Personality psychology and life: On the surface, contemporary western personality psychology theories seem to be independent and irrelevant, but after a little analysis, it is not difficult to see that there is logical inevitability between them. This paper attempts to explore the logical development of western personality theory from three aspects: the formation of personality theory, research objects and research methods.
In recent years, many scholars have studied the development process of western personality psychology, among which there are many valuable opinions, but few studies have revealed the inevitability of the development of western personality psychology, especially the logical inevitability. This paper only discusses this issue in order to inspire colleagues engaged in the development research of western personality psychology.
First, the logical development of personality formation theory
Human understanding is generally an inevitable process from simple to complex, from partial to whole, from one-sided to comprehensive, from relative to absolute. This inevitable process is called logic in the development of the theory itself. The development of personality psychology theory, like human cognition, has an inevitable development process. The so-called personality psychology theory is a hypothetical explanation of individual personality structure and function, which helps us to understand the origin, various related things, functions or results of personality; At the same time, it also helps us to predict behavior on the basis of understanding personality. Let's take psychoanalysis school as the breakthrough point and reveal the logical development of personality formation theory through the analysis and comparison of various personality theories.
The first important personality theory in the history of psychology can be said to be the personality theory of psychoanalysis. Its founder, S.Freud, devoted his whole life to creating his own complete personality theory system through a series of explorations on the formation and development process of personality, personality structure, psychological essence, abnormal personality and the treatment of personality disorders. According to Freud's theory, heredity determines human behavior. Behavior has its own motives; Motivation comes from psychological energy; Energy comes from innate driving force and instinct; Instinct is the motive force of personality formation and development. There are two kinds of instinct: one is survival instinct and the other is death instinct. The former is closely related to the preservation of life, while the latter stimulates individuals to return to the inanimate state before life and drives human beings to kill, attack and even perish. In The Instinct of Life, Freud particularly emphasized sexual instinct. He believes that sexual power is the driving force of human behavior, not just the individual's psychology and personality structure. In the final analysis, the whole human culture is determined by blind purpose instinct impulse.
In the process of personality formation and development, Freud particularly emphasized childhood experiences. He believes that every child has to go through some stages of psychological sexual desire development. These stages are oral and labial stage, anal stage, sexual organ stage, incubation period and reproductive stage in turn. Children's experiences in these stages determine what kind of personality they will form when they grow up. If the development of a certain stage is blocked, the corresponding personality disorder will be formed. At the same time, all kinds of spiritual catharsis formed in a person's early life are basically unchanged throughout his life.
On the one hand, Freud's theory opened the way for future generations to explore personality, changed the research direction of psychology, and became one of the most popular schools on motivation and consciousness in modern times; On the other hand, because Freud only looked at personality from a biological point of view, emphasizing the subject of personality formation and the root of the subject's own development, when this theory develops to the extreme, it will inevitably produce an insurmountable contradiction-the contradiction between subject and object, that is, the opposition between man and the environment. Due to the extreme development of Freud's theory, his colleagues and students rebelled against Freud's theory. In order to overcome the contradiction of Freud's theory, they must look for the reasons for the formation of personality from outside the subject. Therefore, a new psychoanalytic personality theory, also known as the theory of social and cultural factors, has been formed.
As the name implies, social and cultural factors determinism emphasizes that social and cultural factors determine the formation of personality. Psychologists who hold this view object to seeing people as biological people driven by biological instinct, and think that in the study of personality formation and development, we should fully grasp the social essence of people. People are social people, and it is impossible to have personality without society. Therefore, social and cultural determinism emphasizes the important influence of social role, interpersonal relationship, family environment, parent-child relationship, social system and cultural model on the formation and development of personality.
Adler and Karen Horney are typical representatives in social and cultural determinism. The former is one of Freud's earliest colleagues, and the latter is Freud's student. Because he didn't agree with Freud's point of view, he finally parted ways and established his own theory. Adler believes that people are gregarious animals, and overcoming inferiority complex and pursuing a superior and perfect society are the basic motivation of people. The motivation of behavior comes from human sociality, not biological factors, and everyone is positive? Up? And then what? Do good deeds. Requirements. This positive personality view, which pays attention to human experience, social needs and kindness, is in sharp contrast with Freud's view. Although trained by Freud's traditional theory, honey is different from Freud's view in many ways. She believes that Freud's theory overemphasizes the influence of psychological and biological factors and ignores the role of cultural factors. Because the changes in people's mentality observed by her in life practice and clinical experiments can't all be explained by biological views or universalism, but it seems more reasonable to explain them by social and cultural factors. Therefore, honey believes that a person's social experience determines whether he has psychological barriers, which are caused by environmental conditions, rather than Freud's psychological structure.
Adler and Honeye attached importance to social and cultural factors in the theory of personality formation and development, overcame Freud's biological determinism and played a positive role in the study of personality psychology. However, they ignore people's subjective initiative, completely deny the role of genetic factors in the formation of personality, and unilaterally emphasize the influence of social environment on personality, from the extreme of biological determinism of personality to the extreme of social environmental determinism.
Due to the extreme development of the two theories, a series of behavioral motives in personality formation cannot be satisfactorily explained. People began to look for another way out. Among these people, some people put forward man and environment? Interaction? Theory.
? Interaction? According to this theory, human beings have their own unique cognitive process, which is neither dominated by the environment nor driven by internal forces. People influence the environment through the development of cognitive process and self-control, and at the same time, they are influenced by the environment. It is under this interaction that personality is formed and developed.
Albert bandura is a typical representative of interaction theory. In his theory, observation learning and self-efficacy are the core contents. When people communicate with each other, they can obtain information and understand the social environment by observing and learning, so as to obtain social behavior. Once acquired, behavior is regulated and maintained by stimulation, reinforcement and cognition. The stimulus here refers to the specific stimulus that can determine the specific behavior at the appropriate time; Strengthening is a reward given by individuals to carry out activities in a specific way; Cognition is to compare behavior with internal standards, provide self-reinforcement or punishment, and thus correct behavior. Self-efficacy is a personality organizational factor in Bandura's theory, which affects people's perception, motivation, task effect and environment in many ways.
The theory of interaction between human and environment links reinforcement, cognition, human belief and value system, affirms the role of individual initiative and cognition, and considers the development and changes of human behavior, which has aroused widespread concern in the field of psychology. However, some concepts in this theory, such as interaction, self-efficacy, expectation, and their comprehensive relationship, need further clarification and confirmation. This shows that each theory has certain defects and deficiencies due to the limitations of historical conditions and understanding at that time. With the deepening of people's practical activities, the level of understanding has been continuously improved, and then the theory has been revised repeatedly until it is perfected. This is the development process of human cognition from relative to absolute, from necessity to freedom; Generally, this process is also called logical inevitability.
Second, the logical development of personality psychology in the research object
The research object of personality theory can be grasped from two levels: one is the entity of personality theory research, and the other is the content of personality theory research. Through these two discussions, we can understand the logical development of personality psychology in the research object.
With the development of personality theory, the essence and content of personality research are constantly changing. First of all, psychoanalysis starts with the study of mental patients, that is, abnormal people, focusing on the concepts of personality structure, personality motivation and personality development, emphasizing the internal source and motivation of behavior, focusing on the subconscious, sex and abnormal personality, thus establishing the etiology of unconscious process represented by Freud. This theory attempts to infer the causes of the formation and development of normal personality through the observation and analysis of patients' abnormal speech behavior, and find a way to treat personality disorders. However, mental patients are not normal people after all, and human behavior cannot be explained by subconscious and universalism. Therefore, despite the guiding role of Freud's theory, psychologists have long paid attention to mental patients and made great progress in personality psychology theory; However, the further development of this theory not only limits the theorists' vision, but also leads this kind of research into a dead end. Therefore, the further development of personality theory research will inevitably break through the cognitive object advocated by Freud.
With the development of personality theory, people began to turn from patients to animals. The direct reason is that with the development of science, personality research has entered the experimental stage, and people try to explore personality through experiments, thus making it more scientific and empirical. But in some experiments, people can't be the subjects, so behaviorism focuses on animals. Because they think people are the same as animals. Are all mechanical organisms. Character equals behavior, and studying animal behavior equals studying human character. The individual's unique personality pattern is fixed by the strengthening of behavior by environmental effects, so behaviorism focuses on how behavior changes with the change of environment, rather than caring about persistent instinct and self like psychoanalysis. B.F.S. skinner is a late representative of behaviorism. Let's take his point of view as an example to illustrate behaviorism's view on the object of personality research. Skinner designed the famous? Skinner box? Do experiments on small animals such as mice and pigeons. In the experimental box, he trains animals and puts them? Whatever. Operations are associated with returns, leading to specific operational reactions. This is a conditioned reflex. In Skinner's view, conditioned reflex also applies to human beings. Because people are animals, we can also train and shape people's character or behavior like animals. People are hedonists, and? Skinner box? Just like the mouse in the book, all actions are to pursue pleasure and avoid pain; Animals will be changed by the environment, and so will people. As long as we exert good control over the environment, people's personality or behavior can be shaped according to our wishes.
Behaviorism theory studies personality and explores human behavior with a rigorous scientific attitude, which is highly praised by theoretical circles. But it is precisely because it blindly pursues the so-called scientific nature, ignores human nature and emotion, ignores the differences between humans and animals, and simply transfers the conclusions drawn from animal research to humans and brings them into laboratory research? The real world? Among them, it has been criticized the most severely.
The research entity of personality psychology has changed several times. At the end of 1950s, A.H.Maslow, a humanistic psychologist, began to turn his attention to healthy normal people, trying to find out the reasons for the formation of personality through the study of healthy people. Maslow believes that psychoanalysts regard human beings as victims of animal instinct and cultural conflict; Behaviorism holds that human beings are biological organisms and their behavior is shaped by the environment. Both theories are flawed. They pay attention to the dark side, negativity, diseases and animals of human beings, and highlight the study of mentally incomplete individuals. Therefore, Maslow focused his psychological research object on a field that has been neglected for many years-the study of healthy and functional human organisms. At the same time, Carl, another representative of humanism? Carl. Rogers' personality theory, like Freud's, comes from therapeutic practice and takes patients as the research object. The difference is that he holds a positive and optimistic attitude towards human nature. The humanistic theory represented by Maslow and Rogers emphasizes the positive quality of people, pays attention to individual's conscious experience and growth potential, and puts forward the concepts of hierarchical needs theory and self-realization; It is believed that people do not passively accept environmental sanctions and constraints, but drive people to move forward in a positive and predetermined direction through self-realization and pursuit of perfection. It is this desire that inspires people's various forces and makes them interact with each other, thus shaping people's quality.
To sum up, in the development of personality theory, we can see that the all-round study of personality research objects, from focusing only on mental patients, to animals, to healthy people, is the development trend of personality psychology research. The purpose of studying mental patients is to find out the causes of personality disorder and finally cure it, so that it can become a perfect functional person who can live in harmony with others; The purpose of studying animals is to obtain useful scientific methods and data for personality research. In some experiments, animals are used instead of people who cannot be the subjects of experiments. The purpose of studying healthy people is to make them give full play to their potential in society and become useful talents in society. This development process of research is inevitable, which is the logical inevitability of personality psychology in the research object.
Third, the logical development of research methods of personality psychology
The logical development of western personality psychology research is not only manifested in theoretical viewpoints and research objects, but also in research methods. Method is a bridge across the river, and it is an operating tool to build a theoretical system. Any theoretical system is established according to certain methods. The task of science is to reveal these methods and their inherent logical inevitability. As we know, the methods of human understanding of the world are generally divided into analytical methods, comprehensive methods, subjective methods and objective methods. And these methods are not isolated. According to the logic of thinking development, human cognitive methods are from subjective to objective, from analysis to synthesis. The development of western personality psychology research methods must also follow this logic.
Specifically, the research methods of western personality psychology are firstly analytical methods. Because human's understanding of the world is first concrete and relatively static, and the evolution of this understanding is to analyze the object of understanding until it can't be analyzed under the conditions at that time. This analytical method first popularized Freud, the originator of psychoanalysis. Freud first divided people into normal people and mental patients, and then made a psychoanalysis of mental patients. In psychoanalysis, freund divided spirit into conscious dynamic process and unconscious dynamic process, and devoted himself to the analysis of unconscious dynamic process. What is the purpose of this analysis? Dig into the deepest part of the human mind? This analysis method is also called free association and clinical analysis. Freund's analysis method is very effective in exploring such a unique field as unconsciousness.
This kind of Freund's analysis has its own limitations on the analysis method, which is manifested in the incompleteness of the analysis method itself. Only from the big aspect-spiritual aspect-unconscious dynamic process to analyze the formation of personality. Therefore, the further development of this theory will inevitably produce a more thorough analysis method, which is R.B. Cattell's factor analysis method. Cartel believes that theory should be based on measurement. The measurement mentioned here is psychological measurement and a method of quantitative analysis. When the result of quantitative analysis rises to theory, it is qualitative analysis. The object of measurement is trait, which can also be called factor. Factor analysis is to separate all kinds of factors that affect personality and measure them statically and accurately one by one. Summarize the measurement results into a trait, which is the building block of personality. Cartel uses factor analysis to divide human characteristics into * * * identical characteristics and individual characteristics, surface characteristics and root characteristics, which directly dominate human behavior. Obviously, Cartel is the most thorough personality psychologist who uses analytical methods, and his' this method is the development of Freud's analytical methods; He not only analyzed personality into various characteristics, but also quantitatively analyzed and measured it. In this way, on the one hand, personality theory is based on science-measurement, so many unexplained things can be explained by statistical data; On the other hand, because this analysis focuses on local and static analysis, the further development of this method will inevitably enter a metaphysical dead end; It will inevitably be replaced by a new method, which is synthesis.
As a way of thinking about the world, synthesis refers to the induction and abstract conclusion of empirical facts, and it is also a cognitive method of overall grasp. The comprehensive method of personality psychology originated from Gestalt psychology. This psychological theory is based on the reductionist analysis against constructivism, which holds that the whole is greater than the sum of parts, and emphasizes psychological integrity, and studies it by phenomenological method. This method emphasizes the factual description of the empirical materials obtained by natural self-observation, excludes all presuppositions and only describes the phenomenon itself. This description itself is an inductive process and a comprehensive process. This comprehensive method of gestalt psychology only emphasizes the synthesis of phenomena, so it is incomplete synthesis. The further development of this theory inevitably needs a whole and a systematic synthesis, so humanistic psychology came into being. Humanistic psychologists regard people as a whole and a system on the basis of the comprehensive method of gestalt psychology. The task of psychology is to reveal the inherent inevitable connection of this system. Humanistic psychology uses a comprehensive method to explore people's ability and potential, and explore the formation and development of personality. The comprehensive method of humanistic psychology is not only the inheritance and development of the comprehensive method of gestalt psychology, but also the alienation of analytical methods. On the one hand, this comprehensive method of humanistic philosophy overcomes the disadvantages of analysis and makes great progress on the basis of gestalt comprehensive method, making this method more and more perfect and meticulous; But the more perfect the method, the more limited it is in a sense. This limitation lies in: more qualitative analysis and less quantitative analysis, so it lacks due persuasiveness. The further development of this method will combine analysis and synthesis organically. In the history of contemporary psychology, the personality theory that combines the two should be the first to promote cognitive psychology.
Cognitive psychology is based on analysis, synthesis on the basis of analysis, analysis under the guidance of synthesis, synthesis in analysis and analysis in synthesis. Specifically, massive contemporary cognitive psychology strives to study the laws of human cognitive activities. It doesn't know the activity of each nerve cell in cognitive activities, but uses a series of objective experiments and computer simulations, abstracts them on the basis of analysis, and finally draws a conclusion through synthesis. The reason why cognitive psychology has a great influence in the field of contemporary psychology is really related to the advanced research methods besides the theory itself. This method of cognitive psychology is inevitable for the further development of analytical methods and comprehensive methods.
Related to the analysis-synthesis method, there are subjective-objective methods. Early psychologists paid attention to subjective methods, that is to say, revealing the law of personality formation process is purely subjective, looking for reasons through subjective innate logic model and drawing conclusions. This method is correct to emphasize the role of cognitive subject in cognition; But at any time, the personality as the cognitive object is objective. Therefore, constructivism, functionalism, Gestalt school and behaviorism tend to be objective, that is, to reveal the regularity of personality formation process by objective methods; However, the purely objective method will inevitably lead to objectivism and ignore the subjective role. So psychoanalysis and humanistic psychology tend to be subjective. Cognitive psychology, on the other hand, tries to make progress in an objective direction on the basis of subjectivity, and organically combines subjectivity and objectivity. Therefore, from subjective to objective, from objective to subjective, and finally to achieve the unity of subjective and objective, it has become the logical necessity of the development of personality psychology research methods.
There are three problems worth noting here: First, the combination of subjective and objective methods and analytical and comprehensive methods when human beings understand the world: generally speaking, subjective and comprehensive methods are combined, and objective and analytical methods are combined; However, in the actual application process, there is always a main tendency rather than a pure rolling tendency, which is worth noting. Second, when studying these methods, we should also pay attention to: when we say a certain school's method, we mean the main tendency, not all the methods it adopts. In practice, the problem is much more complicated, and often there is synthesis in analysis, analysis in synthesis, objectivity in subjectivity and subjectivity in objectivity. Thirdly, what we call logical inevitability refers to the inevitability of the development of theory and cognition itself, which is based on the extreme principle in objective dialectics. In other words, any psychologist or school of thought constructs its own theoretical system through a main method, so it strives to make this method all-inclusive and perfect. However, the more perfect a method is, the greater its limitations will be, and it will go to extremes over time. Therefore, when a method or theory reaches its peak, it will inevitably go to the opposite side-more and more people will see the shortcomings of this method and theory, forcing some people to give up the existing systems and methods-and turn to the opposite direction to explore. This is the internal reason why the development of analysis must be synthesis, and the development of synthesis returns to analysis, and finally achieves the unity of analysis and synthesis; It is also the internal reason why the subjective development must be objective, and the objective development must return to the subjective, and finally achieve the understanding method of the unity of subjective and objective.
In a word, the development of contemporary western personality psychology is not a bunch of disorganized and irregular rigid theoretical viewpoints, but a vivid epic with internal inevitable connections. The task of our psychologists is to reveal the logical connection of this epic, predict the future development of personality psychology, and work hard to establish an advanced, perfect and brand-new scientific personality psychology system!
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