allport Essay

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

Trait theories assume people have many traits that are continuing qualities that individuals have in different amounts. Allport’s theory suggests that there are 3 main traits: central, secondary, and cardinal. A central trait is a characteristic that controls and organizes behavior in various situations. A secondary trait can be described as a preference and is specific to certain situations. A cardinal trait is very general and pervasive. It is so pervasive that an individual is governed by it and it dictates everything a person does.

Research also shows indicates that the Big Five has distinct biological substrates thereby linking trait perspective with the biological perspective (DeYoung, Quilty & Peterson, 2007). However this convergence of perspectives is actually productive in that all perspectives by themselves have their disadvantages as well as their advantages. If all perspectives can coincide with one another, explanations of personality will become so much easier.

Compare and contrast Wilhelm Wundt’s (1832-1920) and Edward Titchener’s (1867-1927) systems of Psychology.History of Psychology

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

Kim, M. (2009). Trait theory. In S. W. Littlejohn & K. A. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of communication theory (Vol. 2, pp. 964-966). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412959384.n380

Genes are a major influence on certain physical aspects, along with a few illnesses. The positive relationship between genetically related individuals who acquire similar physical features causes assumptions as to whether behavioural, personality and psychological attributes could also be inherited (McLeod, 2007). Thus the nature approach, which is supported by Galton’s (1869) and Darwin’s (1871)

A person’s nature, or genetics, determines aspects of the psychology of a person before they’ve been born. There are many example of how genetics determine characteristics of a person, regardless of the environment, also known as

individual is born with, for example, is has always been assumed to be strictly the result of one’s

Kim, M. (2009). Trait theory. In S. W. Littlejohn & K. A. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of communication theory (Vol. 2, pp. 964-966). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412959384.n380

In this book Nettle talks about how traits cannot be observed directly, but it is possible to figure out which person has certain traits by observing their personalities. Nettle’s direct statement is, “you can never observe a trait directly. Instead, you infer a person’s level of the trait through their behaviour. No-one will be nervous all the time, but some people might be nervous more often and over a wider range of circumstances than others. This propensity to nervousness, to qualify as a trait, would have to be fairly consistent over time” (Nettle 19-20). That direct quote shows how each personality comes with the same traits, just some personalities have stronger traits than others. Different personalities have different traits that stand out more than

Is behavior learned? It is inborn? What of aggression, intelligence, and madness? There is a crucial relationship between the behavior of humans toward their own kind and the view of life they hold. Interest in behavioral genetics depends on wanting to know why people differ. According to Jack R. Vale, in Genes, Environment, and Behavior, recognition of the importance of hereditary influence on behavior represents one of the most dramatic changes in the social and behavioral sciences during the past two decades. A shift began toward the more balanced contemporary view that recognizes genetic as well as environmental influences on behavior. Behavioral genetics lies in its theory and methods, which consider both genetic and

Trait theory is similar in nature to that of the great man approach in that traits of personality are considered to be inherent. Trait theory was explored in the early 20th century and was built on from the great man theory. Tead (1929) discussed trait theory as someone who held a specific group of traits that would evolve followers to complete a chosen task.

The American psychologist, Gordon Allport (1937) looked at these two major ways to study personality, the nomothetic and the idiographic. Nomothetic psychology looks for general laws that can be applied to many different people, such as the factor

“We are influenced by our own internal forces, forces of which we are unaware, have feelings towards, or urges we do not quite understand “(Freidman, 2012, p. 17). This is the struggle that personality psychology tries to understand, how and to what extent the unconscious forces plays a role in human behavior. It is believed that people are responsible for their own actions. There is a continuous struggle with personality psychology and the comprehension of and to what extent unconscious forces play in human behavior. “Meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction both are transformed” (Carl Jung 1993, p.57). There are various questions that are asked about the issues in personality psychology such as, “How important are social influences on the self, such as parental deprivation or excessive praise? Is the sense of self merely an inconsequential epiphenomenon or secondary perception arising from other forces that really matter? What is the core of who we are? A second core issue with the studies of personality studies is does each person require a unique approach? “Gordon Allport argued that a key aspect of the study of personality must focus on the individual and thus be idiographic” (p.18). To generalize an individual is a complication in itself because the personality of each person is complex in its own way so how can we generalize? Obtaining an answer to that question is still a dilemma. Allport complained