Preview

Compare and contrast the Psychodynamic and Humanistic approaches to understanding personality.

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1561 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Compare and contrast the Psychodynamic and Humanistic approaches to understanding personality.
Compare and contrast the Psychodynamic and Humanistic approaches to understanding personality.

People engage in topics of personality on a daily basis. It is how we engage with others, behave towards them and how we assert judgement. Personality theorists attempt to explain these connections through theory, observation and testing. Particular influential theories of personality are psychodynamic and humanistic theory. I will seek to analyse the prime divergences that separate these approaches from one another, not ignoring that although they may offer varied methods for psychological treatment, both can be seen as efficient in their processes. Issues discussed will include basic premises of personality, methodology and behaviour explanation whist exploring comprehension, validity and scientific nature, with an evaluation based on beneficial and limited natures of these theories.
The humanistic approach explores the processes and nature of the person as the nucleus of personality. It centres on an individuals subjective experiences of his/her world (Pervin, L.A, & Cervone, D. 2010) , and encourages the view that we are born without constriction, therefore having freewill. A persons behaviour is therefore not related to unconscious cognitive processes, but by conscious thoughts and feelings, our concept of self, Humanistic psychologists argue we have an innate goodness, which overtime is corrupted through experiences within our environment and society constitutions of the 'norm'.
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was the primary theorist of this approach. His notion focused on the conscious integrated patterns of perception that individuals have of themselves, the 'self'', and that we are driven by human instincts to reach our full potentiality,or self actualization. This however requires reinforcement, the need for positive regard, as we judge our achievements on the opinion of others, wanting to feel acknowledgement on a unconditional basis. Rogers claimed for this to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    CNDV 5301 Assignment 1

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The humanistic theory argues that people have the natural ability to discern information and make decisions regarding their behavioral actions and lives. The humanistic theory also places an emphasis one a person’s natural desire to live their lives freely and to their full potential.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Personality is interpreted as a mixture of a person 's consistent behaviour, emotion and thought that illustrate the technique an individual exemplifies when responding to another individual or situation (Letzring, Wells & Funder, 2006). The specific reaction an individual presents is unique and affects their daily life in how they organise events, control emotions and make decisions. Eysenck (2004) outlines personality in a more thorough manner as he discusses it in terms of its stability, regularity throughout life,…

    • 2265 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our personality is our characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting (Psychology David G Myers), it’s the combination of traits that ‘outlines the doctrine of uniqueness’ (Gifts Differing – Understanding Personality Types) that sets us apart from everyone else. Psychologists vary between themselves concerning the meaning of personality. Most would agree that it originated from the Latin word persona’ – meaning a theoretical mask – but they differ on how an individual obtains this ‘unique mask’ (i.e. how they develop their personality) and thus this brings the divers theories of personality. This essay will compare and contrast two popular theories: one being the: Psychoanalytic theory, and the other a Humanistic approach.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many times when a person goes through life with many ups and downs, however when you are going through these changes, you have to have the ability to know how to handle stressful situations. When dealing with humanistic personality, this would allow the people to have the freedom to choose their behavior. Humanistic Holistic Theory is a theory that emphasizes on engaging the person as a whole and focusing on the future rather than the pass (Brill & Levine, 2005, p. 58). This theory let you know that whatever a person has done in their lives, they have room to grow and prove that no matter what their life styles may have been or how they are living, they can always change that; once a drug addict does not means that you will always be a drug addict, you have room for…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chapter 10 involves learning about personalities; psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, personological and life story, social cognitive, and biological perspectives. Personality is a pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world. Psychodynamic perspectives on personality emphasize that personality is primarily unconscious. The structures of personality are id, ego, and superego. The id consists of unconscious drives and is the individual's reservoir of sexual energy. The ego deals with the demands of reality, and the superego is the harsh internal judge of our behavior. Different from Freud’s approach to personality, Adler's individual psychology was where people are motivated by purposes and goals, perfection, not pleasure.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Theories of Personality

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Humanistic perspective focuses on an individual’s uniqueness and their ability and responsibility to make choices in their lives. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were the founders of this theory they believed that a person's free choice, free will, and understanding of their own experiences and feelings. The meanings of events in his or her life are the most important things to study. Carl Rogers believed that Human nature is viewed as basically good and that we all strive for actualizing tendencies but never reached them if based on the opinions of others. Rogers used client-centered therapy to raise the self-concept of the client and stop their tendencies to look for others opinions. The client’s esteem needs will be met and hopefully seize from concerning other people’s opinions. Rogers also developed a q-sort to judge the self-concept.…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Biological and Humanistic perspectives on the development of the human personality have aided in the understanding of how humans develop their personalities. The Biological and Humanistic perspective theories provide insight into the causes and influences that affect the development and uniqueness of a personality. While both perspectives are quite helpful it is important to remember the contributions made to this field that were put forth by Abraham Maslow in his Hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs helps put the need for human growth into perspective and helps us to understand the influence of these needs on personality development. Although these perspectives provide a starting point to understanding personality development, one must keep in mind that when used in conjunction with multiple methods we can achieve a much more accurate diagnosis of how personality is formed.…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “When discussing the theories on personalities you could name a view that are researched. Biological Theories are the approach of genetics and personality traits. Behavioral Theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and the environment. These theorist reject theories that internal thoughts and feeling into account. Psychodynamic Theories are influenced by Freud, focuses on the childhood experience and the unconscious mind in personality. Humanist Theories emphasizes on the importance of free will and individual experience in the development of personalities. Trait Theories is one of the largest in personality theories. It basically a relative characteristic that causes a person to act the way they do (abouteducation).”…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Comparison of Two Theories

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Humanistic and existentialism theories postulate a holistic approach to understanding and determining personality, and the psychological health of the whole person (Feist & Feist, 2009). Abraham Maslow, Gordon Allport, Carl Rogers, Rollo May, and others are theorist of this school of thought (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 275). It is also known as the third force in psychology with the first force as psychoanalysis, and the second, behaviorism (Feist & Feist, 2009, p. 275). Dispositional theorist, such as Gordon Allport, Raymond Cattell, Hans Eysenck, and others held the basic assumption that each individual is unique in behavior, and therefore rare (Feist & Feist, 2009, 375).…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The humanistic perspective is based on the thoughts of human potential that people have freewill, the ability for psychological growth and self-awareness and that is what shapes their personality. (Cain, 2002). Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were some of the most important people when it cam to the humanistic approach. Maslow’s and Rogers emphasized the need humans have to fulfill the goals to the best of their abilities. The humanistic perspective focuses on the theory that people behaved a certain way based on how they perceive their self. This…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Personality can be described as a set of characteristics possessed by an individual that has an effect on his or her behaviour. There are several personality theories within psychology which give different ideas and attempt to give an explanation about the way personality develops. The psychodynamic and social-cognitive theories are two of the many ways personality is explored in psychology. The psychodynamic theory explains personality in terms of interactions of various components whereas the social-cognitive theory focuses on the individuals thoughts in order to explain…

    • 86 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the 1950’s psychodynamic conjectures was unable to keep its general acceptance. Psychotherapy started to bring on a matter of interest with restrictions of the conjecture, in particular psychoanalyzing humanistic way of doing things. Maslow and Rogers came up with a different way of handling the controversy inside the psychodynamic conjecture. Putting together the information of studying, humanistic, and existential personality theories depicts an immense illustration of the human disposition and character or traits as it forms by response to the extrinsic surroundings. This paper will discuss both the humanistic and existential theories of personality and how this influenced interpersonal relationships.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Humanistic Theories

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This paper is about human and existential personality theories. In this paper team C will analyze the strengths and limitations of the theories listed in explaining individual’s behavior. Through this paper team C will analyze how humanistic and existential theories affect individual personalities and team c will also explain how humanistic and existential theories influence theories influence interpersonal relationships.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the following, the author will discuss and analyze the biological and humanistic approaches to personality. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs will be discussed and examined. The author will describe biological factors that influence the formation of personality. The author will examine the relationship of biological factors to Maslow’s theory of personality. The author will explain the basic aspects of humanistic theory that is incompatible with biological explanations of personality. In conclusion, this paper will describe biological factors that influence the formation of personality, examine the relationship of biological factors to Maslow’s theory of personality and explain the basic aspects of humanistic theory that are incompatible with biological explanations of personality.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this assignment, you are to develop your own theory of personality. You may draw upon other theories, but it should be an original one. The basic topics that need to be covered in your theory are listed below. Make sure that you support your theory with previous theories, logic, and/or psychological research. The paper should be at least seven pages double spaced; although, you will probably need to go beyond seven pages to explain all aspects of your theory. Papers will be graded based on the quality of the theory and arguments that support it. Make sure that you define and give examples of all key terms. Also, be sure to point out how your theory is different from other theories. The heart of the paper should be: why do people act the way that they do?…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays