Personality

Psychoanalytic perspective

• This viewpoint proposes that personality is formed by unconscious memories, emotions, and thoughts. Dreams are viewed as revealing windows into the unconscious mind. According to this perspective, personality arises from a clash between our innate aggressive and pleasure-seeking urges and the internal, socialized controls we develop. These dynamics can be envisioned as three interacting systems in the mind: the id, ego, and superego.

  • The id is present at birth and represents our most primitive impulses, operating on the “pleasure principle”, which demands immediate satisfaction.
  • The superego forms through social interaction, acting as a moral guide that enforces ideal standards and can invoke guilt if we fall short.
  • The ego is the rational mediator that balances the id’s demands and the superego’s constraints, working under the “reality principle” to make socially acceptable decisions.

Humanistic perspective

• Promoted as the “third force” in psychology, this outlook emphasizes the positive potential of human beings, focusing on personal growth rather than the pessimism of the psychoanalytic model or the strict environmental determinism of behaviorism. Proponents argue that other perspectives overlook the depth of human experiences and our capacity for self-directed change.
• In the hierarchy of needs model, basic physical and psychological necessities must be fulfilled in sequence, culminating in self-actualization, or realization of one’s full potential. Unmet needs can lead to emotional or behavioral issues. Another key concept is self-concept, consisting of our thoughts and feelings about who we are (the real self) compared to who we would like to be (the ideal self).
• Congruence occurs when these two selves closely align, which fosters a healthy sense of self-worth, whereas incongruence leads to anxiety and maladjustment. Offering children unconditional positive regard can help them develop closer alignment between their real self and ideal self.

Trait perspective

• In this framework, traits are consistent patterns of behavior that help define personality. Early theorists identified vast numbers of traits, but attempts were made to narrow them down.
• Some categories include cardinal traits (dominant forces in a person’s life), central traits (core attributes like kindness or loyalty), and secondary traits (less consistent or situationally driven preferences).
• Another approach clusters these traits into fundamental dimensions, scoring individuals along a continuum rather than declaring a trait as simply present or absent.

Biological perspective

• This approach posits that inherited predispositions and physiological processes partly explain variations in personality. Evolutionary psychology investigates the universal aspects of personality that may offer survival advantages, as well as individual differences. Behavioral genetics research, such as studies of twins raised apart, reveals high similarities in personality even when environments differ, suggesting certain traits have a genetic basis. The concept of heritability reflects what proportion of variability in a trait across a population can be attributed to genetic factors. Nonetheless, traits do not typically result from a single gene but involve multiple genes alongside epigenetic elements.

Behaviorist perspective

• This perspective challenges biological determinism, suggesting that personality is predominantly shaped by reinforcements and consequences in the environment. Through this lens, people learn consistent behavior patterns because actions leading to positive outcomes are repeated, while those producing negative outcomes tend to be avoided. Unlike the psychoanalytic notion that early childhood determines personality, this view maintains that behaviors can adapt continuously over one’s lifetime.

Social cognitive perspective

• Drawing on both learning and thought processes, this perspective identifies reciprocal determinism, observational learning, and self-efficacy as crucial influences in personality.

• Reciprocal determinism describes how cognitive processes, behavior, and contextual factors each affect and are affected by one another. Self-efficacy—our belief in our own abilities—shapes how we tackle challenges and pursue goals.

Situational approach to explaining behavior

• Research revealing inconsistent behavior across different contexts led to the person-situation debate (or Trait vs. State Controversy).

• Traits are stable, long-standing characteristics that persist across various settings, while states are short-term, situationally influenced patterns of behavior. Some argue that although traits are helpful in predicting behavior, situational factors may be equally or more important in specific instances.

• A well-known demonstration of self-regulation, also called will power or the capacity for delay of gratification, emerged from experiments where children were offered a single marshmallow now or two small rewards if they waited. Results indicated that early signs of self-regulation often predict later academic and social success, although follow-up studies show these findings may depend on other variables like cognitive ability and family environment, reinforcing the importance of contextual elements in understanding behavior.