The 20th Century Concepts Of Personality Theory

This the continuation from the previous article where looked at the early developments of personality theories.

The 20^th Century Concepts Of Personality Theory

Sigmund Freud

The early century welcomed the works of Sigmund Freud. Freud introduced the concept of Psychoanalysis in which he proposed the psychodynamics theory which emphasizes unconscious drives, childhood experiences, and defense mechanisms in shaping personality. Let's delve deeper into his theories on personality.

The Psyche's Structure

• Id, Ego, Superego: Freud proposed a tripartite model of the mind:

• Id: This refers to the primitive, unconscious part driven by basic instincts and desires for pleasure and survival.
• Ego: Considered as conscious, rational part mediating between the id and external reality, striving for balance and satisfaction.
• Superego:  The internalized moral compass representing societal values and ideals, often in conflict with the id's desires.

Psychosexual Development theory

Freud believed personality is shaped by early childhood experiences, particularly psychosexual stages:

• Oral stage (birth-1 year): Fixation can lead to passive-aggressive tendencies or overdependence.
• Anal stage (1-3 years): Fixation can result in stinginess, orderliness, or messiness.
• Phallic stage (3-5 years): Oedipal/Electra complex, unresolved conflicts can lead to anxiety or personality disorders.
• Latency stage (5-12 years): Repression of sexual urges, development of social skills.
• Genital stage (adolescence onwards): Successful development leads to healthy mature relationships.

Defense Mechanisms

The ego employs unconscious strategies (defense mechanisms) to manage anxiety arising from the id's desires and superego's demands:

• Repression: Banishing unacceptable thoughts or feelings from consciousness.
• Projection: Attributing one's own unwanted feelings or traits to others.
• Displacement: Directing emotions like anger towards a safer target.
• Rationalization: Justifying unacceptable behavior with seemingly logical reasons.

Dreams and the Unconscious

 Freud viewed dreams as a window into the unconscious, revealing repressed desires and conflicts through symbolism. Dream analysis aimed to identify these hidden emotions and motivations to understand personality and promote healing.

Criticisms and Influences

Just like John Locke, David Hume and  the philosophers, Freud was also critiqued on his theories. Freud's theories have been heavily criticized for:

• Lack of empirical evidence, reliance on anecdotal cases.
• Sexually-centric framework, potential gender bias.
• Deterministic outlook, underestimating individual agency.

However some of Freud's contributions remain significant in modern psychology and personality theories:

• Emphasis on the unconscious mind in shaping personality.
• Introduction of key concepts like defense mechanisms and psychosexual development.
• Pioneering psychotherapy techniques like psychoanalysis.

While not universally accepted, Freud's ideas paved the way for diverse approaches in psychology, including Jungian and Adlerian psychology, and continue to spark conversation and debate.

Between 1920s – 1930s came Carl Jung and Alfred Adler on analytical psychology and individual psychology respectively. Carl Jung who initially collaborated with Freud but diverged due to disagreement on concepts such as interpretations of dreams and the importance of the collective unconscious.

Jungian Personality Theory

Carl Jung, a pioneer in analytical psychology, offered a complex and fascinating perspective on personality. He is famously known for archetypical concepts of personality. According Jung personality consist of:

• The Collective Unconscious: Jung proposed a layer of the unconscious mind shared by all humanity, containing archetypes – universal symbols and patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior inherited from our collective experience. These archetypes, like the hero, the mother, and the shadow, influence our lives but remain largely unconscious.
• Psychological Functions: He identified four mental functions through which we interact with the world:
  • Thinking: Logical, analytical approach to understanding information.
  • Feeling: Subjective evaluation based on emotions and personal values.
  • Sensation: Direct perception and experience of the external world.
  • Intuition: Unconscious awareness and insights beyond the senses.
• Individuation: This lifelong process involves integrating conscious and unconscious aspects of the self, confronting the shadow, and achieving wholeness and self-actualization.

Personality Types

• Attitude Types: According Jung people can categorized based on their introversion; drawing energy from within or extroversion; gaining energy from external stimuli.
• Function Types: He further divided individuals based on their preferred dominant function; thinking, feeling, sensation, or intuition. These combinations create diverse personality types, each with unique strengths and weaknesses.

Jung Ideas and Controversies

• Archetypes: While intriguing, the concept of archetypes remains speculative and lacks empirical evidence. Critics argue they represent cultural influences rather than innate patterns.
• Collective Unconscious: The existence of a shared unconscious mind is largely untestable and open to debate.
• Psychological Functions: The categorization of individuals into specific types can be limiting and potentially oversimplify the complexities of personality.

Importance of Jungian Psychology

Despite these critiques, Jung's ideas have profoundly impacted psychology and various fields. His emphasis on the unconscious, archetypes, and individuation offers valuable insights and a query for further research into personality theory. His profound contributions include

• Understanding diverse personalities: His concepts help appreciate individual differences and recognize universal themes within personalities.
• Exploring dreams and mythology: Archetypes provide a lens to interpret dreams and cultural myths, revealing their deeper psychological significance.
• Personal growth: The individuation process encourages self-exploration, shadow work, and striving for wholeness.

Alfred Adler who joined the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society but left later over differences in focus of emphasizing social motivations and conscious goals over unconscious drives.

Adlerian Psychology

While often overshadowed by Freud, Alfred Adler, the founder of Individual Psychology, proposed a unique and optimistic perspective on personality. His psychology include Teleology, superiority and inferiority, and social context.

The Teleological Drive

• Striving for Superiority: Unlike Freud's emphasis on instincts, Adler believed motivation stems from a teleological drive for superiority, not dominance. This striving isn't about superiority over others, but about overcoming feelings of inferiority and achieving a sense of belonging and significance.
• Fictional Finalism: Each individual constructs a **fictional finalism**, an unconscious goal or guiding principle based on their unique experiences and perceived limitations. This goal shapes their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Social Context and Lifestyle

• Importance of the Social Context: Adler emphasized the profound influence of the social context, particularly family dynamics and childhood experiences, on shaping personality. Early feelings of inferiority and belonging set the stage for individual striving.
• Lifestyle: Adler introduced the concept of lifestyle, as a unique pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors individuals adopt to achieve their fictional finalism. This encompasses their goals, values, coping mechanisms, and interpersonal interactions

Adlerian Ideas and Controversies

• Inferiority and Compensation: Adler viewed our sense of inferiority as a universal motivator, prompting us to strive for compensation and mastery. While insightful, some argue it overemphasizes inferiority's role.
• Teleological vs. Mechanistic Explanations: Adler’s focus on goals and striving differs from mechanistic explanations of behavior prevalent in other theories. This can be seen as both insightful and speculative.
• Determinism vs. Individual Agency: While childhood experiences influence lifestyle, Adler emphasized individuals' ability to consciously change their goals and choices, allowing for growth and change.

Importance of Adlerian Psychology

Despite these critiques, Adler's ideas offer valuable contributions to understanding personality:

• Shifting the focus: He moved away from instincts and drives, highlighting individual purpose and social influences.
• Encouraging optimism: His emphasis on overcoming challenges and striving for belonging fosters a hopeful perspective on human potential.
• Understanding interpersonal dynamics: The concepts of lifestyle and fictional finalism provide tools to analyze social interactions and communication patterns.

In comparison of Jungian Psychology and Adlerian Psychology here some notable differences and similarities.

Differences Jungian Psychology and Adlerian Psychology

Similarities between Jungian Psychology and Adlerian Psychology

• Both acknowledged the importance of the unconscious mind in influencing personality.
• Both recognized the individual's agency and active role in shaping their experiences.
• Both emphasized the importance of self-understanding and personal growth.

In this second part, we have looked at the Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Alfred Adler works and how they have contributed to modern psychology on personality theory. In part 3 we will continue and dive into behaviorism, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.