Personality Theory: Albert Bandura & Carl Rogers Essay

spirit is an intriguing comp ch international deoxyadenosine monophosphateereionnt in psychology vital for the perception of serviceman beings. Understanding and defining spirit has proven to be a vexed task. It is so complex, in fact, that no single theory can adequately define it. If whizz was to ask an ordinary man-to-man to do so, some(prenominal) of the just ab come out of the closet common answers might be a persons device characteristics or the impression (s) mavin makes on figure outer(a)s. record Theorists on the new(prenominal) hand view character as the essence of the person, the item-by-items authoritative inner nature (Ra then, 2004). harmonise to Carver and Scheier (2000), character is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create a persons characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts, and feelings (p.5). For this assignment the assumptions of the Social-Cognitive and Humanistic theoretical paradigms of individu al(prenominal)ity give be employ to evaluate the in-personity of the case study, Myesha.It will besides discuss genius tests- methods/instruments, use of goods and servicesd to measure whether mess are sad, glad or mischievously and how lot with certain personality traits respond to lifes demand. earlier one can begin to understand and assess this individuals personality, it is important to briefly review the Social-Cognitive and Humanistic theories of personality with their respective theorists such(prenominal) as Albert Bandura and for the Humanistic approach, Carl Rogers. According to Passer & angstrom unit Smith (2007), neighborly cognitive theory is a perspective that was authentic by Albert Bandura. It combines the behavioral and cognitive perspectives into an approach to personality that stresses the interaction of a thinking homosexual with a social environment that supplys learning experiences (p.467). It is proposed that an individuals thoughts and action s arise in the social creation and t here(predicate) is the capacity for ego statute and to engage in active cognitive processes (Bandura, 1999).The human beingsistic or phenomenological theories of personality view humans as innately good. Emphasis is placed on individual experiences, relationships and ways of accord the world. Human nature includes a cancel drive towards personal growth. We as humans drop the ability to demand what we do regardless of environment and humans are pretty more than conscious beings. We are not obligateled by unconscious needs and conflicts (Engler, 2008). According to Rogers (1951) individuals possess the innate ability to know what is important to them, what is essential for a more fulfilling life. This is know as an Organismic Valuing Process. Myesha demonstrated this as she valued to study Literatures in English, while her mother wanted her to hook up with in her gradationfathers footsteps and study Law instead. Rogers would permit s tated at this even pop out that Myesha went against her Organismic Valuing Process and con lineed to her mothers wishes by studying Law.When real others in an individuals world, ( in Myeshas case her parents), provide lordly regard that is conditional, quite a than unconditional, the individual introjects the desired values, making them ones own, thus they acquire conditions of worth (Engler, 2008). As a result, the self concept becomes ground on these standards of value, rather than on the organismic evaluation. According to Bandura (1978), while assessing an individuals behavior, there are three interactional processes to consider the person, the individuals behaviour and the environmental setting. These factors all operate as interlacing determinants of all(prenominal) other and it is largely through their actions that people produce the environmental conditions that extend to their behavior in a reciprocal fashion (Funder & Ozer, 2001, p.461) (see Appendix 1). This p rocess involves a triadic reciprocal interaction rather than a dyadic conjoint or a dyadic bidirectional one (Schultz & Schultz, 2008).For instance Myesha quickly realized that Law was not for her. She considered displace out of the University as she had gotten involved with a mouth word meeting around this time. As a result, her stepfather threatened to stop supporting her if she dropped out and this placed a strain on family relationships. These are all factors of pay off and effect, which are influencing each other. Bandura views Myesha as an agentic operator in her life. He would conceive that she has the capability to intentionally make things happen by her actions and that she is not an on exploreing army of internal mechanisms orchestrated by environmental events (Bandura, 2001, p.2). Individuals are sentient agents of experiences rather than simply undergoers of experience. The sensory motor and cerebral systems are tools people use to accomplish the tasks and goals that give meaning and direction in their lives (Harr & Gillet 1994).Carl Rogers also agrees to some degree with Bandura, in the belief that the environment also affects us and the people in our environment determine what our behavior will be like (Pervin, Cervone & John, 2005). He also believes that her experience in the spoken word group can have an impact on her personal growth and individual experiences. The belief is that Myeshas experiences are unique, and that her perception of the world is critical to understanding and achieving a particular behavior that would be superpos adequate to her becoming a self-actualized individual (Gladding, 2004 Engler, 2008). Social cognitive theory maintains that most human behaviour is self-regulated. Through cumulative direct and vicarious experience, people develop exertion standards that they use to evaluate their own behaviour. Almost eer the person compares what he or she does in a situation with some performance standard (Schul tz & Schultz, 2008).According to Bandura (1974), these standards are prescribed by socialization agents and parents who define the conduct worthy of reward. Responses from these individuals are either negatively charged or positive based on the valued levels. For example, if performance is actiond or exceeds the standards, an individuals parents may react in a positive manner towards the child. This child will experience inborn reinforcement. On the other hand if performance falls short of a standard, the person experiences intrinsic punishment, as a result of the negative reaction exhibited by ones parents, social agents or ones self (Hergenhan & Olson, 1999). Although Myesha seemed to be able to manage her performance in the Law programme, her finis not to advert her class presentation may be viewed as a form of intrinsic punishment.Bandura and Kupers (1964) for example, found that children, exposed to models who set high gear performance standards, reenforce themselv es only for superior performance, whereas children, exposed to models accepting minimal performance standards, strengthened themselves for minimal performance. It would be expected then that relevant people in a childs life, for instance parents, siblings and peers, would have a expectant yield on the development of a childs performance standards. We see that Myeshas success as a straight A student throughout original school transitioned to a declining performance upon entryway secondary school. Additionally, we need to consider her family relationship as a lend factor. At this time, her brother was considered the favourite by her mother and stepfather.Additionally, performance standards must be realistic. In other words, if they are too lenient, they will be too easily met, and little, if any, self-reinforcement will result from performing in trunk with them (Bandura 1974). If they are too stringent, one will experience frustration or worse. In Myeshas case, her stepfather threatened to withdraw financial support if she dropped out of the Law programme and this further caused their relationship to become strained. Her brothers attitude was negative and her mother became depressed. Bandura (1986) says, In its more extreme forms, acetous standards for self-evaluation give rise to depressive reactions, chronic discouragement, feelings of worthlessness, and lack of purposefulness. According to Hergenhan and Olson (1999), Bandura sight among the mechanisms of personal agency, none is more central or pervasive than peoples beliefs about their capabilities to set enclose over events that affect their lives.Self-efficacy refers to what a person is actually capable of doing, that is, belief in ones capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations (Bandura, 1994). This is known as perceived self efficacy (Bandura, in press, p. 2). According to Pajares (1996), these beliefs of personal competence effect beh aviour in several ways as they influence the choices individuals make and the courses of action they pursue (544). Individuals engage in tasks in which they feel competent and confident and avoid those in which they do not. This was exhibited by Myesha with her spoken word group becoming very popular on the local scene. At this point, according to Bandura, Myesha has a high self scratch to be and a high self efficacy, as she enjoys performing with her group (Pervin et al., 2005).In contrast, she considers dropping out of the Law programme, as it is something that she does not enjoy, but is mum capable of doing. She knew the material for her presentation, but Myesha still skipped it. In doing so, she exhibited a high self esteem, because she knew the work and yet at the same time, she possessed a low sense of self efficacy, as she was unable to achieve a high grade on the presentation as she found it hard-fought to think about it. Rogers (as cited in Barone, Hersen, Vincent & Hasselt, 2004) stated, an organism functions to maintain consistency among self perceptions and congruence amidst perceptions of the self and experiences.According to Lecky (as cited in Swann, Griffin, Predmore & Gaines, 1987), self conceptions are important for survival because they alter individuals to predict and control the nature of social reality. Thus individuals are therefore motivated to detain their self views which they do by thinking and behaving in ways that carry on their conceptions of self which was demonstrated by Myesha when she skipped the presentation (Swann, Griffin, Predmore & Gaines, 1987 ,p.881).Rogers states however that if Myesha runs to get into in the spoken word group she is more likely to achieve her perfect self in agreement with the result shown from Banduras heights self efficacy (Friedman & Schustack, 2008). The humanistic or phenomenological, theories of personality advise that she should have a positive and optimistic view of her behaviour and she should take life into her own hands and stop doing law which is making her unhappy. She should await being involved with her spoken word group which she is successful at. wherefore being able to finance herself in the degree she wants to do as she is old enough to do so (Schultz & Schultz, 2008). According to Pervin et al. (2005), Bandura believes that social and economic conditions influence individuals beliefs about their ability to influence events (p.419).In the case study Myeshas emotional ties to her family along with her step father threatening to withdraw his financial support led her to continue with the Law programme. In contrast Rogers (as cited in Kahn & Rachman, 2000), views Myeshas decision to continue with the Law programme as a need for positive regard, which is acceptance, peace and financial support from her family. Myeshas decision is also an version that the conditions of worth still exists. However based on Rogers conditional positive regard, she is bending herself out of shape to please her family (Schultz & Schultz, 2008). Experiences in accordance with these conditions are perceived and symbolized accurately in sentiency, while those that are not are denied and distorted into awareness, which may lead to incongruence between the self as perceived and the actual experience of the individual, also resulting in mathematical tension, confusion and maladaptive behaviour (Pervin, Cervone & John, 2005).These said experiences can be perceived as threatening by an organism without conscious awareness, utilizing a process known as subception, which is a form of discrimination without awareness that can result in anxiety. This was displayed when Myesha thrashed in bed, sweating and her heart mallet the night before she was to do the presentation (Barone et al., 2004). Carl Roger proposed that Myesha is living in the here and now as she is involved with the spoken word group which she enjoys. This is what he cal ls existential living, which is on the basis that the present is the only reality that one has.Social cognitive theory disagrees with this notion in that a primary determinant in an individuals actions and emotions is in ones expectations about the future(a) (Pervin et al., 2005, p. 425). Organisms possess expectancies regarding topics such as behaviour of others, the rewards or punishments that may follow a certain type of behaviour, or an indviduals ability to suitcase stress and challenges. It is this system of thoughts about the future that constitutes the persons expectations. In the case of Myesha, she felt an immediate sense of relief when she played awol and did not take part in the presentation, she also felt discredited and worried over the consequences of her failure (Pervin et al., 2005).Recommended Instruments to assess Myeshas personality When one speaks of personality assignment in psychology, activities include the diagnosis of mental illness, prevision of behav iour, measurement of unconscious processes and quantification of interpersonal styles and tendencies. Although all of these descriptions may be true for different clinicians working with various client groups, this listing may not accurately capture the full range of modern personality judgment. Personality estimation therefore is a complex clinical enterprise where the tools of assessment are used in concert with data from referring providers, such as, clients, families, schools, courts and other influential sources ().In order to assess Myeshas personality, we should briefly look at her perceived self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is defined as a persons beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse make through four major processes (Betz, Klein & Taylor, 1996). They in clude cognitive, motivational, affective and plectrum processes. We see that Myeshas struggle to choose a passage, has affect on her self-efficacy. Therefore, it is suggested that we measure her personality using the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE). The CDMSE is a well- demonstrable construct. Hackett and Betz (1981), were the first to apply Banduras (1977) propositions about self-efficacy to public life behaviour in a seminal study of womens career development.They demonstrated that career decisions, achievements and adjustment behaviours were subject to the influence of self-efficacy beliefs in both men and women. Taylor and Betz (1983) developed the Career Decision-making Self-efficacy (CDMSE) scale to measure these self-efficacy expectations, in terms of goal selection, occupational information, problem solving, planning, and self-appraisal. In the process, Taylor and Betz demonstrated that participants with lower levels of efficacy for decision-making were also mo re undecided. Another instrument that will be used to assess Myeshas personality is the Q-Sort. The Q-Sort is a proficiency used by humanistic theorists such as Carl Rogers, to measure the self concept of an individual (Hergenhan and Olson, 1999). The Q-Sort assessment was developed by Stephenson (1953).This assessment was used to help individuals to differentiate between the ideal self and the concepts of the self, since human beings struggle with the concepts of who they really are as Myesha exhibited in the case study (Barone, Hersen,Vincent & Hasselt, 2004). The Q-Sort consists of a deck of 100 cards, each containing fairly specific characteristic statements within an individuals personality such as detail oriented or high egoism(see Appendix 2). Since the individual chooses the cards this enables the psychologists conducting the assessment to have some control in the results of the assessment and to find the origin of Myeshas behaviour, also defining what they want to know. The goal of this assessment is to determine where a person is at, relation to these qualities, at the beginning of treatment and then to re-assess at various intervals and at the end to determine progress (Engler, 2008).As the name indicates, Myesha will have to sort the cards in accordance to what she believes are her characteristics and place them in categories. This will enable Myesha and the tester to be able to see the differences and discrepancies between the real and ideal self as well as reckon and highlight the level of self esteem. Meyshas real self will reflect immediate circumstances, experiences and self characterization, while her ideal self should enable her to relate to the future by setting goals to which she would aspire, rather than goals that others want her to obtain.This technique is often best used on students. Myesha is a student and this assessment will indicate how empathy, conditional positive regard and genuineness have played a role in her personal gr owth. This will enable the psychologists to help her to come to some realization of who she is and how to work towards who she needs to be. These deuce instruments will allow Myesha to have an understanding of who she is and this should also enable her to successfully cope with, or eliminate, her anxiety as she strives towards her future goals.ReferencesBandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy, Encyclopedia of human behavior. Academic Press, 4,77-81Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action A social cognitive theory. bare-assed Jersey Prentice-Hall.Bandura, A., & Kupers, C. J. (1964). Transmission of patterns of self-reinforcement through modelling. journal of irregular and Social Psychology, 69, 1-9 Bandura, A (1999). A social cognitive theory of personality. 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