Pretend you are a personality theorist. Explain, from each perspective, how you would make sense of the person’s life choices, behavior, and temperament?
Over the course of this semester, we have reviewed several personality theories including those of Freud, Jung, Horney, Adler, Staats, Rogers, Maslow, and trait theories. For your assignment, I would like you to use these Personality theories as lenses through which to analyze someone you know. This person may be a personal acquaintance or family member; he/she may also be in the media or a historical figure. To write your research essay, you will need to learn more about this person’s life, including details about his/her upbringing, major life decisions, temperament, social circles, and even vices.
I would like you to reflect on this person’s life using at least four of the personality theories AND including at least one humanistic psychologist (Rogers or Maslow) discussed in the course.
You should answer the following questions within your research essay:
1. Pretend you are a personality theorist. Explain, from each perspective, how you would make sense of the person’s life choices, behavior, and temperament?
2. What views on human nature are inherent in each theory (e.g., what motivates humans, do humans have free-will) and how does this influence our understanding of the person?
3. Do you feel this person could have benefited from therapy? If so, therapy based on which theory? Why?
4. Consider any recent developments in the field of personality. How do these inform our understanding of the person? Do they provide new insights or are they reinventions of the wheel? Explain.
Behavioral theorists include B. F. Skinner and John B. Watson. Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and the environment.5 Behavioral theorists study observable and measurable behaviors, rejecting theories that take internal thoughts, moods, and feelings play a part as these cannot be measured.
According to behavioral theorists, conditioning (predictable behavioral responses) occurs through interactions with our environment which ultimately shapes our personalities.
Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud and emphasize the influence of the unconscious mind and childhood experiences on personality.6 Psychodynamic theories include Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stage theory and Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development.
Freud believed the three components of personality were the id, ego, and superego. The id is responsible for needs and urges, while the superego regulates ideals and morals. The ego, in turn, moderates the demands of the id, superego, and reality.
Freud suggested that children progress through a series of stages in which the id’s energy is focused on different erogenous zones.
Erikson also believed that personality progressed through a series of stages, with certain conflicts arising at each stage. Success in any stage depends on successfully overcoming these conflicts.
Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience in the development of personality.7 Humanist theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
Humanist theorists promote the concept of self-actualization, which is the innate need for personal growth and the ways that personal growth motivates behavior.
The trait theory approach is one of the most prominent areas in personality psychology. According to these theories, personality is made up of a number of broad traits. A trait is a relatively stable characteristic that causes an individual to behave in certain ways. It is essentially the psychological “blueprint” that informs behavioral patterns.
Some of the best-known trait theories include Eysenck’s three-dimension theory and the five-factor theory of personality.
Eysenck utilized personality questionnaires to collect data from participants and then employed a statistical technique known as factor analysis to analyze the results. Eysenck concluded that there were three major dimensions of personality: extroversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.8
Eysenck believed that these dimensions then combine in different ways to form an individual’s unique personality. Later, Eysenck added the third dimension known as psychoticism, which related to things such as aggression, empathy, and sociability.
Later researchers suggested that there are five broad dimensions that make up a person’s personalities, often referred to as the Big 5 theory of personality.