Beh/225 Week 6 Checkpoint -- Personality Assessment and Theories

Week 6 Checkpoint: Personality Assessment and Theories

There are four main theories of personality as it is studied today. There is Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Trait, and Social Learning. These four represent most all of the assessment tests that we use as well. The first, Psychodynamic theory is: a psychological approach to personality assessment. The basis of the psychodynamic theory is measurement of the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and motives. This theory also measures conflicts and represses problems from early life (Axia College, 2010, Week 6 Reading).The psychodynamic theory assesses through use of the projective tests and personal interview methods. The second theory is the Humanistic theory, which is: a theory that believes that personality is a personal drive to do better for one’s own benefit. The humanistic theory thrives on the belief that the personality is a drive toward personal growth and higher levels of functioning (Axia College, 2010, Week 6 Reading). The humanistic theory assesses through use of the objective tests and personal interviews. The third theory is the Trait theory, which is: a theory that believes personality is related to some permanent dispositions within each individual.
The trait theory would explain the many differences in our personalities such as how we each think and act. The trait theory supports the belief that there are individual characteristics. With this belief, the individual characteristics are believed to be the reason for our individual ways of thinking and acting. The trait theory is assessed through use of the objective tests (Axia College, 2010, Week 6 Reading). The fourth and last theory is the Social Learning theory. This theory thrives on the belief that personality is shaped by past reinforcement and punishment.
The social learning theory also supports that the personality is shaped by observing what happens to other people around an individual. The social learning theory is assessed through use of personal interviews, objective tests, and observations (Axia College, 2010, Week 6 Reading). The test taken at similarminds.com was an objective personality assessment test. I think that these types of tests can be fairly accurate. This is only as true as the individual is honest on the answers within the test.
The results on the test of my personality were: “ENTJ, ‘Field Marshall’ The basic driving force and need is to lead. Tend to seek a position of responsibility and enjoys being an executive. 1.8% of total population”. I think this test was pretty accurate in assessment of my personality. I think the test could be more accurate if taken multiple times. I also think a great help would be to add true definitions of the words so that the answers could be better chosen.

References:
Axia College. (2010). Week 6 Reading. Chapter 11. Psychology: An Introduction (12th ed.) Retrieved from Axia College, BEH/225 – Introduction to Behavioral Science course website.

References: Axia College. (2010). Week 6 Reading. Chapter 11. Psychology: An Introduction (12th ed.) Retrieved from Axia College, BEH/225 – Introduction to Behavioral Science course website.