. Freud believed we are products of our own environment. The environment that influences me may not be the same environment or society that influences our two case studies Hal, or Ellen. Beware of ethnocentrism. Different cultures may exhibit different behaviors than one's own. Know your own egocentric viewpoint. Not everyone perceives or thinks as I do. And finally just because one theory seemed to explain the thoughts and behaviors of an individual does not mean that theory applies to all people.
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.
According to Freud, personality is built from internal psychological forces. The theory provides an elaborative framework which describes human personality. Through the theory, new treatments were derived to help people in mental distress. Freud encouraged a more positive way to approach psychological distress so that even the mental illnesses themselves could be treated; many of the therapies that the theory suggested have helped to treat people with different psychological issues. Another strength of the theory is that it acknowledges the existence of a subconscious which has an impact on our behavior and not only superficial thoughts. The theory was an eye opener to health professionals of the time, by introducing insights into the human mind, and how it functions, the psychoanalysis approach became greatly important for dealing with psychological treatment (Langs 83). Many researchers claim that, even though the psychoanalysis theory has its strengths, the weaknesses outweigh them in that, from the start, this theory had no scientific evidence, only theoretical explanations. For example, the psychodynamic model explains why or what causes abnormalities in children but it lacks research evidence to back it up. Sigmund Freud based all his arguments in his own analysis. It is evident that psychoanalysis is mainly dependent on what the therapist
The first personality theory covered is psychoanalytic, or psychodynamic. The perspective of psychoanalysis is one of the more famous and historical ways of thinking about psychology, finding its roots with Sigmund Freud, and was mostly agreed upon by theorists such as Carl Jung and Erik Erikson. Freud put a strong emphasis on childhood having a strong impact on one’s unconscious, and that most of one’s personality is formed during childhood. Freud divided the personality into three parts. The id, ego, and superego. The id is very basic, and is developed during childhood, and consists of animal-like instincts, and what Freud called the “pleasure principle”. The id tends to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and not much else. The ego is the conscious part, and the smallest, but is the manager of the rest of the personality. The
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
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
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.