Question

Describe the 4 theories of personality and what it contributes to each personality?

Answer 1

Psycho- Dynamic Theory

Sigmund Freud was of the view that a the personality of an individual is made up of three parts, the Id, Ego and the Superego. Id is the instinctual part that works on the pleasure principle by deriving instant pleasure. The ego operates on the Reality Principle by acting according to accepted norms and reality. The Super Ego is concerned with moral values and conscience.

The different periods of development of personality in Freud's psychoanalytic theory is known as the psychosexual stages of development. The theory describes the psychological and sexual elements of development of personality in a child. The stages are oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stage.

The psychoanalytic theory is so important because it comprehensively explains personality and places importance on the early development of person, that is the childhood experiences. It places value on the unconscious level, which has a great influence on ones personality and life, so much so that the unconscious may single handedly define a persons personality. Also, the emphasis on aggressive and sexual drives give us an understanding of the various conflicts and motivation of human behavior.

Humanistic View

The humanistic school of psychology was in response to the other schools which preceded it such as psycho analysis and behaviorism. The humanistic school of psychology was in reaction to these earlier schools and proposed that human nature is not mechanical and negative rather it is positive and good. It stated that humans are basically good and are motivated towards achieving self actualization, that is, human aim at achieving their greatest potential. The humanistic view cannot be called naive and overly optimistic as it shed much need light on often ignored positive aspects of humans, which were ignored by earlier schools of psychology.

It focussed on the positive aspects of human behavior and the motivation of person to be his/her best self. Abraham Maslow had developed the hierarchy of needs, which describes several levels of needs which a human has. The highest level being self actualization and the lowest is physiological needs. According to this theory, a person strives to active the highest need, but has to cross several levels to active it, once a level has being reached and fulfilled, the person then proceeds to the next level.

Trait Theory

Robert McCrae and Paul Costa developed the Five-Factor Model, which is a theory that explains personality based on five broad factors . Each five factor has two traits on either extreme of that particular personality factor continuum. These five factors and their traits are used as a measure to analyze ones personality.

• Openness to experience - The openness to participate in new activities and have new ideas. Enjoying mixing with other cultures and entertaining unconventional ideas.
• Conscientiousness- People who are high on conscientiousness, give high importance to their duty and show a sense of responsibility.
• Extraversion- This is the trait which is characterized by being social with others and showing confidence in social interactions.
• Agreeableness- People who have high agreeableness are cooperative with others and easy to get along, they also may be trusting of other people.
• Neuroticism- This trait is characterized by excessive thinking and thinking in negative patterns, which can result in anxiety and stress.

The Social Cognitive Theory

The social cognitive theory started as the social learning theory, it emphases on learning in the context of the individual and environment. The social cognitive theory builds on the social learning theory by Albert bandura.The social cognitive theory focuses on various factors which influence learning. The social learning theory states that an individual learns by observing, whereas the social cognitive theory states says that learning is effected by the environment. The social cognitive theory also has greater focus on cognition than social learning theory.