Psychology : The Positive Psychology Movement

Burger (2008), says that there are many theories of personality and psychologists try to explain it with their own approaches. Discussed here will be the psychoanalytic approach, the trait approach, the biological approach the humanistic approach, the behavioural/social learning approach and the cognitive approach. They were devised to search for specific patterns in behaviour and ways of thinking about these

Personality and how we behave have been of much interest to psychologists for a long time now and because of this there have been many theories and theorists that have been developed. Personality is defined as consistent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within and individual (Fritzley, 2012, p. 10). There are six main approaches to personality psychology they include: biological approach, humanistic approach, behaviorist approach, trait approach, psychoanalytic approach and cognitive approach. Each approach shines a little light onto why we behave the way we do and how our personalities are formed, the approaches contain many different theories from

The personality theory that I have chosen to focus on will be Identity Theory. It was developed by Erik Erikson in the nineteen hundreds. Erik Erikson believed that every individual goes through a certain number of stages to reach his or her full development or potential (Erikson, 1994). He theorized that a human being goes through eight different stages ranging from birth to death (Erikson, 1994). Identity Theory focuses on eight psychosocial stages of development, and an epigenetic principle of maturation (Schultz, 2008). The stages of development are

There are four major personality theories: psychodynamic, trait, humanistic, and social-cognitive. The psychodynamic theory focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in the development of personality. The humanistic theory focuses on the role of each person’s conscious life experiences and choices in personality development. The social-cognitive theory emphasizes the importance of both learning and cognitive processes play an important role in personality. Whereas, the trait theory is more concerned with the end result of personality as well as the characteristics themselves.

In class on Monday, we had a very engaging presentation on positive psychology and how flourishing shapes our perspective to be the successful young adults we are today. Positive psychology is the study of promotion for successful functioning. Building enabling conditions for a life worth living is vital to being satisfied with our lives and within ourselves. A few enabling conditions for a life worth living for my own perspectives is my resilience, my supportive buffers, and using my signature strength to help others.

In the article “Our Personality- Is it Genetically Inherited or Determined by The Environmental Factors” written by Alexandra Lupu, she demonstrates three possible process that is done to form one’s personality and argues that she believes individual’s personality is formed uniquely with environment inheritage interacting with each other. After stating her argument, Lupu explains the three types of approaches that divides the psychologist that determines one’s personality. First, nomothetic approaches, which is believed that one’s personality is constant and it is minimally influenced by external factors. Second, Idiographic approaches, which is similar to Lupu’s argument that both factors takes a big role in personality and finally, the complementary

Several assessments of personality tend to focus more on the individual. Many of the personality psychologists use the ideas of personality that will apply to everyone. Personality research has lead to the development of many theories. A few of these theories include Eric Erickson with ‘Ego Psychology’, developing the eight stages of ‘Ego strength’, Sigmund Freud

The concepts of Positive Psychology are explored through an intrapersonal, interpersonal, and pro-social lens using empirical research as the basis. The paper examines the history, intentions and scope of positive psychology in relationship to personal experiences and character traits that lead to personal effectiveness. The specific Areas of Focus examine the major principles of Positive Psychology and their importance with regards to; changes in emotional states, cognitive processes and experiences in juxtaposition with current research. The concepts and principles are then applied to current

Positive psychology is concerned with three issues: positive emotions, positive individual traits, and positive institutions. The first aspect “positive emotions” examines contentment in terms of the past present and future (Seligman, 2007). The second aspect, “positive individual,” identifies one’s virtues and strengths. Furthermore, where positive individual looks at the person, “positive institution examines the community (p. 75). In terms of happiness, this is considered an emotional state and is achieved when balance occurs between the stresses of life and the person’s ability to let the things that are bogging him or her down. It is interesting to note that because of the large amount of

There are many different modern perspectives of psychology. These modern perspectives are cognitive,psycoanalysis,humanistic.socio-cultural,behavioral and evolutionary. When thinking about a key event in regard to different personality theories, I felt that I could most relate that key event of my life to the humanistic and behavioral theory. I will mainly be emphazing on these two modern perspectives. Moreover, I will then evaluate the key concepts and the principles of these two theories, and briefly compare and contrast their thoughts in the following paragraphs.

Personality is derived from of many different theories and genres. Personality typically can be reference to as many diverse arrays of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that sets each individual apart in a unique way. Theorist has concluded that an individual external influence can inspire how certain traits are articulated and originated through personality theories. As each person grows older researchers have stated that a human being personality tends to remain consistently the same throughout existence. Personality theories were generally formulated from

To this day there have many controversies regarding the definition of positive psychology. However, it is now simply and most commonly defined as the study of different measures that enhance the optimal functioning of individuals and society (Gable & Haidt, 2005). Positive psychology aims to achieve a balance between the contrary psychology research fields and shifting focus to the positive aspects of human functioning rather than focusing on the negatives. Determining factors that enhance the frequencies individuals experience positive feelings such as appreciation and joy and encounter positive events are one of the many ways to achieve this. As a result, positive psychology provides us with the opportunity to benefit and prosper as a society

There have been numerous studies in the realm of Positive Psychology and the effects it can influence in other sectors of a person’s overall wellbeing, especially in terms of attaining a positive mindset and treatment of negative general disorders, the short term benefits of a positive psychological outlook and the long term health and lifestyle benefits that are produced from it. In a 2006 journal article, Park, Peterson & Seligman stated that character strengths that were most associated with positive life satisfaction, and thereby positive psychology attaining a positive lifestyle, were hope, zest, gratitude and love. This paper examines how a person

I believe human personality develops in accordance to the experiences we encounter in life with ourselves and others, and the genetic endowment provided by our parents and ancestors. We live thanks to others, and we are born to live for others. However, I also view life as a journey and adventure to become whom we were born to be based on our unique traits of personality. Therefore, I named my theory of personality The Social-Survival Theory of Personality. The social and survival concept derives from the idea that we are innate social beings that depend on others since birth up until we die to survive, and live a fulfilling or miserable life. Now on to the six primary philosophical perspectives of personality.

The personality is what makes every human being on the planet exceptional in his or her own way. To go even further, a lot of people are extroverts, some are just introverts, amusing, or just simply quiet. "The word personality derives from the Latin term persona, which means to mask. Those that are describing personality as a mask, view character as an individual that is their true self, when they are in public. It is that feature of ourselves we choose to show to the world"(Comstock, 2008). Numerous different philosophers out there trust that they have the greatest theory about personalities. Some really have the belief that genetics,