My Own Theory of Personality - Essay Sample

Human beings have unique characteristics and abilities that other animals do not possess in the social ecosystem. Despite the difference from other species, human beings also have unique features that make them distinctive from other people even within the same locality. Human beings go through various developmental stages right from the time they are born till their death time. Through the developmental stages, one is shaped with the kinds of experiences he/she undergoes through. Therefore, people have different character traits because they go through different experiences. Every person develops in his way which is mainly influenced by the experiences he/she is going through. Understanding the developmental process and how human development works is important in understanding the fulfillment of human potential. The person someone becomes to be when he/she grows up is influenced by his/her environment. My definition of personality is the combination of dynamic behavior characteristics that a person obtains from his/her interaction with the environment and people in it that makes him/her unique from other people. The definition of this theory was obtained from Allports trait perspective of personality development. Allport believed that personality is dynamic in organization claiming that someone undergoes through various development stages, experiences and processes to become obtain his/her fulfillment. My theory emphasizes on the development of a persons character traits and how peoples behaviors are influenced by their body build and social environment.

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This theory adopts the ideographic point of view to personality which asserts that everyone has his/her unique psychological structure which makes the person distinctive from other people. Ideographic view asserts that every individual possesses his/her unique traits which are not possessed by any other person (Schultz & Schultz, 2016). These distinctive characters make the person different from other people; therefore, it is impossible to compare one person with another even if they all come from the same environment or the same locality. Therefore, my theory intends to explore and use case studies for information gathering. Various approaches or theories have been established to understand the concept of personality; for example, psychoanalytic approach, psychodynamic, phenomenological and trait approaches. This theory adopts the trait approach to explaining its concepts of character; however, it also borrowed some concepts from other personality theories such psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theories. Peoples behaviors are mainly influenced by the experiences that they interact with in their environment on their daily basis (Mann, 2011).

The psychodynamic approach by Sigmund Freud asserts that peoples behaviors are shaped by nature and nurture in their lives (Reckman, 2012). Freud believed that a persons traits are determined by the interaction between the innate instincts and the parental influence. Freud came up with various factors that and stages in which ones personality can be based; for instance, he claimed that the instinctual needs such as food, sex, and aggression contribute to the development of a persons characteristics (Ryckman, 2012). Again, he further argued that early childhood experiences of a child can significantly shape the person he/she becomes to be when he grows up. My theory of personality also conquers with Freuds idea of early childhood influences. Freud believed that the experiences that a child goes through between the times he/she is born and at five years old shapes the behaviors he/she will possess for the rest of his/her life on earth. He believed that some of the mental challenges that people face at their adulthood could be traced back to their early years especially between birth and five years. My theory, however, explains that people are influenced by their environment and experiences they go through from the time of birth to the time they reach puberty stage. The concepts of this theory also assert that nature and nurture can influence ones personality significantly. Just like Freud explained in his psychodynamic theory that parental behavior is crucial to the development of a child during the time they are born and as they grow up, my theory also agrees with Freuds idea on this. Parents have a significant impact on the development of a child especially during the early stages of development, between the period of birth and as they grow up (Ryckman, 2012). A child would try to emulate most of the behaviors he/she sees in the parents. Parents presence in their childrens lives contributes a lot to the development of the childs cognitive and personality. This theory also agrees with Freuds psychosexual stages of development; for example, the oral stage where the child learns the nutritional skills from the kind of food he/she is fed. For example, when a child is underfed, he/she becomes dependent to the caregiver and overfeeding, on the other hand, leads to the development of aggressive and dominating characters (Ryckman, 2012, P. 50). Freud argued that children cannot distinguish between themselves and environment; therefore, they depend on the caregiver to help them interpret the environment (Ryckman, 2012, P. 45-46).

This theory also borrowed some concepts from the psychoanalytic theory developed by Jung. The theory borrowed the ego concept of psychoanalytic theory of personality. Everyone is born and interacts with many things in the environment; however, his/her personal fulfillment desire will come from the things that he/she has interacted with. A person is motivated by what he/she thinks to interest him/her (Auerbach & Ho, 2012). However, these things can be obtained from the environment; because he/she has to see the desired object is when he/she will be motivated or driven towards achieving it. Jung came up with the ego to describe the drive that determines a persons personality. A persons desire to achieve something is factored by the collected thoughts that are determined by a common feeling (Ryckman, 2012, P. 80). My theory also adopts the personas concept from Jungs psychoanalytic theory to understand the development of a persons traits. Jung described the persona as the mask that people put on so as to fit in a certain social setting well (Shany & Rankin, 2011). Some people are not bad, but they find themselves fitting well in a bad company because they want to associate with that particular social group. This is what mostly happens in schools; the students have particular groups where each fits. However, there is always one or two groups that almost everyone in the school envies; therefore, someone can decide to put on the mask of a bad guy to fit in that group. This can also shape a persons character traits. As Jung explains in his theory, when someone gets into the mask so much, it might be difficult to get him/her out of it. This theory also asserts that when someone puts the mask that he/she is not for a long time, he/she can end up being that person in the mask.

As mentioned previously that this theory adopts the trait approach to personality, however, it had to borrow some concepts from other theories that we have also mentioned and discussed in the previous section. Now let us examine the trait approach to personality which is the main basis of this theory. Trait approach looks at the development of personality as genetically based. According to the pioneers of this theory such as William Sheldon, a persons character traits can be understood with the help of the body structure. Sheldon argued that a persons body is divided into three main parts; for example, the endomorphy, mesomorphy, and the ectomorphy (Ryckman, 2012). Each of these components plays a fundamental role in the body structure of a person and also helps to interpret their behaviors. Sheldon described the endomorphy as the soft roundness throughout a persons body. Mesomorphy, on the other hand, was described as the parts with bones, muscles and other connective tissues (Ryckman, 2012, P. 260). Lastly, the ectomorphy is the linearity ad fragility in a persons body. All these components have a role to play in the development of ones personality. Trait approach seeks to understand personality based on the physical features or traits that one can see. A person is made up of the genetic tissues which can be seen physically and others need some other machines to be able to see. However, most of the features that we have mentioned can be seen physically; for example, one can see the muscles, linearity of a persons body and the soft roundness of the body. Most of these features are physically visible. According to the proponents of the trait approach, we can use the physical features to explain and understand a persons personality (Ryckman, 2012). Sheldon further explained that a persons somatotype influences the trait development. He argued that a persons somatotype influences the development and expression of the personality traits which goes with the body structure. This theory has also adopted the same concept that people with high fatty tissues are associated with the traits such as sociable, complacent and easy communication of feelings (Ryckman, 2012). Most females bore these traits and based on Sheldons idea that the body structure can be used to interpret such kind of traits; we can associate most females with the above-mentioned traits. The males, on the other hand, can also be understood based on their body structure; for instance, from the physical features that we can see on the males such as muscle, we can associate them with the traits such as bold, aggressive and competitive. Men are considered more aggressive and bold as compared to women; however, these traits are given to either men or women based on the physical features. Allports idea of personality traits also supports Sheldons trait perspective claiming that peoples characteristics are shaped by the physical body structures. According to Allport, mature personality characters do not develop once; they take long before they are revealed or manifested in person. He further argues that the process of development involves abrupt shifts that bring the abnormal and immature personality (Ryckman, 2012).

This theory identifies the development of traits as a process; as Allport argued in his theory that a person is in the process of becoming a state. Peoples behavior change with time as they also grow up and interact with other people or other things in a different environment (Shany & Rankin, 2011). Allport claimed that peoples perception about what they experience shapes their behavior. This theory conquers with Allport's idea that a persons perception of things is mainly determined by the internal forces. However, this does not mean that the external forces or factors do not have a role to play. People are influenced by the environmental factors which are the external forces in this case; however, as Allport claims, the final decision will depend on the persons internal forces which will drive him/her to make such a decision. Just like Freud explained that the environment has a role to play in the development of a person; this theory also asserts that the social environment influences the development of a persons character traits. For example, if a child grows up in an environment where he/she sees or frequently violence, the child is most likely to become violent as well because that is what he/she witnesses around. However, we cannot use this assumption to explain all situations because there are people who grow up in a violent environment but they do not develop the violence and other emotional response traits. Therefore, this theory tries to understand both concepts by integrating the F...