Question

Compare and contrast two of the personality theories in psychology. (250 words)

Answer 1

There are four types of personality theories such as Psychoanalytic that looks at the role unconscious mind and childhood experiences in one’s personality, trait theory that looks at different personality traits of people, humanistic approach which looks at humans as capable of achieving self-actualization and finally Social Cognitive theory that looks at the environmental influence in shaping one’s personality.

Humanistic Approach looks at human beings capable of achieving self-actualization if they are given the right opportunities. Abraham Maslow is the most influential contributor to this theory through his need hierarchy approach to personality. Maslow argues that one has different needs and when one is successfully completed a person moves to the next need and if one is not able to successfully complete one level of needs might develop deficiency in other levels are stay at the bottom level. For example, every human beings have some basic needs such as food, sex etc. once they successfully attain them, they move on to the safety and security needs such as shelter. Humanistic perspectives believes in human beings’ ability to achieve excellence provided they have the opportunity and willingness. It completely lay the responsibility on the shoulders of the individual.

Social Cognitive looks at the environmental influence on one’s personality development. Social Learning theory of Albert Bandura is one of the best contributor to this perspective. Bandura proved that people learn by imitating others through his famous Bobo Doll experiment where the children were copying the aggression of the adult who modelled to punch the doll. Children learn by observation and imitation thus shaping their personality accordingly. It lays the responsibility of the models who children imitate.