Psychodynamic Theory Of Personality

There are four major theories of personality, which have different types of advantages but also disadvantages. These are personality theories are known as the Psychodynamic, trait or five-factor model, humanistic, and social cognitive.

First the Psychodynamic theory, this theory is known for both the ideas of Erickson and Freud. Erikson thought that personality underwent through several stages and depending on which stage you were at, there were different types of conflicts or problems. In order to achieve success, the person would have to first encounter with their problem and overcome it. Freud believed that personality had three components known as the ego, the ID, and the superego. The superego was responsible for the moral things a person did while the ID was there to fulfill all urges and needs. These two are like the devil on your shoulder vs. the angel on the other shoulder, the good vs. the bad. While these two were complete opposites, the ego chose between the two; therefore, the ego was the middle-man and decides between the superego, the id, and reality. The disadvantages to the psychodynamic theory is that it cannot be accurately tested. Leading to not much research that supports these theories. On the other hand, the advantages are it views the individual as a whole, so the theory looks at the person since they were a child until adulthood.

These five factors are known as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The disadvantages to this theory is that it does not allow for much flexibility because it is very categorical. It does not look for how a personality develops but only looks at a person’s personality at that current time. The advantages to this theory is that it has been widely researched and studied/conducted, but also is effective at determining and describing a