Biological vs Humanistic Approach to Personality

According to Abraham Maslow, the needs of man begin with the primal – food, water, air, shelter, and move upwards, up and all the way to the elusive quality of self-actualization. To self-actualize is to become all or most of that which one imagines, or perhaps desires, himself to be. It is to realize the ego ideal which rests within, that abstract and fabled construct of an ideal you.

The word personality is known as quite a diverse concept and can be described differently in accordance to different people, it comes from the word persona which is a Latin term and is referred to as a mask which actors use when performing. Based on this it could be concluded that characteristics which are visible along with external characteristics (the aspects of us in which can be seen by others) is what personality refers to, (Schultz and Scultz, 2004). Another definition of personality by a different psychologist is “The dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviours in various situations.” (Rychman, 1999: 5). There are many areas of personality

With these few thoughts in mind Abraham Maslow made up a hierarchy of needs. (Boeree, Page 2) The hierarchy of needs has five levels: the bottom one is Physiological Needs, the next one up is Safety needs, the next one is Belonging needs, the next one is Esteem Needs and finally the last one is Self-actualization needs. As Maslow thought he “saw human beings needs arranged like a ladder”, the most basic needs at the bottom and at the top the need to fulfill yourself. (pbs.org, Page 1) Below is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

The “belongingness and love needs”—also known as social needs—is the stage within Maslow's theory in which receiving and giving affection are core values. His creator never bestowed him such kindness, so he sought it else where a few times. He took an interest some cottagers during his journey, only to experience heartache. He would frighten some of the people he would encounter. The monster sought out his creator; he demanded a mate. “Oh! Creator make me happy; and free from the misery I now feel” (102). He thought perhaps having a mate would satisfy the loneliness he felt within his heart. He felt the need for love, and natural desire by us

* Esteem presents the normal human desire to be accepted and valued by others, to have expectations of respect from others, a sense of self-esteem and self value either deriving from Maslow’s lower esteem – the need for others to recognise one’s accomplishments, the need for fame etc. – or the higher esteem flowing from one’s own recognition of self worth from having achieved a concrete objective, mastery, self confidence.

As it was mentioned before, the key idea of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory relates to the existence of several sets of motivation and needs that govern human behavior. Hence, the major concepts of this theory include certain needs that are grouped into sets based on their place within the hierarchy of all the needs. The first version of the theory has five needs, which are divided into

Personality is looked at everyday purposely and accidently. Whether you are judging how your new professor for the semester will be, or if you are studying your best friend for a project, personality is studied abundantly. While there are many ways to define personality, there is not a worldwide definition around. Personality is the unique combination of patterns that influence behavior, thought, motivation, and emotion in a human being (boundless.com). That is one of many ways of defining personality. When examining personality, there are four main approachable theories including: The Psychodynamic Approach, The Trait Approach, The Social-Cognitive Approach, and The Humanistic Approach.

Describing humanistic needs Abraham Maslow also shows people how he sees the makeup of individual personality. Each need and stage is based on priority. Maslow's theory shows us the influences of the human needs to personality. Physiological needs are needs people need for survival or benefit to them. Health, food, water, shelter, clothing, and sleep are physiological needs. Coping information is needed to meet these needs. Safety and security, helping information, need to feel safe from physical danger. The ability to have a sense of security, knowing what to expect, is a good example of coping. After these needs are met an individual can experience life in a better quality so one can expand their personality. If living in fear and not meeting the needs of safety or security you are trapped and little room to grow with your personality expand your experiences. As well belonging, need for love, affection, being a part of something, is

The behavioural theory states that personality is as a result of the interaction between an individual and the environment (i.e. the society and the individual). It is focus on observable and measurable behaviour rather than mental or emotional behaviours and different theories focus on one type of behaviour over the other. On the contrary, the biological approach seeks to explain behaviour as a result of interactions within the body. It is based on assumptions such as how the brain psychology can influence behaviour and also how behaviour can be inherited

     When thinking about my personality in regard to different personality theories, I felt that I could most relate to the humanistic theory. Carl Rogers

As stated further by Maslow, there are five levels in the need hierarchy, which are physiological, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization and they are very often of unconscious nature and can be at certain times reserved. Unfortunately, there are not too many who are capable of reaching self-actualization and the ones who will are very creative and acknowledge the world very accurately. An individual however is always aware of the fact that he or she has possesses a choice and therefore he or she has the ability to influence their behavior and personality at anytime (Cloninger, 2008).

The study of the relationship between behavior and genes by different psychologists shed light on the links that exist between personality

Biological psychologists believe that human behaviour is directly linked to our physiological make-up and is caused by activity in our nervous system particularly those in the brain. These can be studied in many ways include: the lesion method and studying the brains electrical activity using brain scanning technology such as CAT scans. (Cullis et al. 1999 p410-427) In addition it also investigates the role of genetics and hormones. We all inherit a unique genetic make-up known as genotype and so differ in terms of personality, ability, temperament and so forth. When focusing on the genetic influences identical twins, family history or use adoption studies maybe used. (McLeod S, 2015)

Underlying the question of whether brain equals behavior is the possibility that one's personality may be understood on a neurobiological level. Personality affects how a person will behave in certain situations. Peoples' attitudes towards their environments, their dispositions, personal preferences and dislikes all help determine their everyday actions. If behavior is controlled by the nervous system, these factors which make up a person's personality must also fall under its direction. This does not refer to whether one's personality is a result of environment or genomic make-up. It has already been proposed that personality is 50%-70% hereditary and that home environment has

This essay will give a description of Personality before critically analysing the biological basis of personality approach. The biological basis approach tries to account for the mechanisms between genes and personality by looking at various different brain structures whilst the biochemical approach looks at the impact of hormones and neurotransmitters. The majority of our understanding of personality from a biological perspective focuses on the three main behavioural systems; the reward system, the motivation system and the punishment system. Within this essay I will be discussing the three main theories that have come from these ideas, Eyenck’s three-factor model, Gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) and Cloningers model of personality.