Soundtrack+To+A+Personality

[|Lost - Avenged Sevenfold] [|Crawling In The Dark - Hoobastank] [|Walk - Pantera] [|Over The Mountain - Ozzy Osbourne] [|Time Is Running Out - Papa Roach] [|Now or Never - Three Days Grace] [|Better Sorry Than Safe - Halestorm] [|Self Esteem - The Offspring]​ [|Lose Yourself - Eminem] [|Demons - Avenged Sevenfold]
 * // Ten songs to represent the chapter. //**

The first song, Lost, represents the ID versus Superego battle that Freud believed exists in us all. According to Freud, aggression is one of humanity's basic instincts and resides in the ID section of our consciousness. The superego, an internalized set of social morals and ideals, battles with the ID and this is what causes anixiety and conflict. According to Avenged Sevenfold, war and destruction is a part of human history - 'War in our blood, some things never change.' As much as that is true, we try to fight it because of changing societal standards and morals.

The song Crawling In the Dark stands for psychology's continuous search for answers regarding human personality. While Sigmund Freud was a pioneer in the field of psychoanalytic research, many of his initial theories have been discredited due to contradicting research done by others and the fact that his theories normally only offered after-the-fact explanations. His cultural impact is still felt today throughout psychology, and while we're no longer completely in the dark, pyschologists are still 'looking for the answer.'

Walk, by Pantera, is a representation of the individualist identity. Cultures and even individual people vary as to how much priority is put on individual or group goals. Individualists are people who put their own goals above those of a group, and identify themselves by means of their own personal attributes. In the song Walk, it is made apparent that the individual would like to remain just so - an individual. He doesn't care for other people and their attempts to join him. 'Be yourself, by yourself, stay away from me.'

Over The Mountain is a song that represents self-actualization. According to Abraham Maslow, if a person's basic human needs are met, they can then strive to achieve their highest potential. The fact that he or she has met both his or her physical and psychological needs is motivation to fulfill their potential. In the song, it's stated that 'I told them I had ridden shooting stars and said I'd show them how.' This suggests that the person has already achieved success and as a result is capable of now helping others because he or she has met their own needs.

The fifth song, Time Is Running Out, represents how traits, whether they are good or bad, tend to persist over time. There are many tests available to assess personality (the MMPI is the most widely researched and used) and five major dimensions offer a reasonably comprehensive view of personality (stability, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness). While a personality trait might not be expressed all of the time, it does tend to show up more often than not. In the song, it's evident that the person is going to continue acting the way they are no matter what happens; 'And everyone around me says my time is running out... I refuse to surrender.'

Now or Never by Three Days Grace represents a sense of personal control. From the social-cognitive perspective of personality psychology, there are two types of personal control: external locus of control and internal locus of control. When someone believes that chance or an outside power beyond their control has control over their fate, they are said to have an external locus of control. The opposite is true of someone who has an internal locus of control: this person believes he or she controls his or her own fate. The song Now or Never comes from the point of view of someone who believes it's 'Now or never to decide.' They are sick of sitting and doing nothing, and it is time to take control of their life.

The song Better Sorry Than Safe by Halestorm is an example of rationalization, a type of defense mechanism. According to Freud, our conscious ego uses various strategies in order to block anxiety-inducing thoughts or memories. Rationalization is the act of coming up with various explanations for a situation while denying your real feelings. In the song, the vocalist insists, 'I can't stay because I need room to breathe, there's nothing left to say, better sorry than safe.' Instead of dealing with her feelings, the singer is explaining that she needs her room and it's better for her to be sorry rather than safe when things don't work out.

The eighth song on this list is Self Esteem by The Offspring. Self-esteem is defined as "one's feelings of high or low self-worth". It's been shown that having a high self-esteem is a positive thing: those who do have fewer sleepless nights, are less likely to use drugs, are less shy and lonely, and so on and so forth. Having a low self-esteem can come from feeling as though one has not lived up to his or her hopes, or from having experienced failure or problems early in life. The singer in this song insists pretty blatantly that he has no self-esteem; that is why he continues to let his girlfriend walk all over him and use him. It's pretty apparent he has self-esteem issues.

Lose Yourself by Eminem is another song that stands for self-actualization. Despite not having had the climate that Carl Rogers suggested was the best for the maturation of a person (genuity, acceptance, and empathy), the narrarator was able to realize his full potential by working hard and taking the chance he was given. Also, this song could be seen as an example of internal locus of control. The narrarator believed that he could change his life if he was given the chance and he set his mind to it. This determination shows that he believed he had control over his life, not an outside power beyond his control.

Our playlist ends with the song Demons by Avenged Sevenfold. At first I didn't want to put this song on here, because I couldn't really see how it related to the personality chapter. I felt like I'd only be putting it on my webpage because Avenged just so happens to be my favorite band, and their drummer passed away recently. After closer listening, I realized that the song did have a place on the list. Our personalities develop young in life and stay with us throughout; the traits we have persist over time. The writer of the song was trying to say that no matter how much he ran from his problems and the things he considered to be his demons, he couldn't escape them. As it turns out, they were a part of him; a part of his personality. 'I quit running away from me, convinced that I had grown, but found out that all my reasons for insanity, all a part of me.' In the end, it doesn't matter what our personalities are or how they developed or why. They're a part of us.