Genetic And Biological Influences On The Development Of Personality Theories

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Personality is defined as the combination of behavior, motivation and emotion that defines an individual’s distinctive character (American Psychological Association, 2015). According to Mayer (2007), personality is a set of traits and process within an individual, that influence an individual’s interaction and adaption to the environment (Mayer, 2007). There are many personality theorist that have made it their life’s work to better understand the development of human personality and the factors that influence it. There are many major personality perspectives developed by personality theorist. Personality perspectives such as biological, behavioral/ social-cognitive, psychodynamic, humanistic, and trait perspective. Each one of these theories …show more content…
The biological approach to personality focuses on the genetic and physiological influence on personality. Hans Eysenck was the personality theorist that the believed that an individual’s personality can be explained by genetic and physiological influences. According to Burger (2015), Eysenck argued that an individual’s personality is influenced by their biological makeup and not by any actions or mistakes made by an individual’s parents (Burger, 2015). The behavioral/social-cognitive approach to personality was developed by Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner and Albert Bandura. The behavioral approach is based on the fact that an individual’s behavior can be explained through observation and the influence of the environment. According to Bustamante, Tennant and Ramo (1996), states that human behavior is learned and is learned through observation (Bustamante, Tennant & Ramo, 1996). The psychodynamic approach was founded by Sigmund Freud and Neo-Freudians Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, and Karen Horney. Based on the psychodynamic approach an individual’s personality is shaped by the

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