Introduction
Psychology is defined as the study involving the human mind and behavior. Nonetheless, it is also believed that even minor human activities tend to involve complex psychological processing. Personality psychology is one of the psychology branches that tend to study the personality and variations among individuals. It also primarily focuses on indicating and portraying how people differ due to the existing psychological forces. This paper will primarily focus on describing ideas in human beings learning, personality and its effects, motivational issues, and, most importantly, emotions in psychology.
Foundational Concepts
Early in the 20th century, behaviorist psychologists and reductionist neuroscientists perceived talking about subjective feelings as a misguide. However, in the modern world, subjective feelings have gained a wider interest and for some individuals. The pendulum has completely moved towards the extreme opposite. An illustration is how an effective neuroscientist LeoDoux argued that emotion is vital and only a subjective feeling. The verbal reports are regarded as the gold standard of the needed evidence to conclude that emotion exists.
Nonetheless, in the modern world, psychologists always do not believe that there is an appropriate way to study the way individuals think or behave according to mental perspectives. However, there has been an evolution of various schools of thought. The development of psychology has paved the way for different methods of investigating human behavior. The basic five psychological processes include sensation, perception, attention, memory, and learning, and they tend to play a vital role in developing the mind and human behavior (González Rey, 2017). They also allow an individual to gain a better understanding of how the human body and mind works. This later aids an individual to make a sound decision hence avoiding engaging themselves in situations that are perceived to be stressful. In addition, the psychological processes also help in time management, living more effectively, and achieving the set goals and objectives. The psychodynamic perspective plays a crucial role in providing an insight view of what personality entails when it comes to personality. Personality involves considering mental processes and behavior and how they interact to produce an individual’s characteristics and living patterns. Personality also entails the incorporation of humanistic and social-cognitive views.
In psychology, personality is one of the most studied areas as it can play a critical role in impacting various aspects of an individual’s personal life. This is the major reason why several theories regarding the same have been developed. Every individual is believed to have their character because people have different ways of meeting their own needs and wants, making them behave differently (Weiner, 2018). An illustration is that when siblings grow up together in the same environment and are influenced by similar things, one decides to join the university after school. At the same time, the other one opts for joining the workforce immediately. This is because of the differences in personality factors as the environment that the two siblings were brought up in were very similar.
The Five-factor model was used to generate a hypothesis in a study about testing predictions from personality neuroscience. To test the hypothesis, an examination between the local volume in the brain and the Big Five was done. It was noticed that over the recent years, personality had been one of the most researched areas (Abram & DeYoung, 2017). Personality also plays a key role in the incorporation of structural, functional neuroimaging, and molecular genetics. In addition, the study also indicated that the Big Five elements are crucial predators of the outcomes in the mental health, physical health, relationship, the well-being of an individual, and most importantly, work.
Theoretical Perspectives
Nevertheless, self-determination theory is a motivational concept that relates to personality. It focuses on addressing the specific types of motivation affecting an individual towards a certain goal-related behavior such as extrinsic, intrinsic, and motivation. Thus, the theory depicts a more multidimensional view of motivation on a continuum. It also talks about influencing the motivational aspects together with a continuum that ranges from motivation, which means a lack of motivation, to the extrinsic form of motivation, and then finally intrinsic motivation.
In addition, the theory also identifies the existing four types of extrinsic motivation. This is the external regulation that comprises behavior arising because the external means to an individual introjection, which means that the behavior has been influenced by both internal reward and external environment. Another type of extrinsic motivation is identification, which comprises the behaviors of an individual impacted by choice of what they see. Integration is the final type of extrinsic motivation which states that an individual may become less motivated by external awards when they move up the continuum (Ryan & Deci, 2020). However, theories such as Goal setting theory, the theory of the planned behavior, expectancy-value theory, and self-efficacy theory are other motivational concepts illustrating a relationship towards personality.
Conclusion
The basic psychological processes are regarded as the basis for more complex behaviors in life. The basic foundation of psychology is traced back to lifespan development, stressing or emphasizing wellness and overall psychological health. However, further studies have focused on personality, especially on thinking capacity, emotions, and motivation. Emotions also play a vital role in motivating an individual to act hence illustrating that personality, emotion, and motivation affect each other.
References
Abram, S. V., & DeYoung, C. G. (2017). Using personality neuroscience to study personality disorder. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 8(1), 2. Web.
González Rey, F. (2017). The topic of subjectivity in psychology: Contradictions, paths, and new alternatives. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 47(4), 502-521. Web.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101860. Web.
Weiner, B. (2018). The legacy of an attribution approach to motivation and emotion: A no-crisis zone. Motivation Science, 4(1), 4. Web.