How would you describe human personality - Essay Example

ts, his own growth and development patterns, reactions and moods, his social encounters with the people around him– all these come together to help form his personality. This is how the book of Duane and Sydney Schultz (2005) view personality. The formation of one’s personality is dependent on many factors that may inter-relate or overlap. Personality traits are believed to be inherited. They may also be influenced by one’s environment. Personality traits may also be learned from experience or may be strongly molded by the parenting style one has been exposed to.

Personality may also be affected by the changes we encounter in life. It is also controlled by conscious and unconscious processes. A person’s experiences leave imprints on his personality. For instance, well-adjusted, well-rounded and successful individuals often share a childhood marked by happy memories and nurturing relationships with family and friends. Bitter, angry and cold people are most likely victims of a bleak childhood filled with disappointments and hurtful relationships. These personal views on personality were influenced by my exposure to the Psychoanalytical theories of Freud, Jung and Erikson.

I found it fascinating, albeit complicated. Some of the theories were shocking and mind-boggling, but upon further study and analysis, I realize that it made a lot of sense, especially in explaining how a person comes to be. The Psychoanalytic theory is premised on the belief that human nature is greatly affected by a person’s early childhood experiences and conflicts between impulses and prohibitions. Sigmund Freud’s views human behavior as determined by irrational forces, unconscious motivations and biological and instinctual drives evolving in the first six years of life.

According to Freud, there are two levels of personality: the conscious corresponds to its ordinary everyday meaning; the unconscious is the invisible portion of personality below the surface. (Schultz