The Dispositional and Learning Theories Essay Example for Free

The Dispositional and Learning Theories Essay An individual’s personality is his/her distinctive pattern behavioral tendencies or psychological process that defines how he/she reacts with the environment. Personality manifests itself in one’s behavior towards others people and situations in the surrounding. While some aspects of personality are genetically inherited, others are picked from one’s environment. Personality that is influenced by the environment is developed by the context of the family or culture of the close society (Carver et al, 2000). Psychologists who study personality characterize personality traits and scrutinize their influence on and prediction of one’s behaviors. In addition to comparing and contrasting dispositional and learning theories of personality, this paper discusses the role of personality in influencing one’s behavior. The personality theories of disposition and learning and the resultant characteristics are used to explain interpersonal relations in individual. The Dispositional and Learning Theories Psychologists have developed many approaches to human personalities such as existential, humanistic, biological, or genetic, descriptive, and psychodynamic theories. The dispositional theory that regards personality to be composed of behavioral tendencies, traces its roots to ancient Greek Philosopher, medicine guru, and psychologist Hypocrites. The dispositional theory explains that psychological characteristics remain stable in an individual over a long period of exposure to a given situation. Learning theories stresses the concept that behaviors are a consequence of one’s encounters with the environment and his/her reactions to different life experiences. An individual’s experiences shape his/her behavior in different situations. The classical conditioning and punishment one receives while growing up tend to shape the way they react to similar or related scenarios in future. The learning theory may be divided into a sub-class called the Cognitive social learning that expounds on the role of cultural values and related ways of facing situations borrowed from the society. The traits are learned and internalized without any pressure applied to an individual. Personality Characteristics and Interpersonal Relationship The theories discussed above explain the origin of certain traits or characteristics upon which one’s personality is based. These traits are vital in dictating the interpersonal relationships of a person. The main characteristics include emotional stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extroversion, and openness or intellect. Extraversion entails being assertive, excitement seeking and state of seeking high levels of activity. The individual is always filled with positive emotions and warmth. Agreeable persons are always straightforward in their actions and are generally trustworthy. They also profess to altruism, carrying out acts that are beneficial to others while the actor forgoes comfort and happiness. These individuals are not only yielding but are also more likely to agree to other’s desire and demands. In addition, they are modest in their actions towards others and different situations. Conscientiousness on the other hand refers to positive traits such as self-discipline and dutifulness in an individual. This trait is mainly explained by the learning theory where discipline is instilled in a person by a learning process. Such people are in most cases orderly in their handling of different situations, making them develop healthy interpersonal relationships. Those with this trait tend to deliberate a lot when faced with new situations and they always strive for achievements (Carver et al, 2000). In addition to these features, such individuals are in most cases competent in their actions. Neuroticism is another characteristic attributed to the personality theories. Neuroticism refers to impulsiveness in actions, anxiety, and vulnerability of an individual. Besides being generally hostile, the person is always prone to depression when faced with unfamiliar situations. Exposure to environments of depression or cruelty enhances one’s risks of adopting such traits. Neuroticism is thus attributed to dispositional theory of personality. Openness refers to being welcoming and accommodative to new ideas, feelings and values. Such an individual easily welcomes new types of experience in his/her life. Their personality traits allow them to adjust and effectively manage unfamiliar situations. These individuals learn pick up new modes of action necessitated by interaction with new environments. Openness, which fosters good interpersonal relations, is attributed to dispositional theory of personality. Personality and Situational Behavior Debate rages on whether one’s behavior towards certain situations is controlled by the personality or the situation itself. The debate has however been productive, as an approach that is more dynamic has been adopted regarding the role of personality in facing different situations. The two approaches widely contrasted are the personality view and the situational circumstance. While the personality approach argues that one’s personality styles dictate the behavior, the situational theory stresses that behavior depends on the immediate situation. Are there situations where one’s personality surpasses the immediate situation so that he/she make rational judgment on the situation? Individuals should apply their personality to control situations and not the other way round. A person’s conduct towards a situation should not be controlled by the situation at hand. The main psychological variables upon which one’s behavior in different situations hinges are personality traits. An individual’s behavior in face of a situation is predicted by his/her personality (Carver et al, 2000). One’s behavior is influenced by the interaction between his/her personality traits and the immediate situations. However simplistic this view seems, there is always a mutual existence between the situation, and one’s personality in developing a behavioral inclination. Different situations may affect an individual in different ways. While some situations make an individual to express his/her personality traits, others limit their choices or behavior in relating with the situation. People also vary in how they allow their personality to react to different situations. While others have a high tendency to adapt to the situation, others have a consistent personality-situation relationship. This dependency on their personality is due to their inability to adapt to different situations. Personality also most often show up in situation where they are needed to help solve a problem. People also tend choose situations depending on their personalities. Personality however does not predict how one will react to a specific situation that lasts for a short/specific time. Personality therefore only predicts one’s general or overall behavioral trend towards general situations. Some individuals show behavior that is more consistent and their personality traits only emerge in some situations. Research has also shown that the influence of personality on handling of situations wanes with time. Whatever people do in life and the situations they are comfortable with are dictated largely by their traits. These choices may be in relation to careers, relationships, and lifestyle in general. Conclusion Personality, which refers to the psychological classification of people results from the different traits/characteristics inherent in individual. Among the theories that explain personality are the dispositional and the learning theories. These theories explain how individuals interact with different situations in their environment. While some people use judgment to interact with the environment, others use the approach of perception in developing a behavior towards situations. There are various characteristics attributed to these personality theories, namely emotional stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extroversion, and openness or intellect. Reference Carver, C. S. , Scheier, M. F. (2000). Perspectives on personality. Needham Heights

The Birthmark, Rappaccini’s Daughter, and Ethan Brand Essay examples --

The Birthmark, Rappaccini’s Daughter, and Ethan Brand Hawthorne marks his characters as potential usurpers of God who are undermined by an inability to negotiate with human chaos. Confronted with examples of imperfection or fragmentation, the scientific minds of "The Birthmark," "Rappaccini ¹s Daughter," and "Ethan Brand" attempt to efface or fuse flaws as they seek an impossible ideal of total encapsulation and order. Unsatisfied with writing a Psalm, they try to script the entire Bible. This analogy is not incidental, the three stories are all, to some extent, revisions of the Garden of Eden tale. The trio attempts to reconfigure Original Sin, either by blotting it out or by internalizing and conquering sin to the point of self-deification. The latter is particularly key for Hawthorne, a writer who crafts his prose with immaculate precision and detail, ostensibly the marks of the omniscient narrator. Yet Hawthorne concedes the impossibility of full comprehension of a character, or at least his unwillingness to seek such a conclusive appraisal, and consequently refrains from directing the reader to a similar resolution. Fragmentation runs through "Ethan Brand," so much that the story is subtitled "A Chapter From an Abortive Romance." The fragments come to resemble irreconcilable pieces of nature. Framed by images of Bartram ¹s son playing with the "scattered fragments of marble" and of Bartram shattering Brand ¹s "relicsÃ…  into fragments," Hawthorne employs the occupation of lime-burner as a central metaphor of Brand ¹s search for the Unpardonable Sin (271, 287). Brand ¹s "Idea first developed" as a reaction to the processes of his profession, in which "blocks and fragments of marble" are converted to lime (272). The ... ... had indeed found the Unpardonable Sin" (279). If Brand is unsure, perhaps Hawthorne is as well. This may explain the subtitles of inclusion, as in "Ethan Brand," or "[From the Writings of Aubà ©pine]" from "Rappaccini ¹s Daughter." By acknowledging their status as small parts of (fictitious) greater works, Hawthorne denies any possibility that each story is the final word. Instead, he embraces the fragments as individual perspectives which may or may not reveal reality. Since each perspective is faulty, the only way to assure is an impossibly "objective" view is through such a perspectival collage. This may help explain why Hawthorne wrote as many short stories collections in his lifetime as novels†¹better for a dozen or so chaotic pairs of eyes to assess truth than an authorial Cyclops, lacking depth perception. The Birthmark, Rappaccini’s Daughter Ethan Brand

Cooking Equals Art Essay

You know the saying â€Å"The Way To A Man’s Heart is Through His Stomach†, well I think everyone would agree with me when I say the way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach. Cooking has to be done during one’s life time; it is not something that can be easily avoidable. It’s something many people do on regular basics and has become an expert in. What you do every day consider art. Art can be acknowledged as something that is created and then just consumed. Yes. Cooking is art because cooking is doing something that you do repeatedly, and have a general or higher knowledge in. Cooking takes you to the highest of the high. Exactly what is cooking? Something so essential has a very simple meaning. It is the time process of food preparation through applied heat. While cooking, a person has to keep in mind a lot of other factors that finally lead to the product of making delicious food. Art according to the OED is the skills of doing something that you have had knowledge of or practice. (Art) Comparing that to cooking, we can easily pop in cooking where art is and say; cooking according to the OED is the skills of doing something that you have had knowledge of or practice. That however is not true for both of those statements because one man’s masterpiece of art can be 5 dramatic lines on a canvas, while one man’s masterpiece of cooking can just be a plate with steak, peas and cranberry sauce. The assortment and place of the line and food on a plate though would be considering art. Our ancient ancestors first discovered that heat could be applied to make food taste better. This was the evolution of cooking. Cooking has not become extinct, now over tens of thousands of years later. Rather than that it has grown into variations and forms that are extremely creative in expression and infinite. According to the latest paleo-archeological information, the oldest art was created by humans during the prehistoric Stone Age, between 300,000 and 700,000 years ago. (Visual Arts) Most anthropologists believe that cooking fires began only about 250,000 years ago. Primatologist Richard Wrangham suggested that cooking was invented as far back as 1. 8 million to 2. 3 million years ago. (The Executives Stulum). Only 50,000 years apart, cooking first, art and cooking were very close in relation. The diversity of location was a major play in why cooking styles, techniques, and even food was different. Due to diverse ecosystems and climates early civilization had to use the resources and technologies that were available locally. The Chinese, as an example, developed wok cooking as an answer to the scarcity of firewood. By cooking over a small hot flame and stirring constantly to prevent burning the food, the use of fuel was maximized. (Art Form). Just how art was forming 50,000 years later due to the location art was also different in parts of the world just like cooking. Food can be considered as an art; for example: the decoration of a food, the way a food is constructed in the plates, or even the way many different foods are being mixed in order to create a new food. Sometimes even people consider the arrangement of plates in a table as an art. This is called Table Art. Brillat-Savarin in his book, â€Å"The physiology of taste† states that cooking is the oldest of all arts. He says that Adam was born hungry and even a new born child first looks for become feed by his nurse right after he comes to new world (Physiology of taste, 300). He also believes that cooking and food is the finest art that has had the most influence on humans’ civilization (300). Food is one of the fewest things in the whole world that almost everyone becomes satisfied with. When people eat, a kind of satisfaction and pleasure makes them happy. But happy is not the only expression connected with food you have happy, disgust, anger, delighted and many more. Everybody is different and just how one dish can make a person happy by it, it can make another person disgusted by it. Everyone would get their very different experience, just how you would look at art and experience a different reaction. Whereas you look at a bright painting and feel intrigued but the person next to you is confused. In art you need your utensils to create a piece of work. The same rule applies in cooking. Yes in cooking you don’t need to use any other instruments to help you cook other than your hands which by the way brings out the artist ability right there. But you can prepare the food to get that extraordinary flavor. A good cook is also a creative one. He or she is not afraid of trying new ways and exploring new methods. He or she has an experimental mind that is coupled with a good sense of taste. The problem is that, because of the experimental nature of the work, the process of creating a masterpiece can get lost in the act of creation. However, the process of creating a culinary masterpiece does not stop there. There must also be a stage of ever refinement to the basic process. For example, should less sugar be added? Should I add more spices? Should I lower the temperature of the heat? These are little adjustments to the process that will turn a recipe from being â€Å"just OK† to â€Å"excellent. †(Art Form) For that, a good cook is not only a creative one. He or she is the master of their masterpiece. The ability to improve upon an old recipe or create an exciting new recipe is a talent a very special few can accomplish with little or no training, but almost anybody with the proper training and a genuine interest in excellent food and its preparation can become an exceptional imaginative chef. Cooking is something that cannot be learnt. In art the qualities of a cook must be ingrained in a person. But that does not mean that you cannot learn a few scrumptious dishes. Works Cited â€Å"art, n. 1†. OED Online. September 2011. Oxford University Press. 12 October 2011 Brillat-Savarin, Jean Anthelme, and M. F. K. Fisher. The Physiology of Taste, Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy. New York: Knopf, 2009. Print. â€Å"Cooking history and info†. The Executives Stulum. The Executives Stulum, 09 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011 â€Å"cooking, n. â€Å". OED Online. September 2011. Oxford University Press. 12 October 2011 â€Å"Earliest Art of Prehistory† Visual-art-corks. com. Encyclopedia of Art. 19 Jan. 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2011 Murray, Richard â€Å"Cooking As an Art Form. † EzineArticles. com. Ezine Article Group, 12 Feb. 2010. Web. 12 October. 2011.

The Nervous System, Cardiac Electrophysiology And The Brain

As we age, the brain can induce stressors on the heart. Recent evidence has emerged connecting mental stress and emotions in playing a major role in arrhythmias and sudden death. This research overviews current literature that has embraced physiology of the autonomic nervous system, cardiac electrophysiology and neuroscience in helping investigators determine the more precise nature of feedback mechanisms between the heart and the brain. Endeavoring to understand the feedback mechanisms of the brain, this study gives specific evidence in favor of growing consensus within the medical community that explores the role of cortical representation of emotions in relation to autonomic reflexes and the physiology of the myocardium, which includes pathological conditions that underlie the importance of studying the brain and heart from an interdisciplinary perspective. Keywords: Arrhythmia; autonomic nerves; myocardium; mental stress Abbreviations: PET= Positron emission tomography; ECG= Electrocardiogram; ICD= Implanted Cardiac Defibrillator; SVT= Supraventricular Tachycardia; RVR= Rapid Ventricular Response Head Vs. Heart: The Real Connection Between Ones Internal And External Environments The heart is an organ that requires careful examination and attention, especially in those with pre-existing cardiac conditions. This research review relates mental stress and arrhythmias specifically the connection between brain mechanisms that trigger the autonomic nerves and theShow MoreRelatedEssay about Hyperthyroidism: Thyroid Disease and the Heart1310 Words   |  6 PagesHyperthyroidism Chronic diseases such as hyperthyroidism can be debilitating if not managed well. Hyperthyroidism is an overactive thyroid gland that secrets too much hormones throughout the body causing many different clinical manifestations within all systems. The thyroid gland is located right underneath the larynx also known as the voice box, and straddling the windpipe. It consists of two types of tissues, follicular and parafollicular. The follicular tissues are the ones that secrete hormones containingRead MoreApplications of electrophysiology Introduction Electrophysiology is the study of electrical2800 Words   |  12 PagesApplications of electrophysiology Introduction Electrophysiology is the study of electrical properties of tissues and cells. It is said to be the â€Å"gold standard†, when investigating neuronal signalling (Massimo Scanziani et Michael Hà ¤usser, 2009). Measurements are taken of the voltage change or the electrical current on an extensive variety of scales from a single ion channel protein (e.g. potassium channels) to large organs (e.g. the heart). There are many areas in which electrophysiology can be appliedRead MoreCase Study : Mr Smith2222 Words   |  9 Pagesthe first hypertensive state where BP levels range between 140-159/90-99 mmHg. A normal BP is seen to be between the ranges of less than 120/80 mmHg. BP is determined by the force of blood exerted against the cardiac wall and the resistance of blood vessels. Thus, the force of his high cardiac output volume is likely the result of his hypertension. Mr. Smith monitors his BP and uses the medication Tritace irregularly. Hence, a diagnosis of hypertension raising concerns for other possible underlying