Social Personality Motivation And Stress

Personality, Social Psychology, Motivation and Emotion, and Stress

Theories of personality

There are four major approaches to personality theories: trait, psychoanalytic, humanistic, and social-cognitive.

Psychoanalytic approach to personality

The psychoanalytic perspective of personality was created by Sigmund Freud and emphasizes the unconscious mind and the importance of early childhood experiences. Freud asserted that dreams, free association, and slips of the tongue could reveal things hidden in the unconscious. Other theorists who follow the psychoanalytic perspective agreed with Freud about the importance of the unconscious but disagreed with other parts of his theories. These Neo-Freudian theorists include Erik Erikson, Carl Jung,

The same behavior can be attributed differently depending on the person’s role—as actor or observer. When individuals observe other people (especially those they do not know well), they are more likely to focus on the person, while when the same individuals are actors, they tend to focus on situational factors. An example is scoring poorly on a test. An individual is more likely to attribute his/her own poor score to situational factors (lack of sleep, illness, teacher asking about material not covered in class), but is more likely to attribute others’ poor scores to internal factors (laziness,

It is built on Clark Hull’s earlier work in drive reduction theory. Incentive theory suggests that people are pulled toward behaviors that lead to rewards and repelled from behaviors that lead to negative consequences. Rewards that may motivate a person vary from money, recognition from others, or even grades and other scores. Physiological, cognitive, and social factors all influence which incentives a person finds motivating. Food is likely to be much more motivating when a person is hungry. Some people would be motivated by the gift of a certain movie or activity, while these might not appeal to others. Timing and circumstances may also impact if incentives motivate or not. For example, parental praise may be a positive incentive for an adolescent, but when in the company of their peers they avoid it.

Homeostasis

Homeostasis describes the body’s need to attain and keep a specific state of equilibrium. It often refers to how the body monitors and seeks to hold stable energy and temperature levels. The three features of homeostasis are a clear set point, the ability to sense divergence from the set point, and physiological and behavioral responses intended to return the body to the set point. There are set points for temperature, sleep, thirst, hunger, and weight.

Hunger