personality psychology

                                                     INTRODUCTION           
Personality, it’s who we are. Our personalities determine how we act and react, as well as how we interact with and respond to the world. Despite much research, the origins of personality are still a mystery, though there are many theories that attempt to explain them. Some researchers propose that children learn personality from their parents; others believe personality is fixed from birth. Some theories address how environment, genetics, and culture influence the development of personality.

           PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY, is a branch of psychology that studies personality and its variation among individuals. Its areas of focus include:
-Construction of a coherent picture of the individual and their major psychological processes-Investigation of individual psychological differences-Investigation of human nature and psychological similarities between individuals"Personality" is a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences their environment, cognition, emotions, motivation, and behavioral science in various situations.It also refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings, social adjustments, and behaviors consistently exhibited over time that strongly influences one's expectations, self-perceptions, values, and attitudes. It also predicts human reactions to other people, problems, and stress.Personality has a broad and varied history in psychology with an abundance of theoretical traditions. The major theories include trait perspective, psycho dynamic, humanistic, biological, behaviorist, evolutionary and social learning perspective.Personality psychology explained by eight theories including; Trait Theory, type theory, psycho analytic theory, behaviorist theory, social cognitive theory, humanistic theory, bio psychological theory, and evolutionary theory.

                Trait theories, Personality traits are "enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself that are exhibited in a wide range of social and personal contexts. Theorists generally assume that a) traits are relatively stable over time, b) traits differ among individuals, and c) traits influence behavior. They consistently are used in order to help define people as a whole. Traits are relatively constant; they do not usually change. Traits are also bipolar; they vary along a continuum between one extreme and the other; example: friendly vs. unfriendly.
                   Type theories, This theory refers to the psychological classification of different types of people. Personality types are distinguished from personality traits, which come in different degrees. For example, according to type theories, there are two types of people, introverts and extroverts.
The model is an older and more theoretical approach to personality, accepting extroversion and introversion as basic psychological orientations in connection with two pairs of psychological functions:

• perceiving functions: sensing and intuition (trust in concrete, sensory-oriented facts vs. trust in abstract concepts and imagined possibilities)

• judging function: thinking and feeling (basing decisions primarily on logic vs. considering the effect on people)

                   Psychoanalytic theories,  explain human behavior in terms of the interaction of various components of personality. Sigmund Freud was the founder of this school of thought. Freud drew on the physics of his day (thermodynamics) to coin the term psycho dynamic. Based on the idea of converting heat into mechanical energy, he proposed psychic energy could be converted into behavior. Freud's theory places central importance on dynamic, unconscious psychological conflicts.
Freud divides human personality into three significant components: the id, ego, and superego. The id acts according to the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification of its needs regardless of external environment; the ego then must emerge in order to realistically meet the wishes and demands of the id in accordance with the outside world, adhering to the reality personality Finally, the superego (conscience) inculcates moral judgment and societal rules upon the ego, thus forcing the demands of the id to be met not only realistically but morally. According to Freud, personality is based on the dynamic interactions of these three components.

                     Behaviorist theoriesBehaviorist explain personality in terms of the effects external stimuli have on behavior. The approaches used to analyze the behavioral aspect of personality are known as behavioral theories or learning-conditioning theories. These approaches were a radical shift away from Freudian philosophy. One of the major tenets of this concentration of personality psychology is a strong emphasis on scientific thinking and experimentation. This school of thought was developed by . B.F. Skinner who put forth a model which emphasized the mutual interaction of the person or "the organism" with its environment. Skinner believed children do bad things because the behavior obtains attention that serves as a reinforcement. For example: a child cries because the child's crying in the past has led to attention. These are the response, and consequences. The response is the child crying, and the attention that child gets is the reinforcing consequence.
                    Social cognitive theories, In cognitive theory, behavior is explained as guided by cognition or expectations about the world, especially those about other people. Cognitive theories are theories of personality that emphasize cognitive processes, such as thinking and judging.
                    Humanistic theories, Humanistic psychology emphasizes that people have free will and that this plays an active role in determining how they behave. Accordingly, humanistic psychology focuses on subjective experiences of persons as opposed to forced, definitive factors that determine behavior. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were proponents of this view, and they worked together for a decade to produce the Journal of Humanistic Psychology. This journal was primarily focused on viewing individuals as a whole, rather than focusing solely on separate traits and processes within the individual.Characteristics of self-actualize according to Maslow include the four key dimensions:Awareness – maintaining constant enjoyment and awe of life. These individuals often experienced a "peak experience". He defined a peak experience as an "intensification of any experience to the degree there is a loss or transcendence of self".Reality and problem centered – having a tendency to be concerned with "problems" in surroundings.Acceptance/Spontaneity – accepting surroundings and what cannot be changed. sense of humor/democratic – do not take kindly to joking about others, which can be viewed as offensive. They have friends of all backgrounds and religions and hold very close friendships                 Bio psychological theories, Biology plays a very important role in the development of personality. The study of the biological level in personality psychology focuses primarily on identifying the role of genetic determinants and how they mold individual personalities.                 
     Evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin is the founder of the theory of the evolution of the species. The evolutionary approach to personality psychology is based on this theory. This theory examines how individual personality differences are based on natural selection. Through natural selection organisms change over time through adaptation and selection. Traits are developed and certain genes come into expression based on an organism's environment and how these traits aid in an organism's survival and reproduction.

   Conclusion
  Psychologists like Freud, Skinner, and Roger all had different personality theories and have really influenced the psychology community. Because the study of personality psychology is so large, it is like that you that you would like to learn more about this growing field.Other theorists like Erik Erikson, Albert Bandura, and Abraham Maslow all have made valuable contributions to this area.

 I encourage you to research these theorists to further your understanding of the different personalities, as well as your own personality.

MY PRACTICAL APPLICATION

               I have two best friends for more than a year. When we are still in high school, We're always with each other, like during our recess, lunch, or even in studying our lessons. that is the reason why I had already memorized what are their likes and hates. They don't have the same behavior and attitude, the reason why sometimes they never agree with each other.

Christina is a quiet person especially inside the classroom. Unlike Arialyn, she's always love to do some jokes and fun even our teacher is already inside our room. they're always arguing with each other when Arialyn trying to tease and interrupt Christina while she is studying. There is no time or day that they understand each other. Maybe it is because they have different personality.

        And I have also my understanding about personality .We, people having a different and  unique personality. Sometimes it is our environment who mold it. So, if we have different environment we also have different personality. Sometimes, our family, friends, neighbors, and other people also influenced our personality.