The Studies and Growth of Psychology (Term Paper Sample)

(Sports science) Personality can be understood from several different perspectives including Trait, Situational and Interactional approaches. Describe the features of these approaches, using research evidence and examples to support your answer.
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Introduction
The term personality is normally used to refer to the difference in the way people think, feel or even behave. Different theorists of the world have defined and redefined this term over the past few centuries. A heated debate has also ensued as a result of the fact that some of the scholars feel that certain theories or approaches define personality in a better way than other and hence should be more applicable more than the others. According to Weinberg & Gould (1999, p. 25), personality refers to "the characteristics or blend of characteristics that make a person unique." In all of the definitions that have been put across by the different scholars of the world, it is clear that different individuals are unique in the way they think, feel and behave. Different persons therefore have unique psychological structures that distinguish them from others. Also, it is possible that some characteristics are just in certain individuals and not others. In some instances therefore it may be difficult to make a comparison of two different individuals.
Some other scholars have also suggested that all human traits have a similar psychological meaning to all individuals of the world and that nature and nurture play a critical role in personality development process in humans. In this case therefore, personality has been viewed as innate and also environmentally influenced. There are particularly a number of approaches that are used by the different scholars of the world to help explain the interplay between nature and nurture and how the two affect the personality development process in humans. Therefore, personality can better be understood through application of a number of theories developed in the different approaches based on traits of different individual persons. There are generally three approaches to personality development; traits approach, situational approach and interactional approach. Trait approach seeks to establish the fact that behaviors in different individuals are influenced by the traits in different persons. For example a person acts violently for he or she is violent in nature.
Situational approach on the other hand indicates that the different behaviors, feelings or thoughts in individuals are triggered by the different life situations. Different life situations therefore dictate how well or bad one behaves. For example, a person is likely cry if he or she is in a tough situation in life. Further, interactional approach suggests that the different behaviors feelings and thoughts in individuals result from the interactions an individual has with the surrounding environment. A child brought up in an environment of books and numbers is likely to be better in school than the child brought up only playing video games. Some of the most common theories in the approaches to personality include Freud’s Theory by Sigmund Freud commonly referred to as Psychosexual Stage Development Theory, Eysenck’s Personality Theory by Hans Eysenck and Allport’s Trait Theory by Gordon Allport.
All theories of personality seek to establish the fact nature and nurture have a stake in individual’s behaviors, feelings and thoughts. Participation in sports, physical activities and exercises undoubtedly affect the psychological development process of different individuals. Different scholars of the world have in the recent past shown a lot of interest in the field of sport and exercise psychology as a result of the fact that it is a new and a wide area of study. Such scholars do not only wants to further emphasize on the need for sporting activities and exercises to the psychological health of the different individuals of the world but also help different athletes and footballers of the world further enhance their performances by achieving the optimal mental health through full utilization of the underlying psychological principles. Physical activities and exercises therefore form the basis of the personality development process in the different individuals.
Identify and discuss the theories of sport and exercise psychology
Sport and exercise psychology is a study that seeks to establish how the psychological factors affect an individual performance. Generally, sports involve competition, cooperation, emotions, achievements and even play. All of these aspects form a crucial study area in psychology. The study of the individual’s psychological factors is the study of personality. Sport psychology therefore seeks to establish the relationship between performance and personality in different individuals. Individuals who get involved in sports and exercises do subject their bodies to a lot of physical stress. This is as a result of the fact that they have to master some very hard skills. Such persons are also subjected to a lot of social pressures in the process. There are particularly three major areas of research in sport and exercise psychology; social influence, personality and motivation. Personality is therefore quite an important field in sport and exercise psychology since it is the only way sort managers and supervisors can be able to distinguish non-athletes from the athletes. The distinction is possible through the application of trait approach to personality. Theories to trait approach to psychology include the Eysenck’s Personality Theory, Cattel’s 16PF Trait Theory and Allport’s Trait Theory.
Eysenck’s Personality Theory
For centuries, this theory has been one of the most influential in the field of psychology. The theory suggests that personality traits can be grouped into first-order, second-order and even third-order personality traits. Different philosophers and psychologists use the first-order characteristics to group individuals as either introverts or extroverts. The second-order traits are used to group individuals as either melancholic, phlegmatic, choleric and even sanguine. The third trait-psychoticism has been used to identify a group of individuals who are aggressive, cruel, empathetic and even troublesome. The theory has been widely applied in the personality field in sport and exercise psychology following the fact that it directly links the personality of an individual to the person’s nervous system. It therefore tries to establish the fact that one’s personality is highly dependent on the balance struck between the inhibition and excitation processes his or her nervous system.
Cattell’s 16PF Trait Theory
This theory was developed from sixteen personality traits that were identified and considered to be common in all individuals. These traits were further divided into the surface and the source traits. The surface traits are considered obvious and therefore it is easy to identify them in different persons. On the other hand, source traits are considered not visible and underlie the different behaviors in different individual persons. The source traits are therefore the source of one’s personality.
Allport’s Trait Theory
This theory entirely capitalize on two critical areas that influence human behaviors; internal cognitive and the motivational process. A person’s personality can in this case be determined at birth and can further be influenced by his or her environmental influences. Allport therefore declared that some of the human traits were hereditary and that they continued to exist even though no one was there to observe. This theory tries to explain why some traits are common amongst different individuals and why others are common in our societies. This theory has been widely applied in sport and exercise psychology due to the fact that this theory can adequately be used to explain how the different athletes are motivated by external factors such as money and fame to perform.
Discuss how psychological variables influence behavior
Some psychological variables in individuals are innate and different in the different individuals. Psychological variables adequately influence the mental...