Personality Psychology
THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL
Marilyn Wedge. (2015, April 15). Help, Am I a Narcissist? etrieved from Psychologist Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201604/help-am-i-narcissist
Many are unaware that there is a big difference between the names narcissism and ordinary selfishness which have a lot to do with personality disorders. That article talks about how in the American culture today, mental distress is a big deal. The author also add that personality disorders are another issue that people are dealing with today. Each appear to have leaked from the offices of psychiatrists into the general talks. The author made a good point that people usually think of themselves in labels. For example, rather than being sad, a lot of times people are depressed. ather than being orderly, people are just OCD. ather than being energetic and active, even the children of families appear to be ADHD. The author then hits the main topic which is about…...
mlaReferences
Marilyn Wedge. (2015, April 15). Help, Am I a Narcissist? Retrieved from Psychologist Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201604/help-am-i-narcissist
Zimmer, E. (2009, April 15). Teen Angst Turns Deadly. Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200901/teen-angst-turns-deadly
Psychology
Personality Psychology
Personality, a term rooted from the Latin word "persona" means 'mask'. According to Allport (1937), personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to the environment. It also refers to the characteristic set of views, feelings and behaviors constantly reflected in an individual's conduct over time (Flanagan C., 2004). These characteristics are relatively stable, implying that a certain human being generally behaves in a typical manner. Further elaborated by Allport (1937), there are two ways to study personality, namely, the 'nomothetic' and the 'idiographic'. The former of the two studies personality by contriving general laws that can be applied to different people, such as the traits of 'self-actualization' or 'extraversion'. The latter of the two approaches to study personality uses all the unique attributes of a certain individual to understand personality.
There are three methods to study personality which are…...
mlaReferences
Allport, G. (1937). Personality: A Psychological Interpretation. Journal of Personality, 30, 405-422.
Carducci, B. (2006). The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Researches and Applications. Retrieved from Google Books.http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=1gJPXv5wQbIC&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=three+main+methods+of+studying+personality+psychology&source=bl&ots=rmJu0uEBsj&sig=d-4tlTKJTEKfwGycCKtQn1npN6w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lw3rT6LYBK3a4QSUmMXDAg&ved=0CFoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=three%20main%20methods%20of%20studying%20personality%20psychology&f=false ,
Flanagan, C. (2004). Social and Personality Development. In Psychology (pp. 586 -- 588). London, UK: Collins Publishers.
Personality Psychology
Character: Patrick aterman- 'American Psycho'
A unique concept of personality theories is generated in American Psycho. This character has been cross examined through the principles of psychoanalytic theory. There character exhibits a super ego driven by skewed moral patterns and an id (self-perception) that lets out all the deeply held fantasies of which it has been deprived. The case demonstrates the possibility of the superego and the id coalescing to stir sadistic violence and failure to distinguish between the real and that exists only in perception. This unique predisposition also means that self-actualization is seen to be a possibility for any form of behaviour. Although it is easy to class aterman as an evil person, his needs are met in line with the hierarchy of needs. This happens until his heinous and violent acts emerge a continuation of the skewed ideals shared in a way with his victims. The application…...
mlaBibliography
Ellis, B. E. (1991). American Psycho (1st ed.). New York: Vintage.
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2009). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (4th ed.). Allyn & Bacon
Pearce, J. (2014, November 30). Patrick Bateman of American Psycho: A sexual profile. Retrieved from Lapsus: http://lapsuspsych.com/2014/11/30/patrick-bateman-of-american-psycho-a-sexual-profile/
Schaffer, C. (2013). Examining the Personality of Patrick Bateman of. Walden University.
Part.Theory Related to Final ProjectKey ConceptsHistorical Context and Historical FiguresValidity and AccuracyApplicability of Theory TodayConnection to Final ProjectNeo-Freudian TheoriesPsychodynamic. Tripartite division of self but less about psychosexual development than Freud. Builds on Freuds theory of the unconscious, using dreams and other symbols but more reliance on and social and cultural influence on personality.Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Karen Horney, Henry Stack Sullivan.More so than Freud, with more empirical research. For example, Erikson develop empirically testable models to compare psychic structures with cultural institutions (Cote, 1993).Still useful in psychotherapy, but less so in relation to normally functioning adults, in I/O psychology, in severe clinical disorders like schizophrenia, or in general clinical settings.Will be used as a key means of comparing Millons theories with alternative theories of personality.HumanistsPerson-centered, focusing on individual liberty and free will. Human nature is essentially good, and individuals seek fulfillment and self-realization.Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers. Initially an…...
Erik Erikson postulated that personality is a progress through a number of stages and facing conflicts in the course of progression and the in order to pass through a process, the individual has to overcome these conflicts. These internal conflicts therefore aroused defense mechanisms that thereafter dictated the personality of an individual (Kendra, 2010).
Humanistic approach
Humanistic approach emphasizes the individual worth and the centrality of the value of a person. It is pegged on the philosophy of existentialism and emphasized on creativity, spontaneity and activeness of human beings. The approach focuses on the development and possibility of humans to defeat hardship and misery as opposed to defeat and pessimis.
Under this approach, there is emphasis on free will and the experience of an individual to be fundamental in the shaping of the personality. It looks at the concept of self-actualization, which is an internal natural need for personal growth to the fullest…...
mlaReferences
Kendra Cherry, (2010). Theories of Personality. Personality Psychology Study Guide. Retrieved June 10, 2010 from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologystudyguides/a/personalitysg_3.htm
Warren & Carmichael, (1930). Elements of human psychology (Rev. Ed.; Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin, 1930), p. 333. Cited in Allport, Pattern & growth in personality (1937/1961, p.36). retrieved June 10, 2010 from http://www.thepersonalitysystem.org/PFA%20What%20Is%20Personality/How%20Is%20Personality%20Defined.htm
e. social transitions in historically changing environment.
The next section discusses Sociology. In this section, the researchers discuss the significance of sociology in this study and the world of psychology. It has been stated that the view of sociology is necessary and useful. The finding suggest that personality can in fact be tested using actual life consequences and that it is possible to organize life data by articulating the social meanings of roles according to age linked expectations. The researchers believe that sociological treatment of personality in the life course can shape the analysis and interpretation of data presented.
The last section discusses the question of why history. The answer is that in fact over a life span each individual is exposed to various historical experiences during ones transition through the "age-graded roles." Researchers further conclude that it is extremely important that when making historical generalizations that age be considered in a…...
Dispositional and Evolutionary Theories
What makes some people extraverted and others introverted? Why are some people mellow and calm, while others lose their tempers at the drop of a hat? Personality psychology tries to answer questions like these by performing a twofold role. The first role of personality psychology is to explain how clusters of traits work together to cause behavioral or cognitive effects, and the other role is to simply explain individual differences or classify people according to clusters of traits (American Psychological Association, 2015). There are several schools of personality psychology, including dispositional and evolutionary theories. Dispositional theory is quite common in popular psychology and has been a prevalent mode of thinking in the history of philosophies throughout different societies. According to dispositional theory, people have immutable traits and personality "types." Occasionally a person might act out of character, but generally people have strong, innate personalities that remain…...
mlaReferences
American Psychological Association (2015). Personality. Retrieved online: http://www.apa.org/topics/personality/
Cherry, K. (n.d.). The Big Five personality dimensions. About Education. Retrieved online: http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/bigfive.htm
"General Strengths and Limitations of Trait Perspectives," (n.d.). Retrieved online: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/personality-16/trait-perspectives-on-personality-79/general-strengths-and-limitations-of-trait-perspectives-312-12847/
McAdams, D.P. & Pals, J.L. (2006). A new Big Five. American Psychologist 61(3): 204-217.
Personality Therapy
Personality is very complex. Individuals can differ considerably from one another, because of the wide variety of traits possible. In addition, a person can act a certain way in one situation and completely different in another, or have internal processes that manifest themselves through very different external actions and behaviors. Because of this diversity and complexity, psychologists have developed a number of theories to explain personality phenomena, as well as suggest yet unknown possibilities. This report, based on the book Perspectives on Personality by Charles Carver will discuss these theories and how they can be applied for behavioral change through therapy.
Two theories fall under the dispositional perspectives category, which emphasize that people display consistency or continuity in their actions, thoughts and feelings: The "trait and type" theory and the "needs and motives" theory. The first concludes that people can be divided into different types or categories. Nomothetic personality traits…...
Psychology Personality
There are six approaches for studying the personality development of a person. Two of the most popular ones are the biological and humanistic approaches. The other four of these approaches include the trait, cognitive, behavioral and psychoanalytic. Each of these approaches are used to describe the system through we acquire our personality and factors that influence this personality development. The use of the approach is determined by the psychotherapist as well as the client, as they can differ from one person to another with respect to their effectiveness. However, it is the responsibility of the therapist to make sure that the approach used by him would be appropriate for the particular client he is dealing with. Even though it is not expected of the therapist to specialize in all the approaches, he should at least have an idea about each one of them. In this paper, we will discuss…...
mlaReferences
Lawrence, Sawyer (2009). "Biological vs. Humanistic Approach to Personality." University of Phoenix.
Vigil, Jeremy (2002). "Biological v. Humanistic." Psychology 250.
" Earlier, in Leary et. al.'s article, it was stated how thoughtless commitment of an activity is vital to the success of self-control, since at this stage, the individual loses his/her concept of self-awareness. However, in Hoyle's analysis, impulsivity is a factor that hampers the individual's performance of an activity with a high level of self-control. Thus, the relationship between impulsivity and self-regulation are inversely proportional to each other: as the individual increases his/her level of impulsivity, the level of self-regulation decreases.
Combining both factors, Hoyle then created a bigger picture of his interpretation of and perspective about self-regulation. For him, in order to fully gain self-regulation in the self, there should be an "alignment" of both the real and ideal self. The real self are actions and behavior that the individual observes on a daily basis, while the ideal self could be a part of the individual's personality, or a…...
mlaWorks Cited
Hoyle, R. (Dec 2006). "Personality and self-regulation: Trait and information-processing perspectives." Journal of Personality, Vol. 74, No. 6.
Leary, M, C. Adams and E. Tate. (Dec 2006). "Hypo-egoic self-regulation: Exercising self-control by diminishing the influence of the self." Journal of Personality, Vol. 74, No. 6.
Psychology Theories
In psychology, personality can be described as the "the patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion unique to an individual, and the ways they interact to help or hinder the adjustment of a person to other people and situations" ("personality," 2013). Psychologists may make use of idiographic or nomothetic techniques in order to study personality of an individual. Many characteristics of human behavior can be examined while studying one's personality. To put in simple words, personality theories are utilized for organizing what is known, stimulating new research, and specifying a view of personality in a formal way (Kasschau, 1985). Psychoanalytic theory, person-centered theory and existential theory are three such theories which have been developed in the precedent century and cover a lot of information regarding the pathology, health/wellness, treatment and the weight or significance of early life.
Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory
The Psychoanalytic Theory was put forwarded by Sigmund Freud in which he…...
mlaReferences
Diem-Wille, G. (2011). The Early Years of Life: Psychoanalytical Development Theory According to Freud, Klein and Bion. London: Karnac.
Gurman, A.S., & Messer, S.B. (2003).Essential Psychotherapies: Theory and Practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Kasschau, R.A. (1985). Psychology: Exploring Behavior. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs. Print.
Kitano, M.K., & LeVine, E.S. (1987). Existential theory: Guidelines for practice in child therapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 24(3), 404-413. doi:10.1037/h0085732
Personality Analysis
Life History
Like most people, I have experienced ups and downs, highs and lows. The major upheavals in my life have revealed some of the core personality traits that have been with me since childhood. I believe that crisis and stress challenge us, and also bring to light our true selves. However, I also believe strongly in the power of each person to change. I used to have anger management problems and other emotional issues, just like most people. Mainly these problems were related to my not having in place a set of established coping mechanisms in my life. Part of this is related to the culture and upbringing, and part also to personality traits. Yet after I was divorced from a husband of 22 years, it was a shock. I did not feel like myself because my emotions were getting the best of me. Knowing this, I joined support…...
mlaReferences
Collins, W.A., Maccoby, E.E., Steinberg, L. & Hetherington, E. (2000). Contemporary research on parenting. American Psychologist 55(2): 218-232.
Jussim, L. (2012). Social Perception and Social Reality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lalande, Kathleen M.; Bonanno, George A. (2011). Retrospective memory bias for the frequency of potentially traumatic events: A prospective study. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, Vol 3(2), Jun 2011, 165-170.
Lewkowitz, D.J. (2011). The biological implausibility of the nature-nurture dichotomy and what it means for the study of infancy. Infancy 16(4): 331-367.
I believe I have learned many things in class that will help make me more effective and successful in my personal life. Perhaps the most evident thing I have learned is how to determine my own conscious motivators and recognize how my unconscious beliefs and morals may impact my attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. This falls more into the realm of social psychology. I have learned exactly how critical environment can be to ones success or distress.
With regard to my profession, I believe that I can use psychology in many ways. Psychology is an important tool for employees and managers alike. When used correctly it can help foster a collaborative and open work environment that encourages individual thinking, behavior, and goal setting. It can also be used to mitigate and problem solve. Psychology can also be used to address more difficult aspects of the workplace environment.
A learned for example how impacting…...
Personal interviews -- especially what the respondent actually says in them -- can be extremely useful to humanist practitioners. They also share a reliance on objective tests -- where the respondent attempts, in a guided way, to assess their own behavior and/or personality, with the two remaining branches of personality assessment.
Trait-based and social-learning psychology have vastly different approaches to assessing personality, but there are also some commonalities insofar as how they assess personality. Trait-based theorists believe that people exhibit specific behavioral traits, and that these can be analyzed to determine personality. Tests like the Big Five indicator are trait-based assessors. Social-learning theorists, on the other hand, believe that certain cognitive patterns are set early on, and that behavior (and personality) is determined by these unique cognitive processes working with the sum experience as well as the current environment and interactions. For this reason, social-learning theorists do not see behavior…...
In principle, Freud views the development of human personality as largely attributable to neurological functions representing particular components of personality rather than neurological structures, and in that sense, his prescient views predating the technology that would later confirm the neurological basis of human perception and behavior by a full half-century (Dennet 1991). On the other hand, the detailed descriptions provided by Freud for the precise conflicts and interactions among and between the Id, Super Ego, and the Ego amount more to arbitrary characterizations rather than to the precise neurological processes envisioned by Freud (Dennet 1991).
That is not to deny the existence of the various urges emphasized by Freud and the factors responsible for their degree of expression in human conduct. Contemporary psychologists acknowledge the profound role played by various neurological components of human behavior as well as their general connection to specific parts of the brain, all of which…...
mlaReferences
Dennet, D. (1991). Consciousness Explained. New York: Little Brown & Co.
Gerrig, R, Zimbardo, P. (2005). Psychology and Life. 17th Edition.
New York: Allyn & Bacon.
Pinker, S. (2002). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York: Penguin.
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