The Cognitive Approach

[Juan and Yenan]

Cognitive theorists suggest that our minds are the primary source of our personalities. Personality is the product of our thoughts. There is four paradigms used by researchers to explain human personality development. One obvious weakness in each of these four paradigms has been a lack of attention to the role that the human mind plays as a factor in personality development. (Shield & Bredfeldt 254)
The biological paradigm told us we are only brain, not mind.
The behavioral paradigm claimed that we are simply behaving organisms, responding in predictable and mechanical ways to stimuli in our environment.

The psychoanalytic paradigm asserted that personality is derived primary from our responses to innate urges and need-seeking responses. The mind, it is contended, is something created from a conflict between our desires and the limitations of family, culture, and society.
The phenomenological paradigm proponents pointed us away from the mechanistic view of the behaviorists and from the instinctual drives suggested by the psychoanalytic camp. They suggested that we are people of emotion and that we are motivated by a deep need to achieve. (Shields & Bredfeldt 254)

Basic Propositions of the Cognitive Paradigm:
1.People are primarily active, rational beings who develop their potential through rational thinking and, therefore, can intentionally shape their own environment. People are, by nature, curious and inquisitive creatures. We do have an innate desire to learn and make sense out of our world. (Shields & Bredfeldt 255)
2.Human beings develop a set of personal mental constructs, which in turn become the basis of their belief system used to order and understand the world. Constructivists believe that each person builds a mental grid through which life is processed. Those mental constructs are called schemata (singular, schema). Our conceptualization of the world is developed over time as we seek to understand the nature of events, actions, and experiences. Once we gain the ability to use language, schemata can be formed both experimentally and intellectually as we consider the ideas of others. Despite the fact that maturation brings improved understanding, each of us comes to accept some constructs that may be incorrect. Some mental constructs serve as the core of our value system. (Shields & Bredfeldt 257)
3.Dysfunctional behavior and personality weaknesses are the result of irrational thinking, incomplete knowledge, patterns of ineffective thought, and a faulty belief system. According to this paradigm, people have problems because they do not think correctly, do not know enough, have fallen into thinking patterns that are unproductive, or have a basic belief system that is inadequate to deal with the real world. (Shields & Bredfeldt 257)

In my research for this report I get to discover the psychologist Alfred Adler, I find him very important because of his contribution to personality types that he classified: three negative in nature and one positive or healthy. These types can reflect a frame of mind or cognitive concepts that are dominating in these personalities types.

The first negative lifestyles is that of the ruling type. Ruling types are dominators by nature. They seek to rule over and control others. Some ruling types turn their controlling and abusive behaviors inward, resulting in addictions and suicidal tendencies. Adler’s second type is the getting type. Getting types are takers rather than givers. These people adopt a passive attitude toward life, are dependent on others, and exhibit low energy levels.

The third mistaken lifestyle is the avoiding type. Avoiding types assume that by avoiding life’s problems, they can avoid potential failure or defeat. Avoiding types are perceived by others as distant, cold, disconnected, and loners. Avoiding types sometimes retreat entirely into their own worlds, becoming psychotic in their behavior.

The fourth lifestyle type is the healthy type. Healthy types are socially useful, emotionally balanced, and willing to accommodate others. Healthy types contribute to society by giving themselves. Healthy types believe that they are basically in control over their lives and choices and thus do not feel their lives are externally determined. (Shields & Bredfeldt 274)

We could say that the negative lifestyle live in the flesh and/or with distorted thoughts. The ruling type wants control and power. The getting types are characterizes by selfishness, and the avoiding types by fear. The healthy lifestyle type as a born again Christian would be those who believe that God is in control, and their choices are determined by his Word.

[Apostle Dr. Lee Ann Marino]

I like this, it is insightful and gives a new approach to traditional methods.