Question

Describe four characteristics of a trait. How do traits differ from attitudes? Describe Allport’s concept of functional autonomy. What role does it play in the development of personality? What is the relationship between our motivation (work motivation, love motivation, exercise motivation, etc.) and our different levels of functional autonomy? Allport listed several components that must be present for a person to attain psychological maturity (his term for mental health) as follows: 1. Specific, enduring extensions of self 2. Dependable techniques for warm relating to others 3. Emotional security and self-acceptance 4. Habits of realistic perception 5. Problem-centeredness and the development of problem-solving skills. 6. Self-objectification (such as insight into your own behavior) 7. A unifying philosophy of life In your opinion, what is missing from this list of characteristics necessary for mental health and why?

Answer 1

• A trait can be thought of as a relatively stable characteristic that causes individuals to behave in certain ways. The trait approach to personality is one of the major theoretical areas in the study of personality. It indicates the individual differences in personalities. They are always constant regardless of situations. It is a way of describing a person.
• A set of traits makes up a personality and they are relatively stable.Traits indiacte your characterstics that generally describe you as a person.Attitudes on the other are subject to change.We want to change attitudes because of the belief that attitudes influence behavior. Attitude is how you project yourself and your values.
• Allport believed that whatever happened in the past such as during toilet training, schooling, or some other childhood crisis; this no longer current and does not explain adult behavior unless it exists as a current motivating force.
• Functional autonomy of motives
  Allport’s concept of functional autonomy proposes that the motives of mature, emotionally healthy adults are not functionally connected to the prior experiences in which they initially appeared. Forces that motivated us early in life become autonomous, or independent, of their original circumstances. Allport proposed two levels of functional autonomy: preservative functional autonomy and propriety functional autonomy.
• Preservative functional autonomy:-It is concerned with such behaviors as addictions and repetitive physical actions such as habitual ways of performing some everyday task. The behaviors continue or persevere on their own without any external reward. For example; When a rat that has been trained to run a maze for food is given more than enough food, it may still run the maze, but obviously for some purpose other than the food.
• Propriety functional autonomy:-It is the level of functional autonomy that relates to our values, self-image, and lifestyle. Allport considered propriety functional autonomy more important than perseverative functional autonomy and is essential to the understanding of adult motivation. Out propriate functioning is an organizing process that maintains our sense of self.
• This determines how we perceive our world, what we remember from our experiences, and how our thoughts are directed. This is an organizing process that includes organizing, mastery and competence, and patterning which describes a striving for consistency and integration of the personality.
• Due to time constraints the rest of the questions can be answered in the next question,pose the remaining questions as anoter question