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*Picture from Psychotherapy (2004)Personality: Psychodynamic Theories BrochureMaria Lydda GabrielPSY 405April 6, 2015Angela Snelling | | | What is Personality?“Although no single definition is acceptable to all personality theorists, we can say that personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior” (Feist & Roberts, 2013, p. 4). | | | | | | | | Psychodynamic TheoriesFreud’s Theory * There are three provinces of the mind: A. The id * The id’s sole function is to seek pleasure without regard for what is proper and just, hence, serving the pleasure. Has no contact with reality, yet it strives to constantly reduce tension by satisfying basic desires (Feist & Roberts, 2013). B. The ego * Is governed by the reality principle. It is the only province of the mind in contact with reality. * When the ego becomes anxious, it uses repression and other defense mechanisms to defend itself against this anxiety (Feist & Roberts, 2013). C. The superego * Represents the moral and ideal aspects of personality and is guided by the moralistic and idealistic principles. * Acts to control sexual and aggressive impulses through the process of repression. * It strives blindly and unrealistically toward perfection. | | | | |

* Freud’s theory helped us understand the harmony and disharmony that happens in our mind. It also helped to explain how we come about the decisions that we make in our everyday lives that is reflected through our behavior. * Limitation: his reduction of all motivation to sex and aggression; he assumed that people have little to no choice in shaping their personality (Feist & Roberts, 2013). Adler’s Theory * According to Feist & Roberts (2014, p. 73-74), Adler’s main tenets of Adlerian theory are: 1. The one dynamic force behind people’s behavior is the striving for success or superiority. 2. People’s subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality. 3. Personality is unified and self-consistent. 4. The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest. 5. The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of life. 6. Style of life is molded by people’s creative power. * Adler’s theory is related to how we view and give importance to how our social world sees us and how we want to be seen and accepted by our social world. * Strengths: its ability to make sense out of what we know about human | | | Behavior; ability to guide action (Feist & Roberts, 2013). * Weaknesses: suffered from a lack of precise operational definitions, therefore, leaving researchers to look in vain for precise definitions which requires rigorous study (Feist & Roberts, 2013). Jung’s Theory * Feist & Roberts (2013) stated that “Jung believed that each of us is motivated not only be repressed experiences but also by certain emotionally toned experiences inherited from our ancestors. These inherited images make up what Jung called the collective unconscious” (p. 102). * Jung called these inherited images archetypes. These archetypes have the same meaning for all human beings. * Jung saw each person as opposing forces. * Jung’s theory led to us to the discovery of why some of us are opposites of the other, such as, why one is an introvert and the other an extrovert, through his orientations of personality. * Weakness: was nearly impossible to either verify or falsify; difficult concept to test empirically. | | | ReferencesFeist, G.J., & Roberts, T.A. (2013). Theories of Personality (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.FreudAdler Jung |

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