Personality Critique

The scientific study of personality as a focus within the larger field of psychology must begin with a definition of the term itself. The origin of the term lies in the Latin word, persona, generally understood as the mask that people wear in dealing with others as they play various roles in life. Although there are various definitions psychologists use for the term personality, a consensus definition involves recognition that we are concerned with studying a pattern of a number of human tendencies, including traits, dispositions, unconscious dynamics, learned coping strategies, habitual and spontaneous affective responses, goal-directedness, information-processing style, and genetic and biological factors that give some degree of consistency to human behavior. Very important in this approach to understanding personality are the notions of both a pattern of characteristics and the relatively consistent nature of their occurrence. Personality theory is not greatly concerned with a unique occurrence of a particular behavior, but rather the consistent pattern of behaviors, cognitions, and emotions and their overlapping and unique manifestations in individuals. At this point in the development of a science of personality, there is no general agreement on all the factors, which contribute to and make up human personality. There is not even general agreement over which aspects to study or exactly how to study them. Nevertheless, the field of personality theory and research is exceedingly rich and varied. However, we must approach this richness by understanding the approaches of various theories and their particular focus. Let me begin by giving out these questions. What makes a person what they are? Why does a person do what they do? Where does personality come from and how does it grow? These are some frequently asked questions when discussing the topic of personality. The latter of the questions is actually an answer in itself. Personality does originate

References: BOOKS Burger, J.M. (1993). Personality (3rd ed.) Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Burns, R.B. & Dobson, C.B., 1984. Introductory psychology MTP: Lancaster Carver, C.S., & Scheier, M.F.2000. Perspectives on personality (4th ed.) Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Crain, W., 1992. Theories of Development - Concepts and Applications. Prentice Hall: New Jersey Limpungo, Delia A. & Geraldine E. Tria. 1999. Personality (2nd eed.) Quezon City, Philippines. Schultz, D., & Schultz, S.E. (1994). Theories of personality (5th ed.) Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.