28 CHAPTER
In
personality can only be achieved with great difficulty at best, and then only
through the lengthy and often painful process of psychoanalytic therapy.
Personologists who are committed to changeability may reveal this predilection
in a number of ways. For example. their theories could include (I) the concept of
developmental stages characterizing the life span. (2) a focus on the forces that
produce behavior change. (3) the concepts that explain how people may be
discontinuous with their past. or (4) an emphasis upon ongoing personal growth.
Regardless of which direction a particular theory takes. it reflects the basic
assumption that significant personality changes can and do occur, and that they
therefore must be explained in theoretical terms. By contrast. personologists
inclined toward the unchangeability assumption are likely to reveal it by positing
the existence of enduring core personality structures which underlie the individ-
ual's behavior throughout life. Such theorists will stress the relevance of these
structures, the constitutional or early environmental factors responsible for their
formation, and the way in which these structures essentially characterize the
individual's behavior throughout life.
Subjectivity-Objectivity
Do human beings live in a highly Personal. subjective world of experience that is
the major influence upon their behavior? Or is their behavior influenced
primarily. if not exclusively, by external, objective factors? This is the essence
of the subjectivity-objectivity issue. Personologists differ markedly on this
assumption with such differences clearly reflected in their theories. In fact, a
major difference on this assumption, perhaps above all others, seems to be at
the philosophic root of the sharp cleavage between behaviorism and phenomenology
in contemporary psychology. Some illustrations follow.
Rogers. whose theory represents a phenomenological perspective on person-
ality, has stated: "The inner world of the individual appears to have more
significant influence upon his behavior than does the external environmental
stimulus" (1964. p. 124). For Rogers (and for phenomenology). the individual's
subjective frame of reference is of paramount importance, and his observable
behavior is forever unintelligible without reference to it. As is so often the case.
Skinner is in direct opposition to Rogers. Skinner (1971). contemporary behav-
iorism's most influential figure. asserted: "The task of a scientific analysis is to
explain how the behavior of a person as a physical system is related to the
conditions under which the human species evolved and the conditions under
which the individual lives" (p. 14): "We can follow the path taken by physics and
biology by turning directly to the relation between behavior and the environment
and neglecting supposed mediating state of mind" (p. 15). For Skinner (and for
part of contemporary behaviorism). human behavior is largely the result of exter-
nal, objective factors acting upon us—it is the lawful relationships between these
factors and the organism's behavior with which the science of psychology should
be exclusively concerned.
A theory constructed by a personologist inclined toward subjectivity would
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mainly be concerned with the nature of the individual's subjective experience.
fact, this kind of theorist would likely consider the scientific study of human
experience as the most important part of psychology. Conversely, a personologist
tending toward objectivity would likely construct a theory primarily concerned
with objective behavioral events and their lawful relationships to measurable
factors in the external world. For such a theorist, psychology would truly be the
science of behavior. and very little emphasis would be placed upon the individ-
ual's subjective experience per se.
Proactivity-Reactivity
The proactivity-reactivity issue is directly concerned with the locus of causality
in explaining human behavior. That is, where are the real causes of human actions
to be found? Do people generate their own behavior internally or is their behavior
simply a series of responses to external stimuli? At the heart of the proactive view
of human beings is the belief that the sources of all behavior reside within the
person. People act rather than react. Personologists adopting a proactive view of
human nature firmly believe that the causes of behavior are to be found within;
persons determine their behavior internally. Maslow offered the following proac-
tive view of humanity: "Man has his future within him, dynamically active at this
present moment" (1961. p. 59). Personologists inclined toward proactivity formu-
late theoretical concepts that serve to explain how people initiate their own
actions.
A reactive position. on the other hand. interprets behavior as fundamentally a
reaction to stimuli from the outside world. Persons do not internally cause their
actions; they simply react to outside forces. The real causes of behavior are seen
as completely external to the person. The reactive position is clearly expressed
by Skinner: "No account of what is happening inside the human body. no matter
how complete, will explain the origins of human behavior" (1989. p. 18). Reac-
tive-oriented personologists place a premium on concepts reflecting stimulus-
response and/or behavior-environment relationships. Such personologists assume
that the source of human behavior is the environment in which it occurs.
Homeostasis – Heterostasis
The Homeostasis – Heterostasis dimension is fundamentally concerned with human
motivation. Are individuals motivated primarily or exclusively to reduce tensions
and maintain an internal state of equilibrium (homeostasis)? Or is their basic
motivation directed toward growth, stimulus seeking, and self-actualization
(Heterostasis)? Personologists who take different stands on this issue have di -
ametrically opposed views on the motivational bases of human behavior. As
Buhler has stated: "One cannot simultaneously believe in the end goal of homeo-
stasis and the end goal of a fulfilling self-realization" 11971. p. 383).
In the middle of this century. John Dollard and Neal Miller (1950) spoke for the
homeostatic position. In their view, personality characteristics are acquired