The origins of human personalities constitute a crucial challenge for many researchers around the world and present opportunities for scientific analysis. There are many theories concerning the topic of human personality which offer various explanations on how it is formed and shaped. The two most interesting groups of theories are dispositional and biological-evolutionary since their understandings of the phenomena of traits and personalities are different.
The dispositional theories that it is natural for humans to embrace a distinct type of conduct. Essentially, dispositions, which are viewed as long-term behavioural tendencies, constitute the elements which shape the personality (Feist & Feist, 2017). Allport, one of the key dispositional theorists, argued that people were conscious of their behaviour and that their traits were individual evolving over the human lifespan. The biological-evolutionary theories postulate that the traits, as well as behaviours, and feelings of people, are predetermined by their genetics and neurological systems (Feist & Feist, 2017). The particular genotype and neurochemistry are the main factors affecting how people behave and think. Moreover, the brain systems and conduct of people have been evolving over millions of years, shaping human traits. The core difference between the two approaches is that the former implies that personalities are formed depending on people’s dispositions, while the latter states that genetics is the only factor configuring individual behaviour. Understanding the difference between dispositional and biological-evolutionary theories is vital because it enables people to get an insight into various perspectives on the origins of human personality and behaviour.
The dispositional and biological-evolutionary theories provide different perspectives on the nature of people’s personalities and traits. The dispositional approach postulates that people’s personalities are the result of long-term behaviours over which individuals have control. The biological-evolutionary perspective implies that human personalities are the product of genetics and millions of years of evolution.
Reference
Feist, J., & Feist, G. (2017). Theories of personality (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.