PERSONALITY

Theories of Personality

Contributed by: Angelika Martorillas,Kesia Mae Pedalino & Jean Heramil

Personality psychology is the focus of some of the best known psychology theories by a number of famous thinkers including Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. In this section of the personality study guide, learn more about some of the major theories of personality and the psychologists who developed them.


We must also consider the influence and interaction of nature (biology, genetics etc.) and nurture (the environment, upbringing) with respect to personality development.


Trait theories of personality imply personality is biologically based, whereas state theories such as Bandura's (1977) Social Learning Theory emphasize the role of nurture and environmental influence. Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theory of personality assumes there is an interaction between nature (innate instincts) and nurture (parental influences).


Biological Theories

Biological approaches suggest that genetics are responsible for personality. Research on heritability suggests that there is a link between genetics and personality traits.


One of the best known biological theorists was Hans Eysenck, who linked aspects of personality to biological processes. For example, Eysenck argued that introverts had high cortical arousal, leading them to avoid stimulation. On the other hand, Eysenck believed extroverts had low cortical arousal, causing them to seek out stimulating experiences.

Behavioral Theories

Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and the environment. Behavioral theorists study observable and measurable behaviors, rejecting theories that take internal thoughts and feelings into account.


Behavioral theorists include B. F. Skinner and John B. Watson.

Psychodynamic Theories

Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud, and emphasize the influence of the unconscious mind and childhood experiences on personality. Psychodynamic theories include Sigmund Freud's psychosexual stage theoryand Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development.


Freud believed the three components of personality were the id, the ego, and the superego.


The id is responsible for all needs and urges, while the superego for ideals and moral. The ego moderates between the demands of the id, the superego, and reality.


Erikson believed that personality progressed through a series of stages, with certain conflicts arising at each stage. Success in any stage depended upon successfully overcoming these conflicts.

Humanist Theories

Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience in the development of personality. Humanist theorists emphasized the concept of self-actualization, which is an innate need for personal growth that motivates behavior.Humanist theorists include Carl Rogers andAbraham Maslow.


Trait Theories

The trait theory approach is one of the largest areas within personality psychology. According to this theory, personality is made up of a number of broad traits. A trait is basically a relatively stable characteristic that causes an individual to behave in certain ways. Some of the best known trait theories include Eysenck's three-dimension theory and the five factor theory of personality.


Eysenck (1947) found that their behavior could be represented by two dimensions: Introversion / Extroversion (E); Neuroticism / Stability (N). Eysenck called these second-order personality traits.

According to Eysenck, the two dimensions of neuroticism (stable vs. unstable) and introversion-extroversion combine to form a variety of personality characteristics.

Extraverts are sociable and crave excitement and change, and thus can become bored easily. They tend to be carefree, optimistic and impulsive.

Introverts are reserved, plan their actions and control their emotions. They tend to be serious, reliable and pessimistic.

Neurotics / unstables tend to be anxious, worrying and moody. They are overly emotional and find it difficult to calm down once upset.

Stables are emotionally calm, unreactive and unworried.

Psychoticism – e.g. lacking in empathy, cruel, a loner, aggressive and troublesome.

Eysenck related the personality of an individual to the functioning of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Personality is dependent on the balance between excitation and inhibition process of the nervous system. Neurotic individuals have an ANS that responds quickly to stress.

Cattell (1965) disagreed with Eysenck’s view that personality can be understood by looking at only two or three dimensions of behavior.

Instead, he argued that that is was necessary to look at a much larger number of traits in order to get a complete picture of someone’s personality.

References:
Allport, Gordon W. Personality and Social Encounter: Selected Essays. Boston: Beacon Press, 1960.

Eysenck, Hans. The Structure of Human Personality. London Methuen, 1970.

Mischel, Walter. Introduction to Personality. 4th ed. New York Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1986.

EMOTION

contributed by : Angelika Martorillas , Kesia Mae Pedalino , Jean Heramil

It is hard to define EMOTION because it is not easy to tell when a person is in emotional state.
But you can define emotion through our body , mind , and face which plays an important roles.

EMOTIONS

DEFINITION of EMOTION :

EXPRESSING EMOTIONS :
a feeling , that can involve physiological arousal (e.g a fast heartbeat), conscious experience (e.g thinking about being in love with someone) and behavioral expression (e.g smile or grimace).

• FACIAL EXPRESSIONS 
• BODY LANGUAGE
• EXPLICIT ACTS and VERBAL REPORTS

THEORIES IN EMOTIONS

• JAMES-LANGE THEORY
• William James and Carl Lange.The James–Lange theory of emotion, for instance, asserts that emotions arise from physiological arousal: in essence, that the self-perception of changes in the body produce emotional experiences. According to this theory, we laugh (a physiological response to a stimulus), and consequently we feel happy (an emotion); we cry, and consequently we feel sad.

One limitation of this theory is that it is not known exactly what causes the changes in the body, so it is unclear whether those changes should be considered part of the emotion itself. Critics of the James–Lange theory also doubt that there is sufficient variation in physiological arousal to lead to the wide variety of emotions that we experience.

Cannon-Bard Theory

• CANNON-BARD THEORY
The theory that physiological and emotional changes occur simultaneously in response to a stimulus (as opposed to the earlier James-Lange theory). Example: A woman is hiking in the forest when she stumbles upon a bear. All at once, she starts sweating, trembling, and feeling extremely afraid.

• SCHACTER-SINGER THEORY
• Stanley Schacter and Jerome Singer

The Schachter–Singer theory, or two-factor theory of emotion, states that emotion is based on two factors:physiological arousal and cognitive label.People become aware that they are aroused , they search their environment to look for reaons for their arousal.

SCHACTER- SINGER

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  OPPONENT- PROCESS
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

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• OPPONENT- PROCESS THEORY
• Richard L. Solomon and his colleagues

Views emotions as pairs of opposites (for example, fear-relief, pleasure-pain). The opponent-process theory states that when one emotion is experienced, the other is suppressed.
Each emotion or state that we experience triggers a force to experience the opposite emotion or state.

REFERENCES :

• http://www.psychwiki.com
• http://www.alleydog.com
• Book of general psychology by Agustin G. Huyong