Personality is a combination of biological traits and
characteristics that make one person different from other people. Personality can be defined as “an
individual’s unique and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts and
emotions” ("Personality," 2009).
There are many factors that make up an individual’s personality such as
consistency, psychological and physiological, influence on behavior and various
expressions. The factors that make up an
individual’s personality allowed Carl Jung to develop a theory of eight
different personality types. The
development of personality types theory allows individual personalities to be
analyzed based on their personality traits and the foundation of how their
personality developed. Many personality
theories were developed to provide understanding of many important factors such
as what influence personality development and how an individual’s personality
motivates behavior. In this paper I plan
to examine two theoretical approaches of psychodynamic and learning and cover
the role of personality in affecting situational behavior. In addition to those topics I will examine
the personality characteristics attributed to the theories I selected and explain
the interpersonal relational aspects associated with those theories.
Human beings are considered to be “social animals” whose behavior
is “strongly influenced by the behaviors of other humans” (Aarts &
Dijksterhuis, 2003). Observations of
other’s or direct interaction can influence an individual’s thought process in
a situation that could ultimately result in influencing their behavior. Human
behavior many times will change according to the circumstances of the situation
and their personality may affect the behavior in certain situation based on
their feelings of whatever the situation.
Learning theories are defined as “a set of systematic, integrated
concepts and research-based descriptions of how individuals acquire knowledge,
skills, and competencies thus helping us understand the inherently complex
process of learning” (Eryaman, M. & Genc, S. 2010). The learning theory approach to the role of
personality in affecting situational behavior seeks to explain how individuals
behave according to the mutual benefits of their environmental, cognitive and
behavioral circumstances. The learning
theory also suggests that an individual’s personal beliefs of whether or not they
are able to complete a task in certain situations will have a direct influence
on whether or not they will do so.
Psychodynamic theories focus is mainly based upon the unconscious
motivation and influences that an individual may have along with the different
structures of their personality. There are several personality characteristics
attributed to the psychodynamic theories that are all surrounded by the
assumption that an individual’s behavior and feelings are strongly affected by
unconscious drives. In addition to
behavior and feelings being affected by unconscious drives, another
characteristic of psychodynamic theories is that adult behavior, including
psychological problems is a result of early childhood experiences. Psychological development happens in stages
is another characteristic of the psychodynamic theories. Personality is made up of the id, ego and superego
and continuous conflict between those counterparts is what shapes an
individual’s personality. Personality theories suggest that “if the Id control,
then personality is likely to be impulsive and driven by selfish desires; if
the Superego controls, then personality is likely to be rigid, moralistic and
bossy; if the Ego is weak, the person is unable to balance the needs of the id
with social duties and realistic limitations” (Theories of Personality, 2012).
Learning theories seek to explain how an individual’s personality
develops from the learning experiences that are received from their
environment. There are several different
learning theories which makes it a bit difficult to put learning theories is a
category, however three main categories were established to narrow down the
explanation of how an individual learn, behaviorism, cognitivism and
constructivism. “Behaviorism views
learning as a measurable change of behavior resulting from environmental factors. Cognitive theories emphasize internal mental
organization of knowledge, stressing the acquisition of knowledge, mental
structures, and the processing of information.
Constructivism views learning as a process in which the learner actively
constructs new ideas or concepts based on prior knowledge and/or experience”
(Eryaman, M., & Genc, S. 2010).
The personality characteristics of learning theories varies from
different theories but the basis is that all behavior is learned from what an
individual experiences in their environment.
The personality characteristics of behavior learning theory suggest that
your personality develops from what you learn from the caregivers in your environment,
such as compassion, kindness or aggression.
Social learning theory explains how an individual’s personality is
developed from all the things that were learned society. The personality characteristics of the social
learning theory focus mainly on how individual’s personality develops from
others through showing, examining and mimicking other’s behavior. The personality characteristics of cognitive
behavioral learning theory focus is on how an individual’s thoughts control and
calculate their behavior meaning that thoughts and beliefs influence behavior.
Interpersonal relationships are active routines amongst
individuals that continuously change during their presence. Similar to human life, relationships have a
beginning and end. According to the
psychodynamic theories past experiences from early childhood shape adult
behavior. The interpersonal aspect of psychodynamic
theories is that if something happened to an individual as a child when they
become an adult they are more likely to become uncomfortable around anyone or
situation that has similarities to what happened in their past.
Learning theories suggest that people have a connection with other
people because they are looking to gain something in return or receive some
type of reinforcement. The perspective
of learning theories is that personality is developed from learning experiences
that an individual has had including those from social influences.
In conclusion, behavior is a direct reflection of an individual’s
personality because people choose to behave in a certain manner. Psychodynamic theories suggest that
personality is made up of the id, superego and ego and the learning theories
suggest that personality develops from experiences from the environment. There
are functions of personality and different personality types that distinguish
individuals. Personality can be analyzed in various ways through different
theories and how an individual responds to certain situations. Personality can
play an important role in situational behavior because an individual’s
personality ultimately can influence their behavior in certain situations. The approach of the psychodynamic theory
seeks to gain understanding of what motivates an individual’s behavior by
examining what goes on in the mind through different psychological stages. Learning theories focus on how personality
develops and behavior is motivated from environmental factors. Psychodynamic
and learning theories both have personality characteristics that are both
influenced by the environment although psychodynamic theories focus more on
internal mental factors. Interpersonal
relationships are relationships that people have with one another and can
sometime be affected in any given situation.
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