What is function theory?
When I say function theory, what I am talking about is a model designed to describe an individuals information metabolism. That is, in general, what information motivates an individual and drives them to act the way they act and do the things they do. While this question is very ambitious, function theory tells us quite a lot about how individuals operate on a daily basis as well as what they are likely to enjoy throughout their life.
What's also interesting is that the field of personality psychology is also studying this idea of information metabolism under the name of Cognitive Theories.
An excerpt from (Larsen, Content vs Style of Emotional Life):
"Cognitive theories. Another way to think about neuroticism is as a cognitive phenomenon. Some personality psychologists have argued that the cause of neuroticism lies not so much in the biology of the limbic brain but in the psychology of the person’s overall cognitive system. These theorists have argued that neuroticism is caused by certain styles of information processing (such as attending, thinking, and remembering). Lishman (1972) , for example, was among the first to show that high-N (neuroticism) subjects were more likely to recall unpleasant information than were low-N subjects. There was no relation between neuroticism and the recall of pleasant information. After studying lists of pleasant and unpleasant words, high-N subjects also recalled the unpleasant words faster than the pleasant words."
This quote implies that preferences or biases in how the brain interprets and prioritizes information can have profound affects on an individuals life and personality overall.
It also alludes to the relevance of Personality Construct Psychology ( Established by George Kelly ). To give an incredibly breif explanation, PCP posits that internal mental constructions that a person holds act as tools to anticipate and influence outcomes from situations. They do this by having dichotomous ideas about the world that frame each and every interaction and decision we have and make. If a person has many negative constructs they will likely be a negative individual and think and feel negatively about themselves and the things they do and the things they anticipate.
The following sections in the preamble will be more in-depth topics so if you have no experience with what functions or info elements are I suggest skipping the rest and going straight to the "Terms" tab.
https://app.gitbook.com/o/md0CpqA8peirtObMZfoK/s/AWid0uM44woxOpikdnHE/function-theory/terms
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