...What are Personality Theories? Michael J Falls PSY/405 June 23, 2014 Bernard Wakley There are several different personality theories that attempt to explain how people act and who they are. Theories categorize people on characteristics or traits, and then try to describe the effect that this has on a person’s behavior in certain situations. Personality theories are supposed to focus on how people differ from one another; theories select behaviors or characteristics to determine their taxonomies or categories. Biological theories of personalities focus on genetics as well as biological relationships in physiological arousal and the neurochemistry in our brains. The biological approach to studying a person’s personality would be the differences in brain chemistry in extrovert and introverts. Theorist use biological processes to fill in the gap between personality and genetics by theorizing biological effects with behaviors. This anatomical approach examines the functions of brain structures. One of the biggest pioneers in the field was Eysenck; he attempted to relate personality to biology. Eysenck theory is complex, but it has grown over the years, one basic assumption is the brain has excitatory and inhibitory neural mechanisms. The balance between these two produces levels of psychological arousal at any given time. The dispositional theory is the classic or traditional way of psychological study of personalities. Since the early Greeks, maybe even longer it has been recognized...
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...What makes someone the person he or she is? No, it is not his family or the friends he has, it is not his peer group or the schools he attends to, and the gender doesn’t matter… It is all this together, it is the society, too, that helps someone become the person he is. She was born and raised in a big, joint, full of good people family. They loved each other very much and they were very helpful to each other. She was the first of two children for her mom and dad and the first granddaughter in the family. She was expected with a lot of love. Her mother was the happiest person on the world when she understood that she was pregnant again, after a miscarriage an year before. During her mom’s pregnancy everyone in her family was taking care of her mom. Her mother was the most important person in this family back then, but of course the second most important person after HER. And after the long period of nine months, she was finally born. That was the happiest moment in all her family members’ life. Her childhood was full of positive emotions. She was a pretty cute baby, although she was a tough one to handle with. As a baby she didn’t like to be hugged a lot and that was a problem for her family because she was so fluffy, sweet angel that it was so hard to handle the temptation to hug or kiss her. After she grew up a little she became friendlier and that made her more adorable. Two years later her sister was born. Everybody was expecting her sister with passion too, but after...
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...What Makes up the Basics of Personality Theory? Linda Wray Liberty University Abstract Since the 1960’s personality theories has emerged as a major field of specialization. There have been many studies completed outlined by literature on a variety of theories of personality. The importance of individual differences and distinctiveness of the individual are the most frequently studied of personality theories. Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two comprehensive areas: One understands individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability. The other understands how the various parts of a person come together as a whole. Some scientists think that your personality is based on genetic predispositions or nature. Other scientists think the way you act stems from life experience, the way you were taught, and the environment in which you grew up or nurture. Personality can best be described as personal qualities of an individual. There are no two people have the same personality, however, all the different personalities in the world can be characterized into four main theories. The four psychologists that thought up the four theories are Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, and Abraham Maslow. Each man based his theory on a different part of a person’s personality development. The study of personality traits is...
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...To what extent is your personality a matter of choice? Discuss with reference to at least two theories of personality. Personality is something that is key in our descriptions of ourselves to others. We use it as a way of defining ourselves as an individual; a way of summing up everything about ourselves (Schultz & Schultz, 1997). The word personality derives from the Latin word ‘persona’, referring to a mask (Schultz & Shultz). The mask being that which we display, a representation of ourselves. There are varying definitions of ‘personality’, and much argument over what it does indeed encompass (Carver & Scheier, 2000), but the term is generally used to encompass who we are. More specifically; the extent to which your personality is a matter of choice is a highly debated issue in regards to our competing inner drives (psychoanalytic); our aim for fulfilment (humanistic); our biological makeup determining our personality and the particular traits we are considered to have (Biological/trait perspectives), amongst many other perspectives (Myers, 2004). This paper aims to address the question of whether personality is a matter of choice, primarily through explorations from a humanistic and biological perspective with considerations of more independent thoughts on the matter and with a consideration of the social-cognitive perspective. The conclusion will consider whether there is choice involved in a persons’ personality and what the implications of this might be. ...
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...What causes us to develop personalities? Does it pertain to our environment or is it embedded in the very genetic structure of our DNA? Scientists have narrowed it down to a concept called epigenetics. Epigenetics are “the study of the process by which genetic information is translated into the substance and behavior of an organism: specifically, the study of the way in which the expression of heritable traits is modified by environmental influences or other mechanisms without a change to the DNA sequence” (Dictionary.com). However, epigenetics require more than a definition pulled from the internet to understand. Multiple case studies, research interpretation, and countless hours of observation through species separate from our own all make up the field of epigenetics. Some studies that...
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...dilemma about the main factor that shapes our personality. Some people hold the idea that the role of characteristic is so vital on our personality,while others contend that the experience of life has much more impact on development of our personality. In this essay,I will try to point out my reasons why I strongly support the idea that experience is the most important factor that can influence our personality as well as development. To begin with, it is an undeniable fact that everybody has a unique personality. Characteristics that we have may change during our lifetime. For instance,if one is unsociable,he or she has to change it in order to get along with other people easily. The example follows that our characteristics can be changed by various situations. Moreover,the experience that we may have in our lives,can change our personality and development. The following example shows how it is important : If one experiences failure,it will affect his or her development fairly. To be more precise, next time he or she will try not to repeat this mistake. We may also take education as an example. Because, education is experience that may change not only our personality and development, but also our future. Therefore, the experience is the most significant factor that changes our personality as well as characteristics. Taking into account all of these above,we may reach a conclusion that experience is the major factor of personality and development in our...
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...Telling a story set in a time where in a time where one of the world's greatest tragedy's has transpired, the graphic novel "Maus" by art Spigelian, details his father, Vladek's survival through the horrors of the holocaust. Deeply scarred from everything that has happened, what remains of his personality is now a pitiable product of all that he is been through. Vladek survival of the holocaust has a lot to do with his own resourcefulness and actions, these helped him through the horrors of the war and now are part of him, his reluctance to waste anything is a testament to this. Vladek's constant insistence of having Art staying with may be due to a fear of losing more people close to him. Not all of Valdek's personality arose from the holocaust. We can see glimpses if his former self from what he does. Vladek's personality is heavily influenced by his sufferings in the holocaust, carrying much of what it took to survive in the holocaust into a peaceful society where such skill were no longer needed. Suffering much more than most people he feels that suffering of others do not compare to his as his, such as the time where he scoffed at Art's friends. During the holocaust food was scarce, to survive one must save everything he has and waste nothing, Vladek did so during the holocaust but also seems to do just as much "Ever since Hitler [he] [doesn't] want to waste a crumb", much to the annoyance of everyone around him. Much of the survival of Vladek and Anja was due to his...
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...References Note to Students: Reference List entries are listed alphabetically by the author’s last name. If there is no author name, alphabetize by the sponsoring organization, and if there is no sponsoring organization, use the title. Also note that hanging indentations are used. The first line is flush left, and the second and ensuing lines are indented ½”. (See the arrow pointing to the hanging indent below.) Finally, notice that only the first letter of the first word of the article title is capitalized; the rest of the article title is capitalized as a regular sentence would be. Article titles are not placed in quotation marks. If there is a colon in the title, the first letter of the first word after the colon is capitalized, as are proper nouns. Journal titles are capitalized as usual by the first letter of each main word. Hanging Indent Hanging Indent Anderson, R. J., Amarasingham, R., & Pickens, S. S. (2007, July). The quest for quality: Perspectives from the safety net. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 23(4), 15–28. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161 This source comes from a journal article published online. Because URLs change often, the 6th Edition of APA calls for a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, when available. Many, but not all, publishers will provide the DOI number on the first page of the article. If a DOI number is not available, the URL of the journal home page is required. Crago, M. (2002, September). Meeting patient expectations...
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...Running Heading: The Human Personality one The Human Personality Mary Gonzales June 24th, 2012 PSY/405 Angela Snelling The Human Personality two The Human Personality People often wonder why other people do what they do, whether or not people have the ability to shape their own personality, and why people are so different. There are individuals that are predictable and others that are completely unpredictable, and what exactly controls or is a factor in ones personality. For centuries scientists, philosophers, psychologists, and theologians pondered the nature of human beings, or wondered if people have a common basic nature. There have been many psychologists who researched and developed different theories about what traits or characteristics are apart of ones personality, how a personality develops, what contributing factors influence or determines an individuals personality, and this text is written to explain all these elements as best as possible what the human personality is and how it is formed. What is Personality ? Personality has no singular definition, however theorist do agree that personality is a pattern of permanent traits and characteristics that are both consistent and personal to a individuals behaviors. A persons characteristics are unique qualities that one has that sets them apart from everyone else, be it their...
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...Is there a single definition of personality? If so, what is it? If not, why? There is no single correct definition of personality because there are contradicting theories of personality. For example one theorist might believe that personality is innate and that people are born with certain personalities. Another theorist might believe that personality is shaped based on the environment an individual is raised in or other social factors. For this reason theorists have not been able to come up with a single definition. Why is it important to understand personality? It is important to understand personality because it is important to know why people behave and react in certain ways and why people act the way they do toward other people. For example, in a work environment it would be important to understand personality because lets say you work in an environment where every one differs with their personalities. Most people at work would not get anything done and there would be constant arguments. What factors affect an individual’s personality development? Which factor has the biggest effect? Why? Some of the factors that play a role in a person’s development of personality are biological, environmental, and experiences. Biological factors include our genes and what we basically received from our parents. Certain traits may be from the mother and other might be from the father. Both the genetic makeup and the physical traits are tendencies that are innate that...
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...Personality Reflection PSY/250 February 14, 2011 Personality Reflection Personality is what makes an individual unique. Personality entails the most important and noticeable components of an individual’s psychological life. There are many theories that explain personality types and why individuals behave in certain ways. Understanding the types of personalities and one’s own key features that define them can help decipher one’s characteristic patterns. This paper the subject of interest will my definition of personality, the key concepts or constructs of my personality, if my features are consistent of if they change, personality tests, and what makes a personality test reliable and valid. How would you define personality? Personality can be defined as the pattern of collective character, behavioral, temperamental, emotional, and mental traits that make up an individual (World Net Web). An individual’s personality helps determine if one is happy or sad, energetic or apathetic, smart or dull. One’s personality involves motives, emotions, and thoughts. It is personality that orchestrates one’s psychological qualities. One’s personality persistently influences how one may feel, what we do, who we are, and how one can influence those around us (The Personality System). How one chooses to act or react depends on one’s feelings. An individual’s thoughts can also help to guide and influence others. Often people become observant of those around us and those whom we interact...
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...Personality Paper PSY/405 November 20, 2011 Personality Paper Personality doesn’t have a single definition but the term “personality” is more than the part in which individuals take place in. Personality is derived from Latin meaning persona, it is also a type of mask that was used in by roman actors in theatrical performances (Fiest & Fiest, 2009). Personality theorists have developed unique and vital theories, because personality is so different the theorist couldn’t agree to the nature of humanity. An individual’s behavior is defined by the unique and unusual characteristics and traits these consistency add character to the persons personality. Traits can be common, unique or shared by a group, therefore giving individual differences in behavior. Personality can be the quality or condition of being a person. It can also be the pattern of temperamental, emotional, or mental traits of a person, making distinctive qualities to the person. Personalities can determine friends. Personality can also be furnishings that make a room unique. A person’s personality embraces their attitudes, opines, style of thinking, there moods, motivations, speaking, acting, and of course perceiving, these make the individual distinct. Personality theories have been in most cultures throughout recorded history (Fiest & Fiest, 2009). People have to use their personalities in everyday life, from their job to the people in their lives. Some people also see personality in many ways as, the story...
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...Personality Applied Final Project Table of Contents Title Page Number Chapter 1 Introduction to Personality 3-5 Chapter 2 The Trait Theory 6-8 Chapter 3 Personality Disorders 9-11 Chapter 4 The Behavioral Perspective 12-14 Chapter 5 The Humanistic Approach 15-17 Personal Reflection 16- 21 References 22-23 Chapter 1: Introduction to Personality Source: https://www.introtopsych.com/tools/oc/Bo/introtopsych/BWLKeogmGK Websites: Website #1 http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/persintro.html This website encompasses the meaning of personality and the theories that support. It defines it as being what makes us an individual; what separates us from others. It describes it as a way to compare and categorize people. Such as some are introverts as others are extroverts; some are neurotic while others simply are not. Personality is of great interest to researchers. Researchers want to know why people are the way they are; “how they are put together”. It goes further into briefly discussing different theories of personality, how they came about, and faults in those theories. The writing states that the theorist were influenced by their current time and culture which help to depict the basis for their theories. For example, ethnocentrism; Freud went completely opposite of what the culture at his time influenced. In Europe in the 1800’s to talk about “sex” would be taboo, people...
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...Personality is defined as the visible aspect of one's character as it impresses other, a person as an embodiment of a collection of qualities the sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual. Personality is the organized pattern of behavioral characteristics of the individual and the quality of being a person. Also it’s the essential character of a person and distinctive qualities of a person, especially those distinguishing personal characteristics that make one socially appealing. Personality tells another person who the next person is person is. It’s the pattern of collective character, behavioral, temperamental, emotional, and mental traits of a person. www.thefreedictionary.com You can see people personality come out by how they act. When people see me they see I’m very honest, dependable, and loving. There are so many things that describe my personality. My personality defines me, it tells other people who I ‘am and how I carry myself as a person. My attitude towards kids brings out my good personality because I’m a fun person and we have a good time playing games and laughing. Also, kids bring the joy and the best out of me it keeps you young and healthy. It’s a joy when you are the reason kids are running around happy. Other factors that defines my personality is I have a good heart I like helping others and being there for people that need me. I like to see everybody happy; sitting around and having a good time. Sometimes...
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...Personality Reflection Katie Smit PSY/250 August 20,2011 Dianne Hinz Personality Reflection Every individual has a different idea and thought about self and how self makes up their entire being. Self is made of the human’s own biology his or her cognitive process and perception of oneself compared to others. This paper is going to look at the concept of self and how this relates to real-life; situations affect a person’s self-efficacy and esteem. Personalities are made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feeling, and behavior that make a person unique. With this almost every day describe and assess the personalities of people that are around us. Whether we realize it or not, these daily musings on how and why people behave as they do are similar to what personality psychologists do (Cherry, 2011). While our informal assessments of personality tend to focus more on individuals, personality psychologists instead use conceptions of personality that can apply to everyone. What are some of the key personality features that define me. With the list of different personalities, that I looked up this was a difficult diction that I made. Some of the key personality features that define me are, openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, most of all I am neuroticism (Define Personality Traits, 1996). How do I think that I have these features for my personality? With openness I have a good imagination, and I understand most things quickly...
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