All personality theorist must confront certain issues as they attempt to underst

All personality theorist must confront certain issues as they attempt to understand human nature. Your task is to develop your own theory of personality by addressing the issues below. As with any personality theorist, your response to these questions must be well thought out, and indicate that you put some effort into this assignment. There are no right or wrong answers to any of the issues you address, as this is your opinion. As you think about the various issues in the field of personality, think about your personal life, and that of friends and relatives. Ask yourself questions like, why do I have an obsessive quality in my personality; why is Uncle Joe a thief; what caused us to develop into the people that we are? These are the types of questions which form the basis of your theory. You will be graded based upon how well thought out your responses are, and how well you integrated your responses to the various issues. This assignment will be submitted electronically through the webcourse assignment dropbox. It must be submitted as a Word document. Be sure to keep a copy of your assignment for your records. This assignment will be double-spaced, and between five and seven pages in length.
A. What is the relative importance of the past, present and future in determining personality? In other words, how important are childhood experiences in shaping adult personality versus we are influenced by the goals we set for ourselves and therefore our behavior is more future-oriented. This is the old causality vs. teleology question. Be sure to think of examples which illustrate your point of view. Keep in mind that this issue also relates to the amount of control we can exercise over our behavior. An interesting issue to think about is why do some people who are abused as children have trouble in their lives as adults, while others do not.
B. What motivates human behavior? What is the driving force underlying personality? Think of what you believe is the true nature of human beings. Are we born good or bad? Are we motivated by hedonism or self-actualization? Think of young children who have not been adequately socialized. What motivating factors do you see in them? Do you see different motivating factors in adults than children? If so, what accounts for this difference?
C. How important are unconscious mechanisms in determining behavior? In other words, are there forces that influence your behavior that you are not aware of? Keep in mind that your response to this question may be related to your response to the previous question; if you espouse self-actualization as a motivating force, it’s difficult to then justify unconscious mechanisms, but not impossible. Ponder these issues.
D. To what extent is personality controlled by genetics versus the environment? Please do not say 50/50! That is too simplistic. When you look at your personality, to what extent can you say that “I’m like Uncle Charlie because we share some of the same genes,” versus “he was so much a part of my growing up that I would have to say it was the environment.” Ask yourself this sort of question to come up with an answer, and give examples (not necessarily personal ones; the personal questions are only to stimulate your thoughts).
E. How would you describe the fully functioning person? In other words, what in your opinion is a psychologically healthy person? What personality characteristics does this person possess?
F. What causes psychopathology in your opinion? In other words, what causes an individual to develop maladaptive personality traits? Think of people you know to stimulate your thoughts on this topic, but do not discuss the names of the people in your report if you use them as examples; protect their anonymity. Remember that your answer to this question is influenced by your answer to the preceding questions.