Question

Explain how a personality develops through shaping and conditioning

Its a personality psychology final question I need like 4 paragraphs if possible in own words, thanks!

Answer 1

Before attempting to answer how personality can be developed by shaping and conditioning, it is highly essential to know what exactly personality is? Well, Personality may be described as combinations of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character. Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Personality can develop through the act of shaping by the introduction of the behavioural reinforcement and the punishment. The behavioural reinforcement and the punishment can lead someone toward a desired behavioural trait, or discourage him or her from displaying any undesired behaviour. Operant conditioning best sums up the action of personality being developed by shaping and conditioning. Operant conditioning, done through a process of reward and punishment, is a form of learning where voluntary responses are effectively aligned to be controlled by their consequences. B.F Skinner through his experiments concluded that individuals tend to repeat only those responses that result in favourable consequences while they tend not to repeat those responses that result in unfavourable or neutral responses. According to Skinner, the consequences, whether neutral, favourable or unfavourable, are the result of extinction, reinforcements and punishment in that order. When individuals are punished the reinforcement seizes or is discouraged because of the pain that the individual feels instead of the reward. Hence, these individuals will not repeat the action because of the fear of punishment.
Therefore, through operant conditioning, it is possible for personality to be developed. Through either reinforcing or punishing behaviour, one can enhance or alter an individual’s personality to one that is desired or intended. The individual needs to be in a controlled environment one where the individual’s personality can be effectively shaped and conditioned. An individual is easily conditioned at young age when their actions have not been reinforced though punishment and rewards, babies who are poorly conditioned find it difficult fitting in the community as their actions are in conflict with the universally accepted behaviour. In such a situation, the individual’s behaviour is either reinforced or punished such that the individual maintains only the personality that is desired.