Psy 405 - Dispositional, Biological, & Evolutionary Theory Newspaper Article

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David Buss

Buss began his fascination with human behavior in 1971 at the University of Texas in Austin. He had a desire to be a “scientist of the mind” (Roberts, 2012). He applied modern evolutionary theory to explaining human behavior. Evolutionary psychology has emerged as a new theoretical perspective. The central concepts of this theory are adaptation and natural selection. David Buss once stated, “The true origin of personality is evolution, it is caused by an interaction between an ever changing environment and a changing body and brain.” According to Roberts (2012) the three major principles surrounding the evolutionary theory are: Natural selection, which is how a species change or evolve over time. Sexual selection, the creation and maintaining of features essential for attracting the opposite sex and defending one’s status. It is also important for the producing of offspring. Artificial selection is when individuals select particular traits in a breeding species (Roberts, 2012). Evolutionary psychology focuses on four main questions. The first, why is the human mind designed the way it is, how did it come to take is current form? The second, how is the human mind designed, that is, what are its parts and current structure? The third, what function do the parts of the mind have, and what is it designed to do? The fourth, how do the evolved mind and current environment interact to shape human behavior (Roberts, 2012)

.Strengths & Limitations

Personality trait theories have obvious strengths and weakness, as do all other theories. One of the biggest strengths for these theories are; they are straightforward and very understandable. These tests can be implemented with ease and are able to work on almost every individual across the world, as well as many species. Some of the weakness of these theories are; they do not address how or why the traits were developed, the study is not based on scientific data just observations, and people may or may not be truthful or subjective in their answers about themselves (Feist et al, 2013).

Dispositional Personality Trait Theory

The strengths for the Dispositional Theory are; categorize observable behaviors, use objective criteria for categorizing and measuring behavior, and it aides in helping other theorists to develop similar set of traits using factor analysis. The weakness are; poor job of predicting behavior in every situation, require personal observation or subjective self-reports to measure, require individuals to be introspective enough to know their own behavior, and it do not explain why individuals behave a certain way Feist et al, 2013).

Biological Personality Trait Theory

The strengths for the Biological Theory are; many empirical studies to support scientific data, high application to Evolutionary psychology, and strong argument against nature side instead of the nature side of individual behavior. The weakness are; low ecological validity, little room for free will, do not recognize cognitive process, low falsifiability (Feist et al, 2013)

Evolutionary Personality Trait Theory

The strengths are; links biology and psychology, explains individual dissimilarities that are not easily accounted for by environmental reasons, twin & adoption studies, laboratory brain research, recognize biological constraint on therapeutic efforts, and it is possible for future use. The weakness are limited on testing methods, insufficient strategies for change from evolutionary perspective and genetic perspective, new area in which information is emerging and changing quickly, and it do not study all aspects of personality as a whole (Feist et al, 2013)

Conclusion

Allport, McCrae & Costa, Eysenck, and Buss all contributed vital research to the personality trait theories. While most will agree, people can be described based on their personality traits, theorists continue to debate the number of basic traits that make up human personality. Dispositional, Biological, and Evolutionary Personality Theories are considered as a concrete, objective tool for assessing an individual’s personality. Over time these models have evolved and have become methods for getting good measurements of the core traits every individual possess. Trait theory has made great progression over the years, however the personality is still a multifaceted and dynamic beast, making any effort to lessen it too much is a debatable attempt.

References

Feist, J. Feist, G.J., & Roberts, T., -A. (2013). Theories of personality (8th. ed.) New York, NY. McGraw-Hill.

McCrae, Robert R.; Costa, Paul T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 52(1), Jan 1987, 81-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.52.1.81

Roberts, J. T. (12/2012). Theories of Personality, 8th Edition [Vital Source Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781308260303