Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality Personality READ ED I T FE FEED EDBAC BAC K VERS ION IS TOR! "SA#E
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Accordin$ to Freud.s *sychoanalytic theory/ *ersonality de&elo*s throu$h a series of sta$es/ each characteri-ed 0y a certain internal intern al *sycholo$ical con1ict2 )EARNIN# OB3ECTIVE4 ED EDIIT 5
Summarize Freud's theories of human personality and psychosexual stages of development as well as common criticisms of his theories
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Si$%und Freud's psychoanalytic theory of *ersonality argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three component component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. This structural theory of personality places great importance on how conflicts among the parts of the mind shape behavior and personality. These conflicts are mostly unconscious.
!ccording to Freud, Freud, personality personality develops during during childhood and and is critically critically shaped through a series of five*sychose6ual stages, which he called his psychosexual theory of development. "uring each stage, a child is presented with a conflict between biological dri&es and social expectations# successful navigation of these internal conflicts will lead to %astery of each developmental stage, and ultimately to a fully mature personality. Freud's ideas have since been met with criticism, in part because of his singular focus on se6uality as the main driver of human personality development.
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neurosis ! mental disorder mar$ed by anxiety or fear# less severe than psychosis because it does not involve detachment from reality %e.g., hallucination&.
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*sychose6ual f or relating to both psychological and sexual aspects. Gi v eusf e ed bac kont hi sc ont ent :
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Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. This theory, $nown as Freud's structural theory of personality, places great emphasis on the role of unconscious psychological conflicts in sha*in$ behavior and personality. "ynamic interactions among these fundamental parts of the mind are thought to progress through five distinct psychosexual stages of development. ver the last century, however, Freud's ideas have since been met with criticism, in part because of his singular focus on sexuality as the main driver of human personality development.
Sigmund Freud
Freud developed the psychoanalytic theory of personality development, which argued that personality is formed through conflicts among three fundamental structures of the human mind: the id, ego, and superego.
Fr eud' sStructure oft heHumanMi nd !ccording to Freud, our personality develops from the interactions among what he proposed as the three fundamental structures of the human mind: the
id, ego, and superego. (onflicts among these three structures, and our efforts to find balance among what each of them desires, determines how we behave and approach the world. )hat balance we stri$e in any given situation determines how we will resolve the conflict between two overarching behavioral tendencies: our biological aggressive and pleasure*see$ing drives vs. our socialized internal control over those drives.
Conflict within the mind
According to Freud, the job of the ego is to balance the aggressive/pleasure-seeking drives of the id with the moral control of the superego.
TheI d The id, the most primitive of the three structures, is concerned with instant gratification of basic physical needs and urges. +t operates entirely unconsciously %outside of conscious thought&. For example, if your id wal$ed
past a stranger eating ice cream, it would most li$ely ta$e the ice cream for itself. +t doesn't $now, or care, that it is rude to ta$e something belonging to someone else# it would care only that you wanted the ice cream.
TheSuper ego The superego is concerned with social rules and moralssimilar to what many people call their conscience or their moral compass. +t develops as a child learns what their culture considers right and wrong. +f your superego wal$ed past the same stranger, it would not ta$e their ice cream because it would $now that that would be rude. -owever, if both your id and your superego were involved, and your id was strong enough to override your superego's concern, you would still ta$e the ice cream, but afterward you would most li$ely feel guilt and shame over your actions.
TheEgo +n contrast to the instinctual id and the moral superego, the ego is the rational, pragmatic part of our personality. +t is less primitive than the i d and is partly conscious and partly unconscious. +t's what Freud considered t o be the self, and its ob is to balance the demands of the id and superego in the practical context of reality. So, if you wal$ed past the stranger with ice cream one %ore time, your ego would mediate the conflict between your id %+ want that ice cream right now& and superego %+t's wrong to ta$e someone else's ice cream& and decide to go buy your own ice cream. )hile this may mean you
have to wait /0 more minutes, which would frustrate your id, your ego decides to ma$e that sacrifice as part of the compromise1 satisfying your desire for ice cream while also avoiding an unpleasant social situation and potential feelings of shame. Freud believed that the id, ego, and superego are in constant conflict and that adult personality and behavior are rooted in the results of these internal struggles throughout childhood. -e believed that a person who has a strong ego has a healthy personality and that imbalances in this system can lead to neurosis %what we now thin' of as an6iety and depression& and unhealthy behaviors.
The id, ego, and superego
According to Freuds structural model, the personality is divided into the id, ego, and superego. !n this diagram, the smaller portion above the water signifies the conscious mind, while the much larger portion below the water illustrates the unconscious mind.
Psy chosex ual St agesofDevel opment Freud believed that the nature of the conflicts among the id, ego, and superego change over time as a person grows from child to adult. Specifically, he
maintained that these conflicts progress through a series of five basic stages, each with a different focus: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. -e called his idea the psychosexual theory of development, with each psychosexual stage directly related to a different physical center of pleasure. !cross these five stages, the child is presented with different conflicts between their biological drives %id& and their social and moral conscience %supereg0& because their biological pleasure*see$ing urges focus on different areas of the body %what Freud called erogenous zones&. The child's ability to resolve these internal conflicts determines their future ability to cope and function as an adult. Failure to resolve a stage can lead one to become fixated in that stage, leading to unhealthy personality traits# successful resolution of the stages leads to a healthy adult.
Cr i t i c i s m ofFr eud' sTheor i es !lthough Freud's theories have many advantages that helped to expand our psychological understanding of personality, they are not without limits.
Nar r owFocus +n his singular emphasis on the structure of the human mind, Freud paid little to noattention to the impact of environment, sociolo$y, or culture. -is theories were highly focused on *atholo$y and largely ignored normal,
healthy functioning. -e has also been criticized for his myopic view of human sexuality to the exclusion of other important factors.
NoSc i ent i fi cBas i s 2any critics point out that Freud's theories are not supported by any e%*irical%experimental& data. +n fact, as researchers began to ta$e a more scientific loo$ at his ideas, they found that several were unable to be supported: in order for a theory to be scientifically valid, it must be possible to disprove %falsify& it with experimental evidence, and many of Freud's notions are not falsi9a0le.
7iso$yny Feminists and modern critics have been particularly critical of many of Freud's theories, pointing out that the assumptions and approaches of psychoanalytic theory are profoundly *atriarchal %male*dominated&, anti* feminist, and misogynistic %anti*woman&. 3aren -orney, a psychologist who followed Freud, saw the mainstream Freudian approach as having a foundation of masculine narcissism. Feminist 4etty Friedan referred to Freud's conce*t of penis envy as a purely social 0ias typical of the 5ictorian era and showed how the concept played a $ey role in discrediting alternative notions of femininity in the early to mid*twentieth century.
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