Biological and Humanistic Theories

* Describe biological factors that influence personality formation.

* Identify the effect of growth needs on personality formation.

* Explain basic aspects of humanistic personality theory.

CONTENT OUTLINE

1. Biological theory-

Biological theory is the theory that attempts to explain behaviors contrary to societal expectations through examination of individual characteristics. It is concerned with both similarities and differences among individuals (Crews, 2009).

a. Key biological theorists

1) Hans Eysenck

He was a British psychologist. He was well known for his theory of human personality. To him, personality is biologically determined and arranged in a hierarchy consisting of types, traits, habitual responses, and specific responses. His contributions to psychology are extensive and truly remarkable. He was the world's most cited psychologist. In his works, he covered a variety of subjects unmatched by any of his contemporaries. His research was more on dimensionalizing personality and identifying fundamental measurable dimensions that define personality structure (Farley, 2000).

2) Other genetics research

They are scientific methods used that lead to an increase of knowledge and hope of better understanding the role of genes, their functions, their interactions, and their evolution. There are differences between researchers who, on one side, only deal with Mendelian diseases and those who, on the hand, deal with complex diseases. A single gene determines Mendelian diseases. Complex diseases are genetic and environmental factors (Center of Genomics and Policy, 2011).

3) Twin studies

"It is a research method used to help detecting systematic biological influences on personality by studying twins. It is one of most active areas of research in the study of the biological aspects of personality, with many intriguing studies comparing identical twins to fraternal twins" (Friedman & Schustack, 2009, "Chapter 5, Biological Aspects of Personality").

4) Evolutionary psychology

Evolutionary psychologists have for purpose to to study human behavior as the product of evolved psychological mechanisms that depend on internal and environmental input for their development, activation, and expression in manifest behavior. They use all of the standard methods of investigation that are available to them to test hypotheses, including laboratory experiments, observational techniques, questionnaires, physiological techniques, mechanical recording devices, genetic methods,