Paper Example Undergraduate 585 words

Personality Theory the Objective of This Study

Last reviewed: February 27, 2014 ~3 min read

Personality Theory

The objective of this study is to focus on two perspectives of personality theory and for this study chosen are the two of: (1) traits; and (2) psychodynamic. The limitations and weaknesses of each will be examined and a preference for one chosen and the reason provided.

Narratives

The work of Johns, Robbins, and Pervin (2008) states in regards to the question of 'what does it mean to know a person?' that the way one knows another involves knowing what extent are the narratives related by a patient in clinical hours are best understood as: (1) a record, albeit an imperfect one, offered from one point-of-view, of something usually interpersonally insignificant that occurred in the patient's life; (2) an index of the patient's ways of experiencing the self and others ( a central aspect of personality); or (3) an index of the efforts of two people to come to terms with the person's past and present in the context of a particular relationship that is inherently shaped by the psychology of both participants (a mixture of true variance and error variance)? (p. 74) It is held that these issues are "central to the study of personality in psychology as well." (Johns, Robbins, and Pervin, 2008, p. 74) It is additionally reported that clinicians have experienced a struggle about how much should be accepted as truth in what is related by patients concerning their lives and themselves. Researchers however, are reported to have a tendency to accept the self-reports of respondents when they are answering questionnaires. In contrast, researchers on personality make only occasional use of scales that are formulated for the purpose of assessing variables "such as social desirability and inconsistent responding when studying normal populations and they seldom attempt to parse variance attributable to the person, the way the person is being studied, and the informant." (Johns, Robbins, and Pervin, 2008, p. 74)

II. Traits

You’re 66% through this paper. Sign up to read the full paper.

130,000+ paper examples AI writing assistant Citation generator Cancel anytime

References

1 sources cited in this paper

The focus of this study is to select two perspectives in personality psychology specifically cognitive and narrative and to describe the perceived benefits or strengths of each perspective and the limitations or weaknesses of each perspective. Finally this study will answer whether one or the other is preferred and if so then why one is preferred over the other perspective. Personality theory is the “scientific study of the whole person”. (McAdams, 2008. p. 12)

The focus of this study is to select two perspectives in personality psychology specifically cognitive and narrative and to describe the perceived benefits or strengths of each perspective and the limitations or weaknesses of each perspective. Finally this study will answer whether one or the other is preferred and if so then why one is preferred over the other perspective. Personality theory is the “scientific study of the whole person”. (McAdams, 2008. p. 12)

The focus of this study is to select two perspectives in personality psychology specifically cognitive and narrative and to describe the perceived benefits or strengths of each perspective and the limitations or weaknesses of each perspective. Finally this study will answer whether one or the other is preferred and if so then why one is preferred over the other perspective. Personality theory is the “scientific study of the whole person”. (McAdams, 2008. p. 12)