Is something missing??

[Lucas]

B= f(P,E)
Behavior is a function of Personality and the Environment.

I can't help but wonder if something is missing in all this typology. Personality psychology, and typology-types in particular focus on aspects of their personality that make them different from others, and explain most things to this personality schema.

Explaining behavior primarily through personality factors ignores a critical part of the story, social influence, or the effect that words, actions or the mere presence of other people have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior.

People do have certain characteristics that group together, Intro/extroversion etc, and in that sense it is very useful. That said, I think social influence is very powerful, usually outweighing individual differences in peoples personalities as determinants of human behavior. Even when you are alone you are contantly being influenced by other people. Whether that is a significant other, parent, friends, authors, scholars, strangers, etcetera etc.

There is a limit to all this typology. Just where that is and what that means are the important questions here. I guess I see it more in the context of gestalt psychology, where the emphasis is on how people construe the social world, rather than just individual personality.

What do y'all think? Just how valid is all this typology? Where does the personality, social influence and the situation fit in here? :huh:



-Lucas :huh:


"The soul is nothing but the activity of the brain." -Steven Pinker

[Johnny]

As far as your equation goes, Jung would offer the thinking/feeling scale for the P variable and the intuition/sensing scale for the E variable.

Of course typology is limited. If you find value in it for yourself, great. If you don't, that's O.K. too. :sombrero:

[Lucas]

As far as your equation goes, Jung would offer the thinking/feeling scale for the P variable and the intuition/sensing scale for the E variable.


WWJD, what would jung do? ha.

I don't see how the intuition/sensing scale takes the situation into account. Isn't that still focusing on the individual diferences(Personality)??

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to knock typing. I'm just trying to define where I stand on this whole typology thing.

-Lucas

"The soul is nothing but the activity of the brain." -Steven Pinker

[Johnny]

I don't know what WWJD means...

If you don't buy into the idea that your experiences are shaped to some degree by your personality, that you cannot truly be objective, then just about everything Jung offers won't appeal to you or can be misinterpreted.

In the end, you define where you stand on the whole typology thing... :sombrero:

[CosmicDust]

B= f(P,E)
Personality psychology, and typology-types in particular focus on aspects of their personality that make them different from others, and explain most things to this personality schema.

Interesting point. People have a lot of similarities as well as differences, but personality theory focuses on the latter. I think this may be because similarity of personality is what we naturally assume in dealing with people, which causes us to get some things wrong, and this tendency toward error is what personality theory corrects for.

[Almaviva]

One the one hand, yes, environment must have a large impact. On the other, the genetic difference between different people is of the same order of magnitude as between humans and chimpanzees, and you can't argue that there is a big difference in that case that goes beyond culture.

[Lucas]

On the other, the genetic difference between different people is of the same order of magnitude as between humans and chimpanzees, and you can't argue that there is a big difference in that case that goes beyond culture.

I disagree.
The genetic variabilty between humans is beyond a doubt much much smaller than the difference between humans and chimps. Analysis of human and chimpanzee DNA has established that the two species are approximately 98.5% identical. However, all humans share 99.9% of our genetic information with eachother. We also share 90% with mice. Clearly it doesn't take much variability for big differences. That is if you only consider quantitative variation and not the limited qualitative variation due to gene expression. Even the smartest chimp can't touch the cognitive ability and inherent cultural plasticity in a 5 year old human. How can the genetic difference be the same for us and chimps??

Personality isn't completely genetically determined. The interdependence with the environment contantly molds and shapes our genetic predispositions. Something like nature via nurture. I believe personality is, to a large extent the product of the qualitative differences in gene expression(Environment).

However personality is formed is besides the point that there is a constant interaction between the personality(which is always changing to a certain extent) and our complex social world. Whatever your personality, social influence has a large effect on how we see, interpret and respond to the world.
I don't know, I'm confused again.. :huh::huh:

-Lucas

El caracol pregunta:
¿Pero qué son estrellas?
Son luces que llevamos
Sobre nuestra cabeza.
Nosotras no las vemos,
Las hormigas comentan.
Y el caracol, mi vista
Sólo alcanza a las hierbas.
-Los encuentros de un caracol aventurero, -Fredrico Garcia Lorca