The Nature of Personality.

Essay by tholtmotaUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, September 2005

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Introduction.

There are many different theories on personality. Diverse approaches focus on different aspects of speculation. Humanists and Existentialists are more apt to focus on the perceptive part. They believe that much of what we are is way too multifarious and embedded in history and culture to "predict and control." Behaviorists and Freudians, on the other hand, favor to talk about prediction and control. In other words if a thought is useful, if it works, go with it. Typically when we talk about someone's traits, we are talking about what makes that human being unlike other people, perhaps even unique. Some theories often spend substantial attention on things like types and behavior and tests with which we can classify or compare people: Some people are neurotic, others are not; some people are more introverted, others more extroverted; and so on. In my paper I will discuss the three major issues regarding the nature of personality.

These issues are: Genetic vs. environmental influences; Conscious vs. unconscious behavior; and free will vs. determinism.

Genetic versus Environmental Influences.

Behavior genetics is a field in which dissimilarity between people is divided into genetic versus environmental mechanisms. Nearly all general study methodologies are family studies, twin studies, and adoption studies.

Environmental pressures can be separated into two classes, shared and non-shared environment. Shared surroundings are the upbringing shared by siblings reared in the same family. This includes such variables as socioeconomic rank and parent edification. Non-shared setting is the environment distinctive to the individual. This includes such variables as peer groups.

Conscious versus Unconscious Behavior.

A common conclusion is that routine processing is certainly the major way in which humans find the way through their situations throughout life, and this includes easy responsibilities as well as more intricate tasks involved in everyday living, and research...