Personality Paper
There are four main theories of personality. These theories include; Psychodynamic perspectives, behavioral perspectives, humanistic perspectives, and biological perspectives. The first theory to be analyzed will be Psychodynamic perspective, and this theory dates back to more than one hundred years ago. Psychodynamic theories include all of the theories from the work of Sigmund Freud that concentrates on unconscious behaviors (Wayne Weiten, 2012, p. 33). Freud was a major influence on many other intelligent scholars that followed in his footsteps about the subject of Psychodynamic perspectives. However, Freud’s theories of Psychodynamic perspectives were not always concepts that his counterparts were conformable
…show more content…
The Id is our, as human’s, unconscious energy, which includes our basic instincts, impulses, desires that all humans are born with. The Ego is the “authority figure” that puts restrictions on our Id’s impulses, making compromises and using reasoning to keep within the norms of the world. The Superego is our conscience, which contains all of our should and should not’s (Theories of Personality, 2002). Freud developed Stages of Psychosexual developments, which are the developmental periods with a sexual focus that impacts our adult personality (Wayne Weiten, 2012). The stages include Oral (ages 0-1), Anal (ages 2-3), Phallic (ages 4-5), Latency (6-12), and Genital (puberty and onward). Any fascination with a specific stage can affect a child’s ability to full develop as a functioning, or it at least may stall for a while. Carl said that our unconscious is composed of two layers, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious is similar to Freud’s ideas on the unconscious, but the collective unconscious is the storage place of dormant memory traces hereditary from people’s ancestral past that is shared among the entire human race with everyone in the world (Wayne Weiten, 2012, p. …show more content…
This theory suggests that genetics are responsible for personality. Behaviorists have shown little interest in internal personality structures, but instead they focus their interest on personality development. Behaviorists focus their time on how children’s response tendencies are shaped through classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. Pavlov’s concept of classical conditioning is the type of learning which a natural stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus (Wayne Weiten, 2012, p. 42). The study of operant conditioning was led by a man named B. F. Skinner, which is a form of learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences, which governs a larger share of human behavior than classical conditioning (Wayne Weiten, 2012, p.
The psychoanalytic perspective is one psychological theory that revolves around the unconscious mind. This perspective emphasizes that personality development is largely unconscious, hidden, and unknown. Sigmund Freud, the most influential figure of the psychoanalytic theory, emphasized that personality develops through unconscious forces, biologically based drives of aggression and sex, and unavoidable conflicts in early childhood. The psychoanalytic theory of personality dictates that behavior stems from the experiences that are left in the unconscious mind. Freud created the
Dr. Sigmund Freud came up with a lot of controversial notions, but also set standards in psychology that are still used today. Looking at what is known as the psychoanalytic approach to personality will reveal how these theories are still relevant, and continue to define personality traits (Friedman & Schustack, 2012). Exploring Freud’s theories of the conscious/unconscious by looking at one’s own id, ego, and superego will help explain the human personality and why one does the things they do. Freud’s ideas were mainly based on how the mind works with a special emphasis on how it is all set up in childhood (Psychoanalytic theory, n.d.). This brings to mind that adults are just children with a lot of practice being adults. Everything one does
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Personality is characterized by many dimensions of a person’s overall being. The belief that personality stems from one origin is small minded and on many levels, unsupported. If the scope of personality is expanded, it suggests that there is not a single explanation determining a person’s personality and how it is formed. Personality Theories have been generated for centuries by individuals who desire to identify what distinguishes a person’s personality and how it affects their behaviors. What is it that comprises all the unique characteristics about a person?
Through case study, the psychodynamic approach was developed by Sigmund Freud. Freud visited Charcot’s, a laboratory in Paris investigating people suffering from hysteria. There, Freud began patient case studies (Crain, p. 254). Freud developed 5 stages of human development known as the Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital stages. The Oral stage is from the ages of birth to 18 months. This stage engages in oral activities such as sucking. Next the Anal stage begins around age 18 months to 3 years of age. Freud suggests that during the Anal stage a child focuses on the pleasure of purging from the rectal area. The Phallic stages, none as the masturbation stage, when a child get’s pleasure from focusing on his genital areas usually happens during ages 3 years to 6 years of age. After the Phallic stage come the Latency stages. Latency is when children at the ages of 6 to 12 years old work to develop cognitive and interpersonal skills suppressing sexual interests but those 12 years and older fall into the Genital stages. During the Genital stage those suppressed sexual interests re-occur and the need to find gratification dependent on finding a partner (Craig & Dunn, p 12)
Freud believed that one’s sex instinct was the most determining factor of his or her personality; however, instead of relating sex to the mature class of humanity, he instead targeted infants and children (4). He generated a process of psychosexual stages in which each stage focuses in on a sensual body part and a corresponding time period in life (4). The stages are as followed, starting from birth: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital (4). Furthermore, each stage comes with its own conflict that arises when one is in this stage. He correlates that if this conflict is not solved during the set period of time, it can cause a fixation, thus bringing on personality traits in their adulthood relating back to that certain stage (4). For example, for one who is in the Anal stage (1 to 3 years) the conflict is toilet training. If the child remains too long or too briefly in this stage, later on in the future they could be more excessively cleanly or even destructive and rebellious (4). Perhaps the stage that was targeted with the most criticism, was the Phallic Stage or the Genitals stage occurring from 3 to 5 or 6 years (4). This stage mainly declared that young boys are more drawn to their mother and become more hostile towards their fathers, hinting to the underlying ideas that the young boys are sexually drawn to their mother. In a vice versa scenario,
Freud (1960) said \"that very powerful mental processes of ideas exist which can produce all the effects of the mental life that ordinary ideas do, though they themselves do not become conscious\" (p. 4). This is an indication that there are other parts of the mind in which thoughts occur. According to Freud (1960), \"the state in which the ideas existed before being made conscious is called by us repression\" (p. 4). It is by the theory of repression that the concept of the unconscious is obtained.
Many psychologists throughout many years present theoretical approaches in an attempt to understand personality. Hans Eysenck’s approach of personality differed from that of Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalytical theory of personality. Eysenck’s theory of personality relies on the scientific basis of biology in explaining human personality. Although Freud’s theories are intriguing to an open mind, Eysenck’s approach made measurable scientific sense. He relied on the use of trait and factor analysis, which is a statistical method. Freud relied on faith and his personal opinions based on observational research to reach the assumptions that set forth his theories (Feist & Feist, 2009). Eysenck and Freud did not agree on anything about understanding how and why the mind operates the way, it does.
Psychodynamic and behavioural approaches are the two major approaches to personality, however, they view personality from different perspectives. Psychodynamic approach makes the argument that personality is caused by forces in the unconscious that are not learned. The individual has little control over their behaviour as it is predetermined, and early childhood plays a crucial part in shaping a person’s personality. Behavioural approach, on the other hand, recognises personality as learned and focuses only on present behavioural matters. Because of
Freud emphasized that early childhood experiences are important to the development of the adult personality, proposing that childhood development took place over five stages; oral, anal. Phallic, latent and genital. The phallic stage is the most important stage which contains the Oedipus complex. This is where the child (age 4 - 6 yrs) posses the opposite sex parent and wants rid of the same sex parent. Freud argued that if the conflict is not resolved in childhood then it could cau...
One of Freud’s major research accomplishments was his findings on infant sexuality also known as the Psychosexual Stages. The first stage is the oral stage which is 0-1 years of age. This is the stage where sensual/sexual life begins, in the form of sucking the thumb, biting, and breast suck...
Sigmund Freud proposed a theory of psychoanalytic development; he stated that early childhood experiences and practices affect later development in adulthood. Freud’s stages of psychosexual development comprised of five stages: the oral stage (0 – 1 year), the anal stage (1 – 3 years), the phallic stage (3 – 6 years), the latency period (6 – puberty) and the genital stage (puberty –
Sigmund Freud developed the psychosexual stages of development to describe the chronological process of development that took place from birth through later adulthood. The stages of psychosexual are oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Freud developed that as children grow they progress from self-pleasing sexual activity to reproductive activity. Through this developmental process one will develop adult personality. Freud put much emphasis on sexual context of how ones libido, which is one sexual desires played a role in each stage of development. Freud emphasizes that individuals will strive to obtain pleasures in each stage of development, which becomes the basis of ones personality.
Important concepts in psychoanalysis are the id, superego, and ego. The id is an entirely unconscious and instinctual layer of an individual and operates on what is known as the “pleasure principle”, meaning it is constantly seeking immediate satisfaction. The ego is the component of the self that deals with reality and operates on the reality principle, which tries to satisfy the id’s needs in a much more socially and morally acceptable way. The superego is the last part to develop and this is what individuals learn from their surroundings, like society and the people ...
When we are born, over time we grow up and develop a personality. For each person, our personalities differentiate between one another which presents a wide variety of individuals. According to psychology, there are different factors that make up who we are. Today, I will be talking about the four major theories of personality (Psychodynamic, five-factor model, humanistic, and social-cognitive).
Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of feeling, thinking and acting. Psychodynamic theories of personality view human behavior as a dynamic interaction between the conscious mind and unconscious mind, including associated motives and conflicts (Myers & Dewall, pg# 572, 2015). These theories focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences. Psychodynamic theories are descended from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, which is his ideology of personality and the associated treatment techniques. Psychoanalysis attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. This theory also includes the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions. He proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality. Freud’s historically significant psychoanalytic theory became part of the human cultural legacy.