The Development of Personality - Term Paper Example

«The Development of Personality» Introduction Every human being is unique on how he behaves and relates with other people. Some people are too much into themselves and others want to show the world they exist. These differences are due to our personality types. Many theorists including Carl Jung have tried to explain these personality types. Some types of personalities are detrimental to the society and the person. Therapists have to deal with them and give them the best therapy. Correcting one’s personality is an uphill task but with the knowledge of personality types, one can offer therapy to this patient. Origin of Carl Jung Theory Between 1902 and 1903 Carl Jung did a research in the hope of discovering the nature of unconscious thought process in psychotics. The research was done using Galton’s word association test. Much later, he became concerned with Freud’s theory and tried the ideas in his practice. The ideas were effective and he began to coordinate with Freud and did several experiments with him (Hergenhahn 2009, p.555). He later broke with Freud because of his emphasis on sexual motivation. Carl’s idea of libido was that it could be used for positive growth in one’s life rather than purely sexual energy as suggested by Freud. Carl was able to distinguish between personal unconsciousness and collective unconsciousness (Hergenhahn 2009, p.555). Personal consciousness consists of experiences in a person’s existence in which the person is not conscious. Collective conscious ness consists of human experiences through the era of human history. Collective consciousness contains predispositions or archetypes. These predispositions help an individual to respond to certain life experiences and generate myths about them. The archetypes forms are persona, animus, and anima, shadow and self. According to Carl Jung, middle age was important in personal development and many factors had to be understood before self actualization occurred. There are things that Carl Jung believed that; “human behavior is pushed by the past and the present (causality) and pulled by the future (teleology)” (Hergenhahn 2009, p.566), dreams are important in explaining personalities that are not depicted well enough in life and synchronicity is important in deciding a person’s course of life. The Structure of Personality Consciousness In psychoanalytic analysis conscious is considered as a tip on iceberg and the unconscious takes the major portion that is below the water. The ego is a composite of conscious ideas that constitutes the core of awareness and incorporates feeling of continuity and identity. It begins to develop at the age of four. Jung considers ego as a relatively weak thing that is subject to other strong forces. It is usually tossed in between real demands and unconscious. Ego can be quite destructive to personal unconscious by means of regression. Personal Unconsciousness and its Complexes It begins to develop at birth and contains materials that are no longer or are not yet at the level of awareness. Some materials in personal unconscious may be repressed because of their painful nature. Other materials like mental life stay in the individual unconscious because they lack enough psychic energy to go into awareness. One’s experiences in the personal unconscious are grouped into clusters that are referred to as complexes by Jung. “A complex is an organized group of thoughts, feelings, and memories about a particular concept” (Engler 2008, p.72). A complex has the ability to bring in new ideas and construe them. The more power a complex has, the more powerful the complex becomes. It has a great impact on how we react to others meaning it affects our interpersonal relationship. The complex may revolve around a certain person or object. An example is a mother complex that we acquire from the experiences with our mothers as we grow. Each new case of mothering we come across becomes a portion to our mother complex and it is interpreted by it (Engler 2008, p.72). However, there are certain cases where a complex makes it difficult for a person to separate from a particular situation. It may operate like an independent individual, and behave independently of our self conscious and intentions. A complex may assume three forms; conscious, partly conscious and unconscious. There are cases where a complex may control an entire personality (Engler 2008, p.73). Collective Unconscious Collective unconscious is shared among individuals. It has contains certain possibilities that we share because we are all human. All human beings have particular things in common that they share such as; (a) Societies (they live in groups and form families that have members who are assigned different duties), (b) Certain emotions (they include grief, joy and anger), these emotions are expressed differently by human beings but they are shared by them. Particular archetypes reappear from one society to another and they seem to have a common meaning. Collective unconscious can be explained by mythology, dreams and cross-cultural data. Archetypes It is a form of collective unconscious and it is also referred to as primordial image. It is a global thought form in response to the world in particular ways. It expresses our humanness and any effort to deny or destroy archetypes can make us unbalanced or one-sided. An archetype can not be fully explained because it partially enters the consciousness. They may penetrate consciousness through dreams, arts, ritual and symptoms. Archetypes are important because they link us to the latent portion of psyche or libido. There are four influential archetypes: the shadow, the self, the anima and animus and the persona The Persona It is a complex of conscious substance that acts as a protective façade of the person. It helps a person to know what is expected from other people when dealing with them. It is a role that one assumes in a society and how the person interprets it. It differentiates a person’s true identity and the social identity (Engler 2008, p.74). When the development of persona is denied, the person may become asocial. When a social role of an individual is changed such as in retirement, marriage, or unemployment, conflict within the individual arises (Engler 2008, p.75). People with underdeveloped persona usually appear incompetent, tactless, and blind to the world’s realities, boring and eternally misunderstood. People with overdeveloped persona have their ego affected by the persona. Such a person whether performing poorly or not has an exaggerated persona of excellence (Ewen 2003, p.65). The Shadow It is the primitive side of personality that obtains its nature from our animal ancestral line. In other words, it is the opposite of persona. This type of personal unconscious is unwelcome and it is repressed into the personal unconscious because it is unpleasant and shameful. It encompasses unsocial thoughts, behaviors and feelings that we possess and other things that we do not accept (Engler 2008, p.75). The shadow plays a major role in determining a positive persona and ego. The shadow’s power is prominent when a person is overwhelmed by violent and uncontrollable anger. The shadow is usually manifested onto other people unconsciously (Ewen 2003, p.65). Neglecting the shadow is equivalent to involving ourselves in hypocrisy and dishonesty. Anima and Animus Based on our evident characteristics each one of us is assigned a sex gender; male or female. Despite the overt differences, there is none who is purely male or purely female. Anima archetype is the feminine side of male psyche and animus is the masculine side of female psyche. An individual’s anima or animus describes the collective and personal experiences throughout ages in relation to the opposite sex. Anima and animus helps us to understand the opposite sex. Psyche of women is different from that of men. It differs because of the persona. Women’s consciousness is characteristic of the ability to enter into relationships and men’s consciousness is characteristic of the ability to go into rational and analytical thought (Engler 2008, p.76). Self The self strives to unite all the parts of personality. “It is the organizing principle of the psyche that draws unto itself and harmonizes all the archetypes and their expressions” (Engler 2008, p.76). The self unlike ego is the true form of personality. It makes us acceptable in certain situations such as work, and social gatherings depending on the personal needs and the occasion. The Development of Personality The development of personality is characterized by two crucial processes; the individuation and the self. Individuation is the steady unfolding of one’s inborn and unique personality. At childhood, ego, personal unconscious and other personal entities steadily develop into separate units. It continues throughout puberty; at this period sexual drive begins and the individual enters into young adulthood. Second puberty begins at the age of 35 to 40 years and this is the critical time that is of great importance to an individual. The period is characterized by a shift from sexuality, materialism and propagation to cultural and spiritual values. This is a period when an individual’s emotions and convictions lead to changes of profession, religious turmoil and divorces (Ewen 2003, p.69). Progression and Regression Libido has an effect on personality development; it usually progresses in the forward direction promoting the development of personality. When progression is interfered with, libido turns back to previous memories and archetypal images that are contained in the psyche; this is called regression (Ewen 2003, p.69). In other words, the mode of progression when disturbed it will try to hide those unpleasant and unwanted things in the subconscious (regression). Characteristics of the Attitudes and Functions Carl’s model of attitudes and functions is based on the movement of psychic energy and how a person habitually orients himself or herself in the world. Carl builds on eight typological groups and they are; “two personality attitudes-introversion and extraversion and four functions or modes of orientation-thinking, sensation, intuition and feeling-each of which may operate in an introverted or extraverted way” (Sharp 1987, p.12). The Attitudes There are two personality attitudes; introversion and extroversion. There are two human types, one is interested in the external items and the other is interested in him or herself. This is the basis of the words introvert and extrovert. An introvert is interested in the world within the person and an extrovert is interested in the world outside the person. Introversion is a form of an attitude in which the consciousness is oriented inward to the one-sided world. An introvert is more at ease with the inner world of concepts and ideas (Engler 2008, p.79). Introversion has the following characteristics; retiring, hesitant, prefers to stay behind, reflective, shrinking from objects and every time on the defensive side (Rajamanickam 2004, p.716). Extroversion is a form of attitude in which the consciousness is oriented outward to the objective world. An extravert is more at ease with the outer world and people. Extroversion has the following characteristics; unprejudiced, quick to adapt to situations, accommodative, outgoing and developing attachment very fast (Rajamanickam 2004, p.716). The Functions Carl Jung found it necessary to study the mental activities of these two types of persons that are introvert and extrovert. He named these mental activities function because they were based on the function they performed (Berens 2000, p.2). The four functions are clustered into opposite pairs. Sensation and intuition functions refer to how we collect data and information. The sensor is more at ease utilizing the five senses and approaching facts and realities. The intuitor searches for relationships and meanings attached to the past or the future. Thinking and feeling functions refer to how we come up with conclusions or judgments. A thinker uses logic and impersonal analysis as a preference in coming up with conclusions or judgments. The feeler is more interested in attitudes, beliefs and personal values. According to Jung, one function in an individual tends to be superior and its opposite inferior and the other two play an auxiliary role. The two attitudes and four functions merge to form eight psychological types. Each attitude is described by all the four functions. The extraverted types have the following characteristics based on their functions: Thinking – these people repress feelings, tend to live by fixed rules and they always try to be objective but at most times their objectives are rigid. Feeling – these individuals seek harmony with the world, repress thinking, tend to be emotional, they respect authority and tradition and tend to be outgoing. Sensing – they are strongly oriented towards reality, repress intuition and they seek pleasure and take pleasure in new sensory experiences. Intuition – these people are in touch with their unconscious intelligence, they repress sensing, they are very creative and find fresh and new ideas interesting. Their decisions are based on hunches rather than facts (Engler 2008, p.80). The introverted types have the following characteristics: Thinking – these people are intellectuals, somewhat impractical, theoretical, repress feelings, have difficulty in getting along with others and tend to have a strong desire for privacy. Feeling – these individuals seem mysterious and indifferent to other people. They repress thinking and are hypersensitive. They also tend to be quiet and very thoughtful. Sensing – they repress intuition and tend to be passive and calm. They are also artistic and focus more on objective sensory events. Intuition – they develop unusual new ideas and virtually no one understands them. They repress sensing and tend to be mystic dreamers (Engler 2008, p.80). Relationship with Psychological Disturbance In trying to explain the relationship between Carl Jung’s theory and psychological disturbance, a case scenario of the causes of neurosis will be discussed. “Carl Jung questioned Freud’s theory of early traumatic experience as the cause of neurosis and rejected it as being too deterministic” (Dryden 2002, p.92). According to Carl, there was an archetypal linkage to each of the neurotic symptom and he sought out to find why. One key feature of the findings was the inability to separate from the mother both archetypal and individually. Jung thought that psychological incest was the perpetuator of neurosis and this was in contrast to Freud’s oedipal theory of incest. “Freud claimed that adult neurosis was not the cause of child hysteria by actual sexual experiences but by the unconscious desire for sexual experiences and the repression of that desire”, (Ray 1996, p277). In other words, Freud claimed that real coitus with the mother was the perpetuator of neurosis. Carl splits the image of the mother into two; the archetypal and personal and into good and bad. He claimed that a person is born twice, the first time it is physically by the mother and the second time it is symbolically from the objective mother. Splitting is also seen in another theory called the Kleinian theory. Kleinian theory states that neurotic conflict is firmly rooted in the opposition between life and death instincts instead of happening between the ego and instincts (King and Steiner 1992, p.543). Jung’s theory is similar to projective identification where a portion of the self is manifested into another person and later experienced as the manifested part. Ego defences play a role in psychological disturbance. They act to shield away any unwanted personal and archetypal unconscious materials from entering the consciousness through mechanisms such as denial, repression and reaction-formation. Another way of neurotic defence manifestation is through extreme introversion where an individual’s egotistic feelings act to keep away the individual from getting involved with interpersonal relationships (Dryden 2002, p.94). Eysenck claims that psychological disturbance is generated by two things; extraversion-introversion and neuroticism. This may not be a modern discovery by Eysenck, Galen’s humoral doctrine explains that “hysteric would emerge as being choleric and the dysthymic as being melancholic” (Eysenck 2002, p.26). All these theories try to explain the causes and manifestations of psychological disturbance. They seem to concur with Carl Jung’s theory on personality types. These theories can be very useful to a psychiatrist when determining therapeutic goals. Outcome of the change of neurosis from these theories is as a result of transformation that happens through successful effect of therapy (Dryden 2002, p.94). In other words, the application of these theories in the outcome of therapy can be viewed in two dimensions. Change that occurred as a result of therapy can be taken positively by family and friends, if the person is more flexible, impulsive and interacts well with the environment. Another dimension is when the person is said to have changed for worse that is, he or she is more selfish and less accommodating (Dryden 2002, p.94). This means that change can be viewed positively or negatively by family and friends although therapy has been administered. The theories can give some limelight to a psychiatrist as to why such changes occur. Personality types can be very complex to comprehend, that’s why there are different theories that explain the concepts of personality types. However, the goal of each theory is to administer proper treatment to people with psychological disturbance. Much of the information that a psychiatrist requires is hidden in the subconscious according to personality type theories. To unravel those mysteries hidden in the subconscious, one is required to have a considerable wealth of information about personality type theories. Conclusion Carl Jung theory elaborates very well the different personality types. These personality types are diverse and range from one person to the other. Some are helpful while others are destructive. It is evident that personality starts developing at birth. How a child is brought up will determine how he or she will be in future. Psychological disturbance due to poorly nurtured personality can be destructive to the person. Carl Jung theory can be very helpful to a therapist in determining therapeutic goals. It is important to for a therapist to have an in depth knowledge of these personality types before administering any therapy. This will avoid any misdiagnosis and wrong prescription. References Berens, L. V. (2000) Dynamics of personality type: Understanding and applying Jung’s cognitive processes. California: Telos Publications. Dryden, W. (2002) Handbook of individual therapy. London: SAGE. Engler, B. (2008) Personality theories. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Ewen, R. B. (2003) An introduction to theories of personality. Routledge. Eysenck, H. J. (2002) The dynamics of anxiety & hysteria: An experimental application of modern learning theory to psychiatry. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009) An introduction to the history of psychology. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. King, P. & Steiner, R. (1992) The Freud-Klein controversies. London: Routledge. Rajamanickam, M. (2004) Experimental psychology with advanced experiments (in 2 Vols.). New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Ray, E. B. (1996) Communication and disenfranchisement: Social health issues and implications. London: Routledge. Sharp, D. (1987) Personality types: Jung’s model of typology. Toronto: Inner City Books. Read More