Scientific Study of Personality

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

A case study is “a method of analysis and a specific research design for examining a problem” (University of Southern California, 2010). It can be used to analyze a person, place, event, or other subjects in order to help discover mitigating issues, misconceptions, failures, trends, or recommendations (USC, 2010). Case studies will be used to gain a better understanding of situations and topics to help others make better policies, procedures, and decisions (USC, 2010).

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

Everybody has his or her own type of personality. We all act in a certain way that makes us who we are. It is believed that our parents, peers and, the environment we grow up in, shape us. Personality is describes as a combination of emotions, attitude, and behavioral patterns of an individual. There is a reason that we are the way we are and there are many theories that go along with that. Different theorist present their own definitions of the word personality based on their own theoretical positions. Which brings us to discussing Carl Jung’s theory of analytical psychology and Harry

Case studies are one of the first types of research to be used in the qualitative methodology and repeating the study several times will lead to the increased reliability of the study (Starman, 2013). This methodology is appropriate because it will allow for data collection results to be generalized based on the theoretical propositions and not the population (Harrison et al. 2017).

A person’s personality says much about who he or she is. People define personality in different ways. Researcher after researcher has tried to come up with the best definition for what personality truly means. Case studies, correlational studies, and experimental designs are some of the most commonly used methods of research. These methods help better define personality. The advantages and disadvantages of each method differ and can be helpful or hurtful to the research of an individual’s personality.

A case study is a simple tool researchers can use to gather data.  Within the textbook, a case study is described as a detailed analysis of a selected individual over a span of time (Newman, 2011, sec. 3.2).  Case studies can be quite useful because they are simple, easy to conduct, and require less involvement to achieve a result.  Oftentimes, the researcher will observe an individual and record data over a specific amount of time.

One of the oldest methods of research is the case study, in which psychologist study one or more individuals in great depth with the hope of an accomplishment of revealing true to all persons. Sigmund Freud came up with his theory of personality from a series of case studies. Case studies can be misleading, unrepresented knowledge of the individual can lead to a false conclusion.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss characteristics of my personality. The main focus of this paper will be how my personality has developed over time. As I age and encounter new and different experiences, my personality has adapted and developed further. This paper will give an in-depth exploration into the people and events that have influenced my personality.

Now, case studies are considered to be more of an in-depth study that uses many approaches and data sources of a solo case. Percy, Kostere, & Kostere, (2015, p. 19) stated that when we do a single case study, we do not mean a case study of one person, but instead we mean a study of a solo research/topic questions. From time to time there is a quantity of cases that are reported and studied together. The cases in a

In case study research, an investigator studies an individual or small group of individuals with an unusual condition or situation. Case studies are typically clinical in scope. The investigator (often a clinical sociologist) sometimes uses self‐report measures to acquire quantifiable data on the subject. A comprehensive case study, including a long‐term follow‐up, can last months or years.

Personality is the enduring and unique cluster of characteristics that may change in response to different situations. It can be asses via different approaches such as Self-report or objective inventories, projective techniques, clinical interviews, behavioural assessment procedures and thought and experience-sampling procedures. In the study of personality ideographic research and nomothetic research are used and the major methods that the clinical method, the experimental method and the correlational method.

A case study is a specific instance that is frequently designed to illustrate a more general principle (Nisbet and Watt, 1984). Hitchock and Hughes (1995) further suggest that the case study approach is particularly valuable when the researcher has little control over evens. Case studies strives to portray ‘what it like’ to be a particular situation, to catch up reality and ‘thick description’ (Geertz, 1973) of participants’ lives experiences of, thoughts about and feelings for a situation. They involve looking at a case or phenomenon in its real-life context, usually employing many types of data (Robson, 2002). It is important in case studies for events and situations to be allowed to speak for themselves, rather than to be largely interpreted, evaluated or judged by the researcher. In this respect the case study is akin to the television documentary. Case studies can make theoretical statements, but, like other forms of research and human sciences, these must be supported by the evidence presented.

The concept of personality is extensive and complex, but psychologists have tried to describe the nature of personality using different perspectives. Some of the perspectives are founded on empirical studies while others are based on clinical case studies or theories. Some common aspects of personality include psychodynamic, trait approach, cognitive, genetic, and learning approach. The cognitive approach emphasizes how our behavior is influenced by how we process, mentally represent, and store information. Psychologists who take the cognitive approach suggests that mental processes can help us understand several kinds of social and individual behaviors, from problem solving, to decision making, to intelligence and interpersonal attraction. According to Bernstein, (2011), a cognitive perspective on a person inherently describes meanings that are created by the individual, and these meanings are usually constructed out of cognitions on the environment. Personality psychologists taking a cognitive approach to a person, typically study the processes arising from behaviors and effects.

Human DNA is composed of roughly 30,000 genes composed of around 3 million base pairs and 99% of these are universally identical for everyone meaning they cannot be the source of personality differences in people. This suggests that the remaining genes are genetic mutations or polymorphisms, which have an influence on personality, and the biological approach uses three main methods to try and determine what % of individual differences in a trait can be attributed to genes and what % is a response to the environment. Family studies are a commonly used method as they correlate the degree of genetic overlap between family members with the degree of similarity in personality traits. In personality research they are generally used to