Psychoanalytic Personality Assessment

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.

One of Freud’s most relevant theories is his Theory of Psychosexual Development which seeks to explain sexual development from infancy to adulthood. This theory describes sexual development via five main phases. In the

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.

Have you ever wondered if the birth order within your family has impacted the way you are? As important as the environment is for a child’s development, the order in which they were born might just be another significant factor. The dynamic of a family changes with the addition of each child. Behaviors and personalities are determined by the interactions that take place between a child, the parents, and siblings. Alfred Adler was a psychologist and theorist who was well known for his theories, putting forth the theory of birth order. Birth order is defined as a person’s rank by age among his or her siblings. Adler purposes that characteristic traits and behaviors derive from developmental issues, including birth order. It influences personality,

Many of the television shows that we have come to know and love include a family with a few siblings. Most of the time, they show the complex relationship that the siblings have. The oldest child is usually the most responsible, while the youngest may be outgoing, but feel inferior to their older siblings. The middle child many times feels sandwiched and takes on the roles of both the first and the last child. This is because the order in which an individual is born into a family has a large impact on his or her social and mental development. Alfred Adler was the man who introduced the world to the study of birth order. His research said that the order in which a child is born has a major impact on their development. The focus was not on the

Freud, the objective theorist, believed that the focus should be on the individual in compartments: defense mechanism, personality structures and levels of consciousness. Freud, Psychosexual stages of Child Development, widely dismissed because of the sexual perspectives. Nonetheless, we can see these concepts being present in the stages of development, such as the oral: the infant finds pleasure in chewing, biting, and sucking objects. The other concepts such as id, ego, and superego focuses on the personality and the balance needed in order to provide and shape individuality and social

He believed that even though siblings were raised in the similar environment, that because of their birth order they received different parenting styles which shaped their personality in distinctly different ways (121). Although, the study by Nyman did not mention the reasons behind the distinct traits, his study did acknowledge, and seemingly find, that individuals in different birth orders did have distinctive personality traits. Alder’s theory for the first born states that this child will have more leadership traits such as teaching younger siblings (123). He also said that they are more concerned with having authority (123). This matches up to the results of the study because the male eldest born was seen to have a dominant aggressive trait which could be paired up with seeking authority and leadership. Also the eldest female in the study was seen as a nurturer which would go perfectly with leadership and teaching. Adler believed that the second born are competitive and ambitious (123). The study did not have the element to choose second born but they did have middle child which is equivalent to Alder’s theory of the second born. The Middle child male child for the study was given the traits of ambitious/achiever and the female middle child was given outgoing and friendly (58). Both traits given to the middle birth order line up perfectly with the ambitious personality that Adler suggested for the second born. The youngest child, according to Adler are typically over achievers (124). However the reverse can be true if the youngest child is too pampered and they can become dependent on others (124). The results for the study for the youngest child in the birth order did not seem to match up as well as the others. The results for these were that the male was outgoing and friendly and the youngest female is caring and

Today in class we learned about Alfred Adler’s theory about birth order. Oldest children have more expectations set on them by their parents like they have to be role models for the rest of their siblings, they are the guinea pigs as being the parent’s first child, they are responsible, and bossy. A study has also shown that first borns have higher IQs. Middle borns can fulfill many roles such as the mediator or clown of the family. However they are often overlooked and get to fly under the radar. Middle children also tend to have the lowest IQ scores. Youngest children are spoiled in that they receive more love and material things than their siblings. In my family, I am the oldest with two younger siblings, a boy and a girl.

Determined to find out the origins of our sexuality and how they develop over the course of human life, Sigmund Freud came up with his psychoanalytic theory in an attempt to explain how a person’s character or personality is formed. He believed that the first five years of a person’s life were essential in shaping one’s personality, and the way that the parent chooses to raise their child in this crucial stage is what determines normal or abnormal development of the personality. The way that a child goes through these stages is essential in shaping their personality as an adult.

One of Freud’s theories was the psychosexual stages of development. It is important to recognize that Freud changed the meaning of sexuality to any form of pleasure that can be or is gathered from the body. Freud based his theory on the thought that all human instincts and drives were based on the desire to gain or increase bodily pleasure. Freud thought that if a person did not resolve their conflicts during each stage this would be the cause of any mental illness or phobia that they would have in their adult life. If one did resolve the conflict at each stage, then libido, sexual drives or

Adler himself was a middle child of three. His categories of second born and middle children of large families are almost identical. The second born child can be epitomized by a dream in which the child is constantly running but going nowhere (Webspace). They are constantly overshadowed by their older siblings. However, they do tend to have stronger social skills (Bnet). Second and middle children become very spontaneous and adaptable from constantly dealing with both older and younger siblings.

Freudian theories are an interconnected web of propositions and concepts that aim to unravel the complex strands of human emotions and neurosis. Like other theories Freud’s can be unknotted and dissected, they have a beginning, middle and end, but most importantly they have a history. Freud, one of the fledgling fathers of psychoanalysis, was able to modify and add to alter the significance of some fragments of the human consciousness, though any particular idea, such as the Oedipus complex, cannot be adequately understood when taken in isolation. One of Freud’s important influences on scientific thought was captured within his three essays on the theory of sexuality; they provide the fundamentals of his theory of neurosis (Clarke, 1987). These form the interpretation of the “necessity for repression and the source of emotional energy underlying conscious and unconscious drives and behaviour that he named the libido, the three essays deal with the sexual aberrations, with childhood sexuality and with the alterations of puberty” (Stafford-Clark, 1987, pp. 87-89). Perhaps Freud 's distinct most lasting significant notion was that the human psyche (personality) has more than one facet (Freud, 1920, 1923) He argued that the mind is organised into three parts i.e. tripartite, the id, ego and super-ego, all emerging at unique stages in our lives; these are systems, not parts of the brain, or in any way physical. Freud also discussed the organic development of the child and in its

Alfred Adler believed that one’s order of birth influenced their personality. Adler was one of the first of many psychologist to conjure up a theory about how one’s position , in terms of birth order effected a person’s personality traits. Adler made his discoveries by undergoing several studies that were used to help him identify patterns for particular within each specific birth order position, which included those who were only children and those who had siblings. Through his own research he was also able to emphasize how each individual has a self-perceived place in their family. All in all, Alfred Adler believed that one’s birth order had a direct correlation with their developing personality traits. Aside from the

To start off with Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalytical personality is known by three factors; Id, Ego, and Superego. Freud argued over the three factors that the cause of the

One of the most universally criticized and disputed of Freud’s theories is that of the psychosexual stages. According to him, a person’s personality develops in five fixed stages, at each of which the person’s energy force, or libido as he