Evaluation of a Psychodynamic Theory of Personality Development

A person’s development of who they are, their personality, was indicated by Freud, as the three types of personalities one has. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, believed that a person’s upbringing shaped one’s character. Freud developed three types of personalities in his psychoanalysis theory which are, the Id, Ego, and Superego. The id is all due to nature, because our cravings for hunger, thirst, sex, and aggression are all basic general instinctive needs according to Dr. Adrian Furnham. The ego is responsible for dealing with reality and being the logical part. However, the superego, is supported by nurture and the upbringing of a child solely. The superego is the moral part based on values and social rules, and what is learnt by others. Overall, the superego tries to control the id’s impulses. Freud explains that the id is inherent in everyone, as we inherit it from birth. The superego and ego, on the other hand, are influenced by more personal experiences.

Freud’s theory of personality examined the interplay between the primitive, instinctual urges—the ‘id’; the practical and rational ‘ego’; and the morally attuned ‘superego’; ‘object relations’ refer to the "object" of an instinct”, which is “the agent through which the instinctual aim is achieved”—most often a person and, according to Freud, most often the mother (Ainsworth 1969, p. 1). The psychosexual development theory that Freud launched reduces our behaviour to mechanistic responses to an instinctive need for pleasure fueled by the ‘libido’ and barriers or distortions to the gratification of the libido at various delineated stages of development were responsible for later problems in life (Kail & Zolner 2012, p. 5). Erik Erikson later added depth to the approach by including more humanistic elements to Freud’s stages and including more periods of development (p.

Many people believe Freud engaged in sexual abuse of children as a part of his studies. His studies on the theories of personality are based upon five stages of development in a child from birth until adulthood. All the theories are centered on specific erogenous zones or particular body parts that are sensitive to sexual stimulation (Stevenson, 1996). Needs, as noted by Freud, which need to be met during each of these stages of development are present from the moment of birth. If the needs are not met or if the needs are overly met, the child will experience frustration or overindulgence issues (Stevenson, 1996). In addition to the issues of frustration or overindulgence, should the child become fixated upon a particular stage the methods the child uses to obtain satisfaction for that stage will affect the child throughout adulthood (Stevenson, 1996).

Freud is the psychologist who is credited with the development of psychodynamic perspective. He thought your personality came from id, ego, and superego. Your id is your unconscious drives and where a person’s sexual energy comes from. Your ego is what deals with demands of reality, it tries still bring you pleasure, but under the norms of reality. Your super ego is the harsh internal judge of your behavior. Freud also believed in defense mechanisms, strategies for dealing with anxiety. Defense mechanisms distort reality and protect you from a stressful situation. Denial is a defense mechanism in which the ego refuses to acknowledge a situation. Displacement is directing unacceptable impulses at a less frightening target. Projection is the defense mechanism in which we see in others those impulses that we most fear about ourselves. Freud thought every behavior stemmed from your sexual drive. When you 're a baby it is your oral stage, the pleasure center is the mouth. When you are a toddler it is your anal stage. Children learn they control when they can go to the bathroom. When you are 3-6 it 's your phallic stage.

Freud, the objective theorist, believed that the focus should be on the individual in compartments: defense mechanism, personality structures and levels of consciousness. Freud, Psychosexual stages of Child Development, widely dismissed because of the sexual perspectives. Nonetheless, we can see these concepts being present in the stages of development, such as the oral: the infant finds pleasure in chewing, biting, and sucking objects. The other concepts such as id, ego, and superego focuses on the personality and the balance needed in order to provide and shape individuality and social

Sigmund Freud’s theory of development focuses on the unconscious mind. Freud divided different stages of our lives into three systems such as the id, ego, and superego. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. (Cherry, 2017). The ego is the stage of reality that functions in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind. According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. The last stage of personality is the superego. The superego is our sense of right and wrong. There are two parts of the super ego: the ego ideal which include rules and standards for good behaviors, as well as the conscience which are bad behaviors that result in punishments. (Cherry 2017). Freud also proposed that psychological development in children takes place in a series of fixed psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. (McLeod, 2008). The first five years of life are extremely important to the formation of adult personality. To satisfy social demands, the id must be controlled followed by the ego and super ego.

Freud believed that life was built round tension and pleasure. Freud also believed that all tension was due to the buildup of libido (sexual energy) and that all pleasure came from its discharge. (Wade et al., 2014). In describing human personality development as psychosexual Freud meant to convey that what develops is the way in which sexual energy accumulates and is discharged as we mature biologically. Freud argued that people have three levels of awareness: conscious (what we are aware of), preconscious (what we can be aware of if we attend to is carefully) and unconscious (that about which we cannot be aware except under exceptional circumstances). (Wade et al., 2014). Therapies often aimed precisely at bringing the unconscious into the conscious. He also maintained that personality has a structure. It is the result of three

Freud: The personality consists of the id, the ego, and the super-ego. The id represents our impulses, and this is the unconscious part of our psyche. On the other hand, the ego is not as chaotic. The ego is more reality-driven, and may take into account etiquette and norms (Sletvold, 2013). Lastly, the super-ego?s aim is to help control and modify the impulses of the id, and

Freud’s theory of personality states that the human psyche can be separated into three different areas the Id, ego and superego (Freud, 1923). The id is the most primitive part of the psychic apparatus and is present from birth. It is completely unconscious and is primarily concerned with desire, instinct and drive. It is described as the pleasure principle and seeks to avoid pain. The id contains the libido

The ego is that personality that is shown to the real world and is also the mediator between the Id and the superego. Finally, the superego is built by the morality and belief of society for example growing up with parents and caregivers are the main source to mold the superego in individuals. To be psychologically healthy, we must successfully complete each stage. (McLeod, S, 2013). Most of the psychosexual stages are molded during childhood. Freud believed that not having a balance between the superego, ego and Id could emerged to have an imbalanced personality. Freud not only composed a theory, he also did a therapy to help individuals with mental issues. During therapy sessions, the patient or individual have permission to say what comes into their mind this approach is defined as free association. In the session is expected repressed memories to emerge from the patient. Freud reported that his free associating patients occasionally experienced such an emotionally intense and vivid memory that they almost relived the experience. (McLeod, S. 2007). After the vivid memory in the session the individual feels relieved and depending per individual the number of session given are from two to five sessions per week for a few months or even years.

One of Freud’s most famous and controversial theories is the psychosexual stages of development. The emphasis in psychoanalytic theory is on the pregenital or the first three stages (Nye, p.19). The oral stage concentrates its attention on the infant’s mouth and the need to suck and bite. The anal stage centers on the anus. The phallic stage concentrates on the genital organs as the child begins to masturbate and fantasize. According to Freud, the individual must achieve optimal amount of gratification in each stage to prevent fixation (Rieff, p.57). If there is too much gratification, they may be reluctant to move on, but if there is too little, frustration and anxiety may retard future development (Nye, p.19). The phallic stage is the most important stage in the first five years of life. The Oedipus complex that is described in this stage causes boys to develop sexual attraction to their mother and girls to be attracted to their father. The male child wants to displace his father and possess his mother. Girls seek the opposite. The boy possesses jealousy and resentment towards his father and wants to rival with him. Castration anxiety occurs due to fear of the father as a dominant figure and a threat to the boys’ genitals. Resolution to this complex is introduced

For example; over concern about going regularly may cause either obsessive time keeping. The phallic stage starts from about four years of age and is where the ‘genitals become the focus for the child’s erotic energy, largely through self stimulation’ (Weiten, 2001, p. 495). During this fundamental stage the Oedipus Complex emerges. That is little boys develop an erotically tinged preference for their mother. They also feel resentment towards their father, whom they view as a challenger for their mum’s affection. Similarly, little girls develop a special connection to their father. At the same time they learn that little boys have very different genitals, and supposedly they develop penis envy.

Other from those two points, researchers in the past have taken into consideration nature, or the biology and genetics of an individual, and nurture, or their upbringing and environment. In 1920 a scientist by the name of Freud published the idea that a person’s personality was divided into three systems, the ID, the EGO, and the SUPEREGO. “The ID is the primitive and instinctive component of personality.It consists of all the inherited components of personality, including the life instinct, and aggressive instinct.It operates on the pleasure principle, which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences. The EGO develops in order to mediate between the unrealistic ID and the external real world. It is the decision making component of

The ego is the logical, rational, and realistic part of the personality. The ego evolves from the id and draws its energy from the id. One of the egos functions is to satisfy the ids urges. The ego is mostly conscious and acts according to the reality principle. When a child is around five or six years old, the superego is formed. Superego has two parts, the conscience consists of all the behaviors for which the child has been punished and about which he or she feels guilty. And the ego ideal comprises the behaviors for which the child had been praised and rewarded and about which he or she feels pride and satisfaction. Freud asserted that the sexual instinct is present at birth and develops through a series of psychosexual stages, providing the driving force for all feelings and behaviors. The stages are the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, and genital stage. One of the most controversial features of Freud’s stage theory is the Oedipus complex, this is a conflict that arises during the phallic stage in which a child is sexually attracted to the opposite sex parent and feels hostility towards the same sex parent. Freud is credited with calling attention to the unconscious and the role of defense mechanisms. Scientists have discovered what exactly self-esteem is and why is it so important. The sense of self-esteem is influences by comparisons of one’s real self to ones desired self. Most people’s self-esteem is based

Developmental psychology is the study of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes that occur throughout an individual’s lifespan (Weiten, 2015). These changes are influenced by the environment, therefore shaping an individual’s personality, cognition and social functioning (Narvaez & Gleason, 2012). This essay will identify and discuss two experiences that complement two stages of Erikson’s Theory of Personality Development (Fleming, 2004) namely: industry versus inferiority and identity versus role confusion. It will discuss the authoritative style in the parenting theory and the secure attachment style from the theory of attachment. An analysis of the author’s own personal experiences will be discussed by relying on the facts of each theory. It will address strengths and weaknesses regarding Erikson’s Theory, relevant to the author’s developmental process, living in South Africa.