Confronting Pessimism: A Personality Psychology Perspective

Personality Psychology: Pessimistic Behavior Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Instructor’s Name Course Number Date Introduction The concept of personality is a topic of interest in psychology. according to (Gavino et al., 2019), "Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behavior and thought.” There are four major personality perspectives which include traits, humanistic, social cognitive, and psychoanalytic perspectives. Personality is a combination of emotions, motivation, feelings, patterns of thinking, and behavior, defining an individual. These attributes differ from one person to another, shaping their personalities. Several factors influence personality development and they include societal values, parenting, genetics, and the environment. A person's personality influences expectations, values, attitudes, and behavior. There are various influences of personality, and various psychologists try to use theories to explain the occurrence of the different types of behavior. Personality shows the uniqueness of an individual. There are various types of behaviors that an individual portrays, making the concept of personality a broad issue. Personality psychology aims to explain how an individual’s unique traits and characteristics develop. Personality development helps individuals develop a positive attitude toward life if the correct phases are followed. This paper will discuss pessimistic behavior using the psychoanalytic and humanistic approaches in psychology. Pessimism Pessimists are deeply embedded in society today, and we can easily recognize them. According to the American Psychological Association(APA), pessimism is an attitude that things will go wrong and people's wishes are unlikely to be fulfilled. Pessimists are worried when things seem to be going well. They discourage and put you down when you try to exploit or achieve an objective. According to (Lebowitz, 2014), pessimism can affect an individual’s health, yielding depression, mood and personality disorders, and a difficul