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.
Sigmund Freud developed an approach on abnormality that highlighted how human personality and psychosexual development in childhood can cause abnormality. Freud proposed that the human personality is made up of three interacting elements: the id, the ego and the super ego. The id is our unconscious it releases natural pleasure seeking instincts and operates to satisfy these instincts through pleasurable activities. The ego represents our conscious self; it tries to balance the id with moral rules proposed by the superego. 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.
Conscience is interpreted as something inside of us that helps us decipher right from wrong. There have been many views presented towards conscious in this debate, from a psychological and philosophical, theological and ethical point of view; but when speaking of the conscience, it usually comes down to whether it is the voice of God, or is learned throughout our existence. Within this essay I will evaluate and use the ideas from different philosophers and psychologists, etc, to come to a supported and logical conclusion. Famed psychiatrist Sigmund Freud criticised the view of conscience being the voice of God, and argued that it was learned. He believed that conscience derives from the guilt we feel when we go against our conscience, so it is a construct of the mind, not the voice of God.
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
Behaviorism vs. Psycho-analysis Abstract The most common definition of psychology is the study of mental processes, human behavior, and how they affect an individual’s physical state, mental state, and external environment. The most comprehensive theory developed to explain the given definition of psychology is psychodynamics, a theory of how thoughts and feelings affect our actions. Watson’s failure to focus on the unseen phenomena that is the subconscious and the conscious is what leads to the inevitable fading of his theory among psychologists. This paper argues against Watson’s claims, and for the Psychodynamic theory. “Psychology as the behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science.
The ego epitomizes “the conscious voice of reason” (Ayres) that struggles to maintain a socially adequate position while acting as a safety cushion between the id and super ego. The ego seeks the consent and approval to become more amiable to man. The super ego represents the innate force that preserves the “social, political, and religious rules and norms in an individual” (Ayres), and opposes the internally impulsive id. Moreover, the id intends to decimate all rules and order to gain power over others while the ego tries to maintain peace by controlling the impulsive id from beating on the defenseless super ego. The id represents hedonistic instinct that may cause many conflicts with the ego and super ego.
They are genuine feelings based on the self's interactions with the environment and the people in it, at different points in time. Freud, in his psychoanalytic theory, regarded counter-transference as a “block” that can hinder therapy and the therapeutic relationship which may occur when the patient triggers certain feelings or reactions in the therapist based on the therapist’s past experiences and relationships (Winnicott, 1994). Another form of counter-transference, termed ‘projective-identification by Melanie Klein, occurs when “parts of the self and internal objects are split off and projected into the external object, which then becomes possessed by, controlled and identified with the projected parts” (Segal, 1974). A third type of counter-transference which is also the one I choose to base my paper on is a different kind of counter-transference; a more totalistic, objective form, referred to first by Winnicott in his paper “Hate in the Counter-transference”. Winnicott describes it as “an understandable and ‘normal’ reaction to the patient’s actual personality and behavior” which he ten
The Civilizations and its Discontents; How does it relates to self and others. Despite the fact that the civilization is supposed to bond us together in love eventually, our consciousness of guilt and the belief of religions come in conflict with one another. Civilization determines and directs the person happiness and the interests of society. Sigmund Freud assesses these concepts in his writings. Civilization is defined how people relates to one another.
It refers to patterns of attitudes that are considered to be antisocial and criminal by society at large, but are seen as normal or necessary by the subculture or social environment in which they developed” (Babiak & Hare, 2007, p. 26). In other words, sociopath behavior is a condition of learning and environment. Additionally, a sociopath may have the ability to empathize and have a developed conscience (Babiak & Hare, 2007). On the other hand, a psychopath’s diagnosis may be more neurologically based and are lacking in a conscience. Diagnosing Psychopathy The most frequently used diagnostic tool for determining psychopathy is the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R).
This element is innate – it is present from birth. The superego, or the morality principle, is the conscience of the mind- it understands right from wrong. It is in constant conflict with the Id, and develops during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. The third element, the Ego, acts as a mediator between the two and at times uses defence mechanisms to shield the conscious from the Id and its desires. Freud also proposed a theory he understood to be the “structure of the mind”.