Defining Personality and Personality Concepts - Essay Example

Running head: Psychology Psychology First Middle initial and of PSY 101 December 3, 2007 A1. Personality can be defined as the consistent, enduring, and unique characteristics of a person. There are five theories of personality: psychoanalytic, humanistic, social-learning, cognitive and trait. Psychoanalytic theories explain human behavior in terms of the interaction of various components of personality. Sigmund Freud’s id, ego and superego fall under this category. Humanistic theories emphasize that people have free will and that they play an active role in determining how they behave. Humanistic psychology focuses on subjective experiences of persons as opposed to forced, definitive factors that determine behavior. According to social-learning theories, people learn by merely observing what others do and what happens to them. Cognitive theories emphasize cognitive processes such as thinking and judging and are guided by cognitions (e.g. expectations) about the world, especially those about other people. Trait theorists assume that traits are relatively stable over time, differ among individuals and they influence behavior. Hence personality theories focus on different key elements to explain the relationship between personality and other psychological constructs. A2.Sigmund Freud spent most of his life developing the theory of personality to describe how the human psyche or mind operates. According to his theory, human psyche is composed of parts that are conscious, preconscious, and unconscious: the conscious part of the psyche consists of all the thoughts that currently occupy our mind, the preconscious part of the psyche consists of the thoughts, memories, and knowledge that we are not currently aware of, but that are available to us as memories and knowledge and the unconscious part of our psyche holds thoughts, memories, impulses that we are not aware of. Freud also posited that the psyche is composed of three structures: the id, ego, and superego which interact and wrestle with each other for dominance and results in the whole of each human’s behavior. The id is driven by primitive animal instincts and seeks to maximize pleasure and minimize any discomfort. However, it does not care about what is practical, safe, or moral. The ego refers to one’s sense of self and functions according to the reality principle because its job is to gratify the id in accord with reality. The superego operates according to the morality principle in that it seeks what is good and moral above all else. The ego aims to gratify the id’s primitive needs within the constraints of reality and within the moral standards of the superego. Although Freud’s work has received negative response from the scientific and medical communities, it has initiated a lot of discussion and research in this area. A3. The study and measurement of intelligence has been an important research topic for nearly 100 years. Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a number used to indicate a person’s intelligence and is computed as the ratio of a person’s mental age to his physical age, multiplied by 100. A score of 100 where the mental age equals the physical age is considered average, scores above 100 are considered above average and scores below 100, below average. Howard Gardner proposed the theory of multiple intelligences wherein he identified eight components of intelligence: Bodily-kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, Musical, Naturalistic and Spatial. According to Gardner each person has some level of each of these eight components. Robert Sternberg identified three main components on intelligence: Analytical which involves problem solving: analogies and puzzles reflecting how an individual relates to his internal world. Creative which involves insights, synthesis and the ability to react to novel stimuli reflects how an individual connects the internal world to external reality and Practical which involves the ability to grasp, understand and deal with everyday tasks which reflects how the individual relates to the external world about him or her. He also believes that intelligence can be increased by study and practice. According to David Perkins, IQ has three major dimensions: neural intelligence which refers to the efficiency and precision of one’s neurological system, experiential intelligence which refers to one’s accumulated knowledge and experience in different areas and reflective intelligence which refers to one’s broad-based strategies for attacking problems, for learning, and for approaching intellectually challenging tasks. Therefore the three theories mentioned above focus on different dimensions to explain intelligence. A4. In today’s fast paced lifestyle we are constantly faced with situations that can cause stress. Stress can be defined as an emotionally disruptive or unsettling condition of the mind that occurs in response to adverse external factors. Current research indicates that the way in which an individual perceives a situation may be more important to psychological well-being than the actual presence of stress. In this regard cognitive appraisal helps to determine how an event is perceived and therefore operates as an essential mediator between the event and the outcome. In this two part process, people first go through a primary appraisal, which involves focusing on the event and interpreting it as harm/loss, threat or challenge. In the secondary appraisal, they tend to assess the resources and options that they have available to deal with the event. Stress can be addressed though coping strategies like rest and nutrition, exercise, use of positive self-statements, avoiding stress-producing situations, problem solving instead of worrying, using constructive time management procedures and prioritizing. Hence if cognitive appraisal helps one to perceive a situation as stressful, one can use one or more of the coping strategies help address the situation. A5. People rely on internal and external factors to develop an impression or explain their own behavior and the behavior of others. Social perception is defined as the study of how we form impressions of & make inferences about other people. Internal factors involve a person’s characteristic from within, such as intelligence or effort while external factors involve something outside the individual, such as luck or God. Sometimes people tend to over-emphasize internal or personality-based, explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing external or situational explanations. Therefore, people have the tendency to assume that a person’s action reflects the “kind” of person that person is rather than on the social and environmental forces influencing the person. This is called the fundamental attribution error. Since such thinking can lead people to hold on to bad first impressions as well as stereotypes, it is important to be aware of this factor while making inferences about people. A6. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term that describes the uncomfortable tension that may result from having two conflicting thoughts at the same time, or from engaging in behavior that conflicts with one’s beliefs. There are two factors that strengthen dissonance: the number of dissonant beliefs, and the importance attached to each belief. There are three ways to eliminate dissonance: reduce the importance of the conflicting beliefs, acquiring new beliefs that outweigh the conflicting beliefs, or remove the conflicting attitude or behavior change so that they are no longer inconsistent. Therefore, when there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), it is most likely that an individual will change the attitude to accommodate the behavior to eliminate the dissonance. A7.Our beliefs and behaviors can be influenced by several factors. The process by which an individual’s beliefs or behaviors are influenced by others within a group is called conformity. Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate the power of conformity in groups. In his experiments Asch asked students to participate in a “vision test” which involved identifying lines that were longer than the others and those that were of the same length. Participants were asked to announce their answers loudly in the classroom where Ash had cleverly placed few allies. Through this experiment Ash was actually studying the reaction of the students to the behaviors of the allies who were trained to give incorrect answers. While most subjects answered correctly, many showed extreme discomfort, and a high proportion (32%) conformed to the erroneous majority view of the others in the room when there were at least three allies present. Even in an unambiguous situation there was strong group pressure to conform, especially if there is a unanimous majority. When the allies were not unanimous in their judgment, subjects were much more likely to defect than when the allies all agreed. Conformity can therefore have either good or bad effect on people, from driving safely on the correct side of the road, to harmful drug or alcohol abuse. A8. Psychological disorders are usually indicated by some form of abnormal behavior or thought processes resulting in various kinds of distress or disability. Some of the major types of psychological health disorders are: 1. Anxiety Disorders, which involve vague, uncomfortable feeling of fear, dread, or danger which can vary in severity and length. Examples include panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobias. 2. Mood Disorders involve persistent feeling of sadness or periods of feeling overly happy, or fluctuations from extreme happiness to extreme sadness. Examples include depression and mania. 3. Psychotic Disorders involve distorted awareness and thinking where individuals suffer from hallucinations and delusions e.g., schizophrenia. 4. Eating Disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder include extreme emotions, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding weight and food issues. 5. Impulse control and addictive disorders involve the inability of individuals to resist urges to perform acts that could be harmful to themselves or others such as pyromania (starting fires) kleptomania (stealing) and alcohol and drug abuse. 6. Individuals with personality disorders have extreme and inflexible personality traits that are so rigid that they interfere with the person’s ability to function effectively and/or cause problems in work, school or social relationships. Examples include breaking the law and conning others for fun or for personal benefit. Hence psychological disorders include a broad range of conditions that can affect the behavior or though process of a person. A9. Psychodynamic and behavioral therapies are two of the many therapies available to address psychological disorders. Psychodynamic therapy focuses on the client’s self-awareness and is based on the premise that the past significantly shapes the present while behavioral therapy does not delve into one’s past or thoughts. Again, in psychodynamic therapy, the therapist keeps his own personality out of the picture while in behavioral therapy the therapist helps the client to develop appropriate skills to deal with difficult situations and adopt a step-by-step approach to help conquer the fears. Psychodynamic therapies require at least two years of sessions while behavioral therapy does not take as long. Example of behavioral therapy is that if someone is afraid of eating and drinking in public, the therapist would give him/her few techniques to help reduce the anxiety and encourage him/her to face the problems. However, during sessions of psychodynamic therapy, the therapist will usually say little while the client is encouraged to speak whatever comes to his/her mind. Hence these two therapies are fairly different in their approach to address psychological issues. References Zimbardo, P. & Gerrig, R. (2005). Psychology and life (17 ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Read More