SAMPLE PAPER Personality Paper Every human being shares about 99% of the exact same genetic material with another. With the Human Genome Project came this shocking statistic in 2004, so sometimes it is hard to grasp that we all differ so greatly from each other when it comes to our personality. Likes and dislikes, ways of viewing and interpreting the world, and how one acts and reacts to different situations can be worlds apart. Even two people raised in the same town, with similar family structures and life experiences can grow up to be polar opposites. This is because there is such a great deal that can influence personality. Some of these influences can be trivial but make such a considerable impact on the way someone is, and some of them can be immeasurable, and have great importance on shaping a persons nature. I will be exploring the many influences that have molded my personality since, and before, birth and the experiences that have forged my identity over the years. 1. Though there is a great deal of personality that is influenced by environment and personal experiences, biology and genetics cannot be denied, especially in the case of temperament. Temperament, as defined in the textbook, as “the stable individual differences in emotional reactivity.” Most researches agree that the four basic components to temperament are emotionality, sociability, activity and aggressiveness or impulsivity. There are some general aspects of my personality that have remained steady for the most part since I was born. As a baby and as a young child my mother has noted that I was highly emotionally reactive to situations, and I know that this has remained the same. I am still very easily aroused by anger, stress, or excitement. My sociability as a child was on the fence as I was shy to approach others and initiate friendships yet once someone approached me I was very talkative, friendly, and I easily connected with them. This aspect of my sociability has persisted through adulthood. Although it is somewhat difficult for me to begin a conversation with a stranger, once it has started or I am placed in a situation where it is inevitable, I can carry on a conversation well and love to debate or gossip. This theory of genetic effects through temperament is evident in these enduring aspects of my personality. 2. A very important influencing factor in the development of my personality is the death of my father. He passed when I was 15, after battling ALS for 2 ½ years. The implications of my experiences caring for him and watching him slowly lose control over his body are many. We had a great relationship and he was very supportive, funny, and loving. Losing him at the stage of my life where I was trying to figure out my own identity was very difficult, and it took me a while longer to really feel like I had a stable sense of self due to this. When I lost my father, I lost a part of identity that I had within our father-daughter relationship, and that is something I can never get back. After his death, my propensity for anxiety increased and I also developed depression for several years after his death. During this stage of my life, I should have been successfully navigating my way through Erikson’s ego crisis of identity vs. role confusion, but I was consumed by the dread of knowing my father would not be around much longer, and trying to understand why such terrible things happen to good people. I developed poor mental health and a cold exterior to cope with my pain and loss. I did not have a sense of developing identity and I had negative self esteem so I allowed myself to become close friends with someone who I let dictate what we did, and when we did it. From this friendship I experimented with marijuana, pills, and alcohol. For a while, I also adopted her interests, hobbies, and dispositions. I lost myself in her and a numbing blur of parties and meaningless interactions. It took me much longer to negotiate through this identity crisis and I really didn’t feel a sense of self until a couple years ago, when she slowly became less and less involved in my life. My father’s death was such a significant event in my life and led to years of trying to develop a healthy self-concept, which I now have. I have learned to become a hard-working person and developed a strong sense of responsibility for my actions and efforts. The lows have made me appreciate the highs and I have learned to appreciate the time I have with people that I love and remind them how important they are to me. I think the fact that I took so long to form my sense of identity at this early stage of my life will help it become more stable and persevering. 3. I have come to realize that the element of birth order has greatly affected the development of certain aspects of my personality. As the first-born child with a younger sister by three years, I have noticed from a young age that we have very distinct personality trait differences, almost opposites at times. While I am very responsible, methodical, and often controlling, my sister is much more laid back, easy-going, and very irresponsible. I can be a very intense person and I don’t get along with just anyone, whereas my sister can keep friendships with many people, even when she finds them highly frustrating or annoying. She will always put important tasks off until the last minute, using no systems of organization in her life, and is completely at ease in the midst of chaos. On the contrary, I have a very strong sense of structure, and would call myself a perfectionist. I have very specific study habits and ways of organizing for my courses, I like to plan my meals, love making to-do lists and staying in control of my finances. My friends will always leave the event or party planning and budgeting to me, knowing I will stay on top of everyone making sure their tasks are being completed. I have always been a good director and excelled at jobs where I was a “team leader”. This is all consistent with what I have learned regarding birth order and how it affects personality. Alfred Adler, who was very focused on social systems, was the first to explore this concept, and he believed this was an important determining factor in personality characteristics. Parents of first-borns tend to put more pressure on them, and since they are first time parents, usually end up implementing stricter rules and regimens. Although my parents were authoritative with both my sister and me, the rules of my childhood usually did not apply so rigorously with my sister. 4. Conditioning has played an important part on the development of myself as a pro-social, “normal” individual, but it has also helped develop my personality. Parents and societal institutions are conditioning children from the moment they are born. They teach children norms, how to act in specific social settings, and they dissuade deviance. As a child, my mother implemented many types of reward and punishment systems since I was quite the difficult and temperamental child. Rewards ranged from gummy bears for going “potty”, to sleepovers or new video games for good behavior and completing chores, to money incentives for getting good grades in high school. My punishments ranged from “time outs” to spanking to ripping down all my teen heartthrob posters and taking away my books. My parents also found that I had an early interest in reading and they would foster that by associating it with praise and other incentives. These were important in my development as a prosocial member of society, and also important to the development of my personality and what I value. I learned to put great importance on receiving good marks, reading, writing, imagination, and, gaining knowledge. Academia has become something I value greatly and would be devastated if the ability to seek out new information or get lost in a mythological literary world was suddenly taken from me. The concept that supports these experiences would be operant and classical conditioning. My parents used operant conditioning by rewarding me or using “reinforcements” for behaviors that were desirable and punishing me for behaviors that were unfavorable. Through this they “shaped” me towards conventional pursuits and a love and thirst for knowledge and language. 5. I think it is safe to say that a lot of my personality traits can be traced to the schemas and social constructs I have developed of what it means to be a girl and a woman. My personality may not have been dictated by what sex I am, but I came to learn that certain characteristics and behaviors were expected of me, and this has undoubtedly influenced my personality. I was trained to think that a woman must embody gracefulness, compliance, and subservience. I was expected to stay quiet, and never do anything reckless, and was ridiculed for being clumsy, while the boys around me were encouraged in somewhat dangerous situations, expected to speak up, and taught to keep their emotions hidden. Whether parents realize it, they treat female children much differently than male children and the effects are numerous. As I grew up more of these gender expectances became apparent in TV shows, advertisements, peers, classroom settings, and so much more. I have always felt pressure to exact an unattainable balance of purity and sensuality, and for a while I learned to hate my natural self and spend hours trying to become the elusive figment of men’s imagination that is presented to them through media and pornography. Recently I have become very interested and concerned with the effects of gender roles and have actively changed my way of thinking about men and women. It has also led me to embrace strong aspects of my personality, such as leadership and being outspoken and passionate. The behavioral and interactionist personality theories of gender support my personal experiences. The behavioral theory states that these characteristics are obtained through modeling, shaping, reinforcement and punishment and the interactionist theory states that certain behaviors are related to the demands of the social situations we find ourselves in. I do sometimes feel conflicted about myself due to these gender roles and they have made a great impact in my personality. The characteristics I value within myself have greatly changed since I have taken an active role in differentiating between what is expected of me regarding gender roles, and how I truly feel and am. 6. I have found that another important element that has shaped my personality is how my family reacted to situations and how they attributed successes and failures. My parents were both very internally driven and they instilled that same drive in me. They placed enormous importance on personal abilities and individuality. They believed in completing tasks and setting goals for yourself and internal fulfillment, and not for the praise of others. To this day, I am instinctively motivated to do things for myself and take responsibility for my shortcomings. I place a great deal of importance on skill and effort. The concept that supports this component of my personality is psychologist Julian Rotter’s approach. He believed in the “psychological situation”, defined as a unique combination of potential behaviors and the value of these behaviors to the individual. An individual will either tend to attribute outcomes in life to factors within themselves or outside themselves. Rotter called this tendency an individuals locus of control. It is evident that I have an internal locus of control in most situations. According to the hand-out from class, “internals are more likely to stay with and put energy into tasks they have been successful on” and “if praised for an intrinsically motivated task, those internally inclined with work harder at the task the next time”. These are two perfect examples of how I respond to several situations. The more successful I have become in my psychology courses, the more motivated I become to achieve even higher marks and put more energy into my studies. Some other connections I have to this internal locus of control are placing much value on academic achievements, functioning better with low structure and plenty of room to experiment and conforming only when I see it to be my advantage. I also am very persuasive and convincing when trying to influence others opinions and attitudes. 7. Culture is such an important part of the development of anyone’s personality and in so many different realms. My experiences growing up in an upper-middle class, Caucasian family in the United States has contributed to my personality in a very different way than someone who grew up in a lower class or poverty level family, a different race or mixed race family, or a different country. Our capitalist society places a great deal of importance on consumerism and the values of material things. This type of economic structure values materialism and egoism and has undoubtedly affected my personality. Karl Marx and this theory of alienation first evidenced the importance of capitalist and individualist societies in a persons personality. As stated in the textbook, “Marx contended that psychosocial attributes such as alienation and selfishness could be traced directly to the economic structures of a capitalist society”. My family and society are individualist, and in return, I have a sense of fending for myself, and not rely on on or being dependent upon others. I value personal initiation and achievement over group or community goals. I also tend to vote and be in support of laws or issues that relate to individual rights. Someone who grew up in a collectivistic culture of family would likely have a radically different sense of self and what they value since those cultures promote unity, selflessness, and supporting what is best for the group or community. 8. A more recent influencing factor in my personality would be my current boyfriend who is also my first love. We have been together for over 3 years and started our relationship when I was emerging out of the hole I had dug for myself after my father’s death. Our relationship has had a great deal of implications in my personality because I really did start to develop a concrete sense of self during our relationship. Finding absolute unconditional love, happiness, and acceptance in him really helped me find my way. His supportive and loving family is part of the reason I started to consider psychology as my career. He also encouraged me to switch to Moorpark, which has been a much greater experience than the other junior colleges I attended, and I would never have had the opportunity to take courses with some of the best psychology professors I could have asked for (especially you!). When I couldn’t find emotional support from my mother, I found it in my boyfriend and his wonderful and accepting mother. In our three years together we taught each other to appreciate the little things and to place emphasis on the quality of our relationship. The things I have learned from our relationship have helped me in my relationships with my mother and my friends as well. I have learned patience and forgiveness, and to remind those important to me how much they mean to me and have made an impact on my life. This influencing factor of love is supported by Eric Fromm’s humanistic approach to personality, dialectical humanism. This is the belief that people can transcend or rise above traumatic events and other forces and become loving, creative, and spontaneous. Although, I am sure there are many more factors at play in the development of my personality, I feel these either are the most apparent and enduring. Completing this assignment has given me mixed feelings about my own personality because it is very complicated and cannot be reduced to a few key influences. In some ways I feel I have achieved a better sense of my identity and overall personality as I am in this stage of life, which is very helpful in understanding where my strengths and weaknesses lie and how to to make them advantageous to me and people close to me. In other ways, I feel like personality can never really be captured, as so many things can change in different stages of a person’s life and different experiences and relationships formed can have such an impact on our inner self and how we view the outer world. It can mean different things to people, but it is clear the study of personality is curial to the mental and emotional health of every individual. Sample Paper Personality Reflection Paper Throughout one’s life, the experiences and individuals a person encounters endlessly influence many aspects of their personality. American philosopher and psychologist John Dewey once said, “The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.” When observing a personality, it is often viewed as melting pot of characteristics that make up the core being of an individual. Moreover, it is through numerous factors occurring over time that make their personality considerably unique. In view of these elements, various life choices, experiences and people have impacted my personality and ultimately sculpted the woman I am today. 1. As I hear the word “family,” it triggers thoughts of being one of the most important influential factors within my life. I was raised in a very loving family; one that was fortunate enough to not be broken by many negative instances that this day and age presents. I believe that my family has had a huge impact on my personality due to the fact that all those around me are very well-rounded people. My parents, especially, have greatly contributed to many of my mindsets whether they are psychological, spiritual, and political. In terms of my personality, I feel as if my parents taught me very well the difference between what is right and wrong as it applies to socially acceptable behavior. The personality theory I feel supports this factor is the behaviorist approach of John B. Watson and his theory of behaviorism. In this learning approach, Watson emphasized the study of observable behavior through the use of his “Little Albert” experiments and the roles of US, CS, UR, and CR within them. I believe the theory conveys the same processes in which my parents used to teach me everything from physical skills such as toilet training to emotional skills of handling stress and anxiety caused from school or work. Considered as one 2 main factor that my family played in my upbringing, they alongside my peers would also contribute to other facets of my personality. 2. Love is often of great significance within the lives of many who embrace the overwhelming feeling as well as the ability to care for someone conditionally. The idea of love and compassion truly has influenced my personality and how I have come to treat not only my family, but also my peers and others who come into my life for one reason or another. Over the twenty one years I have lived, I have witnessed my parents as well as both sets of grandparents remain in happy, committed marriage for decades. In addition to being able to love one another, I have witnessed these family members show their love for humanity in other ways such as paying kindness forward to those in need. I can remember many a time where my grandparents have given a donation to a homeless individual or charity directly from the kindness of their heart. Witnessing these gestures, I feel that they represent the cognitive theory of vicarious learning discussed by Albert Bandura. In his theory, Bandura believed that an individual learns by watching others perform behaviors, thus influencing the person who viewed the behaviors to display them eventually as well. I can definitely propose that this approach has impacted my personality as I now too share the same importance of love and kindness. I often find myself striving to acquire a relationship similar to what my parents and grandparents have and dream that it lasts for as long as all of theirs have. Furthermore, I find that I often care a lot more about people and their wellbeing, directly mirroring the compassion that the adults in my family have displayed all these years. 3. In every family, people often will find themselves drawn to or perhaps even closer to one parent over the other. Although I have great bonds with each of my family members, I consider my mom to be that one person in my life that I’ve always been the closest to on an emotional level. 3 Being an incredibly strong woman, I have experienced both positive and negative times alongside my mother throughout the years. During the last 4 years, my mom has been battling through many physical ailments that have not only affected her body, but at times have worn down her emotional spirit as well. Left feeling confused, depressed, and afraid, I watched as my mom attempt to try her very hardest to remain the “rock” of my family from her hospital bed. As I witnessed this internal struggle she faced within her personality, I directly felt that it impacted and changed my own personality as well. As mentioned in Kurt Lewin’s cognitive approach, contemporaneous causation is the concept that behavior is caused at the moment of its occurrence by all the influences that are present in the individual at the moment. In my mind, this theory describes the change in my personality to become the “rock” of my family when my mother was unable to at the time. All the influences of worry and uncertainty with the status of my mother’s physical health and the rest of my family’s emotional health, I took it upon myself to represent this optimistic role to provide emotional security. In the end, my mother finally was able to overcome her struggle through illnesses and regain her responsibility of keeping my family safe and sound. 4. Assuming personal responsibility has been a task that may not always be the easiest to take on. However, it is one I have felt great emphasis to take part in. Being the first born in my family, I believe my age has contributed immensely to my personality as I have always been looked at as a role model for my younger brother. The cliché of being blamed for things first or not getting away with something a younger sibling I have found to at times be true being the oldest. I have grown to hold great responsibility and desire to lead my brother down a paved path that I had to walk down alone. In perspective, Carl Rodger’s humanistic approach concerning personal acceptance of responsibility and maturity in their life seemed to best describe the duty I always felt. As Rodger thought each person strived to fulfill their own potential, I agree that I too have 4 tried to not only be the best sibling, but also the best daughter, friend, and overall person I can be. Although my brother and I are adults now, this responsibility that has been infused within my personality still remains as I still feel a sense of protection and guidance that I will always want to provide for him the rest of his life. 5. As the world has made great strides toward race equality, many people who fall in the category of minorities will tell you that life is just a little different within the United States. Coming from a Hispanic family, there have been a number of times that I could identify with my particular race and ethnicity effecting my personality and perception of situations. I have seen, heard, and experienced prejudice and racial slurs thrown toward myself as well as others of races considered minorities throughout our country. Being present for some these occurrences really changes how you conduct yourself with your peers as well as in public. The cognitive approach brought to attention by Jean Piaget was one concerning the schemas, scripts and stereotypes. All three of these ideas support a structure that organizes knowledge and expectations about your environment and using patterns to understand it. As mentioned before, I have been called racial slurs due to my Mexican heritage and been at times looked down upon in my own community by those maintaining an ignorant mindset. I feel as if these stereotypes of races correlate perfectly with the categorization factor that many including myself have been guilty of thinking at some point. In a way, it impacts my personality and how I conduct myself around people to help not influence them to judge me upon a stereotype category I may seem to fall into. 6. In addition to my community, the personal environment that I was raised in, however, solidified a strong structure that provided safety as well as reassurance. Growing up within a city where most inhabitants are financially well to do, the environment I was lucky enough to experience aided in my personality and the concepts of safety versus taking risks in my life. Being 5 raised in Thousand Oaks, I was privileged enough be sheltered from the struggles and danger many other young adults had to go through in more urban, inter-city environments. Karen Horney’s neoanalytic approach theorized that environmental and social factors were the most important influences that shaped personalities among people. Within these factors, Horney highlighted on the real self, despised self, and ideal self that made up parts of an individual’s personality. I agree that environmental elements definitely were a crucial component to the development of emotional security and the absence of unnecessary risk taking within my personality. Coming from a solid background and environment, I feel like there wasn’t much of a battle between maintaining the real and despised self-aspects. Always supported cared for, my environment pushed me to only better myself in hopes of achieving the sense of my ideal self. 7. Along with the influence of environment, our overall society also has taken a role in adding layers of openness upon my personality. Most can agree that when in public, a person usually tends to hold back from showing the full extent of their personality in fear of ultimately being judged. On numerous occasions I have found myself acting more proper and less goofy when around adults or those who appear to be more serious. In conjunction, I also really don’t feel comfortable showing the deeper of my emotions to those I have not known for a good amount of time due to lack of trust. In a way, I would almost say it is a defense mechanism that I use to prevent my feelings from getting hurt by comments people may want to make. Gordan Allport was at the forefront of a trait approach that included these levels of personality; which were named Proprium. The term was coined by Allport and helped describe the core of personality that defines who a person is. I definitely can concur with this idea of withholding some aspects of my personality when in a public setting such as a class room or restaurant. On the contrary, I am not 6 ashamed of these traits I process, but instead I again wish to not be prematurely judged by those around who don’t know me on a more personal level. 8. Whether the glass is half full or half empty, the forces of both optimism and pessimism leave some people conflicted as their opinions and ideas may vary on the spectrum between the two. As I am a generally positive person, I also found myself to be a very optimistic person, always looking for the good in people and making the best of any situation that I find myself in. Possessing a positive outlook has always helped me through difficult situations, and I feel like it is the better way of approaching something rather than automatically putting a negative light onto something. Although, I also have discovered that staying optimistic is easier said than done when you are just having an awful day. There have been times where I am just so exhausted and mentally drained from the different stresses from life that just prompt me to take a break to get away from it all. In terms of optimism and pessimism, the explanatory style is a cognitive approach that includes a set of personality variables that captures a person’s habitual means of interpreting events in their life. I would say that due to how I view my life, I will remain an optimistic person who will always interpret events as positive events as much as possible. Influenced by every small detail, an individual’s personality is similar to a painting made up of many different elements, never ceasing to have more creativity and unique features added to it. The thoughts of John Dewey could not have been more accurate as aspects of my personality continuously change as I get older and encounter more obstacles and triumphs. Although the core of our personality seems to remain the same for most of our lives, it is interesting to see how the layers of it seem to change and even blossom. Allowing us to understand the world around us, we can then understand ourselves and what makes us unique from the rest.
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