Example of explaining aggressiveness in terms of personality theories response to questions essay

Response to Question 1: How Aggressiveness personality trait develops in humans. Where the theorist say it comes from

In his perspective of personality, Carl Rodgers acknowledges that all organisms live in the environment enduring experiences that are continuously changing. Organisms react to the environment in which they are based. As individuals interact with the environment and phenomena, a part of the perceptual field is shaped and translates into self. As such, the interactions with the environment create the allowance for the interactions, which are evaluated and incorporated into the structures of self. Structures of the self can be perceived as an organized, dynamic but consistent perceptual pattern that carries the concepts that define an individual. For every field of perception, individual personality and behavior are oriented towards the goals of satisfying needs, as well as interests. As organisms strive to realize their objectives, emotions are always triggered to facilitate the realization of the goals (Heppner, Rogers & Lee, 1984).
More often than not, experience-attached values are inseparable from the self-structure components, which are gained from individual’s direct experiences. Nevertheless, these could be derived from other individual’s experiences and perceived as if they had been experienced individually. As individuals encounter experiences in life, there are always three possibilities. In one way, the experiences may be perceived, symbolized and organized to relate with the self. In another way, the experiences could be ignored, especially because the relationship with the self-structure is particularly limited. Lastly, the experiences could be denied or granted a distorted symbolization, especially because the experiences are not consistent with the self-structures. Substantial forms of behaviors that are adopted by the organism as a result of interaction are those that only coincide with self. In some cases, behaviors could be triggered by the needs and organic experiences, as well as the needs that are yet to be symbolized. Such a form of behavior my not coincide with the self-structure; hence, the behavior would not be said to be owned by the individual (Heppner, Rogers & Lee, 1984).
Freud proposes that human personality can be effectively defined based on two elements; ego and superego personality. The superego personality is a derivative of internalized ideals that people acquire from the social environment. It may well be perceived as the psyche supervisor since it monitors the human activities by officiating processes of making judgments to determine the morality of the behaviors. Superego personality exists as long as a person interacts with the nurturing society (Cherry, 2009).
On the other hand, ego personality is a derivative of self-perceptions. This personality dictates the action of people according the inner perceptions of the real world as triggered by real life experiences. The ego personality component is an attribute of differences observable from people that develop in more or less same environment, yet end up living lives that are totally different. Worthwhile is the point that ego personality is neither a subject of physical, emotional nor social attributes. Instead, it is purely a subject of individual perceptions and how they relate with personal experiences. In this regard, Freud’s point of concurrence with Rodgers lies in within the superego personality; that personality is a derivative of behavior. Moreover, whereas the Freud’s ego model may set them apart, they all bound by the fact that they acknowledge experiences as pivotal in shaping individual personalities (Cherry, 2009).
Thus, based on the theories, aggressiveness can be considered as a trait that is triggered by the environment. Aggressiveness is not inborn, but learned. For instance, a child born to a robber-father is not born a robber. The tendency of the child to take after the robber-father is dependent on how the robber nurtures the child. If the son closely associates with the father as he engages in robbery activities, the child would learn robbery techniques and grow up to become a robber as the father. Conversely, if the association between the robber and his child is limited, the chances of the child becoming a robber are also limited. Animal cultures can also be borrowed to explain violence among human beings. It is widely agreeable that the animals, whether wild or domestic, depends on how the environment in which they are nurtured. The aggressiveness of a dog depends upon how it is trained. Thus, aggressiveness is a product of the environment.
Response to Question 2: The purpose or function of aggressiveness.  How the trait affects a person’s social, as well as interpersonal relationships?
Personality traits do not simply develop without a motive. Indeed, based on Rogers theory, for every field of perception, individual personality and behavior are oriented towards the goals of satisfying needs, as well as interests (Hall & Linzey, 1987). Thus, an aggressiveness trait can be perceived as that which functions to defend or protect the interests and views of an individual against the interference of the aggressor.
For instance, some people may get violent when they are judged unfairly. Consider a situation where two teams are in the field playing, and a referee turns to penalize a player unfairly. An aggressive player would be quick to respond by hitting back at the referee. Some people are known to get aggressive in the arguments, as an attempt to defend their view points. Indeed, it is not uncommon to find people getting physical because their views have been dismissed. It has been argued that aggressiveness is triggered by feelings of powerless. Whereas this may not be disputed, it is worth concluding that aggressiveness is aimed at safeguarding comfort. The trait is detrimental to personal relationships; hence, is considered undesirable.

Response to Question 3: what methods or techniques might be used to decrease the quantity of the trait?

Various techniques can be used in reducing aggressiveness, depending on the factors that trigger the aggressiveness. Thus, the first step in addressing aggressiveness is identifying the factors that are responsible for causing nurturing the aggressive trait. The subsequent step is to try and reverse the trait by manipulating the factors. To revisit on Carl Rodgers theory, as individuals continuously interact with the environment and phenomena, a part of the perceptual field is shaped and translates into self. As such, the interactions with the environment create the allowance for the interactions, which are evaluated and incorporated into the structures of self. In this sense, aggressiveness can be resolved by subjecting an individual to conditions that modifies the structure of self, erasing the aggressiveness trait.
Another way would be to deny the individual the conditions that could result to aggressiveness. For instance, people may learn to desist from arguing with individuals who turn aggressive upon arguments. This approach may be otherwise stated as ensuring that aggressive people are comfortable, an approach that is obviously demanding. The former is desirable. Various counseling modalities can be employed in dealing with aggressiveness. For instance, hypnotherapy, including cognitive and behavioral therapies, may be employed. Hypnotherapy is a practice that aims at enabling other people to overcome various cognitive and behavior-based habits and challenges. According to Butler, Chapman, Forman and Beck (2006), well over eighty five percent of clients respond to clinical hypnotherapy. More so, such methods can work effectively even where other conventional methods fail.

References

Butler AC, Chapman, J. E., Forman, E. M. & Beck, A. T., (2006), ” The empirical status of cognitive-behavioral therapy: a review of meta-analyses”. Clin Psychol Rev 26 (1): 17–31.
Cherry, K. (2009). The Id, Ego and Superego: The Structural model of personality. Retrieved on November 1st, 2012 from http://www. psychology. about. com/od/theories
Hall, C. & Linzey, G.(1987). Theories of Personality. New York: John Wiley & Sons,
Heppner, P., Rogers, M. & Lee, L. (1984). “ Carl Rogers: Reflections on his life”. Journal of Counseling and Development, 63, 14-20.
Hittner, J. B. (1999).   Fostering critical thinking in personality psychology: The trait paper assignment. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 26 (2), 92-98.