Biological and Humanistic Approaches to Personality - Assignment Example

?Biological and Humanistic Approaches to Personality The study of personality is understood by considering theories of biological and humanistic approach. This paper will discuss theories of personality and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs influencing the personalities of different people in the society and the reasons for the difference in the personalities of different people. Maslow derived a theory that explains personal motivation and evaluated the theory using a pyramid showing some of needs which have to be met in life by a person. According to the psychologist, the needs at the bottom of the pyramids are most important needs; the basic needs that an individual cannot live without, for example, shelter and food. As one moves upwards on the pyramid he or she has to be satisfied with the needs at the bottom. The pyramid has five divisions starting with psychological or basic needs as discussed above, followed by safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization or growth needs respectively. As stated above, one has to fulfill the lower level on the pyramid to reach the next highest level. If one fails to accomplish the lower level he or she has to go back, in addition, the unsatisfied need of the lower level would make the needs at the upper level irrelevant and the person would not see them. The person reaching the highest level will have a different personality as compared to the person at the lower level. Individuals at the highest level of the pyramid are usually hardworking, bright and consider themselves better than those in the lower level. A person at this level will discover what he or she is actually is in the society and wants to research more. In addition, they are morally strong and consider moral standards that would make them relate with people in the society hence achieving this level (Seaward 2011). People would have different personalities in relation to the experiences they have had in life since when they are born. Personality is what would make a person act differently from other individuals. The behaviors and emotions that an individual experiences are managed by the personality of the individual. When a child is born, the personality can be changed or influenced by either the environment or biological factors. The main biological influence in personality is the genetic influence; people have different genes that would make them behave differently from others. According to Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian (2010), approximately 40 to 50 percent of the genes in a person influence the personality of a person. What makes different people act differently is that there are billions of DNA in human chromosomes; of this, some are different in every person. This explains why people have different genes making them behave differently. In addition, genes are transferred from the parents to the child, what is actually transferred is a genotype having two genes. The children born in the family will not have the same genes unless they are twins. Concerning this, the genes that the child gets from the parent would have different features from a longer generation relating to parents. Twins would behave similarly to a certain extent; identical twins would be found wearing the same cloths, acting similarly to a certain extent, but not always with the same personality. The explanation to this is that their genes are somehow related. According to Maslow’s theory, the hierarchy of needs help in motivating a person for achievements of happiness and satisfaction in life. The psychologist used a pyramid to explain some of the hierarchical needs in life. The first needs are psychological needs such as food, sex, air and water. A scrutiny of the psychological needs indicates that they are related to the biological factors. This is because they are needed for production of actions in the body that will help in growth. In addition, for any organism that lives, the psychological needs must be meet before considering other needs. One cannot look for other needs such as security or money before he or she gets food for satisfactions and fulfillment of biological factors in need (Bernstein, 2013). There are quite number of differences between the humanistic and biological approaches to personality. First, humanistic theories considers the individual’s present features, the disparity comes in here between the theories because the biological approach to personality measures the personality of an individual from the past. For example, childhood behavior is a past factor that could have influenced personality when the child was conceived in the past. In addition, future events are not considered by the humanistic approach, while the biological approach does so; considering the case of the family with twins the personality of the twins is expected to be partly close. Despite the fact that the biological theory considers the health of an individual for a better personality, the humanistic approach considers cases of healthy people to prove their theories. The personality of an individual can change in case there are natural disasters or diseases while according to the humanistic theory, personality of an individual is maintained despite existences of such disorders (Mcnamar, 2004). Conclusion From the study of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs ,it is clear that for one to move to the next step in the pyramid, he or she has to fulfill the needs in the current step; psychological needs are a must and this where most of the people are before considering the next step. There is also a clear understanding that very few people reach the top of the hierarchy, which only happens if one has made the requirements of the preceding step. Conversely, the psychologist did not tell us what happen in case a person accomplish and completes two hierarchies. Aside from the hierarchy, there are also complicating details between the biological theory of personality and humanistic theory, it is evident from the study that the biological theory supports its theory of personality by consideration of the lifetime of an individual. The psychologist has failed to consider biological theories in their study and this has lead to criticism from various scientists. References Bernstein, D., (2013). Essentials of Psychology. USA: Cengage Learning. Mcnamara, R. M. (2004). Totally Out of Control!: Reclaiming and Championing My Mental Health. Indiana, USA: AuthorHouse. Plotnik, R. and Kouyoumdjian, H. (2010). Introduction to Psychology. Belmont, USA: Cengage Learning. Seaward, B. L. (2011). Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being. USA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Read More