Personality

Paper Summary:

The paper states that there are several personality theories in existence, focusing on the basic ideas of human behavior, and the origin of that behavior. The paper comments that some believe personality is a result of DNA, some believe it is based on development, and some believe behaviors and personality are unconscious ramifications of conflicts within a person. This paper focuses on a theory based in the idea that personality is a product of one's interaction with the environment, and his or her experiences. The paper concludes that many factors can influence personality, such as chemical imbalances in the brain, developmental problems, and social influences and that the primary focus of behavior is clearly experience based.

From the Paper:

"The idea that personality is based on experience is also supported when one examines motivation. Research has shown that motivation is based on external rewards, rather than internal rewards (Wasserman, 1997). Ivan Pavlov showed through hit experiments with rats and dogs that animals can learn behaviors by experiencing specific circumstances. For example, Pavlov taught dogs to respond unconsciously to the sound of a bell simply through repeated experience (Wasserman, 1997). Further, research on music theory has shown that students who receive higher praise or rewards for improved skills consistently outperform those who do not (Madsen, 2003). Such information suggests that motivation, a component of personality, is based on experiences with the rewards for specific behaviors."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Batson, D.C. (1991). The altruism question: toward a social psychological answer. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Carone, G.R. (1994). Teleology and evil in 'Laws'. The Review of Metaphysics, 48(2): 275-280.
• Cottingham, J.H. (2002). Descartes and the voluntariness of belief. The Monist, 85(3): 343-348.
• Gold, D.T. (1989). New ideas in science. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 3(2), 103-112.
• Hammond, D. (2003). The science of synthesis: exploring the social implications of general systems theory. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado.

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