Psychodynamic theories
Psychodynamic (also called psychoanalytic) theories explain human behaviour
in terms of interaction between the various components of personality.
Sigmund Freud was the founder of this school. Freud drew on the physics
(thermodynamics) of his day to coin the term psychodynamics: based on
the popular ideas of conversion of heat into mechanical energy and vice
versa, he proposed the conversion of psychic energy into behaviour. He
broke the human personality down to three significant components: the
ego, superego, and id. According to Freud, personality is shaped by the
interactions of these three components.
Behaviorist theories
Behaviorists explain personality in terms of reactions to external stimuli.
This school of thought was initiated by B. F. Skinner. According to these
theories, people's behaviour is formed by processes such as operant conditioning.
Cognitive and social-cognitive theories
In cognitivism behaviour is explained as guided by cognitions (e.g. expectations)
about the world, and especially those about other people. Albert Bandura,
a social learning theorist suggested that the forces of memory and emotions
worked in conjunction with environmental influences.
Humanistic theories
In humanistic psychology it is emphasized that people have free will and
that they play an active role in determining how they behave. Accordingly,
humanistic psychology focuses on subjective experiences of persons instead
of factors that determine behaviour. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were
proponents of this view.
Other theories
There are many other views on personality psychology, one of them George
Kelly's personal construct theory. Other important contributors to the
field are Anna Freud, Erik Erikson, Otto Rank, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney,
Albert Ellis, Erich Fromm, Hans Eysenck, Snygg and Combs, Ludwig Binswanger,
Medard Boss, Viktor Frankl, Rollo May, and Jean Piaget. The fields of
evolutionary psychology and Buddhist Psychology are also of interest in
this context.
Personality tests
Types of personality tests include the Holland Codes, the Rorschach test,
the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator, NEO PI-R, and the Thematic Apperception Test. Critics have
pointed to the Forer effect to suggest that some of these appear to be
more accurate and discriminating than they really are.
Personality psychology is often closely associated with social psychology.
Brain Research
Around the 1990s, neuroscience entered the domain of personality psychology.
Whereas previous efforts for identifying personality differences relied
upon simple, direct, human observation, neuroscience introduced powerful
brain analysis tools like Electroencephalography (EEG), Positron Emission
Tomography (PET), and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to
this study. One of the founders of this area of brain research is Richard
Davidson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Davidson's research
lab has focused on the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala
in manifesting human personality. In particular, this research has looked
at hemispheric asymmetry of activity in these regions.
In December 2005, a self-described "hacker" posted, for free
download, a partially finished book entitled "Personality and the
Brain". This book, which relies in part on the research of Mr. Davidson,
hypothesizes that the Enneagram theory of human personality appears supported
by the emerging findings of neuroscience. In particular, this book relies
on studies concerning PFC and amygdala asymmetry. As of December 2005,
however, this book's hypothesis had not yet been tested.
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