An individual’s personality is the uniqueness of his/her character which is the interaction of thought process and behavior in a psychophysical system (Ryckman, 2012 p.4). Personality is influenced by biological the environment which allows the aspect sociocultural development. Various personality theories exist with different approaches in explaining human behavior including; psychodynamic, humanistic, dispositional, bio psychological, psychoanalytic and social learning theories. This paper compares and contrasts elements of humanistic and cognitive theories (Rothe, 2017).
Cognitive personality theories emphasis on the influence of mental processes like thoughts, expectations, believes, motives and judgment to influence behavior and their response to the social environment. This approach holds the prediction of human actions or inaction is in the consistency of these cognitive processes. Cognitive theories include; Personal constructs by George Kelly, social learning and social cognitive theories (Allen, 2015 p.270). The humanistic approach to personality recognizes that human beings can determine their behaviors and attitudes consciously and rationally by free will thus bearing ultimate responsibility for their behaviors. Notable theories include Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Carl Rogers person-centered approach (Allen, 2015 p.197, 221). Both the approaches emphasize the need for self-acceptance a way of deterring negative outcomes, perceptions or behavior. It is through this perception that effective coping can be realized.
In contrast, as cognitive theories focus on psychological and neural processes, a humanistic approach is based on intuition and the emotional aspect of persons. The former can be considered more scientific in explanation as it outlines physiological outcomes and processes of the human brain. Whereas the humanistic approach is more holistic from the perspective of the desire for self-actualization in respect to human needs, cognitive theories focus only on the mental processes in relation to behavior (Diener, 2003 p.415). In humanistic perspective, the thought processes is insignificant to human behavior as long as the desired outcome is achieved since perceptions could be influenced by other factors such as the environmental interactions. On the other side, the cognitive approach does not primarily focus on behavior outcomes but in a person’s cognition.
Works Cited
Allen, Bem P. Personality theories: Development, growth, and diversity. Psychology Press, 2015.
Diener, Ed, Shigehiro Oishi, and Richard E. Lucas. "Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life." Annual review of psychology54.1 (2003): 403-425.
Rothe, J. Peter, ed. The scientific analysis of personality. Routledge, 2017.
Ryckman, Richard M. Theories of personality. Cengage Learning, 2012
