Personality Perspectives

This essay provides a reflection on the life of a person using four theories of personality: psychoanalytic theory, socio-psychological theory, trait theory, and self theory.

Running head: PERSONALITY PERSPECTIVES
PERSONALITY PERSPECTIVES
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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In this essay, I would provide a reflection on the life of a person whom I have known
personally using the four theories of personality. These four theories include the psychoanalytic
theory, the socio psychological theory, the trait theory and the self theory. In addition to that, I
will include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory to elaborate further on the person’s personality
and psychology.
According to the psychoanalytic theory, rational thought and conscious controlled unseen
forces motivate individuals. Sigmund Freud has been regarded as the father of psychoanalytic
theory because he was the founder of psychoanalysis. The socio-psychological theory states that
the society and individual are interrelated. In this sense, the individual endeavors to fulfill the
desires of the society and the society in turn assist the individual to attain the goals (Schultz &
Schultz, 2016). The trait theory states that an individual has a set of specific inclinations
attributes known as traits. These traits are distinct and make the individual different from others
often because of its lasting influence. Self theory lays stress on the set of observations a person
has for her of himself and with others in her or his life (Schultz & Schultz, 2016).
The person I interviewed for this essay is a female, aged 31-year. The female belongs to
an affluent family as her father and mother both had a descent job. However, she had to face a
setback after her father passed away when she was 20. The person was a brilliant student but
after her father’s death, her life took a turn. She began to deviate from her goal of becoming a
professor. The person started taking harmful drugs to deviate her mind from the pain of losing
her father. She lived away from her mother and hence, there was no one to stop her from being
addicted to drugs. She then had abusive relationships with three men who further pushed her into
addiction However, after wasting two years of her life, she was sent to rehabilitation center with
the help of a friend. She then completed her doctorate and was able to have a job as well..

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However, she still has some issues with her behavior, becomes easily emotional and angry. She
told me that she has heard people calling her a psycho because of her different behavior.
From the psychoanalytic theory perspective, it might be possible that the person struggles
with her conscious and unconscious thoughts. Her behavior depicts she still has some repressed
fears that she is unable to express clearly. When looked from the socio-psychological theory, her
decision to indulge in drug addiction came from the pain of her father’s death. When viewed
through the lens of the trait theory, it is visible that the person has not been an angry person
throughout her life but the situations led to her becoming known as a frustrated and angry
person.
The psychoanalytic theory of personality tell us that the unconscious and conscious
thoughts in humans work together to influence their behavior. The theory assumes that the
humans need a psychic energy to let the mind be free. It further asserts that the energy or
motivation could not be destroyed and that it is important to be expressed. According to the the
theory, humans are motivated in life due to two main drivers that include the eros and thanatos.
While eros is the libido or the sexual instincts, thanatos is the fear of death (Fonagy, Target &
Gergely, 2015). The person in study here has experienced the death of a close one and hence, it
provided her the energy or motivation to do drugs and deviate from her normal course of life.
Gordon Allport described social psychology as a discipline that utilizes the scientific
methods in order to comprehend and describe the way the feelings, thoughts and behavior of the
individuals are affected by the imagine, actual and implied presence of other individuals (Trist,
Murray & Trist, 2016). In short, the socio-psychological theory of personality looks at the
behavior of an individual from the perspective of the social environment in which the individual

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is placed. In case of the current person under study, her social environment influenced her
behavior to isolate herself from the social life and indulge deeply into drug addiction. Apart from
that, due to the problems in her social life, she was unable to concentrate in her studies. The trait
theory on the other hand, argues that the behaviors of individuals are shaped by the different
dispositions. This theory stresses on the differences amongst individuals. Allport categorized the
trait theory further to distinguish it into three different forms – cardinal traits, central traits and
secondary traits (Fleeson & Jayawickreme, 2015). Cardinal traits are those that dominate the
entire life of an individual. The dominant traits are the dominant that these often become the
traits by which the individuals are known. Central traits are the characteristics that create the
fundamental base of a person such as honesty, intelligence, shyness, anxiousness and so on.
Secondary traits include the preferences or attitudes of individuals. Other psychologists such as
Eysenck and Raymond Cattel proposed the three universal traits and “sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire “respectively.
Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist proposed that human behavior is shaped by the
genuineness, acceptance, and empathy possessed by the individual. According to Rogers,
individuals have the capability to achieve their wishes and goals in life and when they do so, they
achieve the stage of self-actualization (Trist, Murray & Trist, 2016). He rejected the
psychoanalytic and behaviorist notions stating that humans behave the way they do because of
the way they perceive their situation. From this perspective, I could state that the study person is
yet to achieve self-actualization. The person is still struggling with self-concept and pretending
to behave like others, as she is afraid she might be left behind and left alone. Rogers argued that
self-actualization takes place when the person matches her or his ideal self, which is, the self one
wants to be, aligns with her or his actual behavior, that is, self-image. In the case of the person

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under study, self-actualization is not taking place because her ideal self (to become a renowned
professor) is not aligning with her self-image.
I think the person could have greatly benefitted from a therapy. The therapy that could
have helped the person is the psychoanalytic therapy. The psychoanalytic therapy is a kind of
talk therapy, which attempts to bring forth the deeply hidden feelings and thoughts of the
unconscious mind into the conscious mind. This helps the person to bring to the surface, the
repressed feelings and thoughts especially from the childhood. The client and therapist work
together to find the ways by which the early memories have influenced the thinking of the client,
her behavior and relationships during her adulthood. The therapy is used for people suffering
from depression, emotional trauma and struggles, self-destructive behavior patterns and issues
with ongoing relationships and so on. In a study by Huber et al. (2013), it has been found that the
therapy has greatly benefitted people suffering from the above-mentioned issues. In the
psychoanalytic therapy, the therapist asks the client to say whatever comes to her mind first.
Then, the therapist searches for the patterns in her behavior and interprets those patterns. The
interpretation helps the therapist to explore the meanings of those patterns along with the client.
The client also talks about her dreams and that the therapist analyzes to associate meanings with
these dreams. In the psychoanalytic therapy, the relationship between the therapist and the client
is vital to the process of healing. In case of the present case person, the psychoanalytic therapy
could have been best for the person because it gives freedom to the client to express her
conscious and unconscious thoughts (Apa.org, 2019). The person in question has had a very
traumatic past with her father passing away and then her relationship with her to previous
boyfriends was very abusive. These incidences made her emotionally depressed and traumatic.
The person is still struggling with the motional abuses of her past and finds it difficult to cope

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with the experiences. The person needs to come out of it and must be allowed to express herself
without any interference. The psychoanalytic theory is apt for the client because in this therapy,
the client would be able to express her thoughts and feelings freely.
The psychoanalytic therapy is most suited also because it uses the technique of free
association where the client is asked to say whatever she feels to say. The therapist does not
force anything on the client and lets her express on her own. The therapy is great for the person
for the further reason that the therapist helps by decoding the patterns of the person’s thoughts,
feelings and dreams. The person has had the thoughts of ending her life and going into extreme
addiction to drugs because of her father’s death. Although she has recovered partially, she still
has thoughts of suicide. She often laughs uncontrollably without any concrete reason to laugh
and cries the same manner as well. Hence, the psychoanalytic therapy could have helped her to
bring out her unconscious thoughts and feelings that make her cry or laugh unreasonably. The
therapist could have tried to make meanings if her unconscious and conscious thoughts and
together, they could have found out a solution to the problem.
The contemporary developments in personality studies have reached a new height.
Personality psychologists have come up with new researches that explore several new fields of
the study. Prior to the 1990s, personality studies had appeared uncertain and hardly organized
with many scientists thinking that personality had least influence in our lives. However, in the
era post the 20th century, the discipline has become increasingly integrated and the worth of
personality has become widely appreciated than it was before. One of the most prominent
findings has been the “five-factor model” or the Big Five Personality theory that has reshaped
the study of personality. The five-factor model has been introduced by the psychologists to
analyze what they believe to be the five fundamental traits or aspects of an individual’s

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personality. Known commonly as the Big Five, these aspects include conscientiousness,
openness to experience, extraversion-introversion, neuroticism and agreeableness. As McCrae
(2011) notices, the Big Five personality traits have “reinvigorated personality research, and the
resulting findings spurred a new generation of personality theories”. In addition to that, this
theory has helped modify the other earlier theories of personality. Openness to experience means
the willingness of the person to attempt new activities and experience variety of ways to live.
Conscientiousness refers to the tendency to be careful about our own behavior and about the
consequences of our own actions. Extraversion refers to those people who are outgoing, lively
and talkative and introversion is the opposite of it. Agreeableness refers to individuals who are
cooperative, helpful and altruistic. Neuroticism is the trait that compels a person to experience
anxiety and worry too much. This worry and anxiety leads to frustration and anger especially
when the person focuses on the negative thoughts instead of the positive thoughts.
These new developments in the study of personality provide us with the opportunity to
understand better, the situation of the person in the present study. From the perspective of the
Big Five theory, we could analyze that the person falls under the neuroticism category. I say this
because the person suffers from extreme anxiety and worry owing to her experiences in the past.
She often becomes angry and frustrated. Therefore, it is evident that the new developments
provide new insights into the personality study.

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References:
Apa.org. (2019). Psychoanalytic Therapy. Retrieved from
https://www.apa.org/pubs/videos/4310811
Fleeson, W., & Jayawickreme, E. (2015). Whole trait theory. Journal of Research in
Personality, 56, 82-92.
Fonagy, P., Target, M., & Gergely, G. (2015). Psychoanalytic perspectives on developmental
psychopathology. Developmental Psychopathology: Volume One: Theory and Method,
701-749.
Huber, D., Henrich, G., Clarkin, J., & Klug, G. (2013). Psychoanalytic versus psychodynamic
therapy for depression: A three-year follow-up study. Psychiatry: Interpersonal &
Biological Processes, 76(2), 132-149.
McCrae, R. R. (2011). Personality theories for the 21st century. Teaching of Psychology, 38(3),
209-214.
Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2016). Theories of personality. Cengage Learning.
Trist, E., Murray, H., & Trist, B. (Eds.). (2016). The Social Engagement of Social Science, a
Tavistock Anthology, Volume 1: The Socio-Psychological Perspective (Vol. 1).
University of Pennsylvania Press.