A person's personality is a combination of the traits, behaviour and the mannerism he carries. It is influenced by personal as well as outer influences. It is a broad subject that has been explained in many theories. However, each person has a unique personality and psychological structure that needs different theories to understand. Let us now learn about different theories of personality.
Following are theories of personality explained to you-
Traits Theory
As per this theory, nature characterises an individual. It is associated with the way he/ she behaves. The temperament of an individual differs from person to person.
There are three kinds of traits
A) Cardinal traits - These are uncommon traits which carve apart individuals, according to their peculiar characteristics. These traits develop later in life. They can be useful, noble, evil, selfish etc.
B) Central Traits - These refer to the soft traits of a personality. They include the qualities which lay the foundation of one’s character. For instance, intelligence or honesty.
C) Secondary traits - These traits are evident only when confronted with any particular situation. A few examples can be anxiousness or anger.
Psychoanalytic Theory
This theory was proposed by Sigmund Freud. His thesis established a relationship between the conscious and the subconscious mind. It aims to liberate the fears of an unconscious mind. The practitioner performs hypnotism on the patients to release buried emotions and experiences . This study is an assistance to open up the patients who are closed and suffering inwards. The subconscious and conscious are controlled to heal the individual.
Social Cognitive Theory
It defines that the people whom we come across, influence our social behaviour. Our mind replicates the patterns that we observe in others. For instance, many of us have role models. People follow them and replicate their behaviour in their lives .The behaviour is also affected by the kind of goals that the individuals set for themselves. The conduct, therefore, differs accordingly.
Humanistic Theory
This theory lays its foundation in the essential goodness of the human nature. It respects the existence of a human being. It talks about realizing one’s self-worth. In this theory, it is understood that the present is essential. It walks around understanding psychologically healthy people, who take responsibility for their own actions. The outside influences trigger reactions; they do not stamp a person for being good, bad or impatient. This theory helps grow the persona of an individual as it believes in attaining regular knowledge and self-growth.
This approach talks about how the influences, that we gather in our life, shape our personality. It supports that behaviour is impromptu to the situation that we go through. Therefore in this theory, it is believed that the conduct of the individuals can be explained without even considering the internal mental state and consciousness of the mind. In it, it is thought that a learner is a passive person influenced by the outside influences.
The negative characteristics can be controlled with the fear of reprimand. Under this theory, major work of this approach has been conducted on the animals first.
