“To Learn More” Student Essays
Personality Theories, Eighth Edition - Engler
Chapter 1: Introduction: Evaluating Personality Theories
Personality Theories and Psychopathology
Theories of personality and approaches to psychotherapy are unavoidably linked. Each of the personality theories covered in the textbook has yielded a corresponding approach to counseling or therapy. Simply put, the particular way we understand people leads to a particular way of trying to help them when they are psychologically unhealthy.
Thus, just as the field of personality theory spans a very broad range, psychotherapy approaches also represent a vast array. In fact, as a result of their great variety, psychotherapy scholars have often struggled to come up with a single definition of psychotherapy. Consider, for example, the breadth of following definition from a prominent psychotherapy researcher:
"Psychotherapy is the informed and intentional application of clinical methods and interpersonal stances derived from established psychological principles for the purpose of assisting people to modify their behaviors, cognitions, emotions, and/or other personal characteristics in directions that the participants deem desirable." (Norcross, 1990, p. 218)
Each personality theory emphasizes a different aspect of the human psyche, and psychotherapy approaches correspond. Cognitive personality theorists such as Kelly, Ellis, Beck, and Lazarus emphasize the importance of the conscious thought process; cognitive therapists similarly emphasize the impact of rationality of thoughts on their clients' mental health. Psychoanalytic personality theorists such as Freud, Jung, and Kohut emphasize unconscious processes; analytic therapists attempt to uncover such processes via the analysis of dreams, transference, and other clinical material. Behavioral personality theorists such as Skinner emphasize observable behavior as the focal point of the study of personality; behavioral therapists define psychopathology as the problem behavior at hand and seek to reduce it via conditioning or other means. Finally, humanistic and existential personality theorists such as Rogers, Maslow, and May see emotional experience as the key aspect of personality development; humanistic and existential therapists draw attention to emotional experience in their therapies.
Psychotherapists can often articulate their approach to personality or psychotherapy quite clearly, but their clients often enter therapy with little or no information about it. The clients may, in fact, favor a particular approach themselves, though it may be implicit and they may struggle to explain it or distinguish it from that of others. Therapy tends to work best when the approaches of the therapist and client are matching, or at least compatible.
Cultural and demographic factors can be extremely important in the development of a particular approach to personality or therapy in an individual. Certain cultures are more likely to generate or foster particular ways of understanding people, and to discourage or disapprove of others. Accordingly, members of certain cultures may be especially receptive to some styles of psychotherapy and disinclined toward others. Many personality theorists have been criticized for assuming that their theory is universal when, in fact, it applies largely to cultures like their own. Similarly, wise psychotherapists realize that the efficacy of a particular approach to therapy can depend significantly upon a client's culture or demography (based on ethnicity, gender, age, or other variables).
Andrew M. Pomerantz, Ph. D.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
References
Norcross, J. C. (1990). An eclectic definition of psychotherapy. In J. K. Zeig & W. M. Munion (Eds.), What is psychotherapy?San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Critical Thinking Questions:
- When therapy of any type is successful, what exactly is changing? Is personality changing when behaviors, emotions, cognitions, or unconscious processes change?
- When therapists are trained, should their training focus on one approach to personality/psychotherapy or a variety of approaches?
- Can you think of examples of good or bad matches between specific cultural groups (based on ethnicity, gender, or other variables) and specific approaches to psychotherapy?
Web Links:
A psychotherapy primer, including a proposed definition and descriptions of many of the orientations that stem from theories of personality.
A listing of various definitions of "psychotherapy" on the web, with links to each.
An article by John Norcross on how aspects of training, including therapeutic orientations based on various personality theories, vary between counseling and clinical psychology graduate programs.