Group+5+-+Purposes+of+Personality+Theories

= ﻿__Purposes of Personality Theories﻿ __ By: Malayia Johnson, Brittany Boyer, Megan Broton, Kaitlyn Stoppler, and Cassie Smith  =

__ Summary __
It’s no secret that individuals display different behaviors and unique personalities. However, psychologists today have conflicting theories which explain why people have certain personalities. These theories are important in organizing character traits, explaining differences in individuals, discovering the reasons for different life behaviors, and improving people’s lives. The problem with these theories, though, is that many of them contradict each other, and psychologists today have differing views about what causes and shapes personality in individuals.   ﻿ Although the idea of personality theories is a historically recent concept, there are numerous in-depth theories today which may or may not explain personality. Sigmund Freud and his fellow psychoanalysts' theories focus on unconscious motives which shape personality. Behaviorist theories by B.F. Skinner and his associates focus on rewards and punishments. The theories of social learning explore observational learning and its effect on personality. Cognitive theories explore how thoughts, perceptions, and feelings determine personality traits. Humanistic theories by Maslow and Rogers focus on an individual’s potential for growth and success. Finally, Allport and Eysenck, two trait theorists, highlight understanding basic personality traits in order to explain human nature. These theories may be considerably different, but they all try to identify why some people possess certain personalities and others do not.

** Purposes of Personality Theories **
1. **Organize universal personality traits** · People posses a variety of character traits, including selfishness, laziness, and kindness. To make sense of why people are selfish, lazy, or kind, psychologists have tried to group some of these traits together. In doing so, they also aim to determine why people act differently in certain situations. Although there is much debate about which traits hold significance, psychologists continue to research personality and behavior in individuals. 2. **Explain differences among individuals** · In order to explain differences in personality, theorists may focus on motives which cause people to exhibit certain traits. Others often dig into a person’s past to discover why he or she acts in a particular manner. They are many theories as to what causes individuals to develop specific personality traits. 3. **Determine how people’s behavior affects their lives** · A majority of personality theorists have backgrounds in psychotherapy, in which they discover what it takes to live contently. These theorists attempt to indentify the sources of people’s problems and in turn explain why certain people cope with these problems better than others. 4. **Establish how life can be improved** · Many people are consistently unhappy with their lives, yet they still recognize the need to grow and change. Personality theorists have tried to determine the ideal goals of growth and change in individuals and how these individuals should deal with life’s unavoidable problems. They do this by using their theories to guide research while simultaneously using the research to legitimize their theories.


 * Humanistic Theorist**
 * **Carl Rogers**: Rogers is well known for the development of counseling. He believes that therapists should focus on their clients present problems; not the past. His main concern was self-actualization as a therapist. He also believed that each person has what he calls a self (one's experience or image of oneself, developed through interaction with others).
 * Trait Theorist**
 * **Gordon Allport**: Allport said that common traits are ones that apply to everyone and an individual trait are traits that only apply to one person. Allport describes three kinds of individual traits; cardinal trait, central trait, and secondary trait. A cardinal trait is when a person it solely identified with one specific trait. A central trait makes people predictable and secondary traits have less importance (preference for clothes or cars).
 * Psychoanalyst**
 * **Karen Horney**: Horney believed that basic anxiety and hostility needs to be of importance. She also disagreed on Freud's theory of parent-child conflict. Horney believes that if a child grows up in a loving home then there is no need for the parent-child conflict.

**Psychoanalyst ** · **Carl Jung **: Jung was, at a time, Freud’s closest associate. However, when they started to disagree about psychoanalytic theory, they stopped speaking to each other for seven years. Jung disagreed with Freud about two major things. Jung believed people were able to develop their potential and handle their urges. He also separated the unconscious into the personal unconscious (Freud’s idea of the unconscious) and the collective unconscious (instincts, urges, and memories). **Behaviorist with an Impact on Personality Theory ** · **B.F. Skinner **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">: Skinner was a behaviorist but he had a major impact on personality theory. He did not see a need for a general concept of personality structure. Skinner focused on what causes a person to act a certain way. Skinner tried to understand the contingencies of reinforcement (the occurrence of rewards or punishments following particular behaviors). He would ask why a person would behave the way they did and what kind of rewards they received for doing things. **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Cognitive Theory ** · **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">George Kelly **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">: Kelly had the fundamental idea of personal construct theory, which means “processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which each of us anticipates events.” He believed that our psychological processes are channeled. He basically means that there is organization to how we behave. There is a network of potential but only limited responses.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Trait Theorist** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Psychoanalytic Theorist ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Social Cognitive Theorist **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Psychoanalyst **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Alfred Adler:** Adler was an associate of Freud but left his teacher to establish his own idea to the personality theory. He believed the driving force in a person life is a want to overcome their feelings of inferiority. He believes that everyone struggles with inferiority, coming up with, inferiority complex.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Erich Fromm:** Fromm was also an associate of Freud. His theory is revolves around the need to belong and the loneliness that freedom can bring.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Hans Eysenck:** He concluded that there are two basic dimensions of personality. The dimensions of personalities are stability versus instability and extraversion versus introversion. Years later he added a third, psychoticism.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**Sigmund Freud:** Freud was the first modern psychologist who believed an individual’s personality was primarily shaped by unconscious components. He further explained that our past experiences, including feelings and thoughts, are not forgotten but stored unconsciously. Though many may not remember these painful episodes they are subconsciously recalled and influencing our behavior. Freud was the first to introduce the id, ego, and superego.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**Albert Bandura:** Albert Bandura argued against Skinners theory of reinforcement shaping personalities. Instead he believed, personality is acquired through direct reinforcement of behavior. He also believed that through observational learning, or imitation, a person can obtain new behaviors by watching the actions of those around them. Bandura viewed personality as shaped by directly by whom you choose to model your behavior after. He stated the most effective models are those whom are most similar to the observer.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Humanistic Theorist **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">**Abraham Maslow:** Maslow based his theory of personality on studies of people who utilize their talents and potential rather than those of disturbed patients. He proved to be particularly curious with people who coped with everyday problems but also those who had created stable lives for themselves. Maslow believed those who had adjusted to great emotional difficulties became highly productive. He then stated that self-actualized individuals shared many traits such as being able to perceive reality accurately as well as to accept themselves.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">This article portrays seven views based on personality traits and behavior into such categories as biological, evolutionary, cognitive, psychodynamic, humanistic, and sociocultural. It then goes into detail about each of the specific views that shape behavior and who is responsible for developing that theory. It also stated outside factors such as family, friends, culture, biology, our subconscious that also contribute to our individual personalities. [|associated]

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">This article displays the specifics of each of the theories. For instance the Psychodynamic Theoretical Construct goes to explain in detail Sigmund Freud and the id, ego, and superego and the dimensions along with it. It also gives an example and the different perspectives based on each of the theories. [|Human differences]

<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">This article is titled, The "Big Five" Personality Dimensions and describes the broad categories of personality traits. Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness as the five main contributors of the development of personality traits. It then goes to explain how these contributors influence your personality in a variety of ways. <span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">[|Big Five]

__What is Psychology?__ states that informal assessments of personality more often focus on the individual instead of the conceptions of personality. Consistancy, Psychological and Physiological, Impact Behaviors and Actions, and Multiple Expressions are all fundamental characteristics of personality traits. It then goes into detail about the different theories each pertaining to personality. [|What is Psychology]

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dr. C. George Boeree studied personality psychology, or personoly. Through this perspective the individual is studied as a whole and to focus on the issue as to what is it to be a person. It then goes on to explain the process of studying different personalities and how they impact our way of life. They use different research methods using qualative and quantative data and correlating factors between all the results. [|personality theories]

=
1. Say that two people, John and Jane, are taking the ACT. John scores a 20 and is ecstatic about it. Jane scores a 20 also and instead of celebrating decides to punish herself by reading her AP Government book from beginning to end. What is it called that makes John and Jane act so differently?=====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A. Discipline
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">B. Emotion <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C. Character <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D. Personality <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E. Social Issues

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. What is the purpose of personality theories? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A. Organize characteristics of people <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">B. Explain differences among individuals <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C. Analyze how people conduct their lives <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D. Determine how life can be improved <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E. All of the above

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Which person is associated with psychoanalytic theories? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A. Skinner <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">B. Freud <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C. Guisewite <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D. Maslow <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E. Pavlov

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. What do cognitive theorists focus on that shape our personalities? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A. Experiences <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">B. Perceptions <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C. Feelings <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D. A and B <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E. B and C

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. What is the consistent, enduring, and unique characteristics of a person? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A. Love <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">B. Creativity <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C. Personality <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D. Humanistic Theory <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">E. Nature