Series of discussions - Research Paper Example

Personality psychology Question Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) ranks as one of the most profound psychologist of all time with scholars from different academic fields using his contributions as building blocks for their different theories. His different theories enlightened the sub-field of personality psychology. His psychoanalytic theory placed great emphasis on the role of childhood experiences, and unconscious thoughts in influencing behaviors manifested by individuals in their adult life. He identified the Freudian slip (slip of the tongue) and dreams as tools for gaining insight on the role of unconscious thoughts in shaping behaviors.

Freud viewed the human psyche from a sexual perspective whereby, he identified psychosexual stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency and genitals stages) in his attempt to explain children’s development. He theorized that children developed a preoccupation towards different erogenous zones as they developed whereby, failure to accomplish tasks specific to a psychosexual stage resulted in fixation on that stage. However, of all his contributions, the most significant to the sub-field of personality psychology was his tripartite theory of personality.

He inferred that the human personality comprised of three basic components; id, ego and super-ego, which co-exist counteractively. According to him, the ego played a pivotal role in safeguarding individuals against undesirable situations by forming defense mechanisms such as repression, projection, and transference among others. He explained neurosis as a product of a weakened ego (Putnam, 1917). Together, Freud’s contributions play a pivotal role in understanding human behavior, emotions and thoughts.

For example, when used as a therapeutic intervention, psychoanalysis reveals issues in the past that contribute to an individual’s maladjusted behaviors. By addressing these concerns, the individual is able to lead a well-adjusted life. Question 2Unlike Freud, Neo-Freudian personality theorists viewed personality development from a holistic point of view. For most, they disagreed with Freud’s assertion that development stopped at adolescence and that it was focused on erogenous zones. For example, Alfred Adler (1870-1937) was a former student of Freud and a fellow supporter of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory.

However, he branched out and formed his own theory after disagreeing with some tenets of psychoanalysis. Adler advanced his theory of personality, which provided a holistic view of an individual and emphasized on the self-consistency of personality (individual psychology). He theorized that the human psyche is best understood within a social context. Carl Jung (1875-1961), founder of Jungian Psychology developed his theory of personality as an alternative to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory after disagreeing with some principles advanced by the latter.

Jung proposed the concept of individuation, which encompassed the integration of the conscious and unconscious mind aimed at facilitating an individual’s wholeness. Jung agreed with Adler also positing that the human psyche functions within a cultural framework; therefore, analyzing behaviors required one to analyze one’s society of origin (Burrow, 1919). A functionalist at heart, William James (1842-1910) proposed that consciousness existed as a function but not a separate entity as was proposed by Freud and his colleagues.

He theorized that consciousness was dynamic guided by the process of natural selection in evolution. Unlike proponents of structuralism, James and his colleagues focused on the underlying functions of behaviors, thoughts and emotions, and further placed great emphasis on conscious awareness. From the above Neo-Freudian theorists, it is apparent that personality entails an integration of various factors, and that it is futile to ignore one’s social context or cultural background. Question 3Because Neo-Freudian theorists focused on the influence of culture and society on personality development, it was crucial for them to highlight the importance of socializing agents such as parents.

Through socializing agents, children learn to distinguish between what the society defines as normal or abnormal. Parents represent a child’s first interaction with their social environment. They orient their children to their social roles, cultural norms and traditions among other societal expectations. For example, male children across different cultures exhibit behaviors associated with assertiveness, strength and seldom express their emotions; the reverse holds true for their female counterparts who are socialized to exhibit behaviors associated with nurturing and frequently express their emotions.

Later, other socializing agents such as peers, teachers at school, religion among others reinforce behaviors learnt from parents. Automatically, socialization predisposes individuals to developing specific personality traits. Understanding parent-child interaction was; therefore, a crucial aspect in Neo-Freudian theories. For example, Adler inferred that the inferiority complex develops from a very early age characterized by a child’s awareness of their physical inadequacies (a concept learnt from interacting with various socializing agents).

He inferred that children strive towards getting rid of the inadequacies either in a healthy or unhealthy manner with the latter characterized by the development of a superiority complex. In addition, Adler was of the opinion that subjective perceptions of the future rather than experiences motivated an individual’s behaviors (White, 1917).Question 4According to Freud, abnormal behavior resulted from the ego’s inability to keep the id and super-ego in check or from fixation caused by the inability to resolve successfully the crisis specific to a psychosexual stage of development.

In addition, he presumed that deep seated issues caused by adverse experiences in the past contributed to maladjusted behaviors. Trait theorists differ from Freud’s perspective, as they focus on an individual’s traits, which they define as behaviors that remain stable across varying situations. The basic presumption of trait theories is that traits remain stable over time, vary across individuals and influence an individual’s behaviors. The most common trait theory is Lewis Goldberg’s Big-Five Theory, which distinguished between five personality dispositions (Openness, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Neurotism, and Agreeableness).

According to this theory, individuals exhibit the following dispositions along a continuum whereby, some rank high or low in each specific disposition (Goodwin, 2008). Trait theorists advance that abnormal behavior results from maladjusted traits. For example, openness refers to an individual’s level of intellectual curiosity and innovation. Well-adjusted individual’s exhibit behaviors that indicate a heightened level of curiosity characterized by the interest to learn new things or in some cases they engage in creative behaviors.

This is not the case for individuals with maladjusted behaviors whereby, they have no interest in exploring new concepts or they seldom take initiative to think of innovative ideas and projects.References Burrow, T. (1917). The theories of Freud, Jung and Adler: II. Notes with reference to Freud, Jung and Adler. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 12(3), 161-167Goodwin, C. J. (2008). A History of Modern Psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Putnam, J. (1917). The theories of Freud, Jung and Adler: I.

The work of Sigmund Freud. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 12(3), 145-160White, W. A. (1917). The theories of Freud, Jung and Adler: III. The Adlerian concept of the neuroses. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 12(3), 168-173