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Psychoanalytic and Trait Theories

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Psychoanalytic and Trait Theories
Shavon R. Gray
University of Phoenix
Author Note
Week 2 Individual Assignment

Abstract
I will write a 1,050 to 1,400 word paper analyzing the components of the psychoanalytic approach to personality. My paper will cover a comparison and contrasting the psychoanalytic theories of Freud, Jung, ad Adler. I will attempt to explain two characteristics of these theories in which I agree and disagree with. I will describe the stages of Freud’s theory and explain characteristics of personality using these components. I will also use at least three Freudian defense mechanism with real-life examples.

Psychoanalytic and Trait Theories
Sigmund Freud, was an Austrian physician, he was responsible for the development of the psychoanalytic theory in the early 1900s. “According to Freud’s theory, conscious experience is only a small part of our psychological makeup and experience. He argued that much of our behavior is motivated by the unconscious, a part of the personality that contains the memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges, drives, and instincts of which the individual is not aware.” (Feldman, 2011).
His theory is compared to the unseen floating Mass of a floating iceberg; where the unconscious contents far surpass in quantity the information that is in our conscious awareness. Freud maintained his stand by stating that when it comes to understanding personality, one must expose the unconscious. Due to the fact that the unconscious can be disguised to cover up the true meaning of the material it holds, the unconscious content cannot be observed directly. Therefore, you must interpret the unconscious in clues- slips of the tongue, fantasies, and dreams- to understand the unconscious process that direct behavior.
For example, a slip of the tongue may be interpreted as revealing the speakers unconscious sexual desire.

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