PERSONALITY

A person’s personality is their usual way of thinking, feeling and acting that is unique to them.

HOW DOES PERSONALITY DEVELOP?

•Heredity and environment interact to form personality (Nature & Nurture).•Freud believed that unconscious processes direct a great part of a person’s behavior. •Another influential theory of personality is derived from behaviorism. Researchers such as the American psychologist B. F. Skinner, places primary emphasis on learning. •We are going to look at two developmental theories of personality.

PIAGET’S THEORY

Jean PiagetJean Piaget•He was interested in child cognitive development.•He believed that the stages of mental development are age related.(Nature)•He also believed that these stages are influenced by social experience.(Nurture)

AGE AND STAGES•1. Sensory MotorSensory Motor- Birth- 2yrs

•Children learn through direct experience.

•2. Pre-operationalPre-operational- 2yrs- 7yrs

•Can use forms of verbal communication.

•They see things only from their own point of view.

•3. Concrete operationalConcrete operational- 7yrs- 11yrs

•Learn to think in terms of cause and effects.

•Can see things from other’s point of view

•4. Formal operationalFormal operational- Adolescence

•Can think abstractly.

•Use logic and imagination to solve problems.

ERIKSON’S THEORY

•Erikson believes that development takes place over the course of the entire life-span.

•According to Erikson’s theory, each stage is associated with an important task or challenge that one must work out.

•It is how these tasks or challenges are worked out that determines how the personality develops.

ERIKSON’S STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

•1. Birth- 1yrs Trust vs Mistrust

•2. 1yr- 3yrs Autonomy vs Doubt

•3. 3yrs- 5yrs Initiative vs Guilt

•4. 6yrs- 11yrs Industriousness vs Conformity

•5. 12yrs-18yrs Identity vs Role confusion

•6. 19yrs-30yrs Intimacy vs Isolation

•7. 30yrs-60yrs Productivity vs Stagnation

•8. 60yrs-Over Ego Integrity vs Despair