THEORIES OF PERSONALITY MIDTERM

• Personality


  A pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person's behavior
• Aspects of personality

  • Traits
  • Characteristics
• Traits


  Contribute to individual differences in behavior, consistency of behavior over time, and stability of behavior across situations
• Characteristics


  Unique qualities of an individual that include such attributes as temperament, physique, and intelligence
• Theory


  A scientific theory is a set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypotheses
• Psychodynamic theories


  • Focus on the importance of early childhood experience and relationships with parents as guiding forces that shape personality development
  • See the unconscious mind and motives as much more powerful than the conscious awareness
  • Traditionally used dream interpretation to uncover the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and impulses as a main form of treatment of neurosis and mental illness
• Humanistic-existential theories


  • Currently known as "positive psychology"
  • The primary approach is that people strive toward meaning, growth, well-being, happiness, and psychological health
  • States of positive emotion and happiness foster psychological health and pro-social behavior
  • Assume that not only are we driven by a search for meaning, but also that negative experiences such as failure, awareness of death, death of a loved one, and anxiety, are part of the human condition and can foster psychological growth
• Dispositional theories


  • Argue that the unique and long-term tendencies to behave in particular ways are the essence of our personality
  • There are five main trait dimensions in human personality
• Biological-evolutionary theories


  • Emphasize that what we think, feel, and do is always an interaction between nature (biological) and nurture (environment)
  • Personality have been shaped by forces of evolution
  • Behavior, thought, feelings, and personality are influenced by differences in basic genetic, epigenetic, and neurological systems between individuals
• Learning-(social) cognitive theories


  • Focus only on behavior, not on hypothetical and unobservable internal states such as thoughts, feelings, drives, or motives
  • All behaviors are learned through association and/or its consequences
  • Personality is shaped by how we think and perceive the world
• Dimensions for concept of humanity

  • Determinism versus free choice
  • Pessimism versus optimism
  • Causality versus teleology
  • Conscious versus unconscious
  • Biological versus social influences on personality
  • Uniqueness versus similarities
• FREUD - Unconcious
• ADLER - Early recollection
• JUNG - collective unconcious
• KLEIN - archetypes
• HORNEY - object relations
• ERIKSON - identity crisis
• FROMM - relatedness
• MASLOW , ROGERS - meaningful life, psychological well-being and growth
• MAY - Personality is shaped by freedom of choice, response to anxiety and awareness of death
• ALL PORT - Traits motives
• McCrae and Costa - there are five trait dimension in human personality (extraversion, neuroticism, openness , agreeableness, and conscientiousness
• EYSENCK - Brainstructures, neurochemicals, and genes
• BUSS - adaptive mechanisms
• SKINNER - Conditioned responses, shaping, Reinforcement , observational learning
• BANDURA - Modelling , self efficacy
• ROTTER MISCHEL -Cognitive affective units
• KELLY - Constructs
• Determinism versus Free Choice: This dimension revolves around whether people’s behaviors are determined by external forces beyond their control or if they have the ability to choose their actions. Some theorists lean toward determinism, while others emphasize free wil
• Pessimism versus Optimism: Here, we examine whether individuals are destined for miserable, conflicted lives or if they can grow into psychologically healthy, happy beings. The stance on determinism often influences this dimension, with determinists tending to be more pessimistic
• Causality versus Teleology: Causality suggests that behavior results from past experiences, while teleology explains behavior in terms of future goals or purposes. Do people act based on their past or their expectations of the future?
• Conscious versus Unconscious Determinants of Behavior: Some theorists believe that people are fully aware of their actions and motivations, while others emphasize unconscious forces that drive behavior without conscious awareness
• Biological versus Social Influences on Personality: This dimension considers whether our biology (genes, brain structure) or social environment (culture, upbringing) plays a more significant role in shaping personality
• Uniqueness versus Similarities: Erikson, for instance, emphasized individual differences over universal characteristics. While people across cultures progress through developmental stages in a similar order, variations exist in the pace of this journey
• preconscious - consists of anything that could potentially be brought into the conscious mind.
• conscious mind - contains all of the thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment. This is the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about rationally. This also includes our memory, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily and brought into awareness.
• unconscious mind - is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness. The unconscious contains contents that are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict.
• ID - The first of the key elements of personality to emerge is known as the id. The id contains all of the unconscious, basic, and primal urges (pleasure principle)
• EGO - The second aspect of personality to emerge is known as the ego. This is the part of the personality that must deal with the demands of reality. It helps control the urges of the id and makes us behave in ways that are both realistic and acceptable. Rather than engaging in behaviors that are designed to satisfy our desires and needs, the ego forces us to fulfill our needs in ways that are socially acceptable and realistic. In addition to controlling the demands of the id, the ego also helps strike a balance between our basic urges, our ideals, and reality.
• superego - is the final aspect of personality to emerge, and it contains our ideals and values. The values and beliefs that our parents and society instill in us are the guiding force of the superego and it strives to make us behave according to these morals. (moral principle)