A personal theory of personality development based on Erikson

My Personal Theory of Personality

Introduction Arguments have been made throughout the history of psychology that personality is shaped by behavioral, biological, interpersonal, and environmental factors. Prior to the development of the study of psychology, personality was viewed as pertaining to one of the four humors or temperaments. From that perspective, personality was viewed as a unique characteristic of the human being. However, the nature vs. nurture argument has also added to the debate over personality. My personal theory of personality is based on Erikson’s notion of psychosocial development and that nature and nurture both play a part in shaping the human personality. This paper provides my definition of personality, identifies factors that influence the development of personality in my theory of personality, explains why personality can change, and discusses why I believe personality can become dysfunctional.

My Definition of Personality My definition of personality is that it is the complex totality of traits, characteristics, and behaviors that together serve to represent a person’s disposition, temperament, habitual nature and default demeanor. In my view, disposition can be described by a person’s mood, behavior, mannerisms, sense of self, emotions, thoughts, and actions. I believe therefore that personality is best defined as both affected by nature and by the extent to which one is nurtured by one’s family and environment (Shriner & Shriner, 2014). My view is that personality can emerge over time, can change drastically, and can also be understood in terms of one of the four temperaments: sanguine, melancholic, choleric, or phlegmatic. However, most people have some combination of the four temperaments—and they can balance the temperaments through self-actualization if they desire to do so. Thus, personality is not something that one has no control over. Rather, I say that personality is something that both the individual and others can shape and direct. My view of this is based on the work of Perry and Szalavitz (2006), who show that personality is different for everyone, and while traumatic experiences can shape it, those experiences can sometimes by overcome through correct care—but not always. In every human person, there is a self-directed will, and that will also bears on the development of the personality. How a person copes and deals with conflict over the course of the stages of psychosocial development will affect his personality, in my belief.

My Theory of Personality and the Factors that Influence Its Development My theory of personality is that nature and nurture play a fundamental role in shaping it. To this extent, personality is a mystery that can never fully be understood because every personality is uniquely created and developed. However, in my theory, the conflicts that people face during the psychosocial stages of development shape their personalities. At the same time, the seeds of personality are planted at conception; philosophically speaking, it could be said that personality is an aspect of the soul created at conception along with the body. However, from a psychological perspective, in my theory I would say that the factors that influence the development of personality include biological, environmental, social, and behavioral elements. For instance, biological factors that can shape personality include a person’s DNA and other physical traits passed on from one generation to the next through birth. Environmental factors can include the type of home one grows up in, the neighborhood one lives in, the events surrounding one, the quality of the community or school or work or family in which the person exists. Social factors can include the extent to which the individual is nurtured or receives support or esteem from others (Bandura, 2018). Bandura (1977) for instance, put forward the theory that all behavior is learned from socially through one’s environment—which means personality is an extension of that learning process. Skinner (1957) before him argued that the extent to which a person is nurtured by experience determines his behavior. Galton (1883) argued that it was nature—not nurture—that determined a person’s behavior. Yet, behavior and personality are not to be confused as the same thing: they are not. Behaviors can be a facet of personality—but they are not the totality. That is why in my theory of personality, I view the totality of personality as complex, as mysterious, as relevant to the spiritual as well as the physical, as informed by environmental factors but also as nurtured by nature and people.
My view of personality as complex is based, too, on the research of Hofer and Piccinin (2010), who show that human development is dynamic and complex and not explained easily because of the various factors that play a part in development. Personality is something that develops and that can change and that is affected by these factors. The continuity or discontinuity of forces can affect its development: rapid and traumatic changes can affect it; but so too can stability and nurturing. From the individual’s brain to the individual’s own likes, tastes, and preferences, to the individual’s experiences and surroundings: in my theory, it all has an impact on personality, as personality is the expression of the human being. For that reason, I believe that some of the primary factors affecting it are education, family environment, culture, religion, the workplace, peer group, media, gender, intelligence, and will. Interpersonal relations, psychology, and economics can play important parts, too (Boyce et al., 2013). As those factors change, even with age, the personality can change. Not everyone’s personality alters, however. Some people maintain the same personality all throughout their lives. Others undergo transformations, which can be as much the result of self-reflection and self-actualization as they can be the effects of external factors. The internal development or maintenance of the personality is subject to the individual will, intelligence, and decision-making—not just external forces. Can Personality Change? Personality can and does change for many human beings over the course of time. People can have one type of personality as children, a different type of personality in adolescence, another personality in adulthood, and another personality in late adulthood. These changes happen because the individual never stops growing, reflecting, making conscious decisions about how to adjust to life’s challenges, and so on. As Helson et al. (2002), personality tends to change with age due to various inputs: increased conscientiousness, desire to be agreeable, adherence or deviation from social norms, and social vitality. Personality reflects the growth of the individual in this regard: the more mature one becomes, the more one’s personality tends to reflect this maturation.
According to Aristotle, personality is the expression of character, and character is shaped by the extent to which the individual acquires virtue. Virtue is defined as the habit of right living, obtained from the conscious decision to acquire good habits. Good habits are those which conform to universal ideals, such as honor, honesty, charity, perseverance, courage, fortitude, wisdom, and others. If one acquires these virtues through character education, one’s personality can reflect this development. However, it virtue is not the same as personality anymore than behavior is. One can still have a personality that is defined as much by any of the four temperaments as well as other traits and characteristics as it can be by virtue and behavior. Personality is something that has to be monitored and controlled if one is going to attempt to live according to an ideal.
Conformity to an ideal is often what is expected of one who has a religious belief. The religious belief tends to center on an ideal way of life, and one is tasked with shaping one’s life, outlook and self-development around this ideal. When the personality has no centering focus, or no mooring in such an ideal, it can cause one to become narcissistic and self-centered. Philosophy therefore plays a big part in personality theory. Today, Ethical Egoism is a common philosophical perspective among people: it is the belief that whatever benefits oneself is good and the ends justify the means. It is a very subjective philosophy, quite distinct from the philosophy of virtue ethics, which posits that there is a universal good or ideal that one should seek and to which one should conform oneself. In Ethical Egoism, there is no acknowledgment of such an objective good or ideal. A person who is an ethical egoist may have, therefore, a personality that is more self-seeking than a person who abides by virtue ethics.
Yet, one’s philosophical outlook is no guarantee that one’s personality will be a certain way. A person can be conflicted and have many different personalities that emerge at different times, or the personality can be complex and consistently inconsistent—for people are not perfect in virtue anymore than they are always self-centered. An Ethical Egoist could have a good personality and a person who tries to abide by virtue ethics may find life difficult and may have a difficult personality as a result. The personality is in this sense an expression of the will, its conflicts, and the individual’s ability to engage in self-control. Personality is thus best seen as something that one refines over time. Can Personality Become Dysfunctional? I believe that when personality becomes dysfunctional it is often a result of dysfunctional family life or other problems in the person’s life that affect the personality. This belief aligns with my theory of personality because in my theory personality is shaped by conflict—but those who cannot overcome conflict can experience a dysfunctional personality. I refer to Perry and Szalavitz (2006), for instance, to explain how a child develops a dysfunctional personality after suffering years of abuse at the hands of parents. The child never is permitted to undergo the natural evolution of personality development, characterized by Erikson in the psychosocial stages of development. In each developmental stage there is a conflict that the individual must face and overcome before moving along to the next phase. In adolescence, the main conflict is Identity vs. Role Confusion, for example. But other conflicts must be settled first before the child can naturally progress into that stage—conflicts regarding autonomy vs. self-doubt, love vs. fear, and others. If these conflicts are not resolved as the person ages, the personality suffers because it is not able to develop in a natural way. Abusive situations tend to restrict the development of children, which can lead them on a negative life course, where the personality becomes dysfunctional for lack of growth. Just as plants need air to live and breathe and grow, children and adults both need positive reinforcements, self-confidence, and esteem in order to become self-actualizing as Maslow explains in his theory of the hierarchy of human needs.
Dysfunctional personalities often manifest themselves in dysfunctional behaviors, such as anti-social disorder, bipolar disorder, alcohol abuse, risky sexual behavior, depression, or other types of actions. These disorders can be learned, as Bandura (1977) points out, especially if one is among peers who have bad or abusive habits. If one is constantly engaging with media that promotes abusive habits, it is more likely that dysfunction could result. If one is never around other people and is isolated from society, dysfunction can result. Perry and Szalavitz (2006) highlight, for instance, the case of the boy who was raised by dogs as an example of how personality can become dysfunctional: a child was left for years in a kennel among dogs due to a neglectful parent; the child never had any nurturing from a human being and therefore when he was discovered at around age 8 his personality had not developed at all. The psychologist tasked with helping in the case realized that he had to go back and help the child address the stages of psychosocial development, one by one, first by learning simple human expressions such as touch, and then by gaining trust, as a toddler learns to trust, and then by gaining a feeling of security and esteem. Over the course of a few years, the child’s inner conflicts were addressed in this manner, and the human personality emerged. Perry and Szalavitz (2006) thus show that personality can lie dormant for years but that it can bloom into fullness if care is provided.
However, not every case is the same: Perry and Szalavitz (2006) also show that there are instances wherein the personality becomes so dysfunctional and self-destructive that no intervention is possible. It is as though a malevolent force or will is in control of the personality and refuses to allow any alteration. The case of the child who is neglected and develops a persistent dysfunctional personality, which worsens over time in spite of attempts at altering the course, is explored by Perry and Szalavitz (2006) as well. They show in this example that personality can be willful and not merely an effect of external inputs. People can be conditioned towards certain behaviors and sometimes those behaviors can be changed and the personality can take change; in other cases, the personality becomes so ingrained and rooted that there is no way to change it—and this appears to be the case with situations such as Ted Bundy and other serial killers. Conclusion In my definition and theory of personality, I posit that the human personality remains as much a mystery after the various facets of personality are examined as it was at the beginning. There is something of the personality that is so unique to the individual that it appears to be there from conception, coming out in its way over time. Yet personality can change, can be shaped and developed by external forces—such as nurturing or abusive parents, stable home life or instable homes; media and peer engagement or isolation. Personality is like a plant that comes from a seed—and it may grow to be healthy, or it may be stunted by poor soil, lack of water, or lack of sunlight. Sometimes a plant that has not grown well can be saved by intervention, and sometimes not. The human personality is not much different: everyone has a seed of personality, and it grows according to the care given it. Unlike the plant, the human can direct his own personality to some extent, by way of self-reflection and actualization.