The Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality free essay sample

The Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality Bahiyyah Shabazz PSY/250 August 10, 2011 Renee Jeffery The Psychoanalytic Approach To Personality In order to fully understand personality, one can observe the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler. To comprehend the theories of all three psychologists and how they came about, one must learn how they were studied. According to the Webster’s online dictionary, theories are concepts that are not yet verified, but if true, would explain certain facts or phenomena. Of the three scientists listed, Freud is known to be the most memorable for his pioneering terms, â€Å"The id†, â€Å"ego†, and â€Å"super-ego†, which generated from his beliefs that the mind is separated into these three parts. The id focus on results from urges to gain pleasure without a regard to any consequence. The super-ego focus on morals that are influenced by authority figures, such as a parent or grandparent. The question of what is right or wrong is a determining factor of the outcome and is almost the same as the id. We will write a custom essay sample on The Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The ego can act as a mediator between the id and super-ego. The activities of the world and a person’s surroundings are taken into consideration to promote some balance amongst all three parts of the mind. To better understand the psychoanalytic theories of Freud, one must truly understand his life as it seem to have a lot of influence on his findings as well. Freud was an ambitious scientist who used early childhood experiences to help determine his theories about a human’s personality. Freud was born to an aged father and a very attractive, young mother, in which he adored. Being the third wife of his father, Freud had adult half brothers’ from his dad’s previous marriages that lived close and also adored his mother. At times, Freud would observe his half brothers’ flirt with his mother and could also recall past times when he would see his mother in the nude. It was these early life experiences that would influence Freud’s love and opposed love relations into the theories of his existence. When Freud was only two and a half years old, his mother became pregnant with his sister. Throughout the pregnancy, he became ntrigued about human reproduction. After the birth of his sister, conflict followed since the attention became scarce between Freud and his mother. Not only did he have to share his mother with the older half brothers’ that adored his mother and made it seemingly obvious, but yet another sibling. Sibling rivalry had indeed become an issue. As Freud became an adult, he met a slender young woman that would rese mble his mother, named Martha Bernays. Since he had no money, nor a known status, an immediate marriage was not an option. Consistent with both their Austrian-Jewish culture, Freud and Martha had to abstain from having premarital encounters. Therefore, Freud’s sexual urges could not be satisfied. The two eventually married four years later once Freud became an established young scientist. Once married, Freud often thought deeply about the pressures of having to abstain from sex and how much of an affect it had on his adult life. This experience eventually led him to develop his psychosexual theories of the human persona ten years later. The examination of Freud’s early childhood experiences, repressed sexual behaviors, and unconscious conflicts also questioned the validity of the affect it had on his adult behavior. Freud’s experiences would also influence his ideas of the psychoanalytic approach to personality. Sigmund Freud signified with the phrase Psychoanalysis. Through the theories of interpretation from his early life and examinable treatment methods, he encouraged patients to speak freely about memories, fantasies, dreams and associations. During a frequent time, these theories were considered noble as they were also for Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. In the early 1900’s, Freud was invited to Clark University by the University President, G. Stanley Hall, who was also a well known child psychologist. Since Freud and Carl Jung shared similar interests regarding psychology, Freud invited Jung to accompany him. Jung was interested in Freud’s ideas regarding the interpretation of dreams and Freud was interested in Jung’s association to understand the unconscious behavior. This trip would allow both psychologists to gain notoriety by sharing their theories with the world. Unfortunately, both men would reach an area of conflict about the validity of psychoanalysis. The conflict between the two resulted in their separation as a team and Jung later developed his own analytical psychology that distinguished the personal unconscious from the shared unconscious. Alfred Adler was also a psychologist who was also asked to join Freud’s significant discussion group in the early 1900’s. He was known for studying circus performers and from their examinations, determined that their unusual strengths and weaknesses had a lot to do with organ inferiorities and compensation. Adler wrote multiple papers about organ inferiority that we similar to Freud’s views. However, he deviated from Sigmund Freud’s interpretation of personality by writing about aggression instinct. It was the paper about children feelings of inferiority that insinuated Freud’s sexual notions in his early life is taken more physically than literally. He classified it as being divided between opposing forces, such as the sexual expression and the individual’s super-ego. He eventually looked at personality as a unity, instead of a divided unit between different forces. Throughout Adler’s career as a psychoanalyst, he would continue to revise his concepts of psychoanalysis by performing multiple studies and tests using progressions involving his own knowledge and experiences as did Sigmund Freud. I agree with Freud in regards to the human mind being composed of the three parts: the id, ego and super-ego because when one takes part in any activity, the sole purpose is to gain some type of pleasure. Half the time, this is done without any regards to consequences unless the person’s morals intervene or they are programmed to act the way of their known culture. I also agree strongly with Freud’s theory of early life experiences can be a determining factor of a person’s adult behavior. For instance, the way I watch my father treat my mother can affect the relationship I have with a spouse. The way my parents’ treated me as a child can affect the way I treat my children. Unfortunately, I don’t agree with the psychosexual analysis that was determined by Freud. I understand that having to sustain from sexual encounters caused erotic sexual behaviors for him, but I don’t feel that this theory would develop throughout all men or women. Not everyone allow the pressures of what can or can’t be controlled validate them. The most notable of the three, Sigmund Freud’s observations led him to form controversial, yet, famous theories amongst Carl Jung and Alfred Adler. The components of the psychoanalytical approach to personality include motivation to satisfy sexual energy; unconsciousness from awareness that influence behavior; and preceding encounters that form successive behavior. References The definition of Theory was taken from the Webster’s online dictionary. Webster-dictionary. org Howard S. Friedman (2009) (4th ed. ) Chapters 3, 4 8 Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research Information was taken from www. ezinearticles. com, subject components of psychoanalytic approach to personality