Robert McCrae and Paul Costa came up with a factor analysis to classify an individual’s personality. They claim that all behavioural characteristics came from five major traits, known as the “Big Five” – Extraversion which is also referred to as positive emotionality; individuals with this trait tend to have more positive attitude in life. Openness to experience are individuals who tend to have an open mind, flexibility and are more likely to be less prejudice towards other minorities. Agreeableness are individuals who are likely to resolve conflicts through constructive approaches, they are understanding, supportive and trusting. Conscientiousness are individuals that are reliable and hard-working while neuroticism are individuals who tend to have negative outlook in life, they are also referred to have a negative emotionality (Weiten, Dunn, & Hammer, 2012, p. 33). Each personality is represented by a continuum. On one end of the spectrum, a person can have specific aspects of behaviour and on the other end they can also have the opposite personality characteristics of the same traits. So, for example, the neuroticism personality (negative emotionality) trait have characteristics such as: worried, insecure and self-pitying on one end and also be calm, secure and self-satisfied on the other (McCrae & …show more content…
I will introduce him to constructive coping techniques that would help him deal with any stressful events he may encounter in the near future. This involves him to confront his problems directly, putting in effort when tackling his predicament, having realistic appraisals of stress and his coping resources (for example, having me [social worker], his family and friends as a support network), learning how to recognise and manage whenever he starts dealing with stress negatively and how he can exercise control over these negative emotional behaviours (Deane, 2015).
- I would focus on introducing him to Appraisal-focused coping. Ellis’ A-B-C model explains how appraisal (positive thinking) is very important to the coping process and how negative thinking can amplify the situation. By encouraging Dan to think with positive appraisals (realistically and be more optimistic) this would allow him to have a constructive coping tactic (briefly explain). I can also show him different ways in order to reduce stress such as trying to find humour in some situations and positive re-interpretation (such as thinking that there are other people who are having a harder time than him and thinking about the situation in a more positive way) . This way, his stress levels can be effectively reduced and he will