Interview With The Personality Theorist

Apologies it is slightly late. I’ve been trying to upload this and even attach as an email. I’ve had to use an entirely different computer to do this.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the work of Sigmund Freud and a neo-analytical theorist. This paper will compare the work of Freud and Karen Horney and begins with an introduction to the study of personality and an identification of the key elements in Freud and Horney’s theories. The paper then moves into an analysis of where Horney and Freud would find agreement and disagreement. Finally, an analysis of improvements from Freud to neo-analytical theory will be discussed.

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.

Karen Horney is one of the preeminent figures and founders of modern psychoanalysis. Although her ideas are not widely taught today or accepted as a basis of psychoanalysis in and of themselves, her ideas of social and environmental influences are “integrated into modern psychoanalysis therapies and personality development theory” (Quinn). She was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and was one of his early followers. Yet Horney joined the class of neo-Freudians after her research and writing led her to develop and establish psychoanalytical theories that ran counter to Freud's ideas. She objected to the Freudian psychology of women, which instigated the search for her own theories for the causes of neurosis. This in turn led to her

Since these women made their breakthrough there has been more and more women contributing their knowledge to many areas in psychology such as, Anna Freud, who became influenced by her father’s theories and created her own theories in psychoanalysis. Karen Horney who contributed a substantial amount to the personality theory and later became interested in feminine psychology, Melanie Klein and Mary Ainsworth, just to name a few.

4. Which of Freud’s personality types does Steve display? What evidence is there for it?

Directions: Using the matrix, list at least five events or major concepts from each of the three periods in the history of modern personality psychology.

Freud asserted that personality was biologically determined and structured from three systems namely: the id, the ego and the superego which work together and shape a person’s behaviour. Freud stressed that there is competition between these three systems for control over the available psychic energy. (Mischel, 1971) Horney on the other hand,

Most evidence for theories is taken from Freud’s case studies, e.g. Little Hans. This case study was only based on one person in detail. Little Hans case study was carried out via mail contact with his father, only meeting Hans after the case was published which many would argue is not reliable. Freud got his results from talking sessions known as “free association” with patients which he wrote as case studies. Some patients in question are often small numbers of middle-aged Jewish women from Vienna that suffered comparable issues, which are biased samples, this makes the generalization to the wider population challenging. (Gross, 2015). Re-examinations of Freud’s theories propose that he occasionally distorted his patient’s cases to fit with his theory, e.g. being Dora and Ratman, both separate case studies both claimed he misrepresented facts and was unsuccessful in curing them. The theories are also greatly criticized by the humanist approach for being sexist against women. (Sulloway, 1991).

Sigmund Freud, a well-known psychologist portrays an interest in the Psychodynamic approach to Psychology. Freud developed a theory relating to personality in the aftermath of his observation of patients experiencing a disorder called conversion hysteria. He took particular interest in the unconscious

Karen Horney and Alfred Adler are two very similar yet different neo-analytic theorists. At first glance, it may appear that Horney stole some of Adler's best ideas. It is, of course, quite conceivable that she was influenced by Adler. It is clear, for example, that Horney’s three neurotic solutions are very close to Adler's personality typology. Horney proposed a series of strategies used by neurotics to cope with other people and Adler developed a scheme of so called personality types that he intended to illustrate patterns that could denote a characteristic governed under the overall style of life.

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

The psychodynamic perspective focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in the development of personality. Freud believed that the personality develops in a series of five stages that develop the three divisions of personality. In the oral stage, the fixation is in the mouth, and would be the cause of his introverted nature; likewise, in the anal stage, Roberto would discover his reserved nature, while the phallic stage, he would further refine his reserved nature as a sense of humility in his actions, also defining his mild mannered portion of his personality. In the latency stage, his social skills would refined and he would become introverted. Freud would think that Roberto’s mild-mannered, reserved, and invertedness is caused by intense suppressing of the id by the ego, having Roberto adopt the personality that he does; however, Karen Horney would classify Roberto’s personality in respect to her theory of neurotic personalities- personalities typified by maladaptive ways of dealing with relationships- with moving away from people by withdrawing from personal relationships.

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

“A trailblazer of modern-day psychology,” Sigmund Freud presented new ways of thinking about human nature, pioneered new techniques of understanding human behavior, and created the most comprehensive theory of personality and psychotherapy ever developed (Himmat, 1997).