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Boundless Psychology

Personality

Psychodynamic Perspectives on Personality

Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality

According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, personality develops through a series of

stages, each characterized by a certain internal psychological conflict.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Summarize Freud’s theories of human personality and psychosexual stages of development as

well as common criticisms of his theories

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Key Points

 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 “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.
 According to Freud, personality develops during childhood and is critically shaped through
a series of five psychosexual stages, which he called his psychosexual theory of
development.
 During each stage, a child is presented with a conflict between biological drives and social
expectations; successful navigation of these internal conflicts will lead to mastery 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
sexuality as the main driver of human personality development.
Key Terms

 neurosis: A mental disorder marked by anxiety or fear; less severe than psychosis
because it does not involve detachment from reality (e.g., hallucination).
 psychosexual: Of or relating to both psychological and sexual aspects.

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.

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, known as Freud’s structural theory of personality,
places great emphasis on the role of unconscious psychological conflicts in shaping
behavior and personality. Dynamic interactions among these fundamental parts of the
mind are thought to progress through five distinct psychosexual stages of development.
Over 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.

Freud’s Structure of the Human Mind

According 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. Conflicts among these three structures, and our efforts to find balance among
what each of them “desires,” determines how we behave and approach the world. What
balance we strike in any given situation determines how we will resolve the conflict
between two overarching behavioral tendencies: our biological aggressive and
pleasure-seeking 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.

The Id

The id, the most primitive of the three structures, is concerned with instant gratification
of basic physical needs and urges. It operates entirely unconsciously (outside of
conscious thought). For example, if your id walked past a stranger eating ice cream, it
would most likely take the ice cream for itself. It doesn’t know, or care, that it is rude to
take something belonging to someone else; it would care only that you wanted the ice
cream.

The Superego

The superego is concerned with social rules and morals—similar to what many people
call their ” conscience ” or their “moral compass.” It develops as a child learns what their
culture considers right and wrong. If your superego walked past the same stranger, it
would not take their ice cream because it would know that that would be rude. However,
if both your id and your superego were involved, and your id was strong enough to
override your superego’s concern, you would still take the ice cream, but afterward you
would most likely feel guilt and shame over your actions.

The Ego

In contrast to the instinctual id and the moral superego, the ego is the rational,
pragmatic part of our personality. It is less primitive than the id and is partly conscious
and partly unconscious. It’s what Freud considered to be the “self,” and its job is to
balance the demands of the id and superego in the practical context of reality. So, if you
walked past the stranger with ice cream one more time, your ego would mediate the
conflict between your id (“I want that ice cream right now”) and superego (“It’s wrong to
take someone else’s ice cream”) and decide to go buy your own ice cream. While this
may mean you have to wait 10 more minutes, which would frustrate your id, your ego
decides to make that sacrifice as part of the compromise– 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. He 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 think of as
anxiety and depression) and unhealthy behaviors.

The id, ego, and superego: According to Freud’s structural model, the personality is divided into the id, ego,
and superego. On this diagram, the smaller portion above the water signifies the conscious mind, while the
much larger portion below the water illustrates the unconscious mind.

Psychosexual Stages of Development

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. He called his idea the psychosexual theory of
development, with each psychosexual stage directly related to a different physical
center of pleasure.
Across 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-seeking 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.

Criticism of Freud’s Theories

Although Freud’s theories have many advantages that helped to expand our
psychological understanding of personality, they are not without limits.

Narrow Focus

In his singular emphasis on the structure of the human mind, Freud paid little to no
attention to the impact of environment, sociology, or culture. His theories were highly
focused on pathology and largely ignored “normal,” healthy functioning. He has also
been criticized for his myopic view of human sexuality to the exclusion of other
important factors.

No Scientific Basis

Many critics point out that Freud’s theories are not supported by any empirical
(experimental) data. In fact, as researchers began to take a more scientific look 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 falsifiable.

Misogyny

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 patriarchal (male-dominated), anti-feminist, and misogynistic (anti-woman).
Karen Horney, a psychologist who followed Freud, saw the mainstream Freudian
approach as having a foundation of “masculine narcissism.” Feminist Betty Friedan
referred to Freud’s concept of “penis envy” as a purely social bias typical of the
Victorian era and showed how the concept played a key role in discrediting alternative
notions of femininity in the early to mid-twentieth century.
Neo-Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality

Neo-Freudian approaches to the study of personality both expanded on and countered

Freud’s original theories.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Analyze the contributions of notable Neo-Freudian theorists to the field of personality

psychology

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Key Points

 Over the years, Freud attracted many followers who adapted and modified his
psychoanalytic theories to create new theories of personality. These other theorists
became known as Neo-Freudians.
 Neo-Freudians, such as Adler, Horney, Jung, and Erikson, agreed with Freud that
childhood experiences matter; however, they expanded on Freud’s ideas by focusing on
the importance of sociological and cultural influences in addition to biological influences.
 Alfred Adler was the first to explore and develop a comprehensive social theory of the
psychodynamic person and coined the idea of the “inferiority complex.”
 Erik Erikson proposed the psychosocial theory of development, which suggested that an
individual’s personality develops throughout their lifespan based on a changing emphasis
on different social relationships.
 Two of Carl Jung’s major contributions were his ideas of the collective unconscious and
the persona.
 Karen Horney’s theories focused on “unconscious anxiety,” which she believed stemmed
from early childhood experiences of unmet needs, loneliness, and/or isolation.

Key Terms

 pathology: Any deviation from a healthy or normal condition; abnormality.

 psychodynamic: Relating to the approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic
study of the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions and
how these might be related to early experiences.
Neo-Freudian Approaches to Personality

Although Sigmund Freud contributed a great deal to the field of psychology through his
psychoanalytic theory of personality, his work did not go without scrutiny. Many
criticized his theories for being overly focused on sexuality; over the years since his
work, many other theorists have adapted and built on his ideas to form new theories of
personality. These theorists, referred to as Neo-Freudians, generally agreed with Freud
that childhood experiences are important, but they lessened his emphasis on sex and
sexuality. Instead of taking a strictly biological approach to the development of
personality (as Freud did in his focus on individual evolutionary drives ), they focused
more holistically on how the social environment and culture influence personality
development.

Freud and his followers: Several of the psychologists who studied Freud’s theories worked directly with Freud
himself at Clark University. This photograph shows Carl Jung (front row, right) with Freud (front row, left) and
other colleagues.

Notable Neo-Freudians

Many psychologists, scientists, and philosophers have made meaningful additions to

the psychoanalytic study of personality. Four particularly notable Neo-Freudians are
Alfred Adler, Erik Erikson, Carl Jung, and Karen Horney.
Alfred Adler

Alfred Adler was the first to explore and develop a comprehensive social theory of the
psychodynamic person. He founded a school of psychology called individual
psychology, which focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority. Adler
proposed the concept of the inferiority complex, which describes a person’s feelings that
they lack worth and don’t measure up to the standards of others or of society. He also
believed in the importance of social connections, seeing childhood development as
emerging through social development rather than via the sexual stages outlined by
Freud. From these ideas, Adler identified three fundamental social tasks that all of us
must experience: occupational tasks (careers), societal tasks (friendship), and love
tasks (finding an intimate partner for a long-term relationship).

Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson is influential for having proposed the psychosocial theory of development,
which suggests that an individual’s personality develops throughout the lifespan based
on a series of social relationships—a departure from Freud’s more biology-oriented
view. In his psychosocial theory, Erikson emphasized the social relationships that are
important at each stage of personality development, in contrast to Freud’s emphasis on
sex. Erikson identified eight stages, each of which represents a conflict or
developmental task. The development of a healthy personality and a sense of
competence depend on the successful completion of each task.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung followed in Adler’s footsteps by developing a theory of personality called

analytical psychology. One of Jung’s major contributions was his idea of the collective
unconscious, which he deemed a “universal” version of Freud’s personal unconscious,
holding mental patterns, or memory traces, that are common to all of us (Jung, 1928).
These ancestral memories, which Jung called archetypes, are represented by universal
themes as expressed through various cultures’ literature and art, as well as people’s
dreams. Jung also proposed the concept of the persona, referring to a kind of “mask”
that we adopt based on both our conscious experiences and our collective unconscious.
Jung believed this persona served as a compromise between who we really are (our
true self) and what society expects us to be; we hide those parts of ourselves that are
not aligned with society’s expectations behind this mask.

Karen Horney

Karen Horney was one of the first women trained as a Freudian psychoanalyst.
Horney’s theories focused on “unconscious anxiety,” which she believed stemmed from
early childhood experiences of unmet needs, loneliness, and/or isolation. She theorized
three styles of coping that children adopt in relation to anxiety: moving toward people,
moving away from people, and moving against people.

Horney was also influential in the advancement of feminism within the field of
psychodynamics. Freud has been widely critiqued for his almost exclusive focus on men
and for what some perceive as a condescension toward women; for example, Horney
disagreed with the Freudian idea that girls have “penis envy” and are jealous of male
biological features. According to Horney, any jealousy is most likely due to the greater
privileges that males are often given, meaning that the differences between men’s and
women’s personalities are due to the dynamics of culture rather than biology. She
further suggested that men have “womb envy” because they cannot give birth.

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