¶ … Personality Theories in Psychology
To the layperson, the term personality is a generic descriptor for an individual's traits. However, personality has a more specific meaning to psychologists. According to Dan McAdams, "Personality psychology is the scientific study of the whole person" (McAdams, 2006, p.12, para.1). While different psychologists and their theories have become well-known enough to be referenced in casual conversation, there is still some confusion among laypeople about personality theory and whether all personality theories are basically the same. That confusion is understandable, because there are different approaches to the study of personality, buy they all purport to give functioning descriptions of the individual. "Personality psychologists develop and validate ways of measuring individual differences, necessitating a quantitative and focused inquiry into single dimensions of human variation together into illuminating personological portraits of the individual case" (McAdams, 2006, p.12, para.1). Therefore, while personality theories should be comprehensive enough to describe all people, they should also be specific-enough to comprehensively describe an individual
Personality psychology was the first real type of psychology, and the man frequently credited as both the father of modern psychology and the father of personality theory is Sigmund Freud. Freud debuted the idea of psychoanalysis, and though this classical theory has faced many challenges, in many ways it remains one of the supporting pillars of modern personality psychology. However, later theorists expanded upon and challenged Freud's work, coming up with their own descriptions of personality psychology. Some of these could be incorporated into existing theories, while others were so revolutionary that they clearly merited a different type of study. For example, Skinner and behaviorism are so distinct from Freudian psychoanalysis that they would not seem like part of the same field if they were not both used to describe the character traits of an individual.
This paper will investigate the six main theoretical approaches to personality theory: classical psychoanalytical, contemporary psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanist-existential, narrative, and psychometric/descriptive. To do so, it will focus on the primary works of those who are generally considered to be founders or leaders of each field. However, in doing so, the author acknowledges that the picture of each approach will be incomplete. There is simply not enough time and space to devout a complete overview to each theory. Therefore, while the information on classical psychoanalysis will detail Freud's work, it will not delve into works by Carl Jung or even Anna Freud, who built upon Freud's work, but also challenged some of his preconceived notions. Therefore, while this paper will provide an overview of each theory, they will simply be overviews.
In addition, the paper will attempt to give historical perspective to each of the personality theories. For example, many modern scholars might find Freud's Oedipal complex to be laughable and point to the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse in modern society as a reason to dismiss the rest of his theories by suggesting that Freud missed his opportunity to uncover this phenomenon. However, the reality is that Freud initially suggested that his female patients had actually suffered sexual abuse, but the people of his time were not willing to even consider that possibility, forcing him to examine other alternatives in developing his theories. It is important to understand how historical limitations might impact not only how a theory develops, but also some of the practical information impacting the practice of personality psychology. Simply because an idea is currently seen as antiquated does not mean that it is not an important part of the field of personality psychology.
Classical Psychoanalytical Theory
One simply cannot discuss personality theory without discussing psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud. To many, Freud is psychology and they have little understanding of psychology beyond the idea of Freudian psychoanalysis. There is good reason for this; Freud certainly brought the idea of psychoanalytic therapy and the notion of a talking cure into modern science. However, while it might be accurate to consider Freud the father of modern psychology in many ways, it is also somewhat misleading, because it would certainly be an error to assume that one could recognize Freudian psychoanalysis in many modern psychological theories. Instead, psychoanalysis opened the gateway to personality theory...
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