BEH 225 PERSONALITY THEORIES PAPER

PERSONALITY THEORIES
Russell T. Stade
BEH/225
MAY 10, 2015
MELODIE MILLER
PERSONALITY THEORIES
Have you ever wondered why each person acts and behaves so differently from each other? The reason behind each person’s behavior is through their qualities and characteristics that make them who they are. This combination of qualities and characteristics is called personality. Personality forms each person’s notable disposition or character. The science of psychology has different theories on how personality is measured in each person. The measurement of personality can be explained through multiple theories from different psychologists named Freud, Jung, Rodgers, and Maslow. These four psychologists each have their own ideas to figure out where personality comes from. Comparing these four psychologists point of view will help in the further understanding of personality.
Humanistic psychology was founded by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rodgers in the 1900’s. Humanistic psychology focuses on positive mental health, and the know how that each person has to grow from within themselves through their qualities and strength. Maslow and Rodgers created a theory called self-actualization. Self-actualization is defined as, “the process of establishing oneself as a whole person, able to develop one’s abilities and to understand oneself” (www.dictionary.reference.com). Both Maslow and Rodgers used self-actualization but, each of them took a different approach.
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was an American psychologist who performed a lot of research on the workings of the mind. Using the humanistic approach of psychology, Maslow created the Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid which was a way to measure needs of a person through a pyramid scale. A person would start from the bottom need which was called the psychological needs. The second level was called the safety needs. The third level was called the love and belonging needs. The fourth level was called the esteem needs. The fifth level was the final level of the pyramid (the top) which was called the self-actualization. A person who reaches the self-actualization level is said to have reached their highest human potential which meant that that person was whole and complete. Maslow liked to study famous and successful people who reached the self-actualization of themselves through his pyramid which spoke to the unique qualities of his people of study. Maslow liked to study each self-actualized person because of the positive way that each person would enjoy life in a greater way different from others.
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was an American psychologist (like Maslow) who took the self-actualization theory of Maslow and added to the theory which changed the theory from his point of view. Carl Rogers used the humanistic approach of psychology (like Maslow) also. Rogers felt that a person would self-actualize but, it really depended on the person’s environment allowing them to reach their full potential. Carl Rogers was into the positive nature of humans which meant that he thought people were good and very creative. Rogers came up with the concept of self. The concept of self is based on the idea that a person’s self was made from three parts which were, “the ideal self (what a person aspires to be), self image (the real self), and self worth (the self esteem a person has). (http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-maslow-and-vs-rogers/). Rogers also believed that if a person became self-actualized, that person would be said to have an unconditional positive regard, which meant that that person would be truly loved with no restrictions.
The world of psychology was defined and founded by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. These two individuals used their understanding of the human mind and produced very successful treatments for any person who suffered from distress. In their beginnings with psychology, Freud and Jung where good friends and colleagues who shared the same love for the human mind and the teaching and treatments of the distress of the human mind but, things changed and the two didn’t see eye to eye on their theory. Their differences helped bring more perspectives to the young science.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was a neurologist from Austria who grew up in a Jewish family that was destitute. Freud started studying science in a psychiatry clinic in Vienna, Austria. Upon studying in Paris, France he had an interest in hysteria because of a neurologist named Charcot. Freud and his colleague Breuer published the Studies on Hysteria in 1895 which also got him started in the theory of psycho-analysis. Freud also published The Interpretation of Dreams in 1901 based from his own self-analysis of his dreams. After he finished studying hypnosis and practicing it, Freud started to study human behavior through the unconscious mind which moved him to figure out behavior based from sexual desires of the mind. In 1923, Freud published The Ego and the Id based from the complete make-up of the mind.
Carl Jung (1875-1961) was psychologist from Zurich, Switzerland who was viewed as a protégé by Freud because Jung shared the same views of the unconscious mind that Freud did. Their friendship began from an interview between themselves based from a published work from Jung called, Studies in Words Association. Jung started to come up with his own ideas outside of Freud’s theories which put a damper on their friendship after time. Jung wanted to move from Freud’s theory of sex being the deciding factor of behavior from the unconscious mind and focus on dreams and symbols for his new views of behavior. Jung was most known for his theory of collective unconscious which introduced the idea of personality being caused by being introvert or extrovert. This condition was passed down from ancestors and not learned.
Personality measurement is extremely important and many of the views of psychologists of today take their views from the pioneers of psychology. Humanistic views and Behavioristic views are the backbone of psychology which were started by some great people who did all they could to put psychology on the map. We owe Freud, Jung, Maslow, and Rogers so much gratitude and thanks for making successful strides in their research and study of human minds .They brought the understanding of human personality to all of humanity.

References

https://www.ivcc.edu/uploadedFiles/_faculty/_mangold/Carl%20Jung%20- %20Analytic%20Psychology.pdf http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/self-actualization http://www.apa.org/topics/personality/ http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html http://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html http://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html http://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/freud-vs-jung-similarities-differences.htm http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-maslow-and-vs-rogers/ https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=personality+definition
Coon, D., & Mitterer, J. O. (2013). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning

References: https://www.ivcc.edu/uploadedFiles/_faculty/_mangold/Carl%20Jung%20- %20Analytic%20Psychology.pdf http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/self-actualization http://www.apa.org/topics/personality/ http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html http://www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html http://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html http://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/freud-vs-jung-similarities-differences.htm http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-maslow-and-vs-rogers/ https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=personality+definition Coon, D., & Mitterer, J. O. (2013). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning