Freuds Theory of Personality - Research Paper Example

 Freud’s Theory of Personality       The theory of psycho-analysis is the main foundation of Freud’s theory of personality. The psychoanalysis is the main method by which Freud has successfully penetrated into the deepest level of an individual’s psychology. With the passage of time Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis has received different reactions from psychologists but no one can even deny its importance as well as contribution in exploring the layers of human psyche. Robert F. Bornstein in his article “Psychodynamic Models of Personality” has come up with a unique comparison between Freud’s psycho-analysis and Picasso’s cubism, with the intention to show that no matter how much modern psychologists attempt to show that Freud’s psychoanalysis has lost its utility. He remarks, “Freud’s psychoanalysis is like Picasso’s cubism….Picasso’s work enchanted some and alienated others, but every twentieth-century painter has responded to it in some way. So it is with Freud’s psychoanalytic theory: Some psychologists love it, others hate it, but almost every psychologist has reacted to it- ….” (Weiner, Freedheim, Millon, Schinka, Lerner and Velicer, 2003, p.118) One of the most important reasons for Freud’s theory of psych analysis is that it basic framework is very simple, depending over three core assumptions. Freud has provided highest importance to the unconscious psychological level of human beings as he has contended that “majority of psychological processes take place outside conscious awareness.” (Bornstein; quoted in Weiner, Freedheim, Millon, Schinka, Lerner and Velicer, 2003, p.118) Freud’s psychoanalytic theory asserts that the activities of human psyche occur at the unconscious level of human psyche and those activities actually take a leading part in the development a person’s foundation of personality. Personality of an individual is judged through his reaction to the affairs happening around him and how he is reacting to all those incidents. If an individual’s personality is judged through his apparent reactions to the society, it is not completely possible to judge the actual personality of the person. On the other hand, it has been observed that if more emphasis is provided over factors like, a person association and his level of “emotional responding, as well as more mundane, affectively neutral activities such as the processing of linguistic material,” understanding of the personality of a person becomes easier. In this context Freud’s theory of personality is dependent over all these aspects and at the same time it makes process of judging an individual’s personality an easier one. According to Freud all “human beings are motivated by powerful innate forces, to which he gives the name Triebe (instincts or drives). These instincts energize all direct all human mental (and physical) activity.” (Ewen, 1967, p.22) Freud’s understanding of human psychology has convinced him that human behaviorist aspects are greatly dependent over such instinctive reactions. Thus, instinct plays a very important role in developing personality of a human being as the person’s reactions help in defining his/her personality to a great extent. In his case study, “Princess Diana, The Constituency of the Rejected and Psychotherapeutic Studies”, Robert M. Young has provided a focus over Lady Diana’s instinctive behavior from Freudian psycho-analytical perspective.       Judging an individual’s personality helps to a great extent to understand the relevance of Freud’s personality theory to a great extent. Thus, in this context psychoanalysis of Prince Diana’s character seems to be very relevant as she, during her lifetime, was greatly dependent over her instinctive reactions and depending over those aspects she governed her life. Her entire life was marked by changes and remarkable turns which shaped her psyche in a way that dominated the style of her living. The most mysterious feature of her psychological development and lifestyle is that on one hand she devoted her life to social works and duties towards human race after her divorce while on the other hand she led a bohemian style of life where she got engaged into several unconventional affairs and relationships until her death.       Apparently, for common conviction, it may appear quite mysterious who could lead such a dutiful life could also be irresponsible and carefree about her own settlement in life. Apart from this central issue, a lot of associated questions might be raised in our minds. Why did she die so unconventionally? Why was she not happy in the Royal family? Was her inherent happiness totally disturbed by the fact that she was married to the Royal family of England? What were the psychological pressures, which she had to undergo in this family? All these questions can only be answered after an extensive study and analysis of her life starting from her childhood and associating the stages with the psychological developmental theories of Freud and Eriksson. Developmental psychology is directly concerned with the study of families and children and therefore in the social context, it has found the most extensive application and relevance. “Psychosexual Development: Freudian Concept”, 2008) Psychological changes observed in children can be understood from the observations of changes that take place with age and progress of the child. Every stage of a child’s development is characterized by the combination of positive and negative aspects of the crisis period. This psychosocial development takes place along with the physical growth of the child. He was greatly influenced by Sigmund Freud, another developmental sociologist and often called himself a Freudian. While theorizing the eight stages of development he expanded the phase of childhood and adolescence. As compared to Freud’s work with five stages only, Eriksson had eight. In the light of their theories we may find that the circumstances faced by Diana in her childhood led to a free spirited person, which suddenly encountered several challenges along with a change in her environment and therefore ended up in a living, which had two contrasting components of disposition.       A person’s personality is believed to be taking its shape according to the influence one came across during childhood. As defined by Eriksson, the first stage pertains to initial 12 months. The basic needs and support is received from parents. Parents are usually the only people a child can trust at this stage. The first five years, is crucial according to Eriksson. “Through what he called a repetition compulsion, reflections of these early patterns of the first five years continue to be operative later in life. We thus would understand a good deal of man's later life as a reflection of his successive conflict resolutions in his early life”. (Evans, 12) Facing various kinds of conflicts, he resolves this and the success differs from individual to individual. Eriksson imparted a psychosocial perspective to psychosocial viewpoint of Freud. This is a stage of trust versus mistrust. Thus the development of trust occurs at this stage. An individual’s future behaviors conform to the upbringing during the childhood. This is also described as Freud’s oral sensory stage where the oral activities gain dominance. In this stage, the infant is eager to accept things in his mouth and is always ready to take in objects to suck. When a child does not get proper care and attention or nursing from his or her mother at this stage, there is a high chance of getting frustrated and the characteristics of pessimism, sarcasm, envy and suspicion takes place in the child. However, with proper nursing care and feeding materials to accept into the mouth, the baby grows up into an optimistic child, able to mix with others and admire everything around him. When we associate with Dianna’s later life, we find her a dynamic and optimistic woman who always smiled and got herself involved in active social works. This surely indicates that she had a satisfactory oral stage where her needs as an infant were well attended.  In this backdrop we may study the childhood, the first five years of her life where she was the fourth child of Edward John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp. She practically had an aristocratic descent on both sides of parenthood. According to many of the sources, Princess Diana was always fond of thinking about her childhood. Now this shows that she really had a very fond memory of that part of her life. She has expressed that Jonnie Althorp, her father, had made all the required arrangements even before the children’s arrival. But they were expecting a boy who could become an heir to the property. Diana arrived somewhat disappointing them. Still there was no lack of respect and love for her in the family. As a matter of fact she did enjoy one of the rarest carefree childhood, which is a dream to many. Perhaps she wanted to fulfill that gap and hence led a carefree childhood as well as her future adulthood. (Princess Diana’s Childhood, 1998) Going by the psychosexual stages of Freud, the first eighteen months is the oral stage when the child’s ego or identity is not developed but the sense of pleasure drives his actions. Since Diana was the youngest daughter of the four, she would be getting the care and love of her siblings along with her parents. Her younger brother Charles was not yet born and hence there was no chance of seeing any preferential treatment, which might have adversely affected the psychology in terms of trust. Therefore the free spirit had begun to develop from her infancy or the Oral stage (according to Freud). (“Psychosexual Development: Freudian Concept”, 2008)       According to Freudian analysis in the younger years of is/her life an individual gains autonomy, shame and doubt. Shame develops within the child’s self-consciousness. One takes his first step in life, both figuratively and literally. One learns walking and senses developed along with my knowledge about the surroundings. Many people who view this stage as that of fixation that is many characteristics of saving and hoarding find their roots at this stage – “But the shift from the first to the second stage also marks one of those difficult human "crises." For just when a child has learned to trust his mother and to trust the world, he must become self-willed and must take chances with his trust in order to see what he, as a trustworthy individual, can will. He pits his will against the will of others-even that of his protectors.”(Evans, 1967, 19) Freud refers this stage as the muscular-anal development. When Diana was three years, her younger brother Charles was born – the much-awaited son of her parents. At this point of time Diana might have felt a difference in terms of treatment and affection from her parents. The consciousness of being a girl and a to-be woman developed in her gradually. There is a conflict between shame and doubt on one hand and also autonomy on the other. Doubts about her position in terms of importance to her parents might have taken birth within the ‘toddler’. According to Freud, this stage is very important because the personality might take any drastic turn depending on the dominance of the self or the ego over the child’s behavior and alternatively, the dominance of the parental control. (“Psychosexual Development: Freudian Concept”, 2008) If the former dominates over the later, the child might develop an undisciplined personality while in the reverse case the personality of the child might be weakened and the child might not be able to take his or her own decisions. The anal stage more or less range from one to three and a half years. During this time, a child takes pleasure in expulsion of feces or bodily wastes. This is quite like Dianna who enjoyed her free childhood and had liberal parents and hence we may categorize her under the anal expulsive character. (Stevenson; “Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development”) Her later bohemian lifestyle took birth from her free spirited nature while the social works she did was a pleasant escape from psychological turmoil and also a means of satisfying her ego or identity which started developing at a very young age, probably at this stage itself. Question automatically rises that Diana, since has very childhood has enjoyed all sorts of opulence so what is the main reason for her psychological bereft? It has often been argued that “someone born as Lady Diana Spencer, later a Princess and for a time a future Queen, ... makes a poor candidate for bearer of the role of world symbol of Samaritanism,” but critics often miss to touch the psychological void that she was bearing since her childhood. Looking at her as “a poor little rich girl suffer and symbolize compassion” explains at once different shades of her nature. (Young, n.d.)       It appears that marital disputes between her parents in her early childhood and their divorce created a deep impact over little Diana’s psyche. The main reason for the divorce was her mother’s intimacy with Peter Shand Kydd. Diana may have interpreted since her very childhood that love is illusory and main foundation of relationships is sexual desires between genders. Thus, her terms of interpreting the world altered and the seed of sexual desire, which, according to Freud had already started earlier, now began to take its shape and decide its direction of growth. The Oedipus or the Electra complex is supposedly more intense in girls where the girl identifies herself with the mother. Here if Diana did that at this stage, then she is more likely to identify herself with an unconventional woman who engaged herself with an illicit relationship. Somewhere the seeds of overtly sexual desire and perhaps even an inclination towards changes on the personal front might have been sown during this time in her subconscious state of mind. This might have found its release in the later stage when the mind found an excuse or an outlet to demonstrate such disloyalties in terms of actions. On the other hand her mother’s orientation towards social works and charitable contributions also instilled the similar instincts within her. Lady Diana might have closely observed the moves and behavioral traits of her mother; thus, incorporated some of the within herself. Young admits in his case study, “I saw many examples of people whom she really touched, literally in the case of sufferers from AIDS and leprosy or figuratively as in the case of a couple who were rung up by her every year on the anniversary of their child's death ....” (Young, n.d.) These are some of the instances, which show that the Lady actually copied the exact traits of her mother and led an unusual kind of life where she was both a social worker and also a person with bohemian lifestyle. This is an important stage the span of which, as determined by Freud is up to six years of age. Taking this aspect into consideration we might bring into discussion the separation of her parents and her separation from her father, which must have laid a deep impact on her mind. All the troubles began just within a year from Diana’s birth. Her father was the man who loved nature and therefore he always wanted to stay around the countryside whereas her mother Frances was keenly attracted towards the city life.       The Latency Period, as Freud has termed it, has played a leading part in governing the later part of Diana’s life as well as her treatment of different relationships. According to Freud the Latency stage is the final outcome of the phallic stage, which decides the fate of the latency period – a time during which the drive towards sex increases. However, due to social bindings the desires are repressed and they lie dormant. This energy, which is in excess, is usually used up in athletics and making friends of the same sex at school whereas the case will not improve much. At this period of time a child tries his best to appease them and win their praise. In this stage we might discuss Diana’s education and schooling combined with extracurricular activities to some extent. The little princess was exposed to various types of outdoor games. After her preparatory education at the Riddlesworth Hall School Lady she shifted school after ten years. She had an inclination towards music and domestic science. She considered as a helpful student and even participated in dancing. She was a good sportsperson and earned great reputation in her school days. (Princess Diana, 1998) Again, going by Freud it also implies that a high level of sexual energy always lay dormant within her and hence it was at this stage when she became so involved in these activities, taking these unconsciously as an escape from reality. Even in the matured phase of her life Lady Diana involved herself in certain tasks those were highly stressful and those caused her “cycle of bingeing and vomiting.” She used to visit secretly at hospitals in the late nights despite all these problems. While finding answers to such physical dynamism from Lady Diana, Young has agreed in the same line with Freud, “that the intensity of her activities reflects intense unconscious feelings.” Though, the author has never specified about actual nature of the unconscious feelings. (Young, n.d.) Thus, her high level of desire got its outlet when she married and therefore the versatility of her activities was substituted by various affairs with different men. Therefore, despite having softness or a sense of duty towards the society, she never compromised when her sexual outlet was concerned. This led her to live a contrastable lifestyle. The divorce between Diana’s parents is one of the most important incidents, which cast a scar in the young and raw mind of hers. This incident was traumatic and she came to realize the instability of happiness in the life of human beings. Soon the case of divorce began between the parents and there were huge arguments regarding the custody of the children. Ultimately Diana’s father won the case and the children were sent to stay with him. It was a great pain for the little children to miss their mother. Charles, Diana’s little brother suffered the most and she soon took the position of mother in this boy’s life. This is how Diana learned to be kind hearted.       The adolescent period, as described by Freud, is such a stage when an individual becomes conscious of his or her own sex and that of the opposites. He or she starts getting involved in heterosexual relationships. At this stage an individual, according to Freud needs to achieve a balance of work and emotions.  This is a stage where children determine their identity and role. The child wants to find his ego and confidence. It is disturbing when he fails to settle in a particular surrounding. As conceptualized by Freud, this stage is not only about the process of reproduction but also about creative skills and artistic abilities. This stage is associated closely with the previous stage – Phallic stage. An individual who has been able to come out of this stage into the genital stage with complete maturity can deal in normal relationships with the opposite sex. Dianna was able to do this successfully and this was reflected in her social activities. However since she had identified herself with her mother in the previous stage and her mother had multiple relationships, therefore we may relate her future bohemian lifestyle and her involvement with several men with these two consecutive stages. At this phase of her life she was entirely reckless in her disposition and nothing major and constructive really happened in her life until her marriage.  This is the stage when she discovered her identity and acted accordingly. Studying her activities carefully shall prove that she found her confidence and satisfied her ego through unconventional way of living and off course showing love and care for others who needed her.       According to Freud a personality is developed in accordance to the impact of sexual transformation underwent by the person in his or her childhood years. The development of a child’s libido pivots around the erogenous zones (mouth, anus and genitals) and his or her behavior is associated with these areas. On one hand frustration develops when the child’s needs are not met in a healthy fashion and on the other hand, overindulgence leads to the child’s reluctance to advance further or cross that particular stage. This is also referred as fixation and the characteristics developed during that stage becomes dominant in the child when he turns into an adult. For instance, in case of Dianna, we may say that the phallic and genital stage (post puberty) has their maximum influence on her personality. According to Freud’s psychosexual theory, the sexual development of a person stops at 18 years. Until then the child passes through the genital stage, which begins at puberty. (“Psychosexual Development: Freudian Concept”, 2008) This is the period when an individual demonstrates sexual maturity. Diana got officially engaged on February 24, 1981 with Prince Charles. It was a huge leap from the relatively ordinary and free lifestyle towards the boundary of the Royal setting. (Chua-Eoan, 2008)       After the breakup of their marriage, Diana met a series of men. What was the actual problem for which Diana went on searching for her true-life partner? She did not even maintain any status among the choices of her boyfriends. Sexual frustration often becomes one of the main causes of so many changes in partners. This separation was a matter of immense sorrow for the princess, though she was never entirely happy with her marriage. After the breakup she took several suicidal attempts and discussed those clearly among her acquaintances, who supported the facts about commission of such attempts. (Morton, 1997, 188) In conclusion, it can be said that Lady Diana’s personality was dependent over several aspects and it was greatly affected by bitter experiences of life, full of instability, especially during her youth. Princess Diana’s behavior was largely influenced by the influence she received during her childhood and the early stages of development as well as the stage of early adulthood where the surrounding and behavior of her closest people affected and molded her as a person who sort of withdrew from public life and devoted entirely to work for the human race through social contributions and at the same time finding outlet for her sexual desires which had taken shape following the pattern of psychosexual development of Freud. The lady thus lived an unorthodox and non-traditional lifestyle and found solace in these unconventional ways. Therefore, she found herself engaged in standing up for the underprivileged and the impoverished on one hand and quenching her physical demands through multiple involvements with different men.   References 1. Ewen, R. B., (1992), An introduction to theories of personality, Psychology Press 2. Chua-Eoan, H., (2008), “The Saddest Fairy Tale”, Time, available at: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1650830_1650872_1653713,00.html retrieved on 11th April, 2009 3. Conspiracy Theories”, (2008), London Net, available at: http://www.londonnet.co.uk/ln/talk/news/diana_conspiracy_theories.html, retrieved on 11th April, 2009 4. Diana’s Biography”, (2008), Geocities, available at: http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/6226/biography3.html , retrieved on 11th April, 2009 5. Evans, R. I., 1967, Dialogue with Erik Erikson, Harper & Row 6. Morton, A., (1997), Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words, Simon & Schuster 7. Princess Diana Biography”, (2006), Biography Online, available at: http://www.biographyonline.net/people/biography_princess_diana.html , retrieved on 11th April, 2009 8. Princess Diana”, PDC, (2008), available at: http://www.pdc.co.il/diana.htm, retrieved on 11th April, 2009 9. Psychosexual Development: Freudian Concept” (2008), available at: http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/25293/1/Dr.%20Tommy%20Philip.pdf, retrieved on 11th April, 2009 10. Weiner, I. B., Freedheim, D. K., Millon, T., Schinka, J. A., Lerner, M. J., Velicer, W.F., (2003), Handbook of Psychology: Personality and social psychology / Theodore Millon, Melvin J. Lerner, volume editors, John Wiley and Sons 11. Young, R M., (n.d.) Princess Diana, The Constituency Of The Rejected And Psychotherapeutic Studies, available at: http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:V70isjsByz4J:www.human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/paper97.doc+psychoanalysis%2Blady+diana&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in&client=firefox-a, retrieved on 11th April, Read More