Question

Select a personality theory and write in which describes and critiques the theory.

1) A summary of the major principles (at least five) of the theory, and how the theory addresses differences in gender and culture. Does the theory presents a comprehensive explanation of how personality develops. If so, how does it do this, if not, what is not explained?

It maybe any of these approaches and theorist thinking behind these approaches...

Biological Approach

Psychodynamic Approach

Behavioral Approach

Cognitive Approach

Humanistic Approach

Answer 1

Psychodynamic Approach

Psychodynamic approach is based on the theories of Freud and his successors like Carl Jung, Alfred Adler and Erik Erikson. 1. The basic assumption of this approach is that our behavior is directed by unconscious motives. These unconscious motives influence our feelings, cognition and have a great influence on the development of our personality.

2. It further states that Childhood experiences fill the unconscious part and that shapes our personality.

3. Psychodynamic theorists believed that behavior is the most determined and we have no control over it.

4. Freud believed that personality is made up of three parts i.e. The ID, The Ego and Superego.

5. He believed that personality is developed through a series of stages which he called The Psychosexual Stages of development. These stages are Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent and Genital. Freud argues that gender develops during the phallic stage. The child's Libido (Psychic Energy) is directed towards genital development. Boys experience Oedipus Complex, while as girls experience Electra Complex. Psychodynamic Approach believes that Culture plays a major role in personality development. Psychodynamic approach played a major role in the development of personality psychology.

Behaviorist Approach

Behaviorism believes that people are controlled by their environment and are products of their environment. The main assumptions of behavioral approach are:

1. People are products of their environment.

2. Behavior is a product of what people learn from their environment.

3. Learning takes place via Conditioning mainly Classical and Operant Conditioning.

4. Most behaviorists believed that there is no free will and behavior is produced by what we learn from the environment.

5. Behaviorists believed that only observable behavior should be studied using controlled lab experiments.

Behaviorism was criticized for being too rigid and for underestimating the complexity of the human mind. For example, it couldn't explain complex human behaviors such as language.

Biological Approach: Darwin had a major influence on this approach. Biological approach believes that behavior is a product of our genes and our physiology. It's believed that most of the behavior is inherited. Biological Approach uses neurological methods to study behavior and take an evolutionary perspective on the development of behaviors. It tries to understand how natural selection and adaptation lead to the development of different behaviors. Biological approach believes that gender differences are mainly a product of the genetic differences between the two genders. And Cultural differences are a product of the adaptation to the environmental factors that different cultures exhibit. This approach was criticized for being too deterministic and ignoring other factors that shape our personality.

Cognitive Approach: Cognitive Approach considers the human mind to be a processing unit which is comprised of different mental processes. Cognitive Psychologists take a nomothetic approach to personality and believe that personality is a product of the learning from the environment and the combination of the traits that a person has. George Kelly is the main figure in this area. His theory of Personal Constructs states that people observe their environment to develop beliefs about themselves and their society. These beliefs are categorized into Personal Construct. These constructs determine our personality. Bandura's Social Learning Theory states that behavior are determined by the environmental factors such as Punishment and Reward and these things play an important role in the development of personality.

Humanistic Approach: Humanistic approach gives more importance to human values and interests. They criticized earlier approaches for just looking at the negative side of human personality and ignoring the positive side like human strengths and values. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers represent this approach and their theories tried to look at the positive aspects of human psychology. Maslow's Needs-Hierarchy Theory tried to explain the needs that motivates and directs human behavior. The Primary need is the Physiological need (food, hunger) followed by Safety Needs, Belongingness & Love Needs, Esteem needs and the Need for Self-Actualization. The humanistic approach emphasizes upon the optimistic sides of human personality, such as- Free Will, Uniqueness and conscious choices which help them to overcome any childhood experiences. Similarly, Carl Rogers "Person-centered theory" argues that humans aren't controlled by unconscious forces rather we are driven by the rationale. Both these theorists were criticized for ignoring "Unconscious forces" that drive our behavior. However, this approach had a broad impact on counselling and OB psychology.