2.4 Feminine and Masculine Characteristics
According to Horney femininity has “some secret relationship with masochism” (Horney,110). Horney has elaborated Freud's assumption and generalized it in calling masochism the elemental power in feminine mental life.( http://docplayer.net/28636797-Femininity-sigmund-freud-new-introductory-lectures-on-psycho-analysis-1933-lecture-iii.html) He contends that what woman ultimately wants in intercourse is to be raped and violated; what she wants in mental life is to be humiliated, menstruation is significant to the woman because it feeds masochistic fantasies; childbirth represents the climax of masochistic satisfaction. The pleasure of motherhood, in as much as they include certain sacrifices and a concern for the children, constitute a long drawn out masochistic gratification. “Because of these masochistic strivings women are more or less doomed to be frigid unless in intercourse they are or feel raped, injured or humiliated” (Horney 111). Rado holds that “woman’s preference for masculinity is a defense against feminine masochistic strivings” (Horney 111). Since according to psychoanalytic theory psychic attitudes are
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In neurotic persons, ambition may be so destructive that it because loaded with anxiety and hence has to be repressed. This is true of men as well as of women but as a result of the cultural situation, a repressed destructive ambition in a woman may express itself in a comparatively harmless symbol of a wish to be a man. What is required of psychoanalysis is to uncover the egocentric and destructive elements in the ambition and to analyze not only what led up to this kind of ambition but also what consequences it has for the personality in the way of inhibitions to love, inhibitions to work, envy of competitors, self-belittling tendencies, fear of failure and of
What is required to be considered masculine or feminine? Is it based upon physical features? Or is it based upon the person’s personality? Unfortunately, in today's society gender is often associated with a person’s physical appearance. A man earns the label of being masculine through his substantial muscles, sharp look, extravagant attire and his remarkable height. Meanwhile a woman is labeled as feminine through her body language, make-up, physical features, social status, and exposing clothing. Gender characteristics should not be defined by physical attributes, they should be defined by the person’s personality. Personality is what truly defines a person’s gender whether a male or female. To have the dignity of being a man or woman, it is a must to behave like a gentleman or a lady.
Everybody is unique or special in one form or another and each personality has a theory. For many years psychologists have based theories upon individuals and I the writer will compare and contrast three well known psychologists Sigmund Freud, Alfred Alder, and Carl Jung. Sigmund Freud was one of the greatest psychologists in time he Alder and Jung’s theories were very similar but then again very different. Within these theories we will discuss characteristics with which I agree and disagree with, explore the stages of Freud’s theory explaining characteristics of personality using stage components
Personality is a concept that will continue to studied and improved upon. Theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl G. Jung, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Anna Freud, and Heinz Hartmann and several others have contributed significant ideas to the study of personality and have had impacts on our current approaches. The purpose of this paper is to compare two sources of the motivations concerning why people behave the way they do. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic approach will be discussed and compared to the approach of neo-analyst Karen Horney. Karen Horney claimed that psychoanalysis is not the only way to resolve inner conflicts and she offered a uniquely feminist perspective for her time that disputed the Freudian theory of penis envy.
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’s theory of personality examined the interplay between the primitive, instinctual urges—the ‘id’; the practical and rational ‘ego’; and the morally attuned ‘superego’; ‘object relations’ refer to the "object" of an instinct”, which is “the agent through which the instinctual aim is achieved”—most often a person and, according to Freud, most often the mother (Ainsworth 1969, p. 1). The psychosexual development theory that Freud launched reduces our behaviour to mechanistic responses to an instinctive need for pleasure fueled by the ‘libido’ and barriers or distortions to the gratification of the libido at various delineated stages of development were responsible for later problems in life (Kail & Zolner 2012, p. 5). Erik Erikson later added depth to the approach by including more humanistic elements to Freud’s stages and including more periods of development (p.
Since adulthood, the structure of the development of personality current is observed under the terms of whether he or she passed with success the different psychosexual stages of childhood, youth and adulthood. Different mental illnesses are the result of a failure in the progression through the early childhood development (for example, - caught up in the “annals “of the stage), which in turn, translate into problems with the balance of the structure of the personality (the ego, the superego and the id). Some of the unconscious reasons for the majority of human behavior are sex and aggression. (Herkov, M. G. (2013, January 30). For example, perhaps the superego is much stronger than it should be and the ego is unable to always counteract its demands for
In an attempt to understand the human psyche as it relates to personality, theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl G. Jung, and Alfred Adler all developed their theories to describe personality. To better understand the mentioned theorist’s beliefs it is necessary to compare and contrast the various psychoanalytic theories characteristics as well as to make mention of the portions that are agreeable or disagreeable. Also, the stages of Sigmund Freud's theory and Freudian defense mechanisms will be conversed.
The main aim of this essay is to demonstrate an understanding of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development and how this theory may help us to explain and identify adult neurotic behaviour. I shall be evaluating the pros and cons of psychosexual theory and the extent to which it helps us to understand a client’s presenting issue. I shall also define and consider the relationship between the Id, Ego and Superego and the way in which these constructs of our psyche are in many ways representative of earlier experiences and of those early
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was an influential Austrian psychologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud went on to produce several theories, such as his theory on psychosexual development, which will be the focus of this assignment. Using the case study of a six-year-old patient, I will discuss the key principles of Freud’s theory on psychosexual development. Including, comprehensive definitions of the concepts used, and the stages of Freud’s psychosexual development. Lastly using Freud’s theory, I will explain how the patient’s current behaviour, could impact her behaviour in adulthood.
Nonetheless, the idea of penis envy becomes extremely important when examining Freud’s view on women for several reasons. Freud based the majority of his work on female sexual and personality development around penis envy, and Freud held the view that considered penis envy as natural and universal in all women (Slipp 16). According to Freud, the realization by the little girl that they had no penis was the defining moment in the realization of a female’s sexual identity. In The Feminist Legacy of Karen Horney, Marcia Westkott comments: “In sum, the Freudian concept of penis envy explains all one needs to understand of female behavior” (53). Freud
This essay critically considers the clinical applications of psychoanalysis in the examination and therapy of challenges relating to human behavior, in particular, ‘obsessional neurosis’. The essay explores the evidence for Freud’s use of psychoanalysis in the case of the ‘Rat Man’. This discussion then assesses the wider implications of the use of psychoanalysis in the treatment of ‘obsessional neurosis’. By focusing on making conscious the unconscious, we gain insight and release repressed emotions along with experiences. Hereby we employ psychoanalytic theories, elements and techniques established within psychoanalysis. The essay argues that the psychoanalytical method is effective in the treatment of obsessional
From a Freudian perspective human development is based on psychosexual theory. From a psychosexual perspective maturation of the sex drives underlies stages of personality development (Shaffer et al., 2010). Ultimately, Freud believed that sex was the most important instinct and any mental disturbance revolved around sexual conflicts that were suppressed from childhood. Furthermore, Freud believed that parents permitting too much or too little gratification of sexual needs led
Women have played a very important role in the development of psychology, though they are not recognized as major contributors. In this paper we are going to be focusing on the works and contribution of Anna Freud. She is known for her construction of child psychoanalysis theory and her interpretation of child psychology. Anna Freud (1895-1982) is famous as being involved in the foundation of the child psychoanalytic movement. She was the youngest of Freud’s children and the only one to whose life was devoted to psychoanalysis. Her development of child psychoanalysis has been greatly noted in the history of psychology. Anna Freud kept the basic ideas that her father developed. However, her interest laid in the psyche and how it was constructed. She also took interest in the where the ego stood in the structure of the psyche. She saw the ego as the “seat of observation”; it is from the ego that we can clearly see how the
Psychoanalysis is a form of therapy founded by the Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud. He believed that a person’s actions are motivated by 2 impulses – sex and aggression and that it could be made consciously or unconsciously. His theory also focuses on the time of which a person is born, to the age of 6 as he believed that later personality issues are often stemmed from repressed events that happened in early childhood. (Corey, 2013)
At the age of 40 in 1896, Sigmund Freud introduced the world to a new term- psychoanalysis (Gay 1). Psychoanalysis is a method of treating patients with different nervous problems by involving them in dialogues which provide the physician with insight into the individual’s psyche. These dialogues provided the basis for Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, which “attempts to explain personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, on unconscious motives and conflicts, and on the methods people use to cope with their sexual and aggressive urges” (Weiten 363). Part of this theory involves the structure of the mind. This is a concept that touches