Question

After reading about the different theories of personality, which theory or theories do you think best explain(s) your own unique psychological characteristics and behavior patterns? Which theory seems least applicable to you? Present the reasons for your choices

Answer 1

Personality can be defined as a set of characteristics of an individual that leads to predictable patterns of thinking, feeling and behaviour.

There are many theories of personality such as psychodynamic, trait theory, social cognitive and humanistic theory of personality. Each theory attempts to explain personality in its own way.

The unique psychological characteristics and behavioural patterns are best explained by psychodynamic theory of personality. This is so because when one tries to recall their childhood experiences they realise that how profoundly the events of their childhood have shaped them as well as their attachment with their parents. From the kind of people one gets attracted towards because they resemble there parent of the opposite gender to the kind of addictions one has because of the possible fixation at the oral stage of one's psychosexuadevelopmeent, all these can be answered by the psychodynamic theory of personality.

The theory that seems least applicable to me is the social cognitive theory of personality. It aims at explaining personality and behaviour through interaction of an individual with their social environment. The theory has least application because it's scope is limited. It's explanation of personality and behavior is too simplistic and doesn't consider other factors at play. The founder found distinct stable patterns of behaviour where if one event occurs it leads to certain response or behaviour. But in real life situations behaviour isn't influenced by only that one single event but many events altogether. Also one cannot predict which 'x' event might trigger a 'y' response. Therefore as this theory undermines the complexity of human life and thinking it has the least application.