How have personality theories been shaped by the life experiences of the personality theorists?
What will be an ideal response?
ANS: Psychologists have long recognized that some personality theories have a subjective component, which may reflect events in the theorist's life as a sort of disguised autobiography. The theorist may draw on these events as a source of data to describe and support his or her theory. No matter how hard scientists try to be impartial and objective, their personal viewpoint is likely to influence their perception to some degree. This should not surprise us. Personality theorists are human too, as we will see, and like most of us they sometimes find it hard to accept ideas that diverge from their own experience. Perhaps it is not the person's life experiences that influence the development of the theory. Maybe it's the other way around. Perhaps the theory influences what the theorists remember and choose to tell us about their lives. Much of our information about a theorist's life comes from autobiographical recollections. These accounts are usually written late in life, after the person has proposed and defended the theory.
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