Developing a unified personality theory through humanistic psychology

Unified personality theory? The history of the study of personality in the discipline of psychology is long and over many decades different scientists, researchers and psychologists as well as behaviorists have endured to explain human behavior and most have come up with different explanations otherwise known as theories on the human behavior. The major theories in psychology include the psychodynamic, biological, dispositional/trait, evolutionary, social learning and behaviorist theory. All these have varied explanations as to why people behave and have personalities that they display. Having a unified personality theory is an issue that many scholars have grappled with over the years. The need for one theory that conclusively explain human behavior and help simplify the human understanding of behavior from the vast number of theories put forth has always been there, even amidst the various theories. A unified theory can be derived from the Humanistic theories. The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs envisages the inherent desires for actualization and satisfaction of needs as the driving force behind the human behavior. Here, it is observed that the needs are inherent, hence similar across race and color. The basic needs drive human behavior, then the next levels of needs goes on to shape the behavior of the individual as the needs move higher to more complex needs. From this, there can be a unified theory that gives explanation to behavior of humans and how these behaviors change with the progress or growth of the individual. The unified theory can possibly be slotted into categories that coincide with the age of the individuals, for instance have age group ranges and the factors that shape the behavior. The unified personality theory will heavily borrow from the humanistic theories since all humans at the various stages and ages in life have needs that are almost similar, for instance food, security and shelter at the onset of life, love at the advanced stages of life for instance at the teenage, self actualization which may come in various forms, for some possession of a nice house, some cars, some control over other people and such like. At these stages human are likely to display similar characteristics. A unified theory can help explain human behavior derived from these needs and at these different stages. References Jingna D.U., (2012). Application of Humanist Theory in the Teaching Approach. Higher Education of Social Sciences, 3 (1). Canadian Research & Development Center of Sciences and Cultures. Retrieved April 11, 2017 from http://cscanada.net/index.php/hess/article/viewFile/2674/2750