Personality Theories Matrix

NOTE: There are three major issues one must consider regarding the
nature of personality:

■Genetic versus environmental influences ■Conscious versus
unconscious behavior ■Free will versus determinism



Personality Theories Matrix

THEORY

Psychoanalytic

Neo-Freudian

Trait

Biological

Humanistic Behavioral/

Social

Cognitive

School of Thought

(List the factors related to personality development that each school
emphasizes.) The origin of the personality lies in the workings of the
unconscious mind, specifically in the balance among the id, ego, and
superego. Unconscious motives and the conflicts that surround them
influence our behavior, even though we are unaware of their existence.



Freud’s psychosexual stages describe the major themes encountered
during development:

Oral-Focus on oral satisfaction.

Anal-Concern with anus and feces.

Phallic-Fear of castration from father--sexual desires for one’s
mother.

Latency-Absence of strong sexual energy.

Genital-Maturity of sexuality.

Fixation caused by traumatic events during any of the pregenital stages
can result in excessive libido being attached to that stage of
development (i.e., excessively seeking gratification). This fixation
can produce psychological disturbances and impact the development of
one’s personality.









Principles

(In addition to those related to personality, list some important
components of each school of thought.)



Humanism is characterized by the view that human beings possess an
innate tendency to improve and determine their lives by the decisions
they make.

Behavior is goal directed, and emphasis is placed on unique, individual,
subjective experiences.

The natural tendency of human beings to move toward self-actualization
and the realization of our full potential is at the forefront of this
theory.

Rogers views people as basically good or healthy—or at the very least
not bad or ill. He sees mental health as the normal progression of
life, and he sees mental illness, criminality, and other human problems
as distortions of that natural tendency.



Behaviorism emphasizes the difficulty of studying private mental
processes because only outward behavior can be measured.

It suggests that behavior can be understood and controlled in very
precise and predictable ways through principles of conditioning, e.g.,
positive reinforcement, punishment, negative reinforcement, chaining,
shaping, etc.

It emphasizes determinism over free will in that behavior is determined
by inherited capabilities, conditioned responses, and stimuli in a given
situation.



Practitioners Sigmund Freud Alfred Adler

Carl Jung

Erik Erikson

Karen Horney

Harry Stack Sullivan

Erich Fromm Gordon Alport

Henry Murray

Raymond B. Cattell Hans Eysenck

Arnold Buss

Robert Plomin

Carl Rogers

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John B. Watson

B. F. Skinner

Julian Rotter

Albert Bandura George Kelly

Albert Ellis