Personality has been defined as a ‘specific pattern of behaviours that relates to a person’s interest, value and preferences and are relatively consistent across both space and time’ (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011). The study of personality psychology frequently illuminates the importance of individual differences between human characteristics, within a society reliant on conformity and community. Compelling evidence for humans’ ostensibly social nature arises in the form of empathy which is said to be more evident in certain personalities than others (). Empathy is defined as a ‘sensitivity to and understanding of, the mental states of others’ (Holin, 1994, as cited in Smith, 2006, p. 3) and is considered an innate ability (Meltzoff, 2002) that
…show more content…
This brings to question how the personality is developed. Socio-cognitive theories such as Albert Bandura’s (1977) state that personality is a product of a set of cognitive processes otherwise known as the ‘Self-System’. Bandura’s theory outlines the role of social experience, reciprocal determinism and observational learning in relation to the development of the self-system in childhood. Children observe and imitate model behaviour and if that behaviour is encouraged then they are likely to repeat similar behaviour again () further repetition of such provides a foundation for that child’s personality. Thus, the system plays a major role in how we perceive and respond to different situations and ourselves (). Self-efficacy, is central to Bandura’s theory. A strong sense of self efficacy is developed through repeated successes, but also through vicarious experiences provided by social models (Yildirim & Guner …show more content…
Bouchard & McGue (1990) examined personality traits among twins raised apart and discovered moderate levels of heritability with regard to personality traits. Certain genes have also been associated with social behaviour such as empathy (Ebstein, Israel, Chew, Zhong & Knafo, 2010), however both genetics and environment have been shown to effect empathy levels (Knafo, Zahn-Waxler, Van Hulle, Robinson, & Rhee, 2008).
Paulhus and Williams, (2002) banded Psychopathy, Narcissism and Machiavellianism to form ‘The dark Triad’ a set of three personality traits that entail behaviour tendencies toward self-promotion, aggressiveness and socially malevolent character. The dark triad was scrutinized against ‘The Big 5’ variables in order to establish similarities and found that Narcissism negatively correlated with agreeableness and positively correlated with; extraversion and openness. Similar results were found by Lee and Ashtin (2005). There is no shortage of evidence suggesting that psychopaths lack empathy (Hare, Hart & Harpur,
This brings to question how the personality is developed. Socio-cognitive theories such as Albert Bandura’s (1977) state that personality is a product of a set of cognitive processes otherwise known as the ‘Self-System’. Bandura’s theory outlines the role of social experience, reciprocal determinism and observational learning in relation to the development of the self-system in childhood. Children observe and imitate model behaviour and if that behaviour is encouraged then they are likely to repeat similar behaviour again () further repetition of such provides a foundation for that child’s personality. Thus, the system plays a major role in how we perceive and respond to different situations and ourselves (). Self-efficacy, is central to Bandura’s theory. A strong sense of self efficacy is developed through repeated successes, but also through vicarious experiences provided by social models (Yildirim & Guner …show more content…
Bouchard & McGue (1990) examined personality traits among twins raised apart and discovered moderate levels of heritability with regard to personality traits. Certain genes have also been associated with social behaviour such as empathy (Ebstein, Israel, Chew, Zhong & Knafo, 2010), however both genetics and environment have been shown to effect empathy levels (Knafo, Zahn-Waxler, Van Hulle, Robinson, & Rhee, 2008).
Paulhus and Williams, (2002) banded Psychopathy, Narcissism and Machiavellianism to form ‘The dark Triad’ a set of three personality traits that entail behaviour tendencies toward self-promotion, aggressiveness and socially malevolent character. The dark triad was scrutinized against ‘The Big 5’ variables in order to establish similarities and found that Narcissism negatively correlated with agreeableness and positively correlated with; extraversion and openness. Similar results were found by Lee and Ashtin (2005). There is no shortage of evidence suggesting that psychopaths lack empathy (Hare, Hart & Harpur,