An Introduction to Theories of Personality - Essay Example

PersonalityAfter learning different personality theories, I looked back at the definition of personality. According to our textbook, personality refers to important and relatively stable aspects of behavior (Ewen, 2000). The study of personality aims at finding out how people behave and important factors that influence human behavior. I believe people’s behaviors are dependent on both environment and inner beliefs.People share some similarities under certain environments, including natural, social, and cultural environments.

According to Maslow, human needs are hierarchical and a certain level can be reached only when the lower ones have been satisfied to some degree (Ewen, 2010). Therefore, people living in places with little resource will focus more on satisfying their basic needs. Their behaviors, according to Maslow, should target on surviving instead of morality. Social environment is also an important factor that influences people’s behaviors. For example, people living in the modern society are under high pressure as they fight for fame and fortune.

Although Fromm, in his article The Sane Society, believes that the society is sick and full of people with questionable characters and also worries the modern society is making people worse (Fromm, 1955), people may still think that nothing is wrong because this is modern society with its own culture that ignores the history and spirituality and focus on physical world. However, I still believe that everyone is unique. And what make us unique are our personal experiences and spiritual beliefs.

Many of my experiences built up my spiritual journey and have made me who I am today. I was a science fan and did not believe in power of spiritual minds, but I have changed. I still remember the time my uncle was diagnosed with liver cancer. In many cases in Asia, when one of the members of a family becomes sick, especially with untreatable illness like cancer, the whole family will become panic stricken and desperate. And that patient will become the most frightened and desperate one. But I did not see that in my family.

My uncle said: “No one in the world can stay forever, so do those doctors. This is the end of all of us. Actually, living for thirty years is no difference with living for three hundreds years. The value of life is never dependent on the length. Instead, what matters is whether you lived with respect and meaning. And the most importantly, lived with a peaceful mind.” At that time, I was too young to understand what he said about peaceful minds. My uncle never went to college but now I think what he said before he passed away was divine.

After my high school graduation, I faced a dilemma in choosing whether I should go abroad or not. I went to Tibet secretly. But on my way to Tibet, I asked myself, why Tibet? If I wanted relaxation or entertainment, Tibet was never a wise choice. Then I found deeply inside that I was looking for something bigger than myself and the physical world. I needed to find the right direction of my life. I experienced peace and blessing. Spiritual minds want us to believe before anything really happens.

While in real life, people want the truth shown before believing it. People believe we are powerful enough and science that we invented is even more powerful. We are used to believing as long as we see. Such ways of thinking kill the perceptive and inductive ability that we as animals are born with. Science would never discover, the wholeness of being created and creating. It is like a machine that will never know why it is made and who made it. Life is dynamic because everything changes with time.

People can change the environment they live in. People can also develop different beliefs. These changes can all gradually change people’s personality and related behaviors. It is fun to change and experience ups and downs of the change process.