Biospheric model of personality

Concepts Biosphere Subject pole Object pole Axioms of behavior Personal system principle Proponents Andras Angyal Andras Angyal Andras Angyal was born in rural Transylvania , Angyal received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1927 and his M.D. from the University of Turin in 1932.... Relevant works Foundations for a science of personality

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The biospheric model of personality is a contribution to the psychology of personality proposed by Andras Angyal

Andras Angyal

Andras Angyal was born in rural Transylvania , Angyal received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1927 and his M.D. from the University of Turin in 1932....

 in 1941. According to this model, the biosphere

Biosphere

The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...

 is the system of the individual and her environment, consisting of Subject subsystem (the individual) and Object subsystem (the environment).

Description

The following outlines the author's holistic view of the biosphere:

• The Subject pole:

Elements: attitude, drive, craving;

Organized into: axioms of behavior, systems of axioms, the personal system principle.

• The Object pole:

Elements: relevance, valence, demand quality;

Organized into: axiomatic values, systems of values, the environment's system.

Angyal describes three personality dimensions:

• vertical dimension, with surface behavior and deep attitudes that guide that behavior;
• progressive dimension, which is the series of behaviors that lead to attaining a goal;
• transverse dimension, which is the simultaneous coordination of elementary behaviors into complex acts.

Biosphere dynamics is generated by the tension between the poles of each dimension. There are two fundamental tendencies of the person in relationship with her environment:

• autonomy, or domination of the environment by the person;
• homonomy, or the adjustment of the person to the environment.

Psychopathology

According to Angyal's model, psychopathology is caused by the segregation of the two poles of one or more personality dimensions. This segregation can be:

• vertical, between attitudes and behavior, leading to deceptive behavior;
• progressive, between goals and means to attain them, leading to frustration;
• transverse, leading to behavior dissociation and incoherence (encountered in psychosis).

See also

• Cognitive-affective personality system
  Cognitive-affective personality system
  The Cognitive Affective Processing System is a contribution to the psychology of personality proposed by Walter Mischel and Yuichi Shoda in 1995...
  
  
• Hypostatic model of personality
  Hypostatic model of personality
  The hypostatic model of personality is a contribution to the psychology of personality, summarized by Codrin Stefan Tapu in 2001. It argues that the person presents herself in different aspects or hypostases, depending on the internal and external realities she relates to, including different...
  
  
• Personality systematics
  Personality systematics
  Personality systematics is a contribution to the psychology of personality and to psychotherapy summarized by Jeffrey J. Magnavita in 2006 and 2009. It is the study of the interrelationships among subsystems of personality as they are embedded in the entire ecological system. The model falls into...
  
  
• Systems psychology
  Systems psychology
  Systems psychology is a branch of applied psychology that studies human behaviour and experience in complex systems. It is inspired by systems theory and systems thinking, and based on the theoretical work of Roger Barker, Gregory Bateson, Humberto Maturana and others. It is an approach in...
  
  
• Organismic theory
  Organismic theory
  Organismic theories in psychology are a family of holistic psychological theories which tend to stress the organization, unity, and integration of human beings expressed through each individual's inherent growth or developmental tendency...