Psychoanalytic Theory was first developed by Sigmund Freud which
was based off of treatment that administered to his patients suffering from
neurological disorders and is the “framework for understanding the impact of
the unconscious on thoughts, feeling, and behavior. Freud posited that most of what motivates
individuals lies outside of their immediate awareness” ("Psychoanalytic
Theory," 2008). This paper will
provide a Psychoanalytic Personality Assessment by comparing and contrasting
the psychoanalytic theories of Freud, Jung and Adler and give two
characteristics of each theory that I agree with and two characteristics that I
disagree with. As a part of the assessment this paper will describe the stages
of Freud’s theory and explain characteristics of personality using those
components and describe uses of at least three Freudian defense mechanisms with
real-life examples.
Freud, Jung, Adler
Freud is considered to be the father of psychoanalysis because of
his theory that was developed concerning the mind and for a method of treatment
for mental illness. Freud’s theories of
the mind consist of “the division of mental experience into the conscious and
the unconscious, and the structure of the personality in the ID, ego and
superego” ("Freud, Sigmund," 2006).
Freud’s theory interpreted “the id as fundamental, containing the
inherited biological disposition of the individual, with the ego and superego
developing through the formative first five years of life” ("Freud,
Sigmund," 2006).
Carl Jung’s psychoanalytic theory is considered to be an
“expansion of Freud’s theory beyond its sexual/gender connotation” (Blackbourn,
2006). Jung’s theory followed many of
Freud’s concepts but his approach was different in relation to women and has
less emphasis on sex. Jung’s theory
states that “the human psyche is made up of the collective unconscious, conscious,
ego, and persona. The ego is reflective
of individual experience partly existing in one’s conscious and partly
unconscious” (Blackbourn, 2006). Jung
believed that “in the collective unconscious, we find these pre-mortise images,
racial images established perhaps thousands of years ago” and that there are
two main archetypes “anima which is the ideal male mate, and animus which is
the ideal female mate and that the personal is a superficial social mask that
the individual presents, or puts on while involved in a social relationship”
(Blackbourn, 2006).
Alfred Adler worked with Sigmund Freud for a period time as a
member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society; however their difference in
opinions on psychoanalytic theory forced Adler to leave the Psychoanalytic
Society and establish his own school of individual psychology that was based
off of his beliefs that “striving for social success and power was fundamental
to human motivation” ("Adler, Alfred," 2008). According to Adler’s theory “individuals
develop problems and maladjustments when they cannot surmount feelings of
inferiority acquired in childhood. This
inferiority complex is often compensated for by assertive or aggressive
behavior” ("Adler, Alfred," 2008).
Freud believed that each personality was made up of a multilateral
structure that consists of “the id which is the unconscious emotions, desires
and fears which may surface in dreams or madness; the ego which is the
conscious rationalizing section; and the superego, which may be compared to the
conscience” ("Freud, Sigmund," 2008).
I agree with Freud’s theories on id, ego, and superego just like Jung
and Adler; however I do not believe that everything is motivated by sexuality
in the manner that Freud stated in his theory.
Freud’s theory is based off of stages that an individual must go through
starting at a very young age with desires that need to be fulfilled and as the
child becomes older and the ego develops it allows room for an individual to
make decisions pertaining to their desires realistically and soon when the superego
develops decisions can be made according to moral values of society. Freud also believed that “the adoption of a
satisfactory superego is dependent on the resolution of the Oedipus complex”
which he considered a very important part of the Phallic Stage in his
psychodynamic theory of development in which “the unconscious wish of little
boys is to kill their father and marry their mother” ("Oedipus
complex," 2006) and that is something that I completely disagree with.
Adler’s theory states that “humans are motivated more by their
subjective expectations of the future than by their objective experience of the
past;” and that is a characteristic that I can agree with because I believe
that when someone expects certain things to happen in their life they will set
goals that will make them more inclined to work harder to achieve those goals
which is motivation; however I do believe that certain experiences of the past
can also be a source of motivation.
While I agree with Jung’s theory that states personality consist
of “collective unconscious, conscious, ego, and persona” (Blackbourn,
2006), I do not agree with his idea with
what he believed to the content of the “collective unconscious” because I think
it is impossible to have images in your unconscious mind from a time that you
did not exist.
Stages of Freud’s Theory
and characteristics of personality
The first stage of Freud’s psychosexual development is the oral
stage which is believed to take place before the one year’s of age in which
“infants are driven to satisfy their drives of hunger and thirst, and they turn
to their mother’s breast or bottle for this satisfaction, as well as for the
security and pleasure” (Friedman & Schustack, 2012 p.68). During this stage infants are provided with
comfort and develop trust; however at some point they have to learn to become
less dependent on caretakers as they become older or they will experience a
sense of codependency that could result in aggressive behavior. After the oral stage comes the anal stage which
occurs around the age of two “during which children are toilet trained”
(Friedman & Schustack, 2012 p. 69).
Freud believes that during this stage desire is controlled by bladder
and bowel movements in which children have to learn how to control their bodily
needs and once they are successful at that task there is feelings of
accomplishment and independence. Freud
believed that success at this stage is determined by the way in which parent’s
toilet train because when praise and rewards are used when the child uses the
toilet at the proper time it helps children feel competent. The Phallic stage begins around the age of
four and Freud believes that during this stage “sexual energy is focused on the
genitals and children may explore their genitals and masturbate” (Friedman
& Schustack, 2012 p. 70). During
this stage children begin to identify with the same-sex parent as they learn
the difference between male and female in which feelings of inferiority can
develop due to envy of the opposite sex.
The Latency stage occurs between the ages of 5 to 11 “in which no
important psychosexual developments take place and during which sexual urges
are not directly expressed by instead are channeled into other activities such
as going to school and making friends” (Friedman & Schustack, 2012 p.72).
During the latent period children are more focused on relationships with peers
and hobbies which are very important for the development of social and
communication skills and well as building self-confidence. The genital stage is the final stage that
occurs at the beginning of “adolescence in which attention is turned toward
heterosexual relations” (Friedman & Schustack, 2012 p.72) and lasts
throughout an individual’s life in which there is a growing interest in the
well-being of others which differs from earlier stages which were mainly
concerned with the needs of oneself.
Defense Mechanisms
Repression is “a defense mechanism that pushes threatening thought
into the unconscious” (Friedman & Schustack, 2012 p.75). Many rape victims
cope with using repression as a defense mechanism because sometimes it helps
them to cope with everyday life because they push the traumatic events into
their unconscious as if they never happened.
As someone becomes older and claims to have no memory of childhood
experiences it could be very possible that they have repressed that time in
their due to traumatic experiences.
Denial is a “defense mechanism in which one refuses to acknowledge
anxiety provoking stimulus” (Friedman & Schustack, 2012 p.82). Denial is a very common defense mechanism;
however it is most common in individuals that are suffering from drug and
alcohol addictions because they refuse to acknowledge that a problem does
exist. An individual that is in denial
has actually forced themselves to believe that nothing is wrong and then they
try to convince others such as friends and family.
Rationalization is “a defense mechanism in which post-hoc logical
explanations are given for behaviors that were actually driven by internal
unconscious motives” (Friedman & Schustack, 2012 p.85). Everyone always tries to rationalize their
behavior especially when they know it was wrong but somehow they try to give a
logical explanation such as the person that gets caught stealing out of the
grocery store. They know they behavior
is wrong but they will try to rationalize that behavior by claiming to be in
dire need of food; however stealing food is not the way to solve your hunger
problem because they are other options but they will try their best to
rationalize that behavior.
Conclusion
Sigmund Freud was the first to develop psychoanalytic theory based
off of his case studies of his patients that were suffering from neurological
disorders. Freud believed that the
structure of human personality derived from the id, ego and superego and from
that he developed psychosexual stages of development to explain how one’s
personality developed with much emphasis on sexuality which is something that
Jung and Adler disagreed with because they did believe that sexuality played
much of a role in personality development.
Jung believed in the concepts of archetypes and Adler believed that
individuals are self-determined; however both Jung and Adler agreed with
Freud’s concepts of the id, ego and superego.
The concept of defense mechanisms is a part of psychoanalytic theory
developed by Freud that “distort reality to protect the ego” and are used by
individuals in various situations for different reasons and can sometimes be
unknown.
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