According to psychoanalytic theory the personality develops through a number of stages that are identified by certain psychological conflict. There are a number of ways that psychologist approach psychoanalytic theory. Freud’s theory argued that behavior in humans is influenced by the id, ego and superego. Freud believed that the personality which develops during childhood is the result of five psychosexual stages. These stages put the child in conflict with their inner drives and expectations and by mastering these conflicts one will develop a mature personality.
According to Freud the id is the most primitive and is characterized by the unconscious need for the instantaneous fulfillment of one’s desires. The id is comprised of all the biological aspects of one’s personality. This includes the instinct for aggression and reproduction or sex.
The ego is the rational decision making part of a person’s personality. The job of the ego is to balance the id and the superego. The ego acts to gratify the id while adhering to social mores in order to avoid negative ramifications in regards to social rules or expectations.
The superego is the conscious. It is concerned with morals and social expectations and can cause the ego to feel guilt when a value or moral law is dismissed. These expectations are usually derived from a person’s parental figures and close social circle.
Freud believed that the id, ego and superego were in a constant battle and that a person’s personality could be attributed to the internal struggles they faced in childhood
According to Freud there are five stages of psychosexual development. He believed that if any of these stages were handled erroneously, there could be a negative effect on the person’s personality. These stages are as follows:
The Oral Stage is the first year of life and is centred on the mouth. The child gains satisfaction by placing things in the mouth in order to satisfy the id impulses. Oral personalities tend to have an oral fixation and engage in behaviours such as nail biting, and thumb sucking, especially when stressed.
The Anal Stage occurs between the ages of 1-3 years. It is focused on the anus and the child is now aware that they are a person and that their wishes can cause conflict with others. This is when their ego develops. One of the biggest conflicts of this stage is toilet training. Freud believed that an anal retentive personality was the result of being toilet trained too early or a parent being too forceful.
The Phallic Stage takes place from the age of 3 to 5/6 years. This is the stage in which masturbation begins to take place. The child begins to notice the differences between the sexes and that they both focused on the penis. This causes the child to have an attachment to the opposite sex parent. When this behaviour is seen as unacceptable the child begins to identify with and emulate the same sex parent.
The Latency Stage takes place from age 5/6 to puberty. This is the stage in which no psychosexual development takes place. The child’s energies are now focused on areas other their sexual impulses.
The Genital Stage takes place between puberty and adulthood. This is the time of sexual experimentation leading to the desire to settle down in a person’s twenties. This stage also represents a person who is well-balanced because they have successfully worked through the other stages and are ready to contribute to society.
Sigmund Freud believed that a person’s psyche developed in reaction to sexual tensions in their early childhood. He theorized that people were driven by the life and death force and that the mind consisted of three parts; the id, ego and superego. These must be balanced in order to shape a balanced mind. Alfred Adler thought that psychosis was caused by having an inferiority complex. He believed that such a person would spend their lives trying to overcome their feelings of inferiority. This would result in the person ceasing to develop emotionally beyond the age when their inferiority developed. Carl Jung believed that the human psyche was of a spiritual nature. He felt that dreams were a way to unlock a person’s inner psyche. He believed that in order for a person to become whole, they must assimilate the conscious and unconscious mind in a process called individuation
Jung and Adler both disagreed with Freud’s sexual emphasis on psychoanalytic theory. Both Freud and Jung believed that dreams had meaning. Jung differed from Freud in the belief that dreams could reveal a person’s inner desires, whereas Freud believed that dreams were just a reflection of a person’s aggression and sexuality. Adler differed from both Freud and Jung when it came to dream, as he felt that dreams were a representation of how the person was living.
While both Freud and Jung felt that one could the root of someone’s behavior through the unconscious, Freud was only interested in the experiences of the individual themselves obtained from the collective consciousness. Freud identifies these memories as archetypes or tendencies to behave in certain ways in certain situations. Jung on the other hand views the archetype as a situation that has recurred throughout history. Adler focused on looking at the whole person rather than just pieces of the personality. Like Freud, Adler also focused on sex and the repression of self in in regards to power dynamics. Unlike Freud, he did not interpret conflicts, such as the Oedipal and Electra complexes to be a result of sexuality, but rather a fight for power in the relationship between a child and its mother. He focused more on birth order, believing that your birth position effected how you were treated and therefore determines how you react to the world as an adult.
I agree with Adler that conflict between parent and child at a young age is a result of the child attempting to assert their power. In order to do this the child gravitates to the parent they perceive as being the most powerful. In many cases this is the father, the son will recognize someone similar to themselves and will continue to emulate them. The daughter will realize that there are differences, while at the same time establishing a power dynamic. This power dynamic allows her to permit herself to identify with the mother. I disagree with Freud’s notion that the child wants to sleep with their opposite sex parent. I also disagree with Freud’s five stages, and I am unsure about Adler’s birth order and rather or not it has any effect on a person’s personality. I have analyzed family situation where it was exact and ones where it was not. I really do like Jung’s personality types and I have found these to be consistently accurate. Three Freudian defence mechanisms are Displacement which is where a person puts their thoughts and feelings for a person or situation on to an unrelated person or situation. For example, my co-worker angers me so I take yell at my sister. Undoing is when a person tries to “undo” a thought by doing the opposite. For example, you don’t like kids, but you volunteer to watch your friend’s, and finally, Reaction Formation is where you exhibit beliefs that are opposite to what you truly believe or feel. For example, when I say, I like something I really do not, in order to get the other person to shut up and leave me alone.
Works Cited
Boeree, G. (2006). Alfred Adler. Retrieved January 27, 2016, from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/adler.html
Boundless (2016). Boundless Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/personality-16/psychodynamic-perspectives-on-personality-77/freudian-psychoanalytic-theory-of-personality-304-12839/
McLeod, S. A. (2014). Carl Jung. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/carl-jung.html
