Personality and Psychosexual Theory - Essay Example

Freud was the creator of the Psychosexual Theory, claiming that the individual is moved by his inborn instincts. Freud said that each personality stage is characterized by the focus on different parts of the body.

Neo-Freudians modified Freud’s theory. Jung assumed that the personality is influenced largely by the environment he lives in, and by the experience, he gains throughout life. Horney emphasized the influence of culture on the development of personality, she believed that a person can develop throughout life.

Rogers, the proponent of the humanistic theory, claimed that people live up to their parent’s expectations, thus denying the inner self. They are trying to be what their parents want them to be, and a lot of times hide their inborn characteristics if they do not correlate with what their parents tell them they should be.

Among the major theories on personality the five-factor model, known as the Big Five, should be mentioned. The model is associated with the research of Robert McCrae and Paul Costa. The theory claims that personality can be described in five factors: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN). Critics of the model said that it described the personality, but did not explain individualistic differences. Therefore McCrae and Costa have proposed a behavioral genetic theory known as the five-factor theory of personality. They claim that heredity is largely responsible for the individual differences in Big Five, although parenting and culture also influence them. Neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness are mostly influenced by heredity.

The major thinking among behavioral genetics is that environment plays a very insignificant role in the formation of personality. There was different research on adopted children conducted, at the age when those were 17, and it was found that their adopted families had little influence on them, the main traits of the personality were inherited.
Thus, it is obvious that heredity influences personality, but at the same time, genes do not influence personality the same as they influence eyes or hair color. Many psychologists consider that genes hold back the way the environment influences individuality. For example, if the child is shy by nature, but his parents encourage him to be more outgoing, he will overcome his shyness to some degree, but he will never be as communicative as the child that was born more sociable.

There is also social-cognitive theory, which states that personality is a collection of learned behaviors that have been acquired through interaction with others. The most outstanding proponents of this theory are Walter Mischel and Albert Bandura. Bandura stated that internal, environmental, and behavioral variables interact to influence personality.

Psychologists study and discuss the influence of culture on the formation of personality. There are individualist and collectivist cultures. In individualist cultures, the emphasis is put on individual achievements. On the contrary, in countries where the collectivist culture is developed, people tend to be more dependent on the group and view their achievements as part of the achievement of the group. The country where individualist culture is developed most of all is the USA. It is also valued in the countries of Europe, Australia, and Canada. Collectivist culture is characteristic of the countries of Latin America and Asia. Read More