Personality Theories Notes

Question – Discuss the nature of personality theories.

Answer – Basically, theory is a set of related hypotheses that allow for verifiable assumptions to be formed through logical deductive reasoning. It provides organizational observations, generates research, provides behavioral directions and explains the consistency of human behavior. If we can fully understand human behavior, we do not need personality theories. But the truth is another. Therefore, different thinkers have given different explanations to explain why people act in a particular way, and what is the reason behind this.

Therefore, the Personality theories implements two functions:

1 Descriptive function –

Personality theories are descriptive because it systematically organizes behavior in an easy-to-understand way. In other words, it provides meaningful framework work by integrating and simplifying everything that is derived from related event sets. Let’s try to understand this by example. You may have noticed that children between the ages of three and four often show negativeism, that is, they behave exactly the opposite of what they are asked to do, or even if they follow them Requirements. A lot of stubbornness. Parents often complain that their children are not performing properly, and no matter what they do, the children do not act accordingly. Parents often cannot understand this. Now, if we rely on the theory of personality development, we will know that this is normal. Every child has gone through this stage, and all the negatives that the child shows are actually the core structure for developing oneself. By showing negativity, the child actually tests how much he can control the world around him. In other words, he insists on himself in things. Now we can explain the child’s negation from this perspective, and our views on the child’s behavior will change immediately.

2 Prediction function –

Personality theories not only help us understand the past and the present, but also helps to make predictions about the future. But this is only possible if the concepts proposed by the theory apply to empirical tests to confirm or deny. For example, if we assume that punishment only exacerbates the child’s negativeism, and in fact the punishment of the parents leads to an increase in negation, our hypothesis proves. Now, if we assume that once the child crosses five years old, the negativeism will automatically subside. If we find that the child actually gradually eliminates negation with age, our hypothesis is confirmed again.