Trait Perspective | Most Liked Theories

The Trait Perspective is primarily concerned with behaviors that are stable over a period of time and does not focus on one person's behavior but instead describes how certain people may act at certain joint along a continuum (Burger, 2011). Possibly the most known product is Costa and McCrae's Big Five or O.C.E.A.N. (seen below). 

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If you want to have a teat here's a trait videos to help you understand it more...

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...and if that treat is not enough here's another one. 

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I chose this perspective not for it's characteristics but for  the relevant research that we encountered while studying this. In fact, most of the relevant research is often faced by students and adolescents. Here are some of the researches that is applicable to me.

Defensive Pessimism

Defensive pessimists, unlike pessimists who simply expect the worst, use a negative outlook in dealing with an upcoming event and expects the worst possible results and they often fret over things since they expect that they would fail  (Burger, 2011).  Defensive pessimists are most likely to think that they would fail an exam even if they actually did good in it and this is also true for any activity that defensive pessimists do  (Burger, 2011). The reason behind this outlook is the fear of failing, setting low expectations would save them from the pain of failing. Another thing that researchers see as the cause of this is that their fear of failing is what pushes them to do better and the possibility of failing is like an incentive for them  (Burger, 2011).

When I first heard and read about Defensive Mechanism I immediately identified it to myself. Ever since I was a child my greatest fear was failing. Whenever I would answer a question during recitation I would hesitate even if I am a hundred percent certain of the answer since I am thinking that I would not be able to answer correctly. This also happens to me during exams I often feel afraid of feeling confident about my results since I am scared that this might "jinx" it so I just expect that I would either fail or get a really low score. I stated in my post about the cognitive perspective that I accept my failures and let it go easily, I am realizing that my being a possible defensive pessimist might have something tot do with it. Yes, I am afraid to fail and this fear I think is what fuels my capability of letting go of my mistakes since I want to do not fail the secnd time around. 

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Seeing this quote made me realize that I should try to get over my fear of failing because although it fuels my will to not fail it can also be a barrier for me to succeed. My often low expectations may become permanent and I might end up not expecting myself to ever succeed so I might eventually become a pessimist who would not do anything at all because of this expectation. I just wish it was that easy to overcome it.

Social Anxiety

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Social Anxious people are often mistaken to be introverted but these two terms are not synonymous. Introverts choose to be by themselves most of the time while socially anxious  people do not choose to be alone but they end up being alone since they get awkward and nervous when dealing with other people, especially those that they do not know  (Burger, 2011). This is another topic that I can identify to. I often feel anxious and awkward in social gatherings if I know no one there or if I have to meet new people. I even still feel social anxiety in our org's tambayan if none of my close friends or batchmates are there. Reporting in front and reciting are other platforms where I feel uneasy. I stated in the last part that I have a fear of reciting because of my fear of failure but I guess this also overlaps with me being socially anxious at time and not wanting to be the center of attention. My social anxiety is something that is slowly getting better as I am growing I think being in an environment like what we have in UP helps me to overcome this anxiety, I wish the day when I wouldn't feel anxious when dealing with would come sometime in the near future. 

Here is a video I found about how someone can overcome social anxiety.

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Reference(s): Burger, J. M. (2011). Personality (8th ed.). Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth Pub. Co.