ASAD TGC

Here's the copy of our lecture this morning

1. common traits – values are theoretical, economic, aesthetic, social, political and religious in nature

2. Personal disposition – Allport further said that there are kinds of personality traits: cardinal trait, central trait and secondary traits. Traits are not all equal. Some are more important and more likely to influence behavior than others.

a. Cardinal traits – are those around which an individual’s life will revolve. For example, if a person’s life is dominated by blind ambition and the desire for power, then the power would be the person’s cardinal trait.

b. Central traits – traits that play a major role in guiding a person’s behavior, but the person is not consumed by it.

c. Secondary traits – least influential characteristics. They involve specific situations or events. These traits may be considered as preferences or attitudes. Traits expressing isolated interests or modes of responding, like shaving the right side first.

Learning theory

Horney shows that a person wishes to find specific experiences in coping with life. She emphasizes on social forces rather than conflict with in the individual.

1. Anxiety theory – Horney believes that a child develops basic emotions from the feelings of being isolated and helpless. All kinds of parental behaviors – inconsistency, indifference, unkept promises and so on – leave the child feeling insecure. Out of this basic anxiety, the child develops ways of coping with his world. Some of these coping mechanisms become a way of life.
2. Superiority/ Compensatory theory – Adler’s theory evolved over a period of years. The foundation of the theory is that people develop as they strive to overcome or compensate for inferiorities. He said that people who have physical impairment devote much of their time in compensating for this defect. As a result, that weakness becomes strength. He added that the feelings of being inferior are a result of striving for power and perfection and failed to achieve it.