Capstone DQ – Theories of Personality My Theory of Personality.
After careful consideration and examination into all of the different theories of personality from our text, if I were to develop my own theory of personality it would be constructed after the following principles. I believe that personality is developed from several different factors. Our genetics plays a part in our personality because certain ideas and beliefs can be passed down from our family genetics however; I believe that this is the less influential part.Our environment plays a bigger role in personality because depending on who or what we are around will determine what standards we set for our self.
If I am raised with the environment that is violent and chaotic, then I am going to be raised with the belief that this type of behavior is acceptable and will mimic what I am taught. The same goes if I am raised in a caring and loving environment then I will mimic those behaviors and my personality will reflect that as well.With environment playing a factor in our personality it also means that my consequence to my behavior will be pleasurable or painful therefore, I will react and act accordingly to avoid pain and promote pleasure. Another major factor in developing our personality is our experiences in life.
The theorist that I agree with the most in this is Albert Bandura and his social – learning theory. This theory is based upon self-efficiency which is described as how we decide to believe in what we are trying to accomplish and our ability to do so.Self-Efficiency is broken down into four aspects; Performance accomplishments which is based on our past and what we have achieved or failed at, Vicarious experience living through other people’s experience and accomplishments and basing that as what you can accomplish, Verbal persuasion is listening to others and how they think you will do, if they think you will fail then automatically thinking you will fail and Emotional arousal this is how a person reacts to their accomplishments and how much emotional stimulation they are getting from doing this.The most interesting and important idea behind our personality to me is how we create or grow in our own identity. Erik Erickson developed eight stages of psychosocial development that is all based on our progression through social development.
If someone is stuck in a particular phase like young adulthood then they are not able to continue to build and grow in life accordingly because they have not formed who they are in their identity and how to love to develop their intimacy level.If we do not continue to develop these statuses then we will isolate because we do not feel loved and are not comfortable with ourselves. Our identity is what assists us in our self esteem and self-efficiency. The last factor that I see in personality is our motivation.
The theory that I agree with the most is Humanistic view which is based on our need to fulfill our self and based on our conscious experiences that enable us to reach and achieve our goals.In this view it is essential to have empathy and unconditional positive regard for our self and others. When we have reached this it means that we have been loved and cared for unconditionally. This is our need to strive for a better life. If we can have regard for others then in return we can also have regard for ourselves.
An example of this is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs which is based on that we as humans cannot achieve our higher level needs like self-actualization and esteem until our lover level needs are met.
