#Fun fact i got a 96 on it for not citing it properly lol

[psychicbluebirdmiracle]

How Personalities Can Be Learned

(An essay I wrote for general psychology almost two years ago)

Personality is how we refer to people’s behavior, decisions or how they might feel about certain things; it is a group of someone's personality traits. A personality might cover a lot of things about a certain individual, like how sociable they are, how they may be more prone to being angry than others, or how they will like certain things that others might dislike. The word “personality” is thought to have been derived from the Greek “personas,” which were masks worn in theaters to show the characters’ personalities and emotions.

Personality learning theory is the thought that our personalities are derived from events and people around us and are more focused on the external behaviors than the subconscious. There are two different perspectives to take when looking at this theory: the behavioral perspective and the social-cognitive perspective. The behavioral perspective believes that all personality traits are learned from the environment around a person and that no one is born with a personality, while the social-cognitive perspective emphasizes thinking, reasoning, learning, and cognition. Observational learning is defined as learning traits from observing others (Spielman et al., 2020). According to an article on social cognitive theory at Boston University School of Public Health, Reciprocal Determinism is described as the central concept of social cognitive theory and “refers to the dynamic and reciprocal interaction of person (individual with a set of learned experiences), environment (external social context), and behavior (responses to stimuli to achieve goals)” (LaMorte, 2022). Some notable Psychologists associated with this theory are B. F. Skinner, who took a behavioral perspective on this theory; Albert Bandura, who took the social-cognitive perspective; and Julian Rotter, who proposed the concept of locus of control.

A brilliant example of a learned personality comes from Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko’s show Avatar: The Last Airbender in the character of Prince Zuko. Zuko is an aggressive and ambitious teen who is desperate to win his father’s approval but struggles with what is right and what he is expected to do. He grew up as the prince of the fire nation, the most powerful nation in the world. He had an abusive father and a mysterious mother who was willing to risk her own life to save her son. His corrupt grandfather was Fire Lord until being killed by Zuko’s mother to protect Zuko after the grandfather threatened to kill him. His younger sister struggled with mental illness. His uncle became a father figure to him. When Zuko was thirteen years old, as punishment for talking out of turn during a war meeting, his father challenged him to a dangerous competition known as Agni Kai. When Zuko refused, his father severely burned his face, leaving a permanent scar, and banished him from the kingdom until he could capture the avatar. This was considered an impossible task, since the avatar had been presumed dead for a hundred years.

Over the course of the show, you see how his personality is formed and changed by the circumstances and people he finds himself around. Through flashbacks, you see that he learned to be aggressive from his abusive father, who was the corrupt Fire Lord of the most powerful kingdom in the world. His father’s abuses included permanently scarring his face and banning him from the kingdom for talking out of turn. This pushed Zuko to be more aggressive to earn his father's approval, to be more like his father who he admired, and to cope with the struggles put on him by his father. Through watching his father be aggressive, Zuko learned to mimic his father and showed observational learning. He learned to be ambitious from his father as well. All Zuko wanted to do was bring honor to his father and make him proud, but his father’s constant disapproval pushed him to practice his firebending constantly until he became one of the greatest benders alive. Zuko then spent almost three years chasing the avatar, which mimics his father’s ambition. Watching his father’s consuming ambition while stealing the throne from Zuko’s uncle definitely pushed him along to become more cutthroat, which again shows observational learning.

Zuko also showed reciprocal determinism as he learned not to focus so much on earning his father’s approval. Instead, he came to focus more on doing what’s right after having everything not turn out the way he wanted. Another notable example of Reciprocal Determinism was when his father banished him. He became angry and bitter and began to take his frustrations and feelings out on his subordinates.

In summary there are many ways that a personality can be learned, and Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender demonstrates many of those. His interactions with his environment and those around him help shape who he becomes by the finale.

References

Boston University School of Public Health. (2022, November 3). The Social Cognitive Theory. MPH Online Learning Modules. https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/mph-modules/sb/behavioralchangetheories/behavioralchangetheories5.html).

DiMartino, M. D., Konietzko, B., & Ehasz, A. (Executive Producers). (2005-2008). Avatar: The Last Airbender. [TV series]. Nickelodeon Animation Studios.

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovette, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax.

#Fun fact i got a 96 on it for not citing it properly lol #otherwise my teacher said it was perfect and he loved it because atla is great XD #atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar #zuko #prince zuko #personality #essay #psychology