Angles on Applied Psychology, Essay Example

Personality and processes taking place in the human conscience in the process of its development have always been the subject of particular human interest, especially in the field of psychology. The main question raising considerations is the way the human personality is formed and what patterns influence the formation of his or her behavior. There are two main approaches to personality within the theory of personality that deserve particular attention and have to be thoroughly considered. In fact, they have many similarities but also contain substantial differences that distinguish them from one another and let them approach the study of personality from different angles.

The first theory to be considered is the social learning theory. The main scientist who developed the social learning ideas and formed the framework of its methodology and concepts was Bandura who justified the formation of personality and the system of his or her attitudes and behavior by the influence of a set of models that affected the process of cognition of a particular person. According to the specialists’ opinion, the process of social learning involves four stages – attention, retention, reproduction and motivation (Russell and Jarvis, 2003). These assumptions presuppose the attention paid by a person to another person who represents a behavioral model for him or her with the purpose of detecting the patterns of behavior that suit the person most of all and appear the most attractive; the next stage involves retention of this behavior, namely, the process of finding out the main ways to cope the interesting behavior; the next phase is reproduction of behavior itself; and the motivation sphere refers to the set of reasons chosen by the person to cope the interesting behavior. The most widely spread reason is the wish to gain a reward (Russell and Jarvis, 2003).

The second analyzed theory is the behavioral approach to the formation of personality. It is also one of the most popular and interesting psychological approaches to the discussed sphere assuming that the human behavior can be majorly explained in terms of the chaotic and unpredicted environmental influences. For this reason the objective inferences concerning the origin and concealed reasons for the formation of a certain pattern of behavior are made on the basis of observations (Behavioral Approach, 2008)

The main similarities that can be seen within the conceptual framework of these two theories is that they accept the subjective influence of other subjects on the formation of the person’s system of behavior, no matter whether it is conscious or subconscious. However, the behavioral approach adopts a more chaotic scheme of the behavior influences stating that the environment is the main determinant thereof, while the social learning theory admits the existence of a set of models that are adopted by different recipients and influence their behavior on a more stabile and predicted basis, through a certain process of adopting the behavioral pattern and with the help of particular motives. This core difference shapes the vision of personality in the psychological aspect by the scientists pursuing this or that approach: the social learning model is more structured and explains the human personality in a more formalized way. Behavioral approach is slightly different forming the vision of the personality as a set of independent variables determining its outer behavioral expression due to the ways the environment affects the person at a particular moment of time.

The strong sides of the social learning theory may be outlines as follows: firstly, the theory provides a sound basis for the justification of the process of behavioral inheritance – the way children learn from their parents and behave in a common way with their parents and older relatives. Another strength that may be used with the application of the social learning theory is the ways models of sportsmen, models, healthy people etc. that appear attractive for large groups of population may be used to affect their cognition and habits (Russell and Jarvis, 2003).

The strength of behavioral approach that may be applied in real life for efficient explanation of the personality formation is the assumption that some significant traits of a personality may be detected by means of observation. This method has proved to be highly constructive in the process of assessing the individual personality profile. The second strong side is the assumption that people’s behavior may be biologically perceived as a response to a certain stimuli, this is why behavior is determined by a particular situation (Behavioral Approach, 2008).

Despite being popular and highly rational in many aspects, these two theories also have a set of weak sides that show their inconsistency in a set of peculiarities of behavior detection. For example, the social learning theory does not give the best explanation to the individual behavioral differences that exist in every personality. It also does not offer a well-structured approach to analyzing the existing characteristics of a personality in the retrospective way, offering only a good set of tools to assess the process of the behavioral pattern formation as well as the future predictions of its results (Russell and Yarvis, 2003).

The behavioral approach is also not ideal and has a set of pitfalls that do not let it become the dominant approach in the personality assessment process. First of all, behaviorism in its radical vision assumes that human behavior is governed only by the changeable environment and is not determined by any personal characteristics of a personality, which is improbable, taking into consideration the whole scope of influences the personality undergoes in the process of its formation. The second drawback is again assuming the person to be a blank slate from his or her birth – no genetic predisposition and inheritance are taken into consideration, which is clearly a weak point (Behavioral Approach,2008).

Applying the personality analysis to my own experience in life, I can say that I have one bad habit – grinding my teeth. This habit was either inherited by me from my mother or was taken by me as a behavioral model in the period of my childhood – I am not sure. However, I am sure that my mother had the key influence on me in the formation of this bad habit as I do not have any other people in my environment who have this habit.

I tried to break it up but it was stronger than I had expected as it was formed at the subconscious level. Besides, I have noticed that it is also revealed in my behavior as a response to stress – when I am nervous because of the studies, before a presentation in the class or at the exam. I continued it because at the study period I have many stressful situations and I cannot control my behavior in such situations. Thus, I believe that it can be partly explained by the behavioral nature of the formation of behavioral patterns as well.

Nevertheless, I can trace the elements of the social learning theory approach in the process of this habit formation in my personality. First of all, I saw this habit in the behavior of my mother who was the closest person for me and became the strongest behavioral model in my eyes. I observed the way she did it, learned the way for me to do it and finally began to do it myself; but I do not have the element of motivation – this is a bad habit and I realize this. Hence, I do not await any reward for it even realizing that it is punishable by my relatives and friends who do not approve of it. I guess under the conditions of full absence of stress I would be able to refuse from this habit. This is why I can make the general conclusion that my personality is better described by the behavioral theory of personality.

Surely, there may be some ways for refusing from this bad habit – naturally, by applying classical or operant conditioning. If we have a look at the problem from the point of view of classical conditioning, it will be necessary for me to generate a new association with a stressful situation. I may develop some breathing exercises to eradicate stress, or may draw some figures to express it. If I apply the method of operant conditioning, then it would be possible for me to memorize the full scope of bad consequences grinding teeth may cause for my health. There is surely some potential for me to refuse from this habit, so much work has to be done in this respect.

References

Behavioral Approach (2008). Retrieved August 27, 2009, from http://www.psychologistwor ld.com/issues/behavioralapproach.php

Russell, J., & Jarvis, M. (2003). Angles on Applied Psychology. Nelson Thornes