Psychology : Semester I : Development and Individual Differences

Sections:

Introduction  |  Section 1  |  Section 2  |   Section 3  |  Section 4  |  Section 5

Psychology : Development and Individual Differences : Section Four Personality and Individual Differences                                                        We again look at the nature/nurture issue.  Some psychologists feel that personality is inherited (genetic-nature) others feel that it is learned (environment-nurture).  Again the debate may be resolved in favor of both.  There are many definitions of personality but the one that appears most to the point is that personality is the sum of traits that makes us unique.  Let’s look at the definition: sum of traits is an additive term and supports the idea of the many areas the characteristics of personality cover.  It covers the individual’s unique way of thinking, feeling and behaving.  Unique is a term that explains the one nature of personality.  No two personalities are exactly alike. This makes the study of personality a challenge.  To resolve the challenge, psychologists emphasize the uniqueness of individuals as well as the commonalities existing across people. The function of personality theory is three-fold; first it has to organize, describe and explain the phenomena; secondly, it has to guide research and test hypotheses; thirdly, it must identify and apply principles that may be used in therapeutic settings.  The approaches to studying personality are similar to the approaches that we talked about in the first unit, so some of this material is review. Click on the slide shown below to begin the presentation. Be sure your volume is turned up to a reasonable level. See how well you learned the theories of personality.  Try this drop and drag. Go on to the next section.

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