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Personality Theory: Victor Frankl vs Carl Rogers Essay

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PERSONALITY THEORY – CARL ROGERS AND VICTOR FRANKL Why is it that man lives up to a certain point not knowing what the meaning of life is. Not knowing what path to follow, not knowing if the energy and courage to discover the truths of ones own existence in this world exist. Some persons will drive past a street child on Cape Town roads and look sideways in horror, quickly lock a car door with an "unapparent" elbow; warm, safe, and comfortable in the interior of a brand new sports model car. Others will look away and ignore the feelings of pity, or even perhaps swear or curse this annoyance. But why is it that some will open the window, offer a smile, and return home to sit quietly and try to find a means to correct this sadness. Be it …show more content…

"The presenting mood, interests, self esteem and vaue system are important indicators of the personality" (Baumann, 1998, p.55). DETERMINANTS: SOCIOCULTURAL DETERMINANTS: Man's personality can be viewed as a combination of the many roles that he plays. Culture, to a large extent, determines what one considers appropriate actions. If one deviates from that appropriate range, social pressures will confront you in some form. The socioeconomic level of ones family, family size, birth order, ethnic identification, religion, and the education of self and ones family are other examples of sociocultural truths that affect ones personality (quoted in Hergenhahn and Olson, 1999). After all, one simply does not have the same experiences in different homes. This affects ones personality to a limited extent since one will still strive to discover that same life purpose, yet perhaps in a slightly different context. For instance, say it was ones ability to sing that one discovered. In a Xhosa, upper-class, South African family one would perhaps grasp and master Hip Hop or Kwaito as a style of performance. Yet, an English, middle-class, Italian person would perhaps perform Opera. So, ones culture does not affect the direction of ones search for life purpose, but rather the context in which it is found. As Carl Rogers (1999) said, "the only reality that I can possibly know is the world as I perceive and experience it at the moment." This subjective world we live in, not the physical

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