In the history of psychology, there were many debates about which theories were more important to the study. Psychoanalysis and Humanistic were two schools of thought that looked at many of the same topics with different viewpoints. Psychoanalysis, which originated with Sigmund Freud, explains behavior by looking at the subconscious mind. Humanistic psychologist, Abraham Maslow looks specifically at individuals and their motivations. Sigmund Freud’s theory of development focuses on the unconscious mind. Freud divided different stages of our lives into three systems such as the id, ego, and superego. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. (Cherry, 2017). The ego is the stage of reality that functions in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind. According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world. The last stage of personality is the superego. The superego is our sense of right and wrong. There are two parts of the super ego: the ego ideal which include rules and standards for good behaviors, as well as the conscience which are bad behaviors that result in punishments. (Cherry 2017). Freud also proposed that psychological development in children takes place in a series of fixed psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. (McLeod, 2008). The first five years of life are extremely important to the formation of adult personality. To satisfy social demands, the id must be controlled followed by the ego and super ego. Maslow’s humanistic theory, in contrast believes that it may take up a lifetime to fully understand and develop as human beings. Maslow believed that there was an order or hierarchy of needs, which ranges from basic biological needs, such as hunger and thirst, to self-actualization” (Nevid & Rathus, 2005). The bottom of the hierarchy is the physiological needs, which include needs that are of prime significance to the immediate survival of the human being as well as to the long-term survival of the species (Larsen & Buss, 2012). When the physiological needs of a person are met, the need of security will
Abraham Maslow focused on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals. Throughout his study of Humanism, he created what is known as the “Hierarchy of Human Needs.” This hierarchy places the needs of humans in an ordered fashion based on their level of importance. At the bottom of the pyramid is a person’s physiological needs, then their safety needs, sense of love and belonging, self-esteem, and then at the final tier of the hierarchy is self-actualization. Maslow claimed
The unconscious mind houses the preconscious, a small section that houses material that is non-threatening, and easily brought to mind. But deeper in the unconscious mind are the instinctual drives, the wishes, desires, demands, and needs that are kept hidden from out conscious selves because of the conflicts and pain they would cause if they were brought to bear every day. Psychoanalytic personality theory tells us that the personality consists of three separate, but forever intermingling elements, id, ego, and superego. The id section of a personality is by far the largest, the only section that we are born with, and the section that contains the unconscious thoughts, it is raw, unorganized, and from the time of birth it tries to reduce tension caused by our primary drives. The ego, a section that develops soon after birth, balances the instinctual desires of the id and the realities of the outside world. Last of course is the superego, the final personality structure that is developed in childhood, and represent the rights and wrongs of society, contained within the superego is the conscience, the part of us that prevents us from behaving in a morally deplorable way and is responsible for guilt. Psychoanalytic personality theory is not without its virtues; Freud’s proposed five psychosexual stages – oral, anal, phallic-oedipal, latency and genital – are all supported in life.
Freud proposed the psychological structure of personality to include three systems called the id, the ego, and the superego. At birth, the id is the original system of personality and is ruled by the pleasure principle. It is driven towards satisfying instinctual needs. The ego can be described as a mediator between ones instincts and their surrounding environment. The ego is ruled by the reality principle, using realistic and logical thinking to formulate action plans for satisfying needs. The superego includes a person’s moral code and strives for perfection, not pleasure. Psychic energy is distributed between these three systems creating dynamics of personality. This psychic energy is what determines behavior (Day, 2008).
With these few thoughts in mind Abraham Maslow made up a hierarchy of needs. (Boeree, Page 2) The hierarchy of needs has five levels: the bottom one is Physiological Needs, the next one up is Safety needs, the next one is Belonging needs, the next one is Esteem Needs and finally the last one is Self-actualization needs. As Maslow thought he “saw human beings needs arranged like a ladder”, the most basic needs at the bottom and at the top the need to fulfill yourself. (pbs.org, Page 1) Below is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Freud strategized that the personality was composed of three elements; the id, ego, and superego. The id is the component of personality that is present from birth, and is exclusively unconscious. “According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the primary component of personality” (Cherry,1). On the other hand, the ego is the element of the personality that is responsible with reality. “According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world” (Cherry, 1). It
His theory suggests that unconscious forces act to determine personality and behavior. In which is a part of the a person’s personality where they 're unaware “conscious awareness”, such as infantile wishes, desires, demands, and needs that are hidden because of their disturbing nature. He states that “the unconscious is responsible for a good part of our everyday behavior” (Robert 13). Freud would argue that personality is formed during childhood and that everyone’s personality is among three necessary structures of the human mind: the id, ego, and superego. According to Freud, children go through five stages the oral stage (0 to 18 months), anal stage (18 months to 3 years), phallic stage (3 to 6 years), latency stage (6 to puberty), genital stage (puberty to
The Psychodynamic Approach was first approach by Sigmund Freud; he dealt with the understanding that personality came from our unconscious state of mind. And that unconscious state interacted to determine our thoughts, behaviors, and feelings (Bernstein, 425). Freud also created the psychoanalytical theory stating that personality led the way to handling psychological disorders. He divided personality into three main topics; which are the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the basis of each human being’s instincts we are all born with. It is the immediate wants I crave; it may show more selfish side. The ego is the part that subdues the id and calms it down. It allows me to think and realize certain actions may upset someone else around me. The superego is
Sigmund Freud was a well known psychologist whose theories have founded the understanding of the human psyche. Freud’s theory of personality is one of his most known theories. It details that there are three segments of consciousness. The id is desire, immorality and is what drives us to do wrong. The superego exists to counteract and overpower the id, as it is morality, commonly known as our conscious. The ego exists to balance out both extremes and devises a solution to sate each segment. Then there are the defense mechanisms, repression, denial, projection, displacement, regression and sublimation. These are employed by the ego to keep the balance between the id and the superego and to protect the psyche, especially in traumatic times. Last, the Oedipus complex which Freud believed, only exists in children from the ages of 3-5, when they become attracted to
Maslow’s Theory is separated into five different categories of needs. These include physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. (“Maslow, Abraham”). Maslow categorized these needs into a pyramid structure. At the base of Maslow’s Pyramid are physiological needs which need to be met before a person can go higher up on the pyramid. Once these needs are met, then a person can begin fulfilling other needs such as safety, love and so on. Physiological needs include the basic needs of oxygen, food, water, sleep, proteins and minerals. Another part of these needs include being active, avoiding pain and removing waste from your body. As the physiological needs are meet, safety and security needs begin to dominate behavior (Boeree). Safety and security needs have to do with the natural desire for a predictable, orderly world that is somewhat within our control. This also includes protection, and safe
Freud attempted to explain how the unconscious functions by dividing it into three structures, the id, ego, and superego. The id holds our primitive instincts that demand immediate gratification, because it operates on the pleasure principle (McLeod, 2010). Similarly, the ego also seeks pleasure. However, instead of seeking immediate gratification, the ego acts realistically in order to avoid potentially negative consequences that may arise. On the other hand, our superego represents our conscious. It encompasses the morals and values we learn by society and our parents as we go through the stages of
Freud believed that the human personality consisted of three interworking parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id, the largest part of the mind, is related to desires and impulses and is the main source of basic biological needs. The ego is related to reasoning and is the conscious, rational part of the personality; it monitors behavior in order to satisfy basic desires without suffering negative consequences (Boundless.com). The superego, or conscience, develops through interactions with others (mainly parents) who want the child to conform to the norms of society (Boundless.com). Freud believed that our adult lives were shaped by childhood experiences, meaning that if children did not receive the proper nurturing, that the child would be stuck in that stage or behaviors
Freud’s structural and topographical model of personality, revolves around the id, ego and superego (McLeod, 2008). As a newborn, I was born with my id which allowed me to get my basic needs met. As an infant, I would cry if I was hungry or tired or just wanted to be held, I did not think of anyone else. The second part of my personality started around when I was three years old, and according to Freud this is when I began to develop my ego. An example of this would be if I was hungry I would want to satisfy my id, but at the
Freud described humans as having three essential components that built personality. The three components were the id, the ego, and the superego. He described the id, as being what governed an infant’s drive to overcome their primitive biological desires. According to his theory infants had no other goal than to release the tension that built up when their
One advantage of Freud’s concept of the ego, id and superego in relation to understanding human development and individual behaviour is that it gives a good overall description of development of the human psyche. It recognises the
Humanistic psychologists generally argue that a person’s subjective perception and understanding of the world is far more important than objective reality (Funder, 2012). Hence the fact that Rogers and Maslow valued scientific psychology very little. They and other humanistic psychologists typically prefer more qualitative research methods. These methods are often things such as diaries, open ended questionnaires, wholly unstructured interviews and observations. It is far more useful if the goal is not to generalize the findings to the general