Essay Sample on Psychoanalytic Theories: Explaining Personality in a Modern Age

Introduction

Psychoanalytic theories have evolved since their establishment and their impact on explaining the different personalities people portray heightened. Modernized theories of personality base their explanations on conscious and rational thinking, constructs creation, and social learning. In contrast to this, psychoanalytic theories tend to explain personality based on emotions, experiences, and feelings, which are aspects that modern psychologists deem "inappropriate" to exhaustively explain on the broad discipline of personalities. Personality can be defined to be the unique characteristics possessed by an individual that makes them different from others (Bandura, 2000). Modernized personality theories generally have one thing in common, they all believe that personality is shaped by the environment, unlike the psychoanalytic theories that emphasize that personality is inborn, and is only nurtured through the people that surround a kid, according to Sigmund Freud. As a result, this paper aims at shedding light on my personality through modernized personality theories, in contrast to the psychoanalytic theories.

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Personal Constructs Theory (Cognitive theories)

The personal construct theory describing personality can be categorized as a cognitive theory that was established by George Kelly. Kelly, in his theory, believes that a majority of people tend to behave like the scientists who study personality. Moreover, Kelly believed that people develop expectations, constructs, of how others should behave themselves or live according to certain practices, which insinuates that personality is built under expectations (Paszkowska-Rogacz & Kabzinska, 2012). Kelly believes that reality does not matter when it comes to personality development but rather the constructs guide and define the behavior and cognition of people. The personal constructs theory questions the role that psychologists have given themselves to study the personality of varied people. He believed that it was necessary for everyone to study their characteristics, rather than being classified by a group of "scientists" called the psychologists. Furthermore, Kelly's theory shed light on how the environment controls the personality of a person since it forces one to possess certain values and morals that are acceptable by society at large. Being a melancholic type of person, family, loyalty, and morals are the three concepts I hold dear. In addition to this, the previous three concepts are the most defined expectations, or rather constructs, that the society preaches to its members. As a result, my personality is rather shaped by the environment I live in, which is per Kelly's construct theory.

Other cognitive-behavioral theorists that attempt on explaining personality include Aaron Beck, Albert Ellis, and Arnold Lazarus. These theorists are acknowledged by modern theorists to have laid the foundations of therapeutic techniques which are dependent on the behaviour and cognitive personality perspective (Amedeo, 2013). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a theory developed by the three former mentioned psychologists, where it discusses the importance of people embracing their lives, which in turn affects their personality. As a result, people should embrace who they are and control the personalities which are prevalent in them, as discussed by earlier psychoanalytic theories.

Social Learning Theory

The social learning theory is a modernized personality theory attempting to explain personality development. The theory was fathered by Albert Bandura, who acted as a bridge between operant and classical conditioning. Bandura's social learning theory entails observational learning and the mediating process, that are believed to exist between stimuli and responses (Bandura, 2000). Under observational learning, the theory explains that children always observe and learn from their models (the people that children look up to). The models to these children can be parents, teachers, celebrities, among others. Children will always look up to these type of people and imitate their personalities. However, the children will be on the look out to see if their adopted personalities will be reinforced or criticized by members of the society. If it is criticized, they are bound to reform to other personality types, and if it is reinforced, the personality becomes prevalent in a kid who may practice it in an emphatic manner (Amedeo, 2013). For instance, I was brought in a religious family where religious people were always surrounding me, even on media platforms such as televisions, radios, among others. As such, I had to imitate the "models" that I saw and try to adopt the practices which they always taught on television. Those practices were humility, humbleness, loyalty, and most importantly love.

When I used the Meyer- Briggs Indicator Type personality test, I fell under the trait of 'feeling,' which is one of the many aspects the personality test provides. According to Appendix A, different traits are present in different people depending on the personality of a person. The traits are very crucial as they also determine the career choice of a person. Loyalty and love are both types of 'feelings' that I possess and learned from the people I was surrounded by. As a result, this modern theory explains why I am a melancholic type of person.

The second vital aspect of this theory is the mediating process, as proposed by Banduras' (Paszkowska-Rogacz & Kabzinska, 2012). The mediating process explains how the human brain processes information and establishes the connection between behavior and consequences. This is the reason why Banduras' theory is seen as a bridge between social learning theories and cognitive theories. Banduras proposed that a person does not quickly imitate the personality and behavior of their role models, but rather they tend to process the information and learn of its consequences before adopting a certain behavior. Personally, when growing up, it was a choice I had to adopt religious values and way of life before becoming melancholic.

Furthermore, I had to look up to the society to get a rough understanding of what the society required of its members. Society preaches love, humility, and harmonious living. As such, when adopting this kind of personality and behavior, I knew that society was in favor of my actions, and I would have received minimal criticism when being melancholic. After my models evaluated my behavior and I received positive reinforcement from them, the behaviors persisted, and that's how I became loyal and loving to all people in the society.

Buddhistic Theory of Personality

The Zen Buddhism theory is a non-western approach to personality. Buddhism is an eastern religion which has been traced to be rich in psychology. For example, in Buddhism, there is the concept of "Atta," which in modern literature has been translated to personality (Engler, 2014). The psychological functioning that has been associated with the definition of "Atta" include memory, reasoning, decision, earning, thinking, perception, among others. The holy book of Buddhists called Abhidhamma suggested of the constant flux that the human mind usually finds itself. The book is responsible for defining healthy and unhealthy factors that aid in explaining personality. Some of these healthy factors are discretion, insight, modesty, and rectitude confidence. Unhealthy factors include perplexity, delusion, egoism, shamelessness, greediness, and worry. Buddhism through "Atta", teaches us that normal personality is a blend of both the healthy and the unhealthy factors. The holy book of the Buddhists explains on a religious figure called Arhat, who the religion believes to be their role model and one who has all the healthy factors in them, without even a single unhealthy factor. The religion, therefore, urges its members to adopt the personality of their religious figure, Arhat. This person can be compared to Maslow's self-actualized person, as it will be seen in the later sections of this essay.

According to Buddhism, three personality traits are prevalent. The greed temperament is the first, which is believed to be a controlled desire, and it is compelled by the need to seek pleasure and comfort. The second type is characterized by rejection and judgment and is called the aversive temperament (Bandura, 2000). Deluded temperament is the third type of personality reinforced by Buddhism. These types have been established based on the unhealthy factors that were previously discussed. I belong to the second type of personality according to Buddhism, as I am always judging myself according to the standards of living that have been set up by society. People usually find themselves doing things that are per the society's standards and way of life. When one fails to do so, they receive different forms of judgment that may have a direct impact on their lives. As such, judgment is the key concept that ensures people personalities are in line, and therefore, I can say that I belong to aversive temperament personality type according to Buddhists practices and believes. It is believed this type of personality is controlled by reinforcement from the people of the society, and hence one has to obtain the values of peace and love to get positive feedback from the society.

Humanistic Theory of Personality

The humanistic theory of personality has been embodied by two theorists; Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Abraham Maslow argues that personality of a person can only be realized whenever a person moves from basic needs to the self-actualization stage in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. As a result, Maslow discusses that his model of humanism is dependent on the innate drive that ensures a person attains the self-actualization state, and free will (Amedeo, 2013). The different levels of needs that people possess, define the varied types of personalities portrayed by different people. However, he believes that there is a "coherent personality syndrome" at the self-actualization stage where people who have attained this stage seem to behave coherently. The level of need of love and belonging in the hierarchy of needs as defined by Maslow is the level I believe to belong. In this level, people are after family, friendship, sexual intimacy, among others. This defines the 'blind' loyalty I usually show when it comes to my friends and family. It defines my personality according to Maslow humanism theory of personality. At the self-actualization level, Maslow believes that people are loving and caring since they have already overcome their needs. These type of people are melancholic too, according to the values they showcase and champion.

According to Carl Rogers theory, however, he focuses on self-actualization tendency relevance, in the establishment of self-concept or rather a personality. Rogers made the conclusion that human beings, in a subjective reality, tend to react to stimuli that is always dynamic. As a result, a person develops their personality according to the feedback they obtain from the stimuli (Bandura, 2000). However, positive regard is key in the development of self-concept, as discussed earlier. Rogers Humanism theory was criticized due to its lack of empirical evidence to significantly support his claims. Regardless, this humanistic approach to personality is very crucial in explaining how a stimulus (environment) is crucial in shaping up the personality of a person, as discussed earlier. The type of feedback one receives from stimulus is key in determining whether a certain type...