Introduction to understanding personalities theory. This is a breif summary of Chapter 1, Personolgy from the textbook Personology: From individual to ecosystem by C Moore, HG Viljoen, WF Meyer.
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Personology- the branch of psychology that focuses on the study of the individual's characteristics and of differences between people
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Allows us to re-examine our thinking about human functioning, and could very well leave us with a better understanding of our own and others’ functioning.
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Everyday knowledge of human nature- the ability to judge, understand, explain and predict behaviour of fellow human beings.
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Ability to judge people depends on four sources:
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1. Cultural Tradition
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2. Direct communication from others
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3. Observation of others' behaviour
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4. Self-observation
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Personologists aim at improving such everyday knowledge about people by basing their theories on scientific methods.
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Personality Theory- the outcome of a purposeful, sustained effort to develop a logically consistent conceptual system for describing, explaining and/or predicting human behaviour.
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Human behaviour is a highly complex phenomenon that is determined by a wide range of interdependent factors such as:
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1. Biological factors
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2. Environmental circumstances
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3. Social factors such as people's expectations, social milieu and culture
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4. Psychological and spiritual factors
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A complete description and explanation of behaviour would only be possible on the basis of a thorough understanding of all the factors which determine behaviour, including the complex ways in which these factors interact with one another.
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Person- an individual human being who can act independently
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Personality- the constantly changing but nevertheless relatively stable organisation of all physical, psychological and spiritual characteristics of the individual that determine his or her behaviour in interaction with the context.
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Character- those aspects of the personality involving the person’s values.
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Temperament/nature- emotional aspects of the personality.
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The self- is used in so many different ways that it is not possible to provide a single definition. It is sometimes used to refer to:
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a. People’s views of themselves;
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b. At other times it is a synonym for personality;
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c. The core of personality;
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d. Many other aspects of the personality
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Personism- the view that behaviour is influenced chiefly by the individual’s personality.
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Situationalism- the view that the situation is the most important determinant of behaviour.
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Interactionalism- the view that behaviour is the outcome of the interaction between the individual’s characteristics and the situation in which the behaviour occurred.
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Transactionalism- the issues involved are even more complex, the interaction is invariably threefold: between the person, the situation and the behaviour.
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Depth Psychological Approaches
Depth psychologists contend that behaviour is determined by forces within the person of which he or she is mostly unaware.
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Behavioural and Learning Theoretical Approaches
They emphasise the study of observable behaviour and consider learning and environmental influences to be the most important determinants of behaviour.
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Person-oriented Approaches
The theorists in this group try to include and explain all aspects of the person in their theories.
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Socially-contextualised Approaches
Individuals can only be understood as parts of the complex totality of more encompassing systems in which they are embedded.
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Contains useful background information for the understanding of a particular theory.
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Including:
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a. The historical background to the theories,
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b. Biographical information about the theorists,
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c. The social and philosophical influences the theorists were subjected to
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d. Influences arising from the theories.
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A personality theory has to explain what enables the personality to function or what motivates behaviour.
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A theory should explain the motivating energy, or what provides the drive in behaviour and how the parts ‘work together’.
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When a personality theory includes a complete developmental theory, it usually explains how the structural and dynamic aspects of the person develop and how children’s behaviour gradually changes until they reach adulthood.
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The theorist’s basic view of the person and indicates what he or she regards as optimal human development or as the full realisation of one’s life goals.
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Explain how a psychologically-disturbed person differs from a mentally healthy person and how psychopathology develops.
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The implications of the theories/perspectives/approaches for understanding and dealing with aggression are also examined in some depth.
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The aim of this is:
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1. To discuss the same theme/topic in terms of all the various theoretical perspectives, and in this way to point out the similarities and differences between the perspectives.
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2. To investigate the relevance of personology with regard to current social problems in South Africa
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Personality theories contain useful information for every individual’s own life, and may help people to develop their abilities and to understand themselves and others.
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Particular attention is given to the implications and applications of the theories in the context of areas such as education, psychotherapy, society in general, measurement and research.
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Highlights the most important positive and negative features of these theories.
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