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. 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
Hans Eysenck, a psychologist well known in the field of personality based his trait theory on biological explanations; whereby he believed genetic and biological factors were significant elements of personality (Eysenck 1990). Eysenck also held the view that an individual’s personality traits, or what he referred to as ‘temperament’ was an exact result of one’s genetic make-up (Chamorro-Premuzic & Furnham, 2005). Eysenck encompassed the idea that there was a need to highlight the significant dimensions of personality, create a way in which they could be measured and then link them with experimental procedures. Subsequently, Eysenck developed a model of personality based on a theoretical and statistical approach to the classification of traits. This is
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
Dispositional personality theories are quite different from biological personality theories. The two will be compared and dissected in this article. The Big Five Personality Test will also be analyzed and how it is used to study personality will be examined.
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
In the field of psychology, many psychologists have contributed to the understanding of personality. Through their research, they have come up with an understanding of the various factors: genetics, environmental, learning, parental, developmental, consciousness, and unconsciousness, that play a role in shaping personality. In addition, it has helped people to discover themselves in a deeper level by learning the various aspects of the characteristics and traits that make up who they are as unique individuals. Out of all the contributors to the study of personality psychology like Sigmund Freud, Karen Horney, and so forth, the focus of this paper will be on Julian Rotter. In delving deeper, the paper will cover Julian Rotter’s major contribution to psychology, how his theory change the understanding of personality, and how it explains various cultural ways of life.
Evolutionary/genetic perspectives do not generally account for the biological mechanisms between genes and personality. Theorists use biological processes in an attempt to fill in the gap between personality and genetics by inferring, theorizing and researching biological links with behavior. Anatomical approach examines functions of various structures of brain.
Personality may be based on many factors. It may be based on innate or learned experience, or latent or manifest. But, the focus of this essay will be whether a person's personality is based on the magnitude of genetic or an environmental influence. Personality can be divided into two categories, innate or acquired characteristics. Heritability is a statistical measure that expresses the proportion of the observed variability in a trait that is a direct result of genetic variability. Environmental influences can be divided into two classes, shared and non-shared environment. Both heredity and environment contribute to personality traits and that the degree of their individual contributions cannot be specified for any traits. Although a person's environment plays an important part in their personality development, heredity factors play a larger role in deciding disposition of this
Each one of us has his or her judgment about different issues that affect us on a daily basis. It is because we have different genes that result in different traits to thereby resulting in different reactions to different situations. While some people are profoundly affected by the death of a family member, some are strong and gather the courage to move on with life. Personality allows us to express our emotions differently. In this case, our gene composition will enable us to be in a position to react to different stimuli influencing daily decisions. The purpose of this paper will be to define personality at a deeper level while focusing on various personalities domain and how they apply to different personality theories.
When I was a little girl, my parents were foster parents because they wanted to adopt another child. Throughout my childhood, there were many children who would come stay with us for a few days, sometimes a few weeks or sometimes a few months. When I was 9 years old, my older sister, Miranda, and I came home from school and noticed a little tricycle in our front yard. We ran inside to meet this cute 17 months-old little boy named Jordan. Jordan’s biological mother was a substance abuser and she continued to abuse while she was pregnant with him. We suspect that this resulted in some of the learning and behavioral problems that he deals with daily. Jordan is now 15 years old. As he has gotten older, we have noticed how his personality differs from the rest of our family’s. I will be defining his personality by applying Eysenck’s Biological Theory, Temperament, and Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory.
Personality is what makes us who we are. It is what makes us unique sets us apart from other people. Personality helps us identify other peoples and makes it easier to interact. The perspectives of personality are theories on the development of personality about how get their personality. It explains why people have different personalities. The different perspectives shows the view that can be observed when studying psychology and the differences of personality. The biological perspective of personality shows how personality is affected by the physical body. The humanistic perspective of personality shows how personality is affected by conscious thoughts and the desire to be that best you can be.
There are many theories that attempt to clarify the structures that influence personality, for example dispositional, and Evolutionary theory. This paper will discuss the differences that are among dispositional and evolutionary personality theories, as well as, strengths and limitations of dispositional and evolutionary and biological personality theories their bearing on human behavior. Furthermore, the Big Five personality test and what technique is used to study personality.
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
To demonstrate my understanding of personality theory, I choose to create a personality profile for a close friend. She is a very driven individual with some unique interests. I wanted to evaluate her personality because she is a very close friend of mine and I know her vary well. I chose Allport’s trait theory because he uses 3 types of traits to describe people. I liked the way he organized traits in to types of traits. I think its easier to understand his theory because of the organization. I organized my friend’s traits in to 3 categories: central, secondary, and cardinal. Allport’s theory focuses on individual differences. His theory suggest that “ individuals differ in the traits that predominate in there personalities. some traits are common; others are unique”(Cloninger 2013 page 128). He goes on to explain that some traits are individual or unique while others are common.
The study of personality traits is beneficial in identifying the many variables that exist from human to human; the combinations of these variables provide us with a true level of individuality and uniqueness. In the field of psychology, trait theory is considered to be a key approach to the study of human personality (Crowne, 2007; Burton, Westen & Kowalski, 2009). This paper aims to identify a number of significant contributors who have played crucial roles in both the development and application of trait theory. This paper then moves focus to these theorists, outlining their theory and analysing both the strengths and weaknesses of those theories. An illustration of the methods used in trait measurement is given and includes the
1.The foundations of the third force of psychology were laid by Carl Rogers, William Glasser and Abraham Maslow who coined the term of the third force of psychology. The main belief of the third psychology is that all people are good in an inherent manner and through a constant change in the beliefs, attitudes as well as the values; a person can become self-actualized who has the morals and the beliefs that can help him in getting their aims in a more rightful manner. The paths thereby adopted by the individuals thereby are constructive and self-satisfying. Initially it was being thought that the third force has been developed for the betterment of people who are mentally ill but nowadays it is being seen that the third force is now being used in the classrooms on healthier children and individuals (Feist, and Feist, 2008, p. 55).