Sigmund Freud And The Neo Freudians

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.

Personality and how we behave have been of much interest to psychologists for a long time now and because of this there have been many theories and theorists that have been developed. Personality is defined as consistent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within and individual (Fritzley, 2012, p. 10). There are six main approaches to personality psychology they include: biological approach, humanistic approach, behaviorist approach, trait approach, psychoanalytic approach and cognitive approach. Each approach shines a little light onto why we behave the way we do and how our personalities are formed, the approaches contain many different theories from

Neo-Freudian psychologists were people who were heavily influenced by Freud in their theories. These psychologists studied Freud’s theories in depth and later came to somewhat reject his views. They adapted portions of his theories, but changed certain aspects of his views to make it fit their personal beliefs and studies. Karen Horney was one of the more popularized Neo-Freudians of her time and still remains as one of the most famous ones in history. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views. This fact was very true of her theories of sexuality and of the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis. Horney is also credited with the founding of Feminist Psychology in response to Freud’s theory of penis envy. She disagreed with

Personality is looked at everyday purposely and accidently. Whether you are judging how your new professor for the semester will be, or if you are studying your best friend for a project, personality is studied abundantly. While there are many ways to define personality, there is not a worldwide definition around. Personality is the unique combination of patterns that influence behavior, thought, motivation, and emotion in a human being (boundless.com). That is one of many ways of defining personality. When examining personality, there are four main approachable theories including: The Psychodynamic Approach, The Trait Approach, The Social-Cognitive Approach, and The Humanistic Approach.

Sigmund Freud is a non-reductive materialist who suggests that conception of a mind is divided between its multiple agencies, the id, ego, and superego. According to Freud, psychological life is an energy system, which has several levels. Hence, energy is experienced as either pleasure or un-pleasure in human behavior. Freud argues that the primary energy source of the mind occurs in the body as instinctive drives, also called as libidinal. These instinctual drives are also known as sexual instincts, which are in a technical sense refers to primary bodily processes, or basic needs of human species. However, there are parental, social interferences, and social norms, which act as repression of instinctual drives.

In Freudian therapy, or psychoanalysis, healing occurs when repressed thoughts and feelings are brought in to consciousness. This allows the patient to develop a stronger ego and resolve internal

The psychoanalytic theory by Sigmund Freud has always been argued to be one of the most controversial theories in the school of psychology. Critics have questioned how relevant the perspective of Freud is due to the fact that it holds no scientific basis. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three component parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. This theory, known as Freud's structural theory of personality, places great emphasis on the role of unconscious psychological

Sigmund Freud, in his book Civilization and Its Discontents, contests that humans are subject to savage, animalistic instincts. He opposes the Marxist value that humans are superior to their animal counterparts, rather, he holds, humans are quite like wolves to each other. With this claim, he explores how internal compositions work in the grand scheme, to create a working mechanism of society that tames and creates internal negotiations of behaviour and instinct. (also include what comes of the last question)

Sigmund Freud created strong theories in science and medicine that are still studied today. Freud was a neurologist who proposed many distinctive theories in psychiatry, all based upon the method of psychoanalysis. Some of his key concepts include the ego/superego/id, free association, trauma/fantasy, dream interpretation, and jokes and the unconscious. “Freud remained a determinist throughout his life, believing that all vital phenomena, including psychological phenomena like thoughts, feelings and phantasies, are rigidly determined by the principle of cause and effect” (Storr, 1989, p. 2). Through the discussion of those central concepts, Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis becomes clear as to how he construed human character.

I believe human personality develops in accordance to the experiences we encounter in life with ourselves and others, and the genetic endowment provided by our parents and ancestors. We live thanks to others, and we are born to live for others. However, I also view life as a journey and adventure to become whom we were born to be based on our unique traits of personality. Therefore, I named my theory of personality The Social-Survival Theory of Personality. The social and survival concept derives from the idea that we are innate social beings that depend on others since birth up until we die to survive, and live a fulfilling or miserable life. Now on to the six primary philosophical perspectives of personality.

Some key personality concepts that define who I am is introvert, intuitive, intuitive feeling, and judging. Introverted intuition allows me to appreciate a better clarity of perception of inner unconscious techniques. It allows me to act spontaneously and insightful as original resolutions present themselves, on a case by case basis. Basically this means that I follow my intuition and not how I may sense something.

“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).

Since the beginning of mankind, there have been attempts to figure out how and why people differ. People who study personality traits tend to focus on various aspects of human behaviors such as, social interactions, development, learning, and culture. In addition, they study physiology, genetics, and pathology. They look at all aspects of being human and try to classify, organize, and understand them. Historically

When considering religion, various theories by Sigmund Freud can be quite controversial yet interesting. Some of Freud’s theories and views with regards to religion involve; the origin of religion, the basis of guilt or sin for obedience, and God as a heavenly father a mere projection made by humans based on their needs. Before going into depth on some of the theories of Freud, we can gather from his book Totem and Taboo, that he was in fact of Jewish background and ultimately an atheist as he describes himself as “in his eternal nature a jew with no desire to alter that nature” but also “completely estranged from the religion of his father and any other religion” (Freud 1930). We can also gather that Freud had a reductionist approach, which argues “objects or beliefs, including super human entities, are nothing more than human constructions that can be ‘reduced’ to human basics”. (Nye 2009) Within this approach it continues to also reduce God to “merely what humans want him/her/it to be, a projection of one of more aspects of human behavior.” (Nye

Personality takes many shapes and forms and is affected by many factors. My understanding of personality is simply a genetic and environmentally determined set of psychological traits that influence our reactions in the world around us. Genetic because our parents possess a certain set of psychological personality traits that we tend to have in common with them so therefore in my opinion there are heritable personality traits. Personality is environmental because we each have our own separate experiences in the world and these experiences help form our unique personality. Neo-Freudians such as Jung have given us a wide array of ideas of how they believe personality is developed and formatted. Jung in particular has a very interesting take on personality. It is this theory that I can most resonate with and apply to myself and even friends and family of mine.