Paul’s Peculiar Personality: Insights from Major Theories of Personality

Assignment 4b 1: Case Study 3

Each of the major personality theories or premises including psychodynamic, learning-theory, trait, humanist, and sociocultural, combines assumptions, principles, and ideas, which have a close relation in explaining personality (Chapter 10). The trait theories of personality express the five-factor model, which identifies five universal personality dimensions, the Big Five. The Big Five embrace extroversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness to experience (Chapter 10). Learning-theory, however, consider habit as the core of personality besides an addition of cognitive elements including perception, understanding, and thinking to the behavioral view of the character of an individual (Chapter 10). Humanist theories stresses on free choice, self-actualization, subjective experience, a positive model of the nature of humans. Lastly, the sociocultural theory of personality explains the behavior of an individual by examining the rules of a social group of which the individual is a member as illustrated in the case of Paul (Chapter 9).

In this case, Paul shows a great distinction in personality when he is at home from when he is at work (UNITEK college). For instance, at work, Paul is highly extrovert, conscientious, open, and agreeable, but lowly neurotic. The reverse of these features is true at home, showing a consistency with the trait perspective of personality. Paul’s age of 55 years is important in explaining the alterations that characterize the Big Five of the trait premises that constitute personality (UNITEK College). Moreover, Paul greatly shows procrastination as he has an array of incomplete goals. Procrastination has an inverse relationship with conscientiousness and agreeableness, which are evident in the personality of Paul. Therefore, personality theories including trait, learning-theory, humanist, and sociocultural are important in explaining his behavior (UNITEK College).