Discussion on Psychoanalytic, Trait and Social Learning Theories of Personality
Introduction
Several specialists have made efforts to describe the personality of an individual. It is based on a number of theories that guide to the exploration of individual differences. First, a theory is a form of the actuality that aids to realize, enlighten, foretell, and manage the specified realism. While studying personality, the models are usually in the verbal form because through actions, it is easy to predict one's behavior. Alternatively, a theory is said to be a channel to action. Events that take place on the normal proceedings of individual's activities are likely to reoccur. Psychologists examine the vibrant events in the activities to figure out the character of an individual. On the other hand, personality is what makes a person different from the others. The personal differences bring about personality. Theories examine the difference to point out the real person. However, the theory of personality is a branch of psychology that studies personality and individual differences. The aim of the branch is to construct a coherent image of an individual, consider personal disparities, and examine human character (Mayer, 2005). Personality is explained in a wide range of theories, among them being the psychoanalytic, trait and social learning theories.
Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
The psychoanalytic theory is a lively association between three components of the brain which balance physical strengths to attain a strong endurance of the substantial component. When conflicting relations arise amid the mechanisms, neurotic and psychotic turbulences are formed. The conflict is a struggle between the ethical self and the primitive self (Mayer, 2005). The ethical self is known as the ego, while the primitive self is described as the id. The third module is the superego which acts as the ethical cause. The id is the phase of individuality that is motivated by interior and essential forces as well as wants. The wants are usually natural, such as hunger and thirst. The id acts in accordance with the pleasure principle, in that it avoids pain and seeks pleasure. The natural feature of the id is said to be unstructured and often unconscious of repercussions of actions. According to Mayer, (2005), the id is the ambiguous unreachable part of our individuality. It is considered to be the oldest psychological aspect and has not made any improvement. In addition, the id is the sexual strength stimulated to look for enjoyment, although at times, efforts are sublimated and withdrawn.
The ego is motivated by the actuality principle. It works to match the id and the superego. In order to balance the two components, it works to attain the id's force in the top authenticity manner. The id also looks to decrease the id's nature and gratify the drives that will be of advantage to the person. It also aids in sorting out the actual and sensible constraints as well as being reasonable about the principles that the superego prepares for the being (Freud, 1958). The desexualized strength of the ego permits more power and interference. It also operates by rescheduling wants to please desires. Demands made by the superego also result in variance and nervousness (Locke & Latham, 2002).
The superego is motivated by the ethical principle. It operates in the association of the morality of higher thought and action. Instead of naturally working the id, the superego operates in a socially acceptable manner. It utilizes integrity, evaluating individuals' logic of wrong and right and employing guilt to motivate socially tolerable conduct. Superego is basically individuals' conscious. It is motivated by powers from parents and other ethical officials. Its objective of limiting satisfactions is achieved through placing judgment on the ego's choice. Compared to the ego, Superego is correlated to a stern father with a child, and discipline is served by compliance to the superego (Locke & Latham, 2002).
Research shows that psychoanalytic approach has several advantages and limitations. Principally, the theory highlights the significance of childhood skills. It has been noted that the early years of childhood are important in that they shape the child's future. This is said to be the period when one knows what is good and bad. When a child follows the paths introduced during the childhood, he or she grows to be responsible and well behaved even during the adulthood. It also initiates and addresses the importance of the conscious, sexual and insistent forces that contribute the majority of all human individualities. Through the theory, the defense mechanisms are explained and reasoned why all individuals react differently to diverse situations (Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000).
On the other hand, the limitations of the theory are found in cases of insufficient information from the researchers. Throughout the theory, the author did not give enough proof on the impact of the surrounding on the human being. However, the theory is said to lack experimental statistics and to be too attentive on pathology. It also lacks contemplation of ethnicity as well as its control on individuality. These and many other limitations have resulted in insignificant support from the current studies (Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000).
Trait Theory of Personality
A trait is a distinguishing manner in which a person identifies senses, thinks, or takes action. Traits are commonly used when identifying someone. In reality, all personality psychologists are mainly concerned on traits. The traits help them to define an individual based on the character or actions. Alternatively, traits make permanent distinctions on individuals, with evidence from the reliability of relations. The earliest traits were established by Jung, a friend of Freud. Jung did not entirely believe in Freud's ideas and went on to formulate his own theory. An aspect that concerned traits was natural. Natural, hereditarily indomitable traits are known as temperaments. One of the most famous personality traits, inventory, was formed by two students of Jung's temperaments. Temperaments exist in introversion and extraversion. Each is the opposite of the other. Introversion refers to the world inside oneself. It is characterized by traits like shyness, dislike for communal activities, and a passion for confidentiality (Tett & Burnett, 2003).
On the other hand, extraversion is the trend to look to the exterior world, specifically individuals. Extraverts are normally outgoing, they like communal activities, and do not like to be unaccompanied. The largest portion of the world falls under this category. However, introverts are perceived as abnormal, since many people do not like to be associated with calm persons. Research indicates that some traditions see extraverts as nonconformists. It is believed that a person is either born an introvert or an extravert, and remains in that particular condition for the rest of his or her life. Introversion and extraversion are seen as very stable traits since they cannot be changed (Tett & Burnett, 2003).
The trait of an individual is pictured in sensing and intuiting people. The sensing types of people obtain information about their life from their senses. They are said to be sensible, humbled, see everything as one-dimensional or tangible. Intuiting individuals get information from perception. They do not believe in actuality and see things in two dimensions. They are mostly creative and rather theoretical. The largest number of persons in the world falls under the sensing category and makes the intuitive individuals feel a bit lonely. The modern society is disbelieving in idealists, performers, and thinkers (Tett & Burnett, 2003).
Another type of trait is depicted in thinkers and feelers. Thinking individuals create their resolution on the basis of reasonable thinking, sense, and work out troubles step by step. This way of solving problems works well in substantial problems and can leave recommendable work when dealing with people. Feeling individuals decide depending on the way they feel. Feeling only works well when dealing with people and not practical immense activities like fixing a car or operating a computer. Research has continued to indicate that half of all people in the world are feelers and half are thinkers. The differences are reflected when gender issues arise. The largest number of men are thinkers while a greater proportion of the women are feelers. Old notions, as well as recent studies show that majority of men tend to solve problems in the step by step manner, and more specifically when dealing with mechanical operations. Women are said to do better in communal activities. Thinking cannot be treasured over feeling because each has its strong points and limitations (Tett & Burnett, 2003).
Judging and perceiving are traits that contribute in depicting the personality of an individual. Judging people are orderly, hardworking, punctual, and plan things cautiously. Perceiving individuals are further unstructured. They act in the way of their wish. Compared with the judging type, they may sound funny and have a tendency not to get things done. The proportion of judging to men matches that of women. A psychologist named Eysenck was the first to formulate these traits into mathematical figures. He used long chains of adjectives of thousands of people to find out the trait dimensions that had the greater impact (Tett & Burnett, 2003). The results of his operations were formulated with the use of a test that he named Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ).
According to Tett & Burnett, (2003), Esyenck's traits were dimensions. His first trait was extraversion − introversion similar to Freud's. He conducted his research through questionnaires. If one was an introvert, he would record I, and an E, for an extrovert. His second trait dimension was neuroticism. A nervous or emotional individual would get a score. This meant that one had a possibility of developing neurotic complications such as an irrational fear, mania, pressure, and depression compared to the person who scored a low mark. Today, low neuroticism is known as emotional stability. His third dimension is known as psychotism. Research of this type of trait dimension was carried out from people who had mental disorders. These people have trends to psychosis, meaning that they have problems related to actuality. Psychotic people experience hallucinations and frequently have illusions such as weird viewpoints about being stared at by other individuals. According to Eysenck's research, an average score meant that a person was a bit exceptional or would take dangers that would not be taken by other persons. A low score indicated that one was ordinary.
Although Eysenck's theories have been appreciated by a good number of psychologists, trait theories remain to have some limitations based on their impact on personality development. This means that they talk little about personality growth, thereby making an insignificant difference in the world of psychological research. Trait theorists compare people only on the basis of aspects. The leading effect is that trait theories do not bring about individual change even after the long chains of research (Tett & Burnett, 2003).
Social Learning Theory of Personality
Learning is the process that leads to relatively lasting behavioral transformation. This means that, when a person learns, several changes occur to the person. Such changes could include; the way we make out from our surroundings, the way we deduce the arriving motivation, and the way we intermingle or conduct ourselves. The first psychologist to study how the process of learning affects the behavior of an individual was Watson. His core points in his theory were that only observable behaviors were easy to be researched. This kind of belief prevailed in the research studies conducted in the US for more than 50 years (Grusec, 1992).
A famous behaviorist, Skinner, followed the path of Watson. He employed much of Watson's findings, but understood that inner conditions could control an individual's conduct just as exterior perception. Nowadays, both internal and external stimuli are believed to have an impact on one's behavior. The notion that individuals learn through interactions with the society is what brings about social learning theory. In social learning theory, the society plays a greater task in the way we reflect on ourselves and the globe, and our behavioral relations in the larger perspective of the social order (Grusec, 1992). On the other hand, a psychologist known as Bandura also made efforts to define personality using his multiple ways of research. In his theory, he formulated that behavior alone could not predict the personality of an individual. He went on to add that environmental aspects combined with behavior participated in the establishment of personality. However, he named the trend Reciprocal Determination.
Bandura's continued research resulted in cognitivism. The beginning of cognitivism is said to lead to broadened investigations on communication achievement, learning, and self-ruling. Bandura watched an adult's anger on a child and this activated him to his social learning theory. He also conducted his research with the employment of related creatures and even humans receiving such kind of violent behavior. He accomplished a number of points, which were the following; concentration on responsibilities influenced learning, information learnt ought to be preserved, one ought to copy the behaviors learnt, and that encouragement from the precedent, assured or sensational fortification triggered reproduction and correction (Grusec, 1992).
Social learning theory was researched by several psychologists. They all aimed at establishing how the behavior of an individual impacted on personality. Among the long list of psychologists is Rotter. When he formulated his social learning theory, Freuds' idea was prevailing during that period. It focused on individual's natural drive as determining a person's conduct. According to Freud, individuals were naive to their insensible desires, and action required prolonged investigation of early day's skills. However, Rotter had some few issues with Freud's ideas and went on to formulate his own social learning theory (Tett & Burnett, 2003).
Rotter believed that a mental theory ought to have a motivational rule. However, he chose his empirical law of effect as his encouraging aspect. The law of effect stated that individuals are encouraged to look for affirmative motivation in order to shun from horrible inspirations. He joined behaviorism and the research of individuality, devoid of relying on naturalism or motivational forces. The main concept in Rotter's social learning theory was that personality represented a link between the individual and the environment. The surrounding of one's upbringing has a greater impact on an individual's overall behavior. He goes on to explain that individuality has a reasonably steady collection of strengths for reacting to circumstances in a certain way (Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000).
In order to foretell individual's behavior, Rotter formulated four major mechanisms, namely behavior potential, expectancy, reinforcement value, and the psychological condition. To begin, behavior potential is the possibility of engaging in a certain conduct in a particular situation. This is explained by the fact that in any given condition, there are many behaviors one can adopt. The individual will imitate the behavior that has the highest strength. Expectancy is the individual's likelihood that a specific behavior will end in particular consequences. Having high expectancies means that the person is confident the behavior will result in the conclusion. On the other hand, low expectancies indicate that the person supposes that his or her behavior is not likely to result in the fortification. Formation of expectancies is based on past skills (Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000).
Reinforcement value is another name for the consequences of individual's behavior. It also refers to the attractiveness of the results. The things that individuals would not wish to occur in their lives have a low reinforcement value. If the possibility of attaining reinforcement is equal, then behavior with the highest reinforcement is exhibited. As depicted in expectancy, reinforcement value is individual, pointing out those actions or skills that differ depending on the individual's life skills. Nevertheless, kids who get little affirmative attention from their guardians can look for parental correction since it is a higher reinforcement value compared to abandonment. The psychological condition is the fraction of the exterior and interior world to which an individual is taking action. Behavior is a task of the association of people with their significant surroundings. According to Roberts & DelVecchio, (2000), Rotter also believed in a locus of control. In this, he highlights that the task of getting reinforced is conformed in the individuals themselves. He goes on to explain that victory or failure is in the hands of individuals. According to his research, numerous people believed that success is by fate, opportunity, or powerful conditions.
Conclusion
From the three theories of personality, it has been noted that personality is criticized by a number of psychologists. Although there is some agreement on personality, majority of the basics are vague and may never result in the real definition of personality. Almost all psychologists have a common belief that personality is unique and accompanied by personal traits possessed by each individual human being. However, it is noted that some theorists believe that the characteristics that figure out the personality of an individual are traits while others believe differently. Therefore, personality is certainly complicated and requires well established studies in order to formulate its exact meaning. I believe that the prospect of developmental levels is absolutely an aspect of great significance. If future theorists would correct the problems that are reflected in each type of personality, then there would be a rise in the level of developments brought about by effective studies.