Biological Aspects of Personality - Research Paper Example

?Biological Aspects of Personality Assignment What are two ways in which our "biology" may influence the types of experiences we have?  Provide examples of these two ways using current research. The biological make up of a person may simply be referred to as the functioning of the various human organs. In several ways, these organs and their functions influence our experiences – thus our behavior. The very first of such ways in which biology influences our experience is our quest for survival. Psychologically, this may be referred to as self preservation. Taflinger (2006) explains that “self-preservation is keeping yourself alive, either physically or psychologically.” This quest for humans to preserve their lives is linked to our evolutional instincts. Psychologically, families and for that matter individuals regard their preservation not just by the fact that they are alive but also by the fact that after their death, they will have other people to take after their lineage. This brings to discussion the expanded experience of procreation and the creation of families. For humans to continue their lineage and race, they adopt to the biological practice of reproduction. Reproduction has been explained as “the process by which new organisms are generated (Carrig, 2002). The human race preserves its existence on earth mainly through the experience of reproduction. This means that the human experience of giving birth to new offspring is influenced by our evolutional instincts to preserve ourselves. In most parts of the world, the usual culture associated with inheritance is for children to take over the wealth of their parents after their parents depart the surface of the world. This makes the human experience of reproduction extremely important and almost inevitable. Another major experience of our human behavior that is related to our biological make up is the experience of sex. Though sex leads to reproduction, this discussion is made part from reproduction in the context in which it is discussed. Most people have been through the bitter experience of sex related crimes. Some of these sex related crimes are rape, defilement, sexual harassment, bestiality divorce and in some cases, murder out of the bitterness of a breakup in a relationship. That strong urge that people have to have sex has biological roots. This biological instinct begins to develop in a person from the time of adolescence. The Office of Population Affairs (2011) notes that “the term adolescence is commonly used to describe the transition stage between childhood and adulthood.”As a matter of fact, most of the physical and psychological changes that an adolescent experience relates to the development of sexual drive. For instance the boy who begins producing sperms has that characteristic, related to his desire to have sex. The girl who begins to develop breasts and hips also has this characteristic, related to the urge to have sex. During adolescence, girls begin to have so much concern over their looks and wish they were the most beautiful in the world. They eventually follow their instincts and look for ways to look beautiful. When these girls eventually become beautiful, their male counterparts also become attracted by sight and have a feeling of having sex with them. Most often than not, people who are not able to control their feeling for sex will indulge themselves in sexually prohibited practices that land them in issues in the sight of the law. Biology therefore influences our experience of crime – particularly sexual crimes. REFERENCE LIST Carrig J. (2002). Reproduction Glossary, retrieved September 29, 2011 from http://johnfriedmann.com/biogloss/Reproduction-whatis.htm Office of Population Affairs (2011). What is Adolescence? Retrieved September 29, 2011 from http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familylife/tech_assistance/etraining/adolescent_brain/Overview/what_is_adolescence/index.html Taflinger R. F (2006). The Biological Basis of Human Behavior, retrieved September 28, 2011 from http://public.wsu.edu/~taflinge/biology.html Assignment 2: What are some of the problems encountered in trying to test a nervous-system-based theory of temperament? Temperament is mostly related to the nervous system because it has been found to have a biological basis based on our innate preference for certain traits or behavior. This means that the natural urge that determines the reasons why people behave in certain ways could be related to their temperament. This general idea not withstanding, there are several debates when it comes to testing the nervous system based theory of temperament. This is to say that some biologists and psychologists are of the opinion that temperament cannot be tested sorely based on the influence or function of the nervous system. Some arguments raised to the effect of the limitation of testing a nervous system based theory of temperament are discussed below. In the first place, there are researchers who hold the view that there are other labeling factors that influence a person’s temperament other than the nervous system or any biological instincts and so any attempt to use a nervous system based theory instead of an integrated theory to test temperament would result in wrong measurements. For instance there is discussion on the big five personality dimensions that make some researchers hold the view that other than the nervous system, factors lie environmental factors would very much account for a person’s temperament. To this end, Cherry (2011) posits that “researchers don't always agree on the exact labels for each dimension” (Cherry, 2011). The diversity in dimensions of determining temperament therefore acts as a major problem in trying to test a nervous system based theory of temperament. Using the Neuroticism dimension of the five big personality dimensions as an example, Cherry (2011) lists some traits of individuals as emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness. However, Twumasi (2009) argue that there are individuals who have lived to develop greater resistance to anxiety, sadness and their emotional stability because of their environmental upbringing and therefore refuses to accept that such temperaments could be tested sorely with the nervous system theory. The last problem has to do with trying to define or explain what a nervous system based theory is altogether. This has always become a challenge because not all researchers and biologists agree that there is only one component of the nervous system. For example Hans Eysenck (1916) talks about the sympathetic nervous system, autonomic nervous system and central nervous system (Boeree, 2006). These divisions of the nervous system makes the determination of a specific trait of temperament very difficult to test. This is because it has never been easy, identifying the specific component of nervous system to deal with. Because some experts even find it difficult to locate the particular component of the nervous system that is responsible for specific temperament traits, other stakeholders such as parents who have always been called upon to help in the testing of temperaments have also not been able to give accurate answers and response. It is against this background that the Psychiatry Health (2011) state that “one problem with research on temperament theory has been the reliance on parents for assessments of temperament. Parents may be biased or inaccurate, or they may lack a broad base of knowledge of other infants.” REFERENCE LIST Boeree C. G, (2006). Personality Theories. Retrieved September 28, 2011 from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/eysenck.html Cherry K (2011). The Big Five Personality Dimensions. Retrieved September 28, 2011 from http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/bigfive.htm Psychiatry Health (2011). General Developmental Theories -Temperament theory. Retrieved September 29, 2011 from http://psychiatry.healthse.com/psy/more/general_developmental_theories_temperament_theory/ Twumasi A. T. (2009). The Role of Temperament in determining who you are. PrintMark Group: Washington Assignment 3: Take one element of the theories or ideas presented this week and apply it to a real person – for example, someone from current events, politics, business, sports, the entertainment field. Define the terms you’re using, and apply them to an aspect of this person’s life (a specific action, behavior, or decision, for example). How can we understand this person more fully by using this concept to understand him/her?  One element of the theories that have been learnt has to do with the relationship between biological instincts and personal behavior. It was mentioned that most often than not, the biological instinct for people to have sex have landed them in a lot of troubles – in some cases crime. The BBC (2002) notes that “our instincts drive all of us to have sex” This biological instinct to have sex has brought a lot of celebrities and sports personalities to public ridicule because of their actions. Most often than not, there are news of unfaithful sportsmen. There are even news of people who cheat on their brothers by having affair with their wives and those who date the girlfriends of their team mates. In most cases when we hear of news of this nature, we are quick to pronounce judgment, concluding that what has gone on is not fair. Understanding reasons why people do these things should however come first before thinking of what they could have done to avoid what they did. A typical example of a personality who followed his sexual instincts to land himself in public ridicule was Tiger Woods, who was accused of multiple sexual relationships outside his marriage. There are three major basis on which one could try to understand Tiger Woods. First, he had a biological and natural instinct to have sex, which is present in every potent man. Secondly, he was very wealthy and could afford the ‘luxury’ and cost in engaging in multiple sexual relationship. Lastly, Tiger Woods was a celebrated personality, whose personality made women accept his proposal easily. Relating these factors to our study, it could be said that there were the combinations of both biological and psychological elements in the actions of Tiger Woods. Biologically, the biological production of testosterones in him as a man made him eager for sex. Because of the natural need for humans to reproduce to keep their existence on earth running, they are accompanied with hormones that make them feel for sex and this is not a strange feeling in a potent man at all. The second element is psychological, which has to do with the id of Tiger Woods, overcoming his super ego. Psychologically, people tend to take advantage of whatever opportunities they have and that is what Tiger Woods did with his money and fame. Once people are privileged to attain certain positions in life, they are tempted to use their positions to take advantage over others including having sex. Understanding Tiger Woods does not mean justifying what he did. The public always lambast celebrities who end themselves in troubles of sex because there is a general believe that the desire that drive them to have sex can be controlled. This brings to discussion, the issue of self control. Psychologists believe that just as there is a natural instinct to have sex, there also exists a biological instinct to control ourselves. But for this instinct of self control, the world would become a very chaos place to live in because everyone would be following his or her desires without control. In this regard, the Sussex Directories (2011) advise that “rather than responding to immediate impulses, we can plan, we can evaluate alternative actions, and we can refrain from doing things we'll regret.” Indeed, forecasted reasoning holds the key to self control. In order to be able to control our instincts to do wrong things, we should always forecast what the consequences of our actions will be if we are eventually exposed. By thinking at the shame and in some cases cost, we are sure to be forced to control ourselves REFERENCE LIST BBC (2002). Human Instinct TV Programmes. Programme 2 - Deepest Desires. Retrieved September 29, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/tv/humaninstinct/programme2.shtml Sussex Directories (2011). Self Control. Retrieved September 29, 2011 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/self-control Read More