Running head: UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

Understanding Personality

UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

Abstract Is personality learned or inherited? This paper focuses on the importance of understanding personality from a theorists viewpoint thus aiding the therapist and client in therapy. Understanding the many dimensions of personality and the variety of factors influencing personality will assist the therapist in providing proper therapy techniques with the client. Genetics, experiences, culture, and other personality dynamics will lead the reader to understanding what true personality consists of and the multitude of factors that make up a single unique individual. By the end of the paper the reader will have a basic understanding of the complexities of the human personality, and be able to answer the question whether personality is learned or inherited.

UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

Understanding Personality What is personality? Is it the characteristics an individual displays? Is it the description of a good or bad person? The contents of this paper will provide information for the reader to gain a better understanding of the word personality from a theorists viewpoint. The following quote by George H. Mead caught the authors attention because it describes what she believes personality is. A multiple personality is in a certain sense normal (Book of Famous Quotes, 2013). The author believes each individual has multiple personalities depending on the environment or individuals involved. The contents of this paper will examine what factors affect personality, and whether individuals have multiple personalities. Within the contents of this paper, the author will provide the textbook definition of personality and the dynamics of personality. The reader will also obtain insight into how cognitive and culture processes relate to personality dynamics. Further, along in this paper, the information provided will provide information pertaining to the importance of personality and its use in the counseling field. The last portion of this paper will provide the reader information pertaining to some important influences on personality development. The information provided throughout this paper should provide a clearer understanding of the complexity of the word personality. History and Background The development and advancement of personality psychology can be broken into three periods in history. The first period in history was the establishment of personality psychology during 1930 to 1950. Gordon Allport was the most important contributor during this period because of his textbook contribution pertaining to the developmental conceptual system of personality psychology. The second period from 1950 to 1970 began a more in-depth study of personality psychology pertaining to personality traits through measurement and the impact on

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behavior. New theories were created during this period because theorists began debating the measurement of personality pertaining to social behavior was not just trait-based but also situation-based. From 1970 to the present, personality psychology has revamped its scientific studies of personalities in researching external situational factors and complex interactions of internal personality variables in the prediction of behavior (A Student of Psychology, 2013). According to Cervone and Pervin (2010), personality has varying definitions, but three basic fields of personality are human universals, individual differences, and individual uniqueness. In society, one uses the word personality to define a persons characteristics. For example, a person may be defined as not possessing a good personality if he or she cannot communicate with others. Personality psychologists use the word personality to refer to psychological qualities that contributes to an individuals enduring and distinctive patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). One aspect of personality is individuals have certain consistent qualities or characteristic demonstrated through his or her personality with little change through life. Another aspect of personality is recognizing the different characteristics individuals possess rather than recognizing the basic good or bad personality characteristics. The last aspect of personality is recognizing how an individuals personality is displayed in specific situations. Personality Dynamics Authors Cervone and Pervin describe personality dynamics from the psychoanalytic theory that personality structures are formed from ones experiences in childhood and are carried through ones lifetime (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Personality consists of ones genetic structure of inherited characteristics. For example, a genetic personality trait could be displayed in a childs way of learning, may be a child naturally learns through touch. The child who is a

UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

kinesthetic learner will react and perceive things through his or her experience through touch. As the child, gains varying experiences, his or her thoughts and reactions may be influenced from what he or she knew from inherited traits. Life experiences and ones original personality traits can cause a limited perspective; however, ones perspective could change as he or she becomes more self aware of his or her individuality. Further reading provided the author her own understanding that personality dynamics is the experiences one goes through shapes ones personality characteristic, and those characteristics are the individuals motivational guide for certain behaviors. For example, I could say my motivation to assist individuals in the mental health and drug and alcohol field is motivated by my personal experiences dealing with stigma, prejudice, and the difficulties I have faced pertaining to mental illness and drugs. These experiences have motivated me to help individuals with similar difficulties and so I have developed certain personality characteristics such as compassion, empathy, understanding, and sincerity. Freud developed many theories during his time to try to understand and answer lifes questions of why. Freuds thoughts on personality development consisted of many concepts, such as conscious and unconscious; motivation, ego, superego, and id; dialectics and psychoanalysis; and stages of development. Freud believed the events from childhood dictated ones behavior later in life (Personality Development, n.d.). Lacan another theorist much like Freud believed that ones personality dynamics are developed from childhood. Lacan delved deeper into personality development from birth and developed stage concepts of personality development from before birth to childhood (Personality Development, n.d.). Theorist Yogi on the other hand, believed that personality development develops through ones lifetime, and one must progress through the linear seven states of consciousness (Personality Development, n.d.).

UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

Cognitive Processes Personality dynamics was described in short as how one develops personality, how it changes through expression, motivation, and behavior in different life situations. The cognitive process relates to personality dynamics because the way one thinks, and the beliefs one develops can change ones personality. An individuals thought pattern and beliefs change throughout life as one obtains new experiences, and this can change ones personality characteristics. For example, a child may be brought up in a loving home and is extremely friendly but as the child grows he or she may have negative experiences with other individuals in society. Because of these negative experiences with other individuals, the child may start to believe that there is no point in acting friendly if others are not. These negative experiences can cause an individual to reexamine his or her beliefs. When an individual sees an external stimulus the mind creates a thought and that thought creates, a feeling based on ones belief is or experience from past, and he or she reacts based upon that thought. Jung identified four essential mental functions known as cognitive processes they are sensing, intuiting, thinking, and feeling (Keys2cognition, 2007). These four functions are broken further into eight cognitive processes, including introverted, and extroverted. Jungs theory focuses on the internal and external world of the individual. The internal world of the individual consists of ones thoughts, feelings, memories, and imagination. In the external world of an individual consists of the actions, people, tools, and organization. The eight cognitive processes are further broken down into two categories perceiving and judging. Perceiving includes how an individual may focus his or her attention and gathers information. The cognitive process of perceiving is basic and developed through sensing and intuition. Judging consists of how an individual organizes his or her experiences and make decisions based on the perceptions. The

UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

cognitive process of judging is also basic and developed through thinking and feeling. These cognitive processes developed by Carl Jung are used presently in assisting employers, individuals, and other entities in understanding a potential candidates personality type (Keys2cognition, 2007). Culture Culture can relate to personality because ones cultural beliefs can affect ones perception, which can influence ones personality. Different cultures may raise his or her children in specific environments that may influence ones personality. Through life, an individual develops personality characteristics based on individual and societal cultures, and an individual may adapt his or her personality to the different cultural environments. However, cultures are emerging with other cultures because of migration to other countries, which is causing individuals to recognize false cultural stereotypes. Interaction with different cultures is changing some individuals cultural beliefs that can influence a change in ones personality characteristics. However, ones own family culture has enormous influence on personality. For example, Asian culture is very strict, family oriented, religious, and respect oriented. An Asian individual will display personality characteristics of quiet, spiritual, strong work ethic, and respect. However, this individual may have internal beliefs, thoughts, and feelings contradicting his or her familys culture. For example, if the child is living in a multi-cultural area he or she may have social influences causing conflict with how he or she was taught to behave. This individual may experience a comfort within self. This conflict may cause the individual to display certain personality characteristics around his or her friends and the traditional personality characteristics around his or her family.

UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

Influences There are many factors influencing an individuals personality, but those factors can be divided into two categories internal and external. Internal factors (genetics) were the focus of early theorists studying personality development. In the middle of the 20th century, theorists started focusing on external environmental factors instead of genetic influences. More recently, theorists and biologists are recognizing the interchangeable interaction of both internal and external factors influencing personality development (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). Anger, sadness, joy, and fear are basic emotions every individual displays no matter where the individual is from (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). This provides insight into the influence of genetics pertaining to common emotional behavior in humans and provides information on internal personality influences. External factors such as culture, social class, family, and experiences influence personality development (Cervone & Pervin, 2010). External factors are almost fundamental to humanity because if society had no external stimuli there would be no point of having a personality because there would be no uniqueness or difference. External factors stimulate individuals reaction to the external stimuli and each individual will develop unique reactions pertaining to previous experiences. Genetic or environmental influence work interchangeably to influence an individuals unique and different personality. Genetics are the building blocks of ones personality and environment influences and builds an individuals unique and different personality. Conclusion Throughout this paper, the reader gained an understanding that personality is not easily defined. The contents of this paper define personality as a combination of many influential factors building ones unique personality. The author provided the reader with background

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information about a few theorists and their theories on personality development, and the author concluded that multiple factors in life influence ones personality, but without environmental influences, we might as well all be robots. Yes, we can answer the question is personality learned or inherited, because each individual is born with innate personality traits, which creates the foundation of ones personality. However, through time and experience his or her personality mold begins to change and develop from his or her perception of life experiences. Personality theorists still have much more to uncover before he or she unveils the answer as to how personality is chosen so uniquely, and why individuals chooses one perspective over another altering the genetic mold.

UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITY

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References A Student of Psychology. (2013, April 10). History of Personality Psychology. Retrieved from http://astudentofpsychology.blogspot.com/2013/04/history-of-personalitypsychology.html Book of Famous Quotes. (2013). Famous Quotes about Personality. Retrieved from http://famous-quotes.com/topic.php?tid=886 Cervone, D., & Pervin, L. A. (2010). Personality Theaory and Research (11th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Keys2cognition. (2007). The 8 Jungian Cognitive Processess. Retrieved from http://www.keys2cognition.com/cgjung.htm Personality Development. (n.d.). Jacques Lacan. Retrieved from http://personalitydevelopment.org/theories-personality-development/jacques-lacan Personality Development. (n.d.). Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Retrieved from http://personalitydevelopment.org/theories-personality-development/maharishi-mahesh-yogi Personality Development. (n.d.). Sigmound Freud. Retrieved from http://personalitydevelopment.org/theories-personality-development/sigmound-freud