Personality Essay, Research Paper

Personality

BY JODY PROUSE

There are over 24 billion individuals on the planet Earth. Each has a story to tell, an interesting past, a distinct taste in music, or maybe even fashion. Each individual person on this planet is unique, and has their own personality. What is a personality? Does everyone have one? How are they distinguished? Since the beginning of the century, psychologists and psychoanalysts alike, have been trying to solve these mysteries. Most of the theories that one relies on today have yet to be proven, but, are taken very seriously by the psychoanalytic world. In the 1990s, a personality is defined as the personal, or individual quality, that makes one person different from another. It is the qualities, the likes, the dislikes, and the quirks that one possesses as a human.

Item 1 Sigmund Freud

In 1895, Sigmund Freud developed one of the most well known theories about personality. He was one of the first to divide the human psyche into 3 parts: the id, the superego, and the ego. He stated that all 3 work together to shape a personality, while progressing through various stages. (See appendix 1). Freud?s analysis of personality enabled psychologists today to analyze their patients better.

A man named Erik Erikson also proposed that personality was developed in stages. Unlike Freud, who claimed that humans develop in 5 stages (Oral, anal, urethral, phallic, and genital), Erikson claimed that humans developed in 8 psychosocial stages of development.

Item 2 Carl Gustav Jung

In 1923, a man named Carl Gustav Jung developed a theory that influenced personality interpretation greatly. He believed that everyone is born with the predisposition for certain personality preferences. (See Appendix 2) He developed the concepts of introversion and extraversion. These terms differentiate two major groups of people from each other. Thus making analysis easier. The extravert personality tends to be more active, open, and love being surrounded by people. The introvert personality, which is the complete opposite, tends to be more contemplative, and enjoys time spent alone with ideas and imagination. Introverts are known to have a version of their “own little world,” or tend to have fantasies that mean more to the individual, than real life. Extreme cases of introverts are autism and schizophrenia. Jung also used other qualities to classify the personality. (See appendix 3).

As Jung?s theory of the human personality progressed into standard classification terminology, a man named Burrhus Frederick Skinner was making a move in the psychoanalytical world. He proposed that an individual?s personality can affected by the environment in which an individual is surrounded, meaning that an individual may change personality type due to environmental influences, memories, feelings, and other external factors.

Now that it has been explained what personality is, and the different theories surrounding the persona, one can figure out how to classify them. In 1942, a woman named Isabel Briggs Meyers decided to develop an instrument that would scientifically explain Jung?s Theory of Personality Preferences. Through experimentation, she developed the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, or the MBTI. The MBTI is used to establish individual preferences and was able to find the differences better. The system that relied heavily on Jung?s typology became standard in the 1960s, and is now used worldwide.

Table 1.1

Extraverted vs. Introverted

Sensing vs. iNtuitive

Thinking vs. Feeling

Judging vs. Perceiving

The test determines which of the 16 standard types an individual is (ENFP, INFP, ENFJ, INFJ, ESTJ, ISTJ, ESFJ, ISFJ, ENTP, INTP, ENTJ, INTJ, ESTP, ISTP, ESFP, or ISFP) . The patient answers a list of multiple choice questions, and the diagnosis is determined upon the results. In the case of the quiz that is enclosed (it is fabricated version of the MBTI), it uses the 8 different aspects of the persona, as stated by Jung. (See table 1.1). An individual may change categories as they mature, as they are not restricted to their category. In combination, these characteristics are normally an accurate reading of a human personality type, and help psychiatrists explain the behaviour in every individual.

In conclusion, psychologists have been trying to explain personality since before the turn of the century, to help them understand the human species better. Freud, Jung, and Skinner revealed important aspects of the human mind to the world, and they are to be thanked. Without them, individuals could not be explained, or understood. Without Isabel Briggs Meyers , scientists would have no way of diagnosing the separate personality types, and would still be in the dark. With their discoveries, one is able to absorb the various aspects that make each and every human an individual, for no two people are alike.

Appendix 1

Freud?s Psychosexual Stages, Fixation, and Regression

StageErotogenic ZoneDuration; DescriptionSource of ConflictPersonality Characteristics

OralMouth, lips, tongueAbout age 0-1-1/2 years. Primarily involves passive incorporation, but becomes aggressive when the teeth emerge and biting is possible.FeedingOral behaviour such as smoking and eating; passivity and gullibility (and the ambivalent opposites).

AnalAnusAbout age 1-3 years. Some control over the environment is provided by the expelling or withholding the feces. Associated with hostile, sadistic behaviour.Toilet TrainingOrderliness, parsimoniousness, obstinacy (and the opposites).

UrethralUrethra (canal carrying urine from the bladder)Not clearly distinct from the anal stage).Bed WettingAmbition (and the opposite).

PhallicPenis, ClitorisAbout age 2-5 years.Oedipus complexVanity, recklessness (and the opposites).

Sexual impulses become de-emphasized during the latency period, which occurs at about age 5-12+ years and is not a true psychosexual stage.

GenitalPenis, VaginaAdulthood; the goal of normal development.The inevitable difficulties of lifeA more sincere interest in others, effective sublimations, realistic enjoyments.

Fixation: Occurs when the libido remains attached to the pregenital psychosexual stages. A certain amount is inevitable, but too much will result in psychopathology.

Regression: The reverse flow of libido back to an earlier psychosexual stage or object-choice. As with fixation, a certain amount is normal. The most likely objects of regression are ones that were strongly fixated.

Appendix 2

Jung?s Structure of Personality

PersonalCollective

ConsciousThe ego: a complex of conscious ideas that constitutes the center of one?s awareness, and provided feeling of identity and continuity. Begins to from at about the fourth year of life, resulting from bodily sensations and experiences that are attributed to one?s subjective sense of identity. The only part of the self of which one is consciously aware. Also referred to as the ego-complex.The persona: The outward face of personality; a protective facade designed to meet the demands of society while concealing one?s true inner nature. Facilitates contacts with people by indicating what may be expected from them.

UnconsciousThe personal unconscious: includes material not within one?s awareness because it has been forgotten, repressed, or perceived subliminally. The layer between the collective unconscious and consciousness; begins to form at birth. Includes the primitive, guilt-laden, unwelcome aspects of personality, (the shadow), plus any positive characteristics that may be incompatible with the persona (and therefore with consciousness). The collective (transpersonal) unconscious: a storehouse of latent predispositions to apprehend the world in particular ways (archetypes), inherited from our ancestral past; thus, present at birth. The deepest, most inaccessible layer of the psyche. Includes the persona and shadow archetypes (among others), which facilitate the development of the corresponding representations elsewhere in the personality.

Appendix 3

Jung?s Psychological Types

FunctionsAttitudes

ExtraversionIntroversion

ThinkingEmphasizes interpreting and understanding facts about the external world; rational rules, intellectual conclusions, “oughts,” “musts.” May be a discoverer or problem solver (Darwin, Einstein), social reformer, public prosecutor; dogmatic or fanatic. More common among men. Unconscious is strongly introverted, feeling.Emphasizes interpreting and understanding subjective ideas. May be a philosopher (Kant), existential psychologist, absentminded professor; impractical, stubborn, overly sensitive to criticism. If male, may fear women. Unconscious is strongly extraverted, feeling.

FeelingEmphasizes judgments that conform to external values. Conservative; genuinely accepts popular standards of all kinds. Sociable, but may seem flighty, capricious, ostentatious. More common among women. Unconscious is strongly introverted, thinking.Emphasizes judgments related to internal, subjective conditions. Nonconformist; views often contrary to popular opinion. Outwardly cold, reserved, inscrutable; often has powerful hidden emotions. More common among women. Unconscious is strongly extraverted, thinking.

SensationEmphasizes perceiving the external world as it actually is. Realistic, unimaginative, sensual, pleasure-seeking. More common among men. Unconscious is strongly introverted, intuitive.Emphasizes the subjective result of what is perceived. Regards the external world as banal, trite. May be modern artist, musician. Unconscious is strongly extraverted, intuitive.

IntuitionEmphasizes seeking new possibilities in the external world. May be speculator, entrepreneur, social climber, unable to persist in one job or activity; lacks good judgment. More common among women. Unconscious is strongly introverted, sensing.Emphasizes seeking new positions in the subjective psyche. May develop brilliant new insights, or be a mystical dreamer, prophet, crank, or “misunderstood genius.” Impractical. Unconscious is strongly extraverted, sensing.

Bibliography

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