McAdams

Dan McAdams and Jennifer Pals stated that it is crucial that personality researchers move beyond the success of the “Big Five” trait theory and develop an integrative vision for understanding the whole person. Toward that end, they proposed a new big five for conceptualizing personality as…

1.     an individual’s unique variation on the general evolutionary design for human nature, expressed as a developing pattern of

2.      dispositional traits

3.     characteristic adaptation

4.     self-defining life narratives, complexly and differentially situated

5.     In culture and social context."

In regard to the first domain, they describe the importance of human evolutionary history and the insights from evolutionary psychology in delineating the general architecture of the human mind. For the second domain, they refer to the Big Five traits. Characteristic adaptations, the third domain and focus of this post, refers to the feelings, goals, strategies, values, tendencies and many other aspects of human individuality that reflect the general pattern of responding that individuals exhibit in response to certain situations. Importantly, McAdams and Pals note that “there exists no definitive, Big Five–like list of these kinds of constructs." It is this gap I am seeking to fill here. The fourth domain refers to a person’s self-conscious identity. People construe their lives as stories and these stories regulate behavior and help people connect with and navigate within the larger social and cultural context (e.g., connecting with a political or national identity). The fifth and final domain is the sociocultural context in which personality develops, which refers to the large scale systems of justifications and traditions in which people are immersed.

Goldberg

Dr. Goldberg is actively involved in research on individual differences, including studies of personality structure, personality measurement and assessment, and the usefulness of assessment instruments for predicting such important human outcomes as physical and mental health. Goldberg’s theory includes a systematic study of personality traits, development of personality, and personality assessment is known as personality psychology Personality has been studied for thousands of years. Hippocrates, for example, argued that there were four distinct temperaments. Freud's theory of psycho-sexual development was also a theory of personality and personality development.

In modern psychology, there are several schools of thought regarding personality. Perhaps the best known is Lewis Goldberg’s "Big Five" theory of personality which includes:

1.     Conscientiousness

2.     Openness to new experiences

3.     Agreeableness

4.     Neuroticism

5.     Extraversion

Cattell

Raymond Cattell was born in a small town in England and he developed an interest in science early on in life. He went on to become the first person from his family to attend college, earning his BS in chemistry from the Kings College when he was just 19. After witnessing the devastation of World War I, Cattell developed an interest in using science to solve human problems. He was also influenced by other thinkers of the time including George Bernard Shaw, and H. G. Wells. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from University College, London in 1929.

However, his exploration in identity, inspiration, and insight, Raymond Cattell's work with multivariate investigation left an enduring imprint on brain research. While prior examination in brain science had concentrated on contemplating single variables in disconnection, Cattell spearheaded the utilization of multivariate investigation that permitted scientists to view individual's in general and study parts of human conduct that couldn't be considered in a lab setting. Cattell is likewise understood for his 16 Personality Factors, in which he and various associates used element investigation to recognize 16 distinctive basic parts of identity. He along these lines built up the 16PF Personality Questionnaire, which is still broadly utilized today.

In a 2002 review of eminent psychologists, Raymond Cattell's professional writings ranked as the seventh most frequently cited in psychology journal over the past 100 years. Psychologists were also surveyed as asked to name who they felt was the most eminent psychologist of the 20th century. Cattell was ranked at number 16. In short, he provided a model of the complete psychologist in an age of specialization. It may be said that Cattell stands without peer in his creation of a unified theory of individual differences integrating intellectual, temperamental, and dynamic domains of personality. Overall, he must be considered among a very small handful of people in this century who have most influenced the shape of psychology as a science."

Allport

Gordon Allport founded the trait theory in 1936. Allport did not discover this theory based upon other theories. He discovered or founded this theory by analyzing or studying every trait within the English dictionary. Allport's personality Theory separates all traits into three basic subcategories. Cardinal, secondary, and central traits. This trait theory suggests that individual personalities are composed broad dispositions. It is also based mainly on the difference between individuals. The combination and interaction of various traits forms a personality that is unique to each individual, this theory focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics.

• The three major traits that are divided are:
• cardinal traits- are traits that dominate an individual’s entire life, often times this individual would become known for these traits. Allport suggested that these traits were rare and mainly developed later on in life.
• Central traits- are general characteristics that form the basic foundation for personality. They are traits that many people would use to describe other individuals such as "intelligent, honest, shy."
• Secondary Traits- Basic Traits related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under certain events. Some simple examples of this trait would be getting anxious when speaking to a group or impatient when waiting in line.

•  Strengths of Allport's Personality Theory
• Strict reliance on objective and statistical data.
• Has no bias compared to other theories
•  Freud's relationship with his mother and Jun's belief in mythology could have been possible influences of their theories.

• Describes each and every trait.
• Easy to use and have a number of assessment devices.
• Provides an easy to understand continuum that gives a large amount of information about a person's personality about the self and the world.

• Weaknesses of Allport's personality Theory
• Poor predictor of the future.
• Does not address development of the traits.

o   This trait theory is stuck explaining about present events rather than looking towards the past or future.

• Does not provide a way to change bad traits.

o   Measures the traits but explains no way how to change them.

• This theory seeks to explain or list what traits people have throughout the duration of their life.

Lemon Juice Test

Lemon juice experiment It’s to do with a part of your brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which response to stimuli like food, or social contact. For example, it controls the amount of saliva you produce in response to food. A good food stimulus islemon juice. Squeezing lemon juice on to your tongue makes your mouth water, and it does this because your RAS is responding to the lemon juice.The amount of saliva you produce after putting a drop of lemon juice on your tongue might tell you something about your personality. Scientists now think introverts have increased activity in their RAS and therefore increased production of saliva. The theory is that the RAS in introverts has a high level of activity, even when it isn’t being stimulated. So it only needs a small stimulus to produce a large response. This means that introverts are likely to produce a large amount of saliva in response to lemon juice. But because the RAS also reacts to social contact, introverts react more strongly to meeting people too. In extroverts, on the other hand, there is a low level of activity in the RAS when it isn’t stimulated, so they require a much larger stimulus to generate a response. So they usually produce less saliva in response to lemon juice than introverts, but are more comfortable with social contact.re Try this simple test with your friends and family and compare your results. The Test You will need: ·        Lemon juice ·        Kitchen scales ·        Cotton wool balls This is what you need to do: ·        Put a large drop of lemon juice on your tongue and swill it around your mouth for ten seconds ·        Use the cotton wool balls to mop up all the saliva that you produce ·        When you’ve mopped it all up, put the cotton wool balls on your kitchen scales and see how much they weigh ·        Compare your results with your friends and family, and see whose weighs the most We expect that you will find: ·        That introverts produce a lot of saliva in response to lemon juice ·        That extroverts don’t produce much saliva in response to lemon juice Now try our personality test and our ‘necker cube’ experiment to see if they say you are more of an extrovert or an introvert. And to find out whether the results from the lemon juice experiment tally up. In our test, the introverts produced 50% more saliva than the extroverts. But it’s worth bearing in mind that there are lots of other factors that affect saliva production, such as time of day and how thirsty you are. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/articles/personalityandindividuality/lemons.shtml My results for this test was that I am extroverted.

Eysenck Test

According to my results, I am 60% extroverted and 50% neurotic. I don't disagree with the extroverted, however, I always though I was a little more stable. I believe if the answer choices were a little more realistic, i.e. sometimes, instead of yes and no, I would have had a completely different result. 

http://www.liaf-onlus.org/test/eysencks-personality-inventory-epi-extroversionintroversion/1knb663fe862eebe4b529b2dbd81532d6ec/

Eysenck

Hans Eysenck was born on March 4, 1916 in Berlin. His mother was an actress, and his father was a nightclub entertainer. With the rise of Nazi power in Germany, Eysenck moved to England in 1934 to attend University College in London. He received his PhD in 1940 while working at the college in the psychology department. Eysenck developed the concept of neuroticism, arguing that it was a biological form of emotional instability. He often argued that much of personality is genetically determined. He argued against psychoanalysis, claiming that it was unscientific. Instead, he favored a behavioral approach to therapy. His theory of personality compares two central factors, extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N), from which four basic personality types flow. His personality types are based on Hippocrates's personality formulation:

·        High N, High E results in a choleric personality—an assertive, leader-like person.

·        High N, Low E results in a melancholic personality—a cautious and introverted type.

·        Low N, High E results in a sanguine personality—the sociable and charismatic type.

·        Low N, Low E results in a phlegmatic personality—a consistent, calm person.

Eysenck often had many controversial views on the nature of intelligence, arguing that intelligence was at least partially genetic and those different racial groups had different levels of intelligence. These views remained controversial for his entire life, and he was once punched in the nose by a protester while giving a lecture.

Maslow

Maslow’s humanistic psychology is based on the belief that people are born with the desire to achieve their maximum potential or reach a point Maslow termed self-actualization. Maslow chose to focus his research on the experiences of emotionally healthy people, and he identified their “peak experiences,” moments when they were in complete harmony and unison with the world around them. Rather than focusing on deficiencies, humanistic psychologists argue in favor of finding people's strengths.

Maslow argued that his philosophy was a complement to Freudian psychology. He pointed out that, while Sigmund Freud focused on treating “sick” people, his approach focused on helping people discover positive outcomes and choices.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is the framework around which humanistic psychology is built. Like other theories of development, it is a stage-based theory. A person must complete one level of the hierarchy to move on to the next, but not all people move through all stages. The original five-stage hierarchy was expanded to a seven-stage model in the 1970s with the addition of cognitive and aesthetic needs:

1. Physiological Needs: These include the most basic needs that are vital to survival, such as the need for water, air, food, and sleep. Maslow believed that these needs are the most basic and instinctive needs in the hierarchy because all needs become secondary until these physiological needs are met.

2. Security Needs: These include needs for safety and security. Security needs are important for survival, but they are not as demanding as the physiological needs. Examples of security needs include a desire for steady employment, health care, safe neighborhoods, and shelter from the environment.

3. Social Needs: These include needs for belonging, love, and affection. Maslow described these needs as less basic than physiological and security needs. Relationships such as friendships, romantic attachments, and families help fulfill this need for companionship and acceptance, as does involvement in social, community, or religious groups.

4. Esteem Needs: After the first three needs have been satisfied, esteem needs becomes increasingly important. These include the need for things that reflect on self-esteem, personal worth, social recognition, and accomplishment.

5. Self-actualizing Needs: This is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others, and interested fulfilling their potential.

Maslow argued that self-actualized people are driven by metamotivation: rather than seeking fulfillment of basic needs, they are driven to fulfill their full potential.

Characteristics of Self-Actualized People

In addition to describing what is meant by self-actualization in his theory, Maslow also identified some of the key characteristics of self-actualized people:

• Acceptance and Realism: Self-actualized people have realistic perceptions of themselves, others and the world around them.

• Problem-centering: Self-actualized individuals are concerned with solving problems outside of themselves, including helping others and finding solutions to problems in the external world. These people are often motivated by a sense of personal responsibility and ethics.

• Spontaneity: Self-actualized people are spontaneous in their internal thoughts and outward behavior. While they can conform to rules and social expectations, they also tend to be open and unconventional.

• Autonomy and Solitude: Another characteristic of self-actualized people is the need for independence and privacy. While they enjoy the company of others, these individuals need time to focus on developing their own individual potential.

• Continued Freshness of Appreciation: Self-actualized people tend to view the world with a continual sense of appreciation, wonder and awe. Even simple experiences continue to be a source of inspiration and pleasure.

• Peak Experiences: Individuals who are self-actualized often have what Maslow termed peak experiences, or moments of intense joy, wonder, awe and ecstasy. After these experiences, people feel inspired, strengthened, renewed or transformed.

Maslow's concept of self-actualization continues to be a part of contemporary psychology. Although only a small portion of therapists identify as humanists, therapists often encourage their clients to embrace humanistic values by pursuing goals and dreams. Self-actualization is also a part of the colloquial lexicon, with many people using the term when they're fulfilling a long-term goal or pursuing activities that lead to greater happiness and fulfillment. Maslow himself called his work positive psychology, rather than humanist psychology, and positive psychology has recently gained in popularity.

Rogers

Carl Rogers was the 20^th century humanistic psychologist and founder of person-centered psychology. Carl Rogers was born and raised in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. He was the fourth of six children of Walter Rogers and Julia Cushing. Rogers was schooled in a strict, religious environment. His original plan was to study agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with an undergraduate focus on history and religion. Rogers began his professional career in child psychology in 1930 as the director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Rogers moved to Chicago in 1945 to work as a professor. He established a counseling center there and published results of his research in Client-Centered Therapy, in 1951 and Psychotherapy and Personality Change in 1954. Later, Rogers returned to the University of Wisconsin, where he remained until he moved to California in 1963 to join the staff of Western Behavioral Sciences Institute. 

While teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rogers wrote one of his most famous books, On Becoming a Person, in which he claimed that people have their own resources for healing and personal growth. Rogers presented the ideas of compatibility, empathic comprehension, acknowledgment, and unequivocal positive respect into the helpful environment to upgrade the result for customers. He urged advocates to show each of these perspectives with a specific end goal to help the customer pick up understanding, perceive emotions, convey what needs be ideal, and accomplish self-acknowledgment and self-completion.

Rogers claimed that a self-actualized, fully functioning person had seven key traits:

1.     Openness to experience and an abandonment of defensiveness. 

2.     An existential lifestyle that emphasizes living in the moment without distorting it. 

3.     Trust in yourself.

4.     The ability to freely make choices. Fully functioning people take responsibility for their own choices, and are highly self-directed. 

5.     A life of creativity and adaptation, including an abandonment of conformity. 

6.     The ability to behave reliably and make constructive choices. 

7.     A full, rich life that involves the full spectrum of human emotions. 

Roger's person-centered approach to therapy has widespread acceptance and is applied in areas of education, cultural relations, nursing, interpersonal relations, and other service and aid-oriented professions and arenas. Rogers' psychological theories have affected cutting edge psychotherapy and have specifically affected the field of emotional well-being. Rogers additionally promoted humanism in psychology. The humanistic psychology development concentrated on the human experience of flexibility, decision, qualities, and objectives.

Erickson

Erik Erikson was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1902. While he was a young child Erikson struggled with his identity because he felt his stepfather never fully accepted him as he did his own daughters. Erikson grew up using his stepfather’s surname; he eventually adopted the name Erikson in 1939. After meeting Anna Freud while working in Vienna, Erikson decided to pursue the field of psychoanalysis.

Erikson affected psychology by developing Sigmund Freud's unique five phases of advancement. Spearheading the investigation of the life cycle, Erikson trusted that every individual advanced through eight phases of improvement. Erikson emphasized that the environment played a major role in self-awareness, adjustment, human development, and identity. Each of Erikson's stages of psychosocial development focus on a central conflict. In Erikson's theory of development, children don't consequently finish every phase on a foreordained calendar. Rather, individuals face summed up difficulties all through life, and the routes in which they answer these difficulties figure out if they grow facilitate or stagnate at a specific phase of development. Erikson's eight stages and related difficulties incorporate:

Eugenics

A film about Eugenics. Its not a great topic and a difficult movie to watch, however it is important to understand what went on and still does. 

Fromm

Erich Fromm was born in Germany in 1900, the only child of orthodox Jewish parents. From a young age Fromm was highly influenced by the bible, Freud, and Marx, as well as by socialist ideology. He believed that humans have been shifted away from their ancient connections with nature and left with no powerful instincts to adapt to a changing world. But because humans have gained the ability to reason, they can think about their isolated condition, a situation Fromm considered the human dilemma.

According to Fromm, our human dilemma cannot be solved by satisfying our animal needs. It can only be addressed by fulfilling our uniquely human needs, an accomplishment that moves us toward a reunion with the natural world. Fromm identified five of these distinctively human or existential needs. 
A. Relatedness
First is relatedness, which can take the form of (1) submission, (2) power, and (3) love. Love, or the ability to unite with another while retaining one's own individuality and integrity, is the only relatedness need that can solve our basic human dilemma.
B. Transcendence
Being thrown into the world without their consent, humans have to transcend their nature by destroying or creating people or things. Humans can destroy through malignant aggression, or killing for reasons other than survival, but they can also create and care about their creations.
C. Rootedness
Rootedness is the need to establish roots and to feel at home again in the world. Productively, rootedness enables us to grow beyond the security of our mother and establish ties with the outside world. With the nonproductive strategy, we become fixated and afraid to move beyond the security and safety of our mother or a mother substitute.
D. Sense of Identity
The fourth human need is for a sense of identity, or an awareness of ourselves as a separate person. The drive for a sense of identity is expressed nonproductively as conformity to a group and productively as individuality.
E. Frame of Orientation
By frame of orientation, Fromm meant a road map or consistent philosophy by which we find our way through the world. This need is expressed nonproductively as a striving for irrational goals and productively as movement toward rational goals

Fromm recognized three major personality disorders:

1. Necrophilia, or the love of death and the hatred of all humanity.

2. Malignant narcissism, or a belief that everything belonging to one's self is of great value and anything belonging to others is worthless.

3.Incestuous symbiosis, or an extreme dependence on one's mother or mothersurrogate.

Fromm believed that humans were "freaks of the universe" because they lacked strong animal instincts while having the capacity to reason. In a word, his perspective rated average on free choice, optimism, unconscious influences, and uniqueness; low on causality; and high on social impacts. The quality of Fromm's hypothesis is his clear compositions on a wide scope of human issues. As a scientific theory, however, nonetheless, Fromm's hypothesis rates low on its capacity to create inquire about and to fit adulteration; it rates low on handiness to the professional, interior consistency, and stinginess.

Myers&Briggs Personality Test

The main function of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI^®) personality test is to make the theory of psychological types described by Carl Jung understandable and useful in people's lives. The core of the theory is that much outwardly random difference in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals desire to use their perception and judgment.

My Result:

Take the test at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp 

Repopulating the Depopulated Pages of Social Psychology

The article, Repopulating the Depopulated Pages of Social Psychology by Michael Billig discussed the ways in which social psychology is written and represented in academic journals. Billing argues that the journals are `depopulated' writings. He later discusses approached to “repopulate” them. Multiple issues arise within this article including the use of multiple verbal devices are outlined, such as `variable vagueness' in describing subjects (pg 311). These verbal devices are not discussed as working defects, but as resources for accomplishing depopulation. Although the positive political plan behind Michael Billig's task is to be praised, his investigation can be challenged on functional, down to business, mental, epistemological, additionally on political grounds. It is contended that privileging people and their involvement in records of exploration raises the twin phantoms of independence and humanism, and undermines to under privilege different levels of `reality' and clarification past the domain of awareness and individual personality. Regardless of the fact that depersonalization can mean a degrading practice, it can likewise be utilized to reference the constructive parts of aggregate character, comprehension and activity. It can be recognized that the experimental method may `depersonalize' and `dehumanize' by subjecting individuals to panoptic power, attempts to free subjects in practice or presentation may respectively undermine the method or deceive us about it (pg 316). It can be argued that trustworthiness about the purpose of power in experimental research may be a better policy than re-population in itself.

Billig, M. "Repopulating the Depopulated Pages of Social Psychology." Theory & Psychology 4.3 (1994): 307-35. Web. 

Teo and Danziger

          Reading the article by Thomas Teo, I’ve learned that epistemological violence is the data interpretation of social-scientific data on “the other.” It is created when empirical data is interpreted as showing inferiority of or problematizes the “other.” Although some data allows for equally practical unconventional interpretations. The term epistemological violence implies that epistemology and integrities might not be different categories but actually belong together. Also that epistemological problems can be ethical issues as well.   I do agree with Teo when he argues epistemological violence should not be considered a hate crime, however, I believe it is morally wrong for one to degrade a specific group due to their interpretations, especially when data provides equality among them.

            The article by Danziger outlines the history of psychological research methodology from the nineteenth century to the development of currently favored styles of research. Danziger considers methodology as a kind of social practice rather than a simple matter of technique. His historical examination is mainly concerned with such topics as the development of the social structure of the research relationship between experimenters and their subjects, as well as the role of methodology in the relationship of investigators to each other and to a wider social context. Which can be exemplified by epistemological violence and how research can segregate and harm specific groups. Another major theme addresses the relationship between the social practice of research and the nature of the product that is the outcome of this practice.

Danziger, K., The Historical Formation Of Selves, Ashmore, Richard D. (Ed); Jussim, Lee J. (Ed), (1997). Self and identity: Fundamental issues. Rutgers series on self and social identity, Vol. 1., (pp. 137-159). New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press, xii, 242 pp.

Teo, T. (2010). What is Epistemological Violence in the Empirical Social Sciences? Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(5), 295-303. 

Healing Through Self Domination By Cushman

   In this chapter, Cushman discusses the two major views of madness that shaped the principles of asylums throughout to eighteenth and nineteenth century. These views were the loss of reason, created in the eighteenth century and the lack of self-discipline, created in the nineteenth century (102). Women within these eras were viewed as the representation of irrationality, they were more emotional, fragile, passive, sexually excessive, and dangerous if not controlled (107). Doctors and psychiatrist of these times blamed many psychological issues on the biology of women. Many of these issues were linked with hysteria or an “irritated or infected uterus” (106). Women were taught to conquer their female nature, accept her place in society, and dominate and control he inherently irrational, potentially dangerous nature. Unlike most psychologist of his time, Freud knew that domination itself was problematic. He believe too much oppression and dominance would lead to chaos and disasters (113). Freud argued that the self was actually not in control, it was constantly influenced by unconscious forces, the mind versus body.  Women today have more control of who they are, they have more opportunity to express anger, rage, etc. without being like to biological or psychological illnesses. However, women today are still oppressed in multiple ways, and yet we as a society turn a blind eye to the oppression that physically and emotionally harm women as a gender and as individuals.

Cushman, P. (n.d.). Healing Through Self Domination. In Constructing the Self, Constructing America (pp. 102-116).

Horney

Personally one of my favorites is Karen Horney, who viewed psychology from a feminist perspective. In Blankenese, Germany, on September 16, 1885 Karen Horney was born. She attended medical school, received her medical degree in 1911, and began studying psychoanalysis. Horney later moved to the United States in the 1930s and wrote two works that were both influential and controversial, The Neurotic Personality of Our Time and New Ways in Psychoanalysis, which strayed gradually from Sigmund Freud's work. She died in New York City on December 4, 1952. Although she was committed to many elements of Freudian theory, Horney disagreed with Freud's view of female psychology. She denied what she viewed as male bias in psychoanalytic thought, arguing that the foundation of female mental disorder might lie in the male-dominated cultural context surrounding the development of Freudian theory. She presented the concept of womb envy, proposing that male envy of pregnancy, nursing, and motherhood, women's primary role in creating and sustaining life, led men to claim dominance in other areas of life. Horney continues to be influential among psychiatric professionals and therapists, as well as scholars of gender and feminism, over the decades.

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        Horney identified ten neurotic needs that characterize neurotics in their attempts to combat anxiety.

1. Neurotic need for affection and approval 
2. Neurotic need for a powerful partner 
3. Neurotic need to restrict one’s life within narrow boundaries 
4. Neurotic need for power 
5. Neurotic need to exploit others
6.  Neurotic need for social recognition or prestige 
7. Neurotic need for personal admiration 
8. Neurotic need for ambition and personal achievement
9. Neurotic need for self-sufficiency 
10. Neurotic need for perfection and unassailable 

These needs are boiled down to three neurotic trends, including; 

1. Moving toward people (needs 1 & 2) 
2. Moving against people (needs 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7)
3.  Moving away from people (needs 8, 9, & 10)