My Future Journey

My journey points my towards continuing my education but also graduating this year from Riviera University.  I will also continue to look at my personality.  Overall, I believe I have a really good personality.  I am an outgoing person, but also know when to be serious when I need to be.  I am a strong individual, and will always get through anything along my path of life.  I think by doing this blog, it has really helped me to see the different theorists in psychology, and how my personality relates with each theorists development of personality.  As I graduate I will be working fulltime.  I will also be heading for my Master degree in counseling.  As I am getting older I will continue to always think about my personality, and also let it be something that I am proud of!

Sigmund Freud

Freud Discovers The Unconscious!

Sigmund Freud is a very known psychologist that is well know for the psychoanalytic approach and his theory of personality.  Freud`s work and theories helped shaped people`s views of childhood, personality, memory, sexuality, and therapy.  He thought of many things through a sexual manner.  Freud discovers the unconscious behavior which is when you are not responsible for much of your everyday behavior.  This is part of the psychoanalytic perspective.  Freud also added the structural model which divides the personality into the id, ego, and the superego.  The id starts at birth.  it is the selfish art in an individual, when you are only concerned with satisfying your own needs.  the next step in personality is the ego which is to satisfy one`s id impulses.  also, the ego is when you keep the impulses in the unconscious.  A person`s ego moves among the conscious, preconscious, and the unconscious parts of an individuals mind.  The superego  represents the parent`s values and standards.  The superego puts on more restrictions on what one can and cannot do (Burger, 2011, p.40-45).

I feel that I have developed greatly from my id, ego, and superego.  I am not a selfish individual, so I believe that my id have helped me with my ego.  I feel that I have a strong ego.  My ego helps satisfy any id impulses.  My ego helps me lessen any tension that I may have in life.  My ego helps me deal with responsibilities on the daily basis.  My ego is based on my id, which helps to satisfy my id's desires.  I continue to go into my superego when I need to make the right judgments, like knowing what is right from wrong.  For example, when I am trying to make a decision, I know now which is right from wrong, and I always go with the right answer.  I always try to make the good judgments in life.  I want to do what is best for me (Burger, 2011, p.40-45).

Strengths: Gives a strong concept of the id, ego, and superego, and good theory of defense mechanisms.

Weaknesses: I do not like how his stages of development is based off of sexual desires.  I don't like how he always thinking sexual.

 



Alfred Adler

Nicole is middle in her birth order!

Alfred Adler developed his own society, and established his own journal.  Adler called his approach individual psychology.  His approach on individual psychology was about parental influence on personality development, and the effects of birth order. Adler was the first person to emphasize the role of birth order to better shape personality.  To start off firstborn children are said to be different in personality from middle and last-born children.  

Firstborn children are most likely to have excessive attention from their parents and also pampered them.  Middle children don`t have the obligation of being pampered since their is an older sibling in their family.  Middle children are the highest achievers growing up.  Last born children have their problems as children.  However, they do get pampered by their family members for being last-born.  People also say that they get away with a lot growing up (Burger, 2011, p. 99).

     When reading this section in the text about birth order it made me think of how my siblings and I connect with each birth order the way Adler was describing them.  I have an older brother and sister and a younger brother.  It put me in the middle.  My brother who is the oldest and my sister who is the second oldest played different roles as Adler was describing them.  With my brother being the oldest he was not the one to get all of the attention or pampering.  He also was not a “problem child.”  He kept to himself a lot.  My older sister is seven years younger than my older brother.  Growing up my parents had a hard time with her.  She didn`t like school, or work.  She was always difficult for my parents when she was growing up.

            With me being the middle child, I was never pampered growing up.  Also, I never gave my parents a hard time like my sister did.  I wouldn’t consider myself a higher achiever, but I am trying to do what will be best for me when I am older.  My older brother and sister never went to college, but that is not for everyone.  My younger brother is in high school, and I would say that he does get pampered by everyone, and gets everything he asks for.  I also think that he gets away with a lot more then when I did when I was younger.
Strengths: focuses on individual psychology
weakness: parental influence on personality development

Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson`s Eight Stages of Development

Erik Erickson began to practice psychotherapy and then eventually he supported his own views on the nature of human personality.  He contributed a lot to the psychoanalytic approach.  Erikson maintained that personality development continues throughout a person` lifetime.  

Erik Erikson developed the eight stages of development of personality.  It starts from infancy to old age.  With each different point along the way through the stages, we encounter a fork, which is two directions in which to proceed.  Erikson described the forks as turning points in personality development.  Erikson called these points crises.  it is determined that how we resolve each crisis will determine the direction of our personality development and influences how we resolve later crisis.  The stages of development starts with infancy and continues all the way up to old age.   The stage that I am in is Young adulthood.  This stage involves intimacy vs. isolation.  Men and women start searching for a special relationship to start to develop intimacy within someone and to start to grow emotionally.  Individuals who fail to develop intimacy during this stage will face emotional isolation.
          I believe that I have passed through the first couple of Erikson`s stages of development and made it to the intimacy vs. isolation stage.  I have been with my boyfriend for five almost six years now, and I feel that we are in the intimacy part of this stage.  There has been no times where we failed to develop intimacy where it would lead to emotional isolation.  However, we have had our disagreements but that hasn't meant that we went into the isolation part of the stage (Burger, 2011, p. 105-111)

Hans Eysenck

Hans Eysenck`s Theory of personality

 

Hans Eysenck`s theory of personality is structured on biological aspects of individual differences.  Eysenck wanted to discover the underlying structure of personality.  He employed factor analysis to identify the basic number of supertraits within an individual.  Eysenck`s conclusion was that all the different traits can be processed within three basic personality dimensions. 

The three dimensions were:  extraversion-introversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.
Extraversion-introversion: introversion is when you are directing yourself with inner experiences, while extraversion focuses on attention outward on other people and the environment.  If an individual is high in introversion, they might be quiet and reserved.  An individual that might be high in extraversion might outgoing and sociable. 
Neuroticism: If you score high on this dimension, there is an indication to emotions.  This dimension is also related to moodiness.  In this dimension the individual will most likely to be emotional, or upset.
Psychoticism: People who rate high on this dimension have the tendency to have a hard time dealing with reality.  individuals might be antisocial, hostile, manipulative, and lacks empathy. 

I would say that my personality is in between extraversion-introversion.  I would say that I am a very outgoing individual, and I am sociable to an extent.  I am sociable with other when I attend outings, but I do not have tons of friends.  I keep to my few close friends.  I also don`t always need someone to always be talking to as I am a very independent person.  On the introvert side, I am quiet and reserved.  I am a quiet person with many things, like in work or in school.  I also like to keep to myself.  After categorizing myself, I would fall under the stable part of Eysenck`s theory of personality.  This is why I believe to be have an extraversion-introversion personality, rather than neuroticism and psychoticism.



Carl Rogers

Becoming a fully functioning individual!

 

Carl Rogers was the first therapist to come up with a "person-centered" approach.  Rogers expanded his thoughts from psychotherapy to a general theory of personality.  He then applied this to the humanistic approach.  Rogers maintained that we as individuals try to strive to reach an optimal sense satisfaction with our lives.  This is what we call fully functioning.  Individuals want to attain the highest part in their lives (Burger 279). 

Individuals that are fully functioning are:
1.always open to new experiences. 
2. try to live each moment as it hits them.
3.learn to trust their feelings.
4. Less prone to conform the roles dictated by societal expectations.
5. follow the traditional path of college, job, marriage, and family.
6. experience their feelings more deeply and more intensely than others.
7. and people accept and express their anger.

After reading about Carl Rogers and his theory about being fully functioning, I thought that this can best relate to my personality.  I am a type of person who is always open to new experiences, I will most likely try something new at least once.  I also live with each moment as it hits me.  I try to take my life day by day, and I try to stay positive as much as I can.  I try not to let many things bother me.  I always have said that everything happens for a reason.  I have learned to trust my feelings, but I am still working on this.  I am also starting to follow the traditional path.  I am still finishing up my college years and have a job.  I will then work on marriage and family.  Finally, people know when I am not myself and angry.  However, I do not express it to others.  I try to hid it.  Overall, I believe that my personality can relate to Carl Rogers` Fully functioning theory.

 

 

 

Abraham Maslow

Maslow`s Hierarchy of needs!

Abraham Maslow focused his attention on the conscious aspects of personality.  Maslow describes two different types of motives: Deficiency motives and growth needs.  Deficiency motives result from a lack of some needed object such as hunger and thirst.  Deficiency motives are satisfied once the needed object has been met.  However, growth needs are not satisfied once the object has been met.  Growth needs include "the unselfish giving of love to others and the development of one`s unique potential". 

Maslow identified five basic categories of needs, which are both deficiency and growth.  These five basic needs are known as Maslow`s hierarchy of needs.  Maslow placed the five categories into a hierarchy, which is that some needs demand satisfaction before others.  Individuals attend the needs at the lower levels before going up on the higher levels.  In life, My physiological needs are always met which includes hunger, thirst, air, and sleep.  After meeting this level I move up to safety needs, which is met for me as of now.  I have security, stability, protection, and structure for myself in my young age.  I would say I would be continuing myself at belongingness and love needs.  However, I think I have just met that stage.  I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for 5 years now, and we are very happy.  I am also very happy with my friends and family.  I would say that I have stopped at the esteem needs.  I think that I need to build myself some self esteem.  I would need continue to go up the pyramid to the need for self-actualization.  However, I dislike how you need to go up on the pyramid and not just start where you would like.