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Personality Theories: Implications for Every Day Life

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1. Using internet resources, which personality theory do you think offers the best explanation for how an individual's personality develops? Personality development begins at a young age. How does the theory you picked explain the development of personality as a child grows and matures? Defend your answer including citations of the appropriate literature on personality theory.
2. Identify a specific psychological disorder. Describe the symptoms commonly associated with this disorder according to the DSM-IV. How do the behaviors associated with this disorder differ from similar behaviors considered normal in American culture? Finally, discuss ways in which this disorder is treated. Do not discuss personal experience and do not use a disorder you have or found in your family.

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Solution Summary

This discussion focuses on:

1) The personality theory that I think offers the best explanation for how an individual's personality develops.
2) The symptoms commonly associated with a psychological disorder according to the DSM-IV.

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1. Using internet resources, which personality theory do you think offers the best explanation for how an individual's personality develops? Personality development begins at a young age. How does the theory you picked explain the development of personality as a child grows and matures? Defend your answer including citations of the appropriate literature on personality theory.

I think Sullivan's personality theory on inter-personal relationships and cognitive representation offers the best explanation for how an individual's personality develops. This theory emphasizes the social factors which contribute to the development of personality, hence the external conflicts. Sullivan believed that the relationship between parent (more specifically the mother) and child is a quest for security by the child. Therefore, if the child was not able to get that security from the parent, anxiety will ensue as the child grows up since anxiety exists only as a result of social interactions. This theory is very important because it takes social factors into account, thereby, encouraging society to take a closer look at how we affect one another. As stated in the literature, according to Sullivan, "mothers show their anxiety about child rearing to their children through various means. The child, having no way to deal with this, feels the anxiety himself. Selective inattention ...

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