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Personality Theories: A Comparison

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Break each of the personality theories down for comparison.
Discuss analytic, social, trait, biological, behavioral and learning, cognitive social learning, humanistic, and attachment.
For each of the theories I am looking for a brief description of:

Testing and measurement
Comprehensiveness
Heuristic value
Parsimony
Compatibility and integration across all levels

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Solution Summary

This solution compares personality theories on testing measurement, parsimony, comprehensiveness, and compatibility and integration.

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Theories researched are: analytic, social, trait, biological, behavioral and learning, cognitive social learning, humanistic, and attachment.

(b) Analytic-theory emerging out of Sigmund Freud's scientific views of a divided mind to aid in understanding the rational and irrational aspect of human nature. Freud's (1905) work on the Theory of sexuality postulated that human nature was influenced primarily by unconscious sexual and aggressive drives. Based on the Freudian view, the mental place in which persons envisioned secret or sexual desires had several psychological consequences including: (a) threatened self-esteem, (b) resulted in anxiety and guilt, and (c) influenced conscious behaviors and thoughts.

Other significant contributors to the school of analytic theory were Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. Jung, who disagreed with Freud's emphasis on sex drives as the primary motivator in human behavior developed an analytical psychology based on "collective unconscious". Jung believed that in addition to a personal unconscious consisting of childhood repressed memories, that humans possess collective unconscious that is expressed through culture, art , religion and universal archetypes (Archer & McCarthy, 2007.p.24).

Adler's "individual" psychology held that a person's perceptions are based on his or her view of reality. In other words, an individuals' view of the world is constructed based on his or her personal view. He argued against Freudian forces (e.g., id, ego and super ego), which he called counterproductive.

*Formal Assessment is utilized with analytic techniques, such as projective assessment techniques. Projective assessments inventories ask clients to respond to ambiguous stimuli in efforts to gain insight into the unconscious. Scoring and interpreting test result consists of making complex evaluations based on the client's reaction to the stimuli. The basic goal of analytic approaches is to address an immediate conflict. Psychoanalysis primarily utilizes scientific approaches to assessment.
Integration: According to Archer & McCarthy (2005), many of the theories that developed after Freud's psychodynamic theories can be integrated with other approaches. For example, they assert that Beck's Cognitive Behavior therapy has some components that fit well with psychoanalysis. Although the Freudian Theory of psychoanalysis has been altered, it is still in use (e.g.,Objects Relation Theory). Object Relations Theory has been integrated with concepts of spirituality and group psychotherapy.

(c) Social

Social theories emphasize the importance of the connection between social forces and biology. Social psychologists seek to understand human behavior from the perspective of the individual's environment (Sherman, 2010). For example, he asserts that neuroscience research derives information form neural activity, and associates it with psychological phenomena to explain human activity and behavior. Similarly, other social theories such as the ...

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