Essay On Theories Of Personality

Capella University

The word "personality" has been fetched from Latin word "persona"; it signifies the mask worn by an actor while performing his/her part. Succinctly, personality reflects a person's behavioral style and is usually reflected by an external appearance. External appearance of a person encompasses his/her dressing style, actions, speech, expressions, and habits. Earlier, it was believed that a person with good external endowments will possess a good personality and vice versa. However, the concept of personality has assumed internal proportions with time and now, it is considered more an inclusive concept, i.e., carrying both external and internal dimensions.
This paper presents an examination and analysis of two personality theories, psychodynamic and social-cognitive theories developed by Sigmund Freud and Bandura respectively. The paper will provide a brief overview of basic philosophies, theoretical constructs, and limitations. Additionally, it will present author's personal reflections on selected theories of personality.

Basic Philosophies of Theories

The basic premise of the psychodynamic approach states that conflicts and structures shape personality in human minds. Freud argued that the mind has three components namely, the id, ego, and superego, and interactions between these components decide and shape the human behavior. As such, this theory imparts considerable importance to unconscious conflicts in shaping the personality. It assumes that three components are in constant conflict and a persons' way, many of which are unconscious and automatic, of managing these conflicts reflect his/her personality.
Bandura argued that there is a two-way relation between behavior and environment. Environment causes behavior and in turn, may be caused by it. It is the central philosophy of this theory that is referred as reciprocal determinism.
Later, Bandura added a third element in behavior-environment relationship, i.e., the psychological process of a person. The theorist opined that behavior is also impacted by one's capability to process images, languages and sensory stimuli in mind.

Theoretical Constructs

The relevant theoretical constructs of psychodynamic theory include ego(mediating force), superego( conscience), and id(devil inside us). Unconscious mind has been given due importance. It means that people can be hurt by the things they do not know consciously. Psychodynamics emphasizes that the roots of adults' problems can be traced back to their childhood. They see an individual being made up from "dynamic" that starts in childhood as grows as the person grows. Therapists following Psychodynamics tend to delve deeper into a person's feelings, emotions, mental conflicts, and other such aspects to identify the cause of mental illness. The basis of psychodynamic therapist is to get in the head of the patient and understand the internal processes of the unconscious part.
The theory asserts that a behavior must have a cause and childhood experiences play a significant role in making the behavior of adults. For instance, anxiety in childhood may develop into a habit of nail-biting. Cases of trauma may develop into irrational behaviors, skin picking, and other abnormal activities.
Social-cognitive theory imparts primary importance to experiences in which people are involved. As such, experiences form an important construct for cognitivism and they put a great impact on an individual's behavior and overall personality. For example, a child may learn to hide his/her feelings if parents also don't cry even if they are emotional. Likewise, children may learn to respect fellows if parents do the same thing. Succinctly, this theory emphasizes social learning and makes it as the foundation for behavioral aspect and overall personality development. As such, it assumes that faulty thinking may be changed by educating a person and reinforcing positive experiences.

Limitations and Criticisms of Theory

Psychodynamic approach has often been criticized for lacking objectivity and heavily relying on theoretical constructs that are difficult to prove, i.e., the unconscious mind. The theory lacks an empirical approach as its unobservable constructs are difficult to be tested by any scientific or experimental methods. Critics have argued that Freud's approach is more a religion than science. It heavily relies on innate and biological instincts as drivers of human behavior.
Though criticisms are valid in the theoretical sense, it is a fact that this approach has led to the treatment of many psychological disorders. Childhood emotions leading to adults' issues is one of the crucial tenets of this theory that can help the therapist to identify the causes of depression and mental illness in patients. Freud, though, has given importance to innate instincts, maintained that a person's upbringing can modify these. However, Freud could have imparted some importance to the conscious mind, empirical evidences and experiences to make it more realistic and scientific.
The biggest strength of social-cognitive theory is its practical approach, but scholars have criticized it on various ground. The primary criticism is that the theory is not unified, and different underlying aspects are not well-connected. The argument leveled importance to observational learning but could not connect it with self-efficacy. Additionally, critics have argued that the approach does not describe that cognition, behavior, and personality are inter-connected. As social learning is a subjective concept, it is difficult to measure its impact on personality development.
Succinctly put, the theory should have found explicit connections between cognitions and behavior to make the approach more holistic. It should have differentiated between children observational learning to that of adults'. Identifying factors of development and showing the impact of experiences on those factors could be a wise addition to the theory.

Personal View of Personality Development

Social cognitive theory suits to my own views more firmly as I believe that experiences have a primary role in personality development. Personally, I have had different experiences in personal and professional life that have shaped my behavior and affected it in different ways. For example, working with a leader with motivating approach, and transparent working process instilled a sense of confidence in me and encouraged me to optimize my capabilities.
At the same time, I believe that psychodynamics is not redundant. Though, theoretical orientation may be abstruse for a layman, the approach is useful for treating mental ailments. Personally, I feel that some of my childhood anxieties and fear have grown with time and imbibed in my behavior. This makes me believe that psychodynamics is based on strong tenets even if they cannot be tested by scientific means.

References

Boyle, G. J., & Matthews, G. (2008). The SAGE Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment. London: SAGE.
Engler, B. (2013). Personality Theories. Belmont: Cengage Learning.
Nevid, J. (2008). Psychology: Concepts and Applications. Cengage Learning.
O'Rourke, J., & Collins, S. (2008). Module 3: Managing Conflict and Workplace Realtionships. Mason: Cengage Learning.