The concept of self explained through the different domains of psychology.

Adam Francis

Personality of Psychology

05/08/19

Jane Nugent

FINAL EXAM TAKE-HOME ESSAY QUESTION

PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY

Spring 2019

Original definition from the textbook

Personality: is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions with, and adaptations to, the intrapsychic, physical, and social environment.

My definition of personality

Personality: sets of working traits that an individual develops to satisfy a person’s psyche. This puts a higher concentration on the ego which consciously and unconsciously builds different mechanisms when interacting in a social, physical and intrapsychic environment.

After reading about what psychological terms make up an individual's personality, the three domains that I felt more contributed to personality are ( in order) cognitive - experiential, intrapsychic, and social and cultural domains. The reason why I choose to leave out both the biological and adjustment domains is because both contributions could be explained in one of the three domains expressed above, especially when it comes social interactions and building relationships with others.

The first domain that contributes to personality would be the cognitive- experiential domain. The textbook defines this domain by stating that it, “ focuses on thought processes and subjective experiences such as conscious ideas, feelings, beliefs, and desires about oneself and others.” The reason why cognitive-experimental domains adds to my definition of personality because it focuses on developing the ego with the collection of working memory and experiences that help gather specific traits and values for the individual. One way you could test this is by using the Five Factor model. This exercise relates to what word resonate more with their core values, beliefs, ideas and feelings in regards to the self. It may not say much about personality but it does exposes strengths and weakness of one's own personality and explains why they may behave a certain type of way given a certain situation/ environment. When I did the Five-Factor model, I went in it knowing a couple of core beliefs about my personality and how I react to certain behaviors/ interactions with others. For emotional stability the test accurately scored it as my lowest which is true to me because I know that I am an anxious person who over thinks/ over analyzes situations before I act and I am somewhat insecure how I appear to others. Another factor that was accurate but surprised me was that my openness/ intellect factor was a 6.675 which was almost a 7. Personally I do value my intelligence and my creativity because it has allowed me to see the world in a different kind of light which separates my personality from anyone else's. I say this because the five factor model only further emphasis core thoughts and ideas that an individual already has build unconsciously by their experiences. In conclusion, the cognitive- experiential domain takes different traits that can be used to build a person’s personality and by doing so it statifies a person’s ego by given them a sense of identity within the self.

Given what I understand about the three levels of a person’s psyche, the intrapsychic domain would be next because it “deals with mental mechanisms of personality, many if which operate outside of conscious awareness. The Id (pleasure principle), Ego (reality principle), and Superego (idealist principal) all operate on either a conscious or unconscious level to protect the self,. Whenever the self becomes at conflict with two or all three principals anxiety occurs. The three different types of anxieties that can occur when in conflict are neurotic anxiety (Id goes against the ego/the self), moral anxiety (Ego goes against your superego/moral drives; causes guilt) and objective anxiety ( where occurs out of real fears/ threats the Id; activates survival instincts) Since my theory on personality concentrates on the ego, I believe that different traits that builds an individual's personality, activates different defense mechanisms whenever the ego feels threatened. For example, a person who shows an introvert personality has the traits of being more internally focus rather than needing any external stimulation. When an introvert is force to change their behavior by becoming more social and talkative to fit in a social setting, they are less likely to do so because it creates a moral anxiety. The superego which craves situatiomation and wants to fit in with the ingroup is at conflict with the limitations that the ego has set for an individual with an introverted personality. Increase anxiety in social situation can cause social anxiety disorders which could be explained more in the biological domain. Different biological disorders that deal with an individual's behavior could be explained through intrapsychic domain influences.

Last but not least, the social and cultural domain states that, “personality affects and is affected by, social and cultural context.” An example of this domain could be expressed through the collective consciousness. From my understanding, the collective conscience is sets share beliefs, ideas and attitudes, that are upheld and used by a collective community. Although personality is unique to the individual, we all have certain beliefs and ideologies on how we should behave in a social setting. In each culture, society regulates what is the norm and socially acceptable and unacceptable.This relates back to my definition on personality because it puts a limitation on how a person can and will behave. This limitation acts a a reward system towards the ego since following theses limitations will prevent any anxiety/ isolation from the ingroup to occur. Fitting into an ingroup is a big part of why we socialize which builds the ego’s self esteem. One of the concepts that backs this up would be need for intimacy which states that,”the recurrent preference or readiness from warm, close and communicative interactions with others.” We as humans are social beings, so the need for intimacy through relationships and stimulation will always be prioritised by ego. So in the case where an individual with an introvert personality who seeks attention at at a social event, this individual will use substance such as drugs or alcohol which will alter his/her personality allowing the superego to erase those limitation and satisfy the self. The need to alter an individual's personality to fit a social setting could then be explained by the adjustment domain as a subsection of social and cultural domain.