The Four Theories Of Personality Development

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Personality development can be explained through four major theories that have some similarities and differences. Though there are many other theories in personality development, these are the most commonly used, the trait approach, psychodynamic, humanistic, and behaviorist and social learning theories. The trait approach theory uses words, or traits to describe a person's personality and his or her behaviors. Over 18,000 traits are used to describe personality. Traits can be classified. Common traits are shared within a culture, and show how people of that culture are similar. Individual traits describe how a person is unique. Cardinal traits are traits that influences everything about a person, such as, Abraham Lincoln, also known as "Honest Abe", because of his honesty in everything that he did. Central traits are a person's …show more content…
There are three mental structures that explain this theory, the id, ego, and superego. The id is biological instincts and urges, and operates on pleasure. Ego, or "executive" relates desires from id to external realities. Ego is reality based and uses thinking, planning, problem solving and deciding. It also has a conscious control of personality. Superego judges or censors the actions of ego, this is what we know as our conscience. Humanistic theories focus on experience, problems, potentials and ideas, or what can be improved. It views human nature as inherently good, and not just moldable responses. Humanists believe that a person is a product of all the choices he or she has made. Behaviorist theories looks at personality in a more scientific way, explaining that personality is learned through classical and operant conditioning, observational learning, reinforcement, extinction, generalization and discrimination. This theory also stresses external causes of a person's actions, or how something is perceived and

Psychodynamic Perspective

The study of personality is one of the greatest topics of interest to those who study psychology. Countless theories exist, and many of them can be categorized into one of four major viewpoints. Within these four perspectives, each one tries to describe diverse patterns in personality, including how these patterns formulate and how people contrast on an individual level. The Psychodynamic Perspective accentuates the impact upon the unconscious mind and childhood exposure on personality. The chief…

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Personality: Sigmund Freud and Personality Dynamics Essay

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Psychosocial Development Essay

Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development Psychosocial is relating to the interrelation of social factors and individual’s thought and behavior. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. The main element that Erikson talks about is the development of ego identity. This identity is known to be developed through social interaction. In his theory he believes, just like Sigmund Freud, that personality develops in a series of…

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Personality Theories Essay

Personality Theories Anishka Servick BEH/225 Karen Yarber February 22, 2015 In order for one to truly understand any personality theories that are presented, they must first understand what a personality theory is. A personality theory is “A system of concepts, assumptions, ideas, and principles used to understand and explain personality” (Coon & Mitterer, 2012, Chapter 12). There are several theorists that made enormous strides in the field of personality theories. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Carl…

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