It is the product of an unconscious mind being driven by its most basic desires and emotions in coaction with our traits determined by our early childhood experiences. The other main assumption of the Psychodynamic approach is that our personality is made up of three conflicting elements – The Id, the Ego, and the Superego. These three elements make up the “structure of personality”, as Freud explained it. He states that the Id exists in the unconscious mind and is concerned with instant gratification as it is controlled be instinctual forces. This element is innate – it is present from birth.
Psychoanalytical theories of personality stress the individual’s unconscious motivations which can be identified through dreams, slips of the tongue and fantasies (McCrae & Costa, 2003; 21). “The psychoanalytical theory views personality as biologically based, relatively unchangeable and determined by the need to control sexual and aggressive instincts which are unconscious in nature” (Rust & Golombok, 1989, 131). Sigmund Freud was the founder of the psychoanalytical approach to personality although many academics have expounded on his research since then (Bernstein, 2001; 125). This contrasts with the humanistic theory which was adopted by leading 20th Century psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow (Nicholas, 2008; 226). Robert Ewen suggests that
Describe and Evaluate the Psychoanalytical / Psychodynamic Approach to Personality Development Psychoanalytic theory originated with the work of Sigmund Freud (Gross 2010). Through his clinical work with patients suffering from mental illness, Freud came to believe that childhood experiences and unconscious desires influenced behaviour. Based on his observations, Freud developed a theory that described development in terms of a series of psychosexual stages. According to Freud (1949), conflicts that occur during each of these stages can have a lifelong influence on personality and therefore behaviour (Hayes 2000). Within this essay I am going to delve further into these principles and evaluate their validity and reliability as an approach to personality development.
“Evaluate the extent to which Freud’s theory of Psychosexual Development can help us to understand a client’s presenting issue?” In this essay I am asked to evaluate one aspect of Freudian theory. I will begin by first describing Freud’s psychosexual theory and demonstrate an understanding of its relationship to adult neurotic behaviour. Having done this I will examine some of the criticisms that have been levelled at Freudian theory in order to evaluate it. In 1905 Freud published ‘Three Essays on the theory of Sexuality and other Works’, one of those essays was titled ‘Infantile Sexuality’. In this essay Freud sets out his theory of psychosexual development.
“Evaluate the extent to which Freud’s theory of psychosexual development can help us to understand a client’s presenting issue?” Sigmund Freud’s most vital contribution to the study of psychology and human behaviour was his notion of the “dynamic unconscious”. This view was that the unconscious mind played a precisely important role in determining how an individual behaved. Freud put forward the principle of multiple determinations, which suggests that every psychic event is determined by the simultaneous action of several others. He saw the unconscious mind as the actual source of mental energy, which determined behaviour. He based his belief on the results of trials with hypnosis.
The superego is our moral authority this developed through identification of our parent’s moral rules and the social norms of society If the ego fails to balance the id and the superego this can lead to conflict and may result in a psychological disorder. If the id is not balanced by the ego and it becomes dominate this can lead to destructive tendencies and adverse pleasurable behaviour. However, if the superego becomes dominate an individual may be unable to experience any form of pleasurable gratification. This leads on to Defence mechanisms which convert unconscious impulses into more acceptable forms. For example, with displacement an impulse may be redirected away from its original target onto a more acceptable one (e.g.
The psychodynamic perspective says that our behaviors and feelings as adults are deeply rooted from our childhood experiences. According to this view, our personality is made up of three parts: the id, ego, and super-ego. Also, behaviors are motivated by two instinctual drives: Euros and Thanatos (McLeod). The id, ego, and superego are proposed by Freud as “stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world”(Heffner). The id, being the first stage, is more concerned with having basic needs met.
Sigmund Freud developed the theory that all personalities are made up of three parts. The three parts are an id, superego, and ego. The id is out to gain personal pleasure, were as the superego is our feeling of right and wrong. Our ego is the “middle man” between the id and the superego. The ego is sort of the balancing factor between them.
Psychodynamic Approach Sigmund Freud is the founder of the psychodynamic approach. This approach focuses on the unconscious mind to explain behaviour, and also to treat people suffering from mental illness. This approach also looks into our behaviour and feelings as adults, as our childhood experiences and Interpol relationships can explain this. Freud believes that what drives our behaviour is conflict that arises between three parts of our psych, the id, superego and the ego. The three personalities of the psych are usually out of sync with each other.
There are different theories established by psychologists, which explain where personality originates. The highly important individual who played a role in the psychoanalysis theory was Sigmund Freud. Freud believed an individual’s personality was influenced by the unconscious, which there is no way to control. He based understanding of personality on analysis of patient’s dreams as well as his own dreams. Adler theorized that personality was motivated by the influence of society and fighting for triumph.