Applying Psychology-II

      Applying psychology (Inner Life Personality-II)


Fundamentals of life: Personality, then, is concerned with some of the big questions about the human condition. A prime example is the topic of human nature. What is it that makes us human? Do we have instincts? Do we have free will? Do we have genuine choices in what we do socially? To what extent is what we are dependent on what we inherit? It should be
said that at present there are no final answers to this question. Certainly, we differ from one another in temperament, some basic characteristics that are there from birth and that seem to endure. Many parents know that their children are quite different from one another from the start, for example, in how active they are, or how afraid they are in new situations or how easily they can be soothed or even in how much they smile and laugh. But there is far more to personality than temperament and there are huge complexities in the links between the infl uence of environment and genes. Think of the many examples you know of very different people who have grown up in the same families. To ask another fundamental question: are you you or are you the situation?
In other words, do you have your personality because of traits or characteristics that are somehow within you or because of the influences of your environment? Over the years, various theorists have taken all possible standpoints on this question, but the received wisdom nowadays (as in most areas of psychology) is that the answer lies in a very intricate mixture of both sources of influence.
There are many more such questions, but probably the most important of them is about integration. It is basic to psychology to break down or analyse human functioning or behaviour into its parts, but personality is concerned with what all the parts are like when they are put together. How do we become integrated? When considering the ‘whole’ person, does something extra merge that is somehow more than the sum of the parts? Relevant here is the idea of self. Our own notions of our selves are important to the way in which we are integrated as entire persons.  

Ways of looking at personality: As might be expected in an area as huge as personality, there have been many varied ways of looking at it. What follows is a very brief introduction to a few of the major types of theory of personality. Each of them emphasises something in particular and each of them is ‘right’ – in its own way. Each provides something significant to consider about personality and would be interesting to apply to people that you know as you think about them.

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Applying Psychology (Inner Life-Personality)

Applying Psychology (Inner Life-Personality)


Scenes from life


John and Jean are brother and sister. They get on very well and even though one is 19 and the other 18, they spend a fair amount of time together. They both attend the same university, Jean studying History and John studying French Literature. Several times a week, they meet for coffee or lunch and generally catch up with how things are going for each of them. But they are very different from each other.
Jean is outgoing and loves anything new. It is not as if she cannot settle to routine – she can, but nevertheless there is nothing she likes more than a new experience, social, physical or intellectual. When she is bored, she seeks out new things to do. Already she has been on several overseas trips and has tried her hand at numerous activities. She worries about none of this, but remains equitable and balanced all the time. She sleeps well, doesn’t have a hang-up about her weight or her appearance and, generally
speaking, is thought by most people to be reliably good company, an interesting person with whom to spend time. By contrast, John is moody. He likes a fi xed routine in his life, with as much as possible being certain. He becomes highly anxious when things
get out of kilter or seem unpredictable. He nods politely to many people but has few friends, unlike his sister who has many. The friends he makes tend to last for only a limited time. They never know quite where they are with him because he frequently says so little or makes conversation that is full of innuendo rather than direct. He sleeps poorly and often wakes in the night covered in sweat and then worries about not getting back to sleep and how tired he might be on the next day. Unlike Jean, he has never been
overseas and although he thinks that he should go, he never quite gets round to it.
Jean and John are sitting having a good conversation over coffee, with John for once being quite animated; he feels very secure with Jean. One of Jean’s friends comes up to them, a man than John knows a little as well, and invites them both to a retro party (everyone is to dress in 1960s style) in a few days. Jean quickly accepts, already thinking of what she will make or scrounge to wear. In the heat of the moment, John accepts as well and even discusses it all with Jean, starting to think of what he might wear. During the few days before the party, Jean barely gives it a thought, simply finding the clothes to wear and then forgetting about it until the night. The same evening of the invitation, John starts to worry; he worries about his clothes, who else will be there, whether he will have anything to say to anyone, whether anyone will speak to him, whether he should have accepted; what he will feel like afterwards; whether Jean will think less of him if he pulls out; and so it goes on.
They both go to the party. Jean has a fairly good time – it was not the best party she has ever been to, but she had some good fun and even had one or two memorable conversations. She very much enjoyed seeing one or two people make fools of themselves. Afterwards, she barely thought of the party again. John had a completely dreary time, anxious throughout. He spoke to very few people, felt out of place, even though his 1960s clothes were authentic. He smoked and drank too much, mostly by himself. The few conversations he had preyed on his mind for several days afterwards mainly in terms of what he might have said but did not, or that he might have said something better. He barely slept at all that night even though he left the party early.
Richard is 30 and works in a car sales yard. Or at least he has done for a few months, but he is thinking about moving on. There is not enough excitement in the job for him and he seems to be getting off-sides with many of the people he works with. He lives alone, having had a series of disastrous relationships with women, many of whom have left him because of his unpredictable violence. Most of them feel lucky to have escaped. He has
had nothing to do with his parents for years, even though they are still alive. They don’t mind the lack of contact because they had always found him a diffi cult child and an even more diffi cult adolescent. He stole and lied, cheated at school and was cruel to animals.
He has quite enjoyed the car sales job (even though it is time to move on) because he has usually managed to take home a good car on most evenings. He has used it to impress friends and to pick up women. Of course, he passes it off as his own. He has also managed to find a way into the petty cash at work and has quietly managed to keep himself going in daily expenses rifl ed in this way.

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Applying Psychology in our Daily Life

      Applying Psychology in our Daily Life (Part I--Intro)

Before going on deeply, its very necessary to understand what this terminology "psychology" stands for. According to Concise English Dictionary," psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context". Its the total mental characteristics or attitude of an individual, mental factors governing a situation or activity.
So, generally, psychology is the study of mental processes as human behavior is originated from mind.
There are not any areas left which is untouched by psychology but major fields which are directly influenced or affected are the mental health treatment, performance enhancement areas, self help, ergonomics and even many other fields that affect health and daily life. The word psychology owes its roots to the Greek word psyche which means soul or mind. Psychology has evolved partially from philosophy and biology, and these date as far as the early Greek thinkers like that of Aristotle and even Socrates. It has been observed that the field and study of psychology dates has its roots since Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychological lab in Leipzig in Germany. The research studies conducted by the Wundt included the school of thought called as structuralism which involved the study of structures that have composed the structures that composed the mind. This categorization involved the analysis of the sensation and the feeling through the usage of introspection, which is considered as a highly subjective matter.

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