Personality therapy: approaches and applications

Personality Theories: A Road to the Self

Knowing oneself is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination; and being able to definitively describe one's own personality is even more difficult. However, the basic groundwork in truly knowing oneself is in one's ability to fully understand the concept of personality. Before garnering embarking on a possible endless journey deciphering the endless labyrinth of available personality theories it is best to start from a more sociological perspective, namely the one proposed by Charles Cooley and known as the "Looking Glass Self" for it is on the basis of how one perceives the self, how others perceive the self and how one would like others to perceive the self that personality is born.

Knowing the self is molded from three perspectives continuation in, and the depth of, knowing the self is brought about through the study of personality. Regardless of the theory being expounded upon, whether based on the works of Freud, Jung, Watson, Skinner, Bandura, Rogers and a host of other notables, the constructs of each theory have importance in understanding the self. For example, from the dynamic approach to personality I have learned that personality is developed on the basis of a person being able to question their thoughts, beliefs, desires, emotions, intentions and memories. On the other hand a behavior approach to personality reminds me that the formation of one's personality has a great deal to do with how one interacts and responds to one's environment on a daily basis. The trait approach to personality leads me to believe, in part, that personality development is both conjunctive and disjunctive. Mostly, however, I believe that personality development, especially my own, is a product of cultural, psychological, neuro-physiological, and biological factors. I am therefore a product on not only my environment but my physical being as well. How I interpret these influencing factors is what steers me down the road to my own distinctive personality.