Question

Personality development is often viewed as a biological construct with social influences and context that either reflect or affect one’s personality. There are as well many different theories of personality development. Identify one theory of personality along with the corresponding figure associated with the theory (Freud, Rogers, Eysenck, et. al.) and discuss the basic components of that theory along with your thoughts regarding the validity of the explanations of personality development offered in that theory. Additionally, identify one personality disorder and discuss how your chosen theory relates to the development of that disorder. In your discussion, include whether or not you believe the disorder is “curable”, and how the disorder may be influenced by both biological and environmental factors. You should include at least one outside professional source to support your assertions.

Answer 1

• Central to Rogers' personality theory is the notion of self or self-concept. This is defined as "the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself."
• The self is the humanistic term for who we really are as a person. The self is our inner personality, and can be likened to the soul, or Freud's psyche. The self is influenced by the experiences a person has in their life, and out interpretations of those experiences. Two primary sources that influence our self-concept are childhood experiences and evaluation by others.
• According to Rogers,we want to feel, experience and behave in ways which are consistent with our self-image and which reflect what we would like to be like, our ideal-self.
• The closer our self-image and ideal-self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are and the higher our sense of self-worth.
• A person is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the totality of their experience is unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted in the self-image.
• The humanistic approach states that the self is composed of concepts unique to ourselves. The self-concept includes three components:
• Self-worth (or self-esteem) comprises what we think about ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early childhood and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and father.
• Self-image-How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological health. Self-image includes the influence of our body image on inner personality.
• At a simple level, we might perceive ourselves as a good or bad person, beautiful or ugly. Self-image affects how a person thinks, feels and behaves in the world.
• Ideal-self-This is the person who we would like to be. It consists of our goals and ambitions in life, and is dynamic, i.e., forever changing.The ideal self in childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or late twenties etc.
• In the development of the self concept, Rogers saw conditional and unconditional positive regard as key. Those raised in an environment of unconditional positive regard - to be accepted and loved as they are - have the opportunity to fully actualize themselves. Those raised in an environment of conditional positive regard only feel worthy if they match conditions (what Rogers describes as conditions of worth) that have been laid down by others.
• The biggest element of his theory is the concept of actualizing tendency which is innate and claims that all human behaviour, motivation stems from this. This is the biggest element of Rogers' theory that suggests he believes part of self is innate "the inherent tendency of the organism to develop all its capacities in ways which serve to maintain or enhance the person".
• Within the Humanistic approach, there are three essential principles. Existentialism "free organic self" - this is the notion that each individual can take control of their lives and be actively involved in their existence
• . Another principle is that of autonomy, which asserts that each individual has the power to make their own decisions.
• And finally, the principle of growth, which suggests that human beings can grow and develop as a result of the first two principles and in essence, can cause a change in personality.
• To a certain extent this theory is valid in its explanations of self and personality,since our self concept determines in a way who we are.Our views about ourselves are based upon our own experiences and interactions with other people which determine our real self and personality.It also determines the decisions we take in life regarding what we want to do in and what potentials we have to be used to achieve our goals.
• The theory definitely focuses on the importance of having a congruence between or real self and ideal self to be a fully functioning person and develop a healthy personality.
• Eventhough this theory doesnt really explain the mental disorders and other forms of psychopathology to such a great extent but it manages to explain how are self develops and how it shapes our personality as it keeps changing with every stage of our lives.
• This theory definitely makes us aware how biological as well as environmetal factors play an important role in developing our self concept and how it shapes our personality over time. How we come to realise who we are,through the influence of these factors.
• Due to time limit,remaining questions can be asked as another question,they will be answered,thankyou for your cooperation.