Central to Freud's theory, and perhaps his greatest contribution to psychology, is the notion that our psyche is composed of parts within our awareness and beyond our awareness. Freud used the term psychoanalysis to label his theories and techniques for identifying and curing the mental problems of his patients. This essay will outline the main concepts that surround Freud’s theory of psychosexual development, thus showing how it can help us understand our clients presenting issues. In order for me to do this I will firstly describe the psychosexual stages in relation to personality development followed by briefly identifying some of the main criticisms. I will lastly concentrate on discussing the applications of his theory to therapy today.
i.e. The forces that drive it and make us act the way we do. This method has made important contributions to counseling as a whole as a lot of therapists and counsellors, even if they follow different psychological theories, have been influenced by it. This approach has emerged from psychoanalysis whose founder is Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Freud assumed that our behavior is caused by unconscious thoughts, our desires and impulses which is also how human behaviour is explained in the psychodynamic approach.
Aaron Linkenhoker Psychology 101 28 Jan. 2011 Freud vs. Skinner B. F. Skinner and Sigmund Freud were both revolutionary psychologists, although they had completely different ideas and approaches to the science. Skinner’s approach involved the behavioral perspective while Freud’s was the psychodynamic perspective. The two perspectives are completely different in the way they approach psychology. Although Ivan Pavlov was the founder of behaviorism, Skinner is considered the “greatest modern psychologist”. Skinner expanded on the principles that Pavlov first made noticed.
Psychology- as explored through the eyes of Carl Jung and Abraham Maslow When Carl Jung says, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves”, he very aptly describes the role that Psychology plays in exploring and examining the processes of the human brain and how that impacts our behaviors and personality. Comparing the theories of Jung and Maslow could take hours since each one had enough to say about what their beliefs were about the human condition. But while Carl Jung focused on how the unconscious affected our personality (Introversion and Extraversion), Abraham Maslow focused on the integration of self (Self-Actualization Theory). Jung believed that there were active centers in the unconscious
The personal construct theory is a critical social approach, a protest theory in reaction to psychometric and the experimental tradition (Butt, 2007). My proposal is that the personal construct theory was able to produce knowledge of individual differences in people’s lived experience that psychometric tests and scientific tradition were unable to excess. Since personal construct theory’s is a reaction to the scientific methodologies on individual differences, it is important for this study to firstly discuss cognitive social, trait theories and psychometric testing. The experimental tradition was
Psychodynamic Theories Introduction goes here. Key Figures Sigmund Freud The father of psychoanalysis, Freud based his theories on the unconscious mind, infantile sexuality and the Oedipal complex, and repression. In addition, he proposed a three-part psychological structure in the Id, considered the pleasure principle, Ego, also known as the reality principle, and Superego, which is the internalized moral principle. According to Thornton (2010), “Freud’s innovative treatment of human actions, dreams, and indeed of cultural artifacts as invariably possessing implicit symbolic significance has proven to be extraordinarily fruitful, and has had massive implications for a wide variety of fields including psychology, anthropology, semiotics, and artistic creativity and appreciation” (para 2). Alfred Adler In 1911, Alfred Adler formed the school of Individual Psychology as a reaction to the hostile response he received from members of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.
The Psychoanalysis Perspective Abstract. Sigmund Freud, the Father of Personality Psychology, highlights many theories in his writings. Most noted in this paper was the Psychoanalytic Perspective, which gives an in-depth view of determinism, the importance of conflict, early experience, infantile sexuality, and most illustrious the importance of unconscious motivation. This theory assumed that there exist three levels of consciousness in which the human mind functions. People did not come to accept his theory at first, but after much testing it was proven mostly valid and reliable.
The approach focuses on maladaptive behaviors (addictive behaviors) by changing what it perceives to be the root cause of them (faulty thinking). The goal of the therapist is to encourage the clients to focus on their thoughts and actions. Advocates of this theory contend that only by modifying self-defeating thoughts and behavior patterns will the client truly be able to solve his or her own problems. Thus, the aim of the therapy is to eliminate troubling emotions or behaviors rather than to help patients gain insight into the underlying cause of their problems (Ford-Martin, 1999). Cognitive-behavioral family therapy (CBFT) is the extension model of CBT, however, it also focuses on the members of a family, considering them to be parts of a cohesive unit, and looking at such factors as interfamilial relationships, communication patterns, and other familial dynamics (Frey, 1999).
According to the author, “Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, the unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our conscious awareness most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict”. The author stated “According to Freud, the unconscious continues to influence our behavior and experience, even though we are unaware
He grew up in one of the most exciting times in human history, when the basis of modern science was being laid down by early psychophysicalists like Billroth, Helmholtz and Brucke (Sulloway, 1979). While, Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory endured condemnation and in some cases outright ridicule when it was first published, it has produced many groundbreaking insights about unconscious, the role of internal conflict, and the importance of early childhood experiences in personality development (Weiten, W. 2004, p 480). Furthermore these theories are supported by research which demonstrated that firstly, unconscious forces can influence behavior, secondly, internal conflict plays a key role in generating psychological distress, thirdly, early childhood experiences can have powerful influences on personality and finally, people do use defense mechanisms to reduce their experience of unpleasant emotions (Westen, 1998; Westen & Gabbard, 1999). In 1915 Freud published essay Instincts and Their Vicissitudes in which he put forward an idea “the three great polarities that dominate mental life”, pleasure-unpleasure, active-passive and internal-external (Freud,