Name: Hazel A.

Yebes Section: PSYCH 2A

Comparative Presentation of Theories of Personality

Author Sigmund Freud Carl Jung Alfred Adler

Title Psychoanalysis Analytical Psychology Individual Psychology
Year Founded 1896 1913 1912
Principles or Instincts: The Propelling Forces of the Principles of Psychic Energy Inferiority Feelings: The Source of All Human
Concepts Personality  Three basic principles that explain the Striving

 Instincts – mental representations of functioning of psychic energy:  The Inferiority Complex

internal stimuli (hunger), that drive a 1. Principle of opposites - The normal condition of all people;

person to take certain actions. - conflict between opposing the source of all human striving.
processes or tendencies is necessary  Compensation:
 2 Types of Instincts: to generate psychic energy. - A motivation to overcome inferiority, to

1. Life Instincts 2. Principle of equivalence strive for higher levels of development.

 The drive for ensuring of survival of - The continuing redistribution of

the individual and species by energy within a personality  Inferiority Complexes

satisfying the needs (food, water, air, - If the energy expended on certain - A condition that develops when a person is

and sex). conditions or activities weakens or unable to compensate for normal inferiority

 Psychic energy manifested: disappears, that energy is feelings.

o Libido transferred elsewhere in the  Causes:

– drives a person toward personality. 1. Organic Inferiority
pleasurable behaviors and 3. Principle of entropy - Defective parts or organs of the
thoughts. - A tendency toward balance or body shape personality through the
equilibrium within the personality person’s efforts to compensate for
the weakness.
2. Death Instincts - The ideal is an equal distribution of - Can result in striking artistic,
 The unconscious drive toward decay, psychic energy overall structures of athletic, and social
destruction, and aggression. the personality. accomplishments, but if those
 One component: Aspects of Personality efforts fail, can lead to an
o Aggressive Drive Total personality (psyche), is composed of several inferiority complex.
- the compulsion to destroy, aspects that can influence one another: 2. Spoiling
conquer, and kill.  Ego - Spoiled children their every need is
- part of the psyche concerned with satisfied, and little is denied to
The Level of Personality
perceiving, thinking, feeling, and them.
 Conscious
remembering. - When confronted with obstacles to
 Sensation and experiences of which
- It is our awareness of ourselves and gratification, spoiled children come
we are aware at any given moment.
responsible for carrying out all the to believe that they must have some
 Preconscious
normal everyday activities of personal deficiency that is
 Storehouse of all our memories,
waking life. thwarting them; hence, an
perceptions, and thoughts, which we
 The Attitudes: inferiority complex develops.
are not consciously aware of at the
o Extraversion 3. Neglecting
moment, but can easily summon into
- an orientation toward the external - Their infancy and childhood are
consciousness.
world and other people. characterized by a lack of love and
 Unconscious
o Introversion security because their parents are
 Focus on psychoanalytic theory
- an orientation toward one’s own indifferent or hostile.
 Home of instincts, wishes, and desires
thoughts and feelings. - As a result: develop feelings of
that direct our behavior.
 Psychological Functions worthlessness, or even anger, and
The Structure of Personality
- different and opposing ways of view others with distrust.
 Id
perceiving both the external real
 Reservoir for the instincts
  and libido (the psychic energy world and our subjective inner  The Superiority Complex
manifested by the instincts). world. - A condition that develops when a person
 Operates according to: - four functions of the psyche: overcompensates for normal inferiority
o Pleasure principle sensing, intuiting, thinking, and feelings
- id functions to avoid pain and feeling
maximize pleasure. o Sensing and Intuiting (non- rational Striving for Superiority, or Perfection
 Ego functions) - The urge toward perfection or completion or
 Rational aspect of the personality, - Do not use the processes of reason wholeness that motivates each of us.
responsible for directing and and accept experiences and do not  Fictional Finalism
controlling the id instincts. evaluate them. - The idea that there is an imagined or potential
 Operates according to:  Sensing: goal that guides our behavior.
o Reality principle reproduces an experience through the senses  Two additional points about striving for
- ego functions to provide the way a photograph copies an object. superiority:
appropriate constraints on the  Intuiting:
expression of the id does not arise directly from an external 1. It increases rather than reduces tension:
instincts stimulus. Striving for perfection requires great
 Superego o Thinking and Feeling (rational functions) expenditures of energy and effort, a condition
 The moral aspect of personality; the - involve making judgments and quite different from a tension-free state.
internalization of parental and societal evaluations about our experiences.
values and standards. - Thinking: involves a conscious 2. The striving for superiority is manifested
 Operates according to: judgment of whether an experience both by the individual and by society as a
o Moral Principle
is true or false. whole: We strive for superiority or perfection
- what a person should do or
- Feeling: expressed in terms of like not only as individuals but also as members of
the right thing to do.
or dislike, pleasantness or a group.
 Anxiety: A Threat to the Ego unpleasantness, stimulation or The Style of Life
 Anxiety dullness. - A unique character structure or pattern of personal
 A feeling of fear and dread without an  Psychological Types behaviors and characteristics by which each of us
obvious cause - eight personality types based on interactions of the strives for perfection.
 3 different types of anxiety attitudes and functions:  The Creative Power of the Self
1. Reality Anxiety 1. Extraverted thinking: - The ability to create an appropriate style of life.
 a fear of tangible dangers. Logical, objective, dogmatic
2. Neurotic Anxiety 2. Extraverted feeling:  Four Basic Styles of Life
 fear of being punished for impulsively Emotional, sensitive, sociable; more typical of 1. Dominant Type
displaying id-dominated behavior. women than men - Dominant or ruling attitude with little social
 conflict between id and 3. Extraverted sensing: awareness.
ego Outgoing, pleasure-seeking, adaptable - More extreme: attack others and become
3. Moral Anxiety 4. Extraverted intuiting: sadists, delinquents, or sociopaths.
 fear of one’s conscience. Creative, able to motivate others, and seize - Less virulent: alcoholics, drug addicts, or
 conflict between the id and the opportunities suicides (believe they hurt others by attacking
superego 5. Introverted thinking: themselves).
 Purpose of Anxiety: More interested in ideas than in people 2. Getting Type
 serves as a warning 6. Introverted feeling: - the most common human type
 induces tension in the organism, and Reserved, undemonstrative, yet capable of - expects to receive satisfaction from other
becomes a drive that the individual is deep emotion people and so becomes dependent on them.
motivated to satisfy. 7. Introverted sensing: 3. Avoiding Type
 The tension must be reduced if not, Outwardly detached, expressing themselves in - makes no attempt to face life’s problems.
the ego might be overthrown. aesthetic pursuits  These three types are not prepared to cope
8. Introverted intuiting: with the problems of everyday life: They are
unable to cooperate with other people
 Defenses against Anxiety Concerned with the unconscious more than 4. Socially Useful Type
everyday reality - Cooperates with others and acts in accordance
 Defense Mechanisms  The Personal Unconscious with their needs.
 Strategies the ego uses to defend itself - The reservoir of material that was - Cope with problems within a well-developed
against the anxiety provoked by once conscious but has been framework of social interest.
conflicts of everyday life. forgotten or suppressed.
 Involve denials of reality and all  Complexes Social Interest
operate unconsciously. - a core or pattern of emotions, - Our innate potential to cooperate with other people
o Repression memories, perceptions, and wishes to achieve personal and societal goals
 Unconscious denial of the existence of in the personal unconscious  The Role of the Mother in Developing Social
something that causes anxiety organized around a common theme Interest
(power or status).  Mother: The first person with whom a baby
o Denial
- Some may be harmful, but others comes in contact. Can either foster social
 denying the existence of an external
can be useful interest or thwart its development.
threat or traumatic event
- Originate: not only from our - Must teach the child cooperation,
childhood and adult experiences companionship, and courage. So that children
o Reaction Formation
but also from our ancestral will feel a kinship with others and they be able
 expressing an id impulse that is the
experiences. to act with courage in attempting to cope with
opposite of the one truly driving the
life’s demands.
person
 The Collective Unconscious
o Projection - The deepest level of the psyche Birth Order
 attributing a disturbing impulse to - Containing the accumulation of - Being older or younger than one’s siblings and being
someone else inherited experiences of human and exposed to different parental attitudes create different
pre-human species. childhood conditions that help determine different
o Regression kinds of personalities.
  retreating to an earlier, less frustrating  Archetypes  The First-Born Child
period of life and displaying the - Images of universal experiences - a unique and enviable situation, until the
childish and dependent behaviors contained in the collective second-born child appears.
characteristic of that more secure time unconscious. - Dethronement: firstborns feel a sense of being
dethroned (no longer the focus of attention, no
o Rationalization - Major Archetypes:
longer receiving constant love and care).
 reinterpreting behavior to make it o Persona Archetype (mask)  Characteristics of First-Borns
more acceptable and less threatening - The public face or role a person - Positive Outcome: unusual interest in
o Displacement presents to others. maintaining order and authority (good
 shifting id impulses from a threatening o Anima and Animus organizers, conscientious and scrupulous about
or unavailable object to a substitute - humans are essentially bisexual detail, authoritarian and conservative in
object that is available - Animus archetype: attitude).
o Sublimation Masculine aspects of the female - Negative Outcome: may also grow up to feel
 altering id impulses by diverting psyche insecure and hostile toward others. (Often
instinctual energy into socially - Anima archetype: neurotics, perverts, and criminals).
acceptable behaviors Feminine aspects of the male  The Second-Born Child
psyche - also in a unique situation; never experience the
o Shadow Archetype powerful, even if another child is brought into
- The dark side of the personality; the the family, second-borns do not suffer the
archetype that contains primitive sense of dethronement felt by the first-borns.
animal instincts.  Characteristics of Second-Borns:
o Self Archetype - Positive Outcome: more optimistic about the
- the archetype that represents the future and are likely to be competitive and
unity, integration, and harmony of ambitious.
the total personality - Negative Outcome: competitiveness would not
become part of the lifestyles, and may become
 underachievers, performing below their
abilities in many facets of life.
 The Youngest Child
- Never face the shock of dethronement and
often become the pet of the family.
- Positive Outcome (Driven by the need to
surpass older siblings): Often develop at a
remarkably fast rate. High achievers in
whatever work they undertake as adults.
- Negative Outcome (excessively pampered):
Unaccustomed to striving and struggling, used
to being cared for, these people find it difficult
to adjust to adulthood.
 The Only Child
- never lose the position of primacy and power
they hold in the family.
- Positive Outcome (Spending more time in the
company of adults): often mature early and
manifest adult behaviors and attitudes.
- Negative Outcome (outside home): If their
abilities do not bring them sufficient
recognition and attention, they are likely to
feel keenly disappointed.
 Stages of Psychosexual Stages of Development Developmental stages
Development - In these stages, the gratification of the
id instincts depends on the stimulation Two general periods in the overall developmental
of corresponding areas of the body. process:
- Fixation a portion of libido remains 1. Childhood to Young Adulthood
invested in one of the psychosexual - Childhood: Ego development begins when the
stages because of excessive frustration child distinguishes between self and others.

or gratification. - Puberty to young adulthood:

1. Oral Stage (Birth–1) Adolescents must adapt to the growing

- the principal source of pleasure is the demands of reality. The focus is external, on

mouth (sucking, biting, and education, career, and family. The conscious is

swallowing). dominant.

- Two ways of behaving: 2. Middle age

1. Oral incorporative Behavior - A period of transition when the focus of the

personality shifts from external to internal in
- occurs first and involves the
an attempt to balance the unconscious with
pleasurable stimulation of the mouth
the conscious or;
by other people and by food.
- a time of transition, when one’s focus and
Fixated: excessively concerned
interests change.
with oral activities (eating,
drinking, smoking, and kissing).
Individuation: How to Reach Fulfillment
Excessively Gratified: oral
 Individuation
passive personality types
- involves becoming an individual, fulfilling
(predisposed to a high degree of
one’s capacities, and developing one’s self.
optimism and dependency).
 2. Oral aggressive or sadistic  Stages we must proceed before we can
behavior reach Jung’s ideal of self-fulfillment:
- occurs during the painful, frustrating 1. Confront the Unconscious
eruption of teeth. Infants come to view - middle-aged people must abandon the
the mother with hatred as well as love. behaviors and values that guided the first
Fixated: excessive pessimism, half of their lives and confront their
hostility, and aggressiveness (envious unconscious, bringing it into conscious
of other people and trying to exploit awareness and accepting what it tells them
and manipulate them to dominate to do.
them). 2. Dethrone the Persona
- must recognize that our public personality
2. Anal Stage (1–3) may not represent our true nature and to
- Toilet training (external reality) accept the genuine self that the persona has
interferes with gratification received been covering.
from defecation. 3. Accept Our Dark Sides
- may react in one of two ways: - Accept the existence of destructive forces
1. Defecate whenever and wherever of the shadow and acknowledge that dark
the parents don’t want them to. side of our nature with its primitive
- May develop an anal aggressive impulses.
personality (cruelty, 4. Accept Our Anima and Animus
destructiveness, and temper - come to terms with our psychological
tantrums). bisexuality. A man must be able to express
- Likely to be disorderly and to his traditionally feminine traits, and a
consider other people as objects to woman must come to express her
be possessed. traditionally masculine traits.
 2. Hold back or retain the feces. 5. Transcend
- The basis for the development of an - an innate tendency toward unity or
anal retentive personality (stubborn wholeness in the personality, uniting all the
and stingy, and hoards or retains opposing aspects within the psyche.
things).
- Likely to be rigid, compulsively
neat, obstinate, and overly
conscientious.
3. Phallic (4–5)
- Focus of pleasure genitals.
- Incestuous fantasies; Oedipus
complex; anxiety; superego
development.
- Oedipus complex: male phallic
conflict (unconscious desire of a boy
for his mother, accompanied by a
desire to replace or destroy his father).
Castration Anxiety boy fears his penis
will be cut off.
Resolved: identifying with his father.
- Electra complex: the unconscious
desire of a girl for her father,
accompanied by a desire to replace or
destroy her mother.
 Penis Envy: envy the female feels
toward the male because the male
possesses a penis; accompanied by a
sense of loss.
Resolved: comes to identify with the
mother and repress her love for her
father.
- Fixated: Difficulty establishing
mature heterosexual relationships (feel
inferior).

4. Latency (5 to puberty)
- The sex instinct is dormant,
sublimated in school activities, sports,
and hobbies, and in developing
friendships with members of the same
sex.
5. Genital (Adolescence–Adulthood)
- Development of sex-role identity and
adult social relationships.

Methods of Study Two Methods of Assessment Early recollections

Treatment 1. Free association Three formal techniques Jung used to evaluate - A personality assessment technique in which
- A technique in which the patient says personality our earliest memories, whether of real events
whatever comes to mind.
 2. Dream analysis 1. Word Association test or fantasies, are assumed to reveal the primary
- Represent, in symbolic form, - A projective technique in which a person interest of our life.
repressed desires, fears, and conflicts. responds to a stimulus word with whatever Dream Analysis
These feelings have been repressed word comes to mind. - The dream is a manifestation of a person’s
that can surface only during sleep. 2. Symptom analysis style of life and so is unique to the individual.
- Two aspects: - Focuses on the symptoms reported by the - Adler did find common interpretations for
1. Manifest Content patient and attempts to interpret the some dreams, such as dream of falling: a
- actual events in the dream patient’s free associations to those demotion or loss, flying dream: striving
2. Latent Content symptoms. upward, an ambitious style of life. Flying and
- hidden symbolic meaning of the 3. Dream analysis falling: fear of being too ambitious and thus
dream. - A technique involving the interpretation of failing, and a lot more.
dreams to uncover unconscious conflicts. Measures of Social Interest
- - Adler had no desire to use personality test
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instead he thought therapists should develop
- An assessment test based on Jung’s psychological their intuition.
types and the attitudes of introversion and - The five personality dimensions measured
extraversion. are:
1. Social Interest
Life-History Reconstruction 2. Going along
- Jung’s type of case study involves examining a 3. Taking charge
person’s past experiences to identify developmental 4. Wanting recognition
patterns that may explain present neuroses. 5. Being cautious

Criticisms Criticisms of Freud’s Research Jung’s theory was not received enthusiastically by Freud Critics:
psychologists because:  Adler’s psychology was oversimplified
Case Study: A detailed history of an individual 1. Difficulty in understanding Jungian  No difficult concepts, and ignored the
that contains data from a variety of sources. concepts. problems of sex.
- Freud’s major research method - Reading his work can be frustrating,
- Has several limitations: because his books contain many Other Critics:
1. Does not rely on objective inconsistencies and contradictions.  Rely heavily on commonsense observations
observation - Applied to many of Jung’s writings. from everyday life.
2. The data are not gathered in Difficult to comprehend and lack internal  Adler was inconsistent and unsystematic in his
systematic fashion consistency and systematization thinking and that his theory contains gaps and
3. The Psychoanalytic Session is not 2. Jung’s embrace of the occult and the unanswered questions:
amenable to duplication and supernatural: o Are inferiority feelings the only
verification. - The source of most of the criticism directed problem we face in life?
at his theory o Do all people strive primarily for
Fundamental Criticism: - Evidence from mythology and religion is perfection?
1. Nature of his data not in favor in an era when reason and o Can we become reconciled to a degree
o Did not keep verbatim records of the science are considered the most legitimate of inferiority and no longer try to
therapy sessions approaches to knowledge and compensate for it?
o It’s possible that his data were understanding.  Some psychologists dispute Adler’s position
incomplete resulting from Freud’s on the issue of determinism versus free will:
technique for recording his patients (made o Adler did not oppose the notion of
notes several hours after seeing each determinism at first but he felt the need
patient). to grant more autonomy to the self, and
2. Freud’s patients did not actually reveal his final formulation rejected
childhood sexual experiences determinism resulted:
 o Oedipus and Electra Complex: do not
show that any patient ever claimed that
this had occurred.
3. Based on a small and unrepresentative
sample of people;
o Restricted to himself and those who
sought psychoanalysis with him and it is
difficult to generalize from this limited
sample to the population at large.
4. There may be discrepancies between
Freud’s notes on his therapy sessions and
the case histories he published;
o An incorrect sequence of events disclosed
by the patient, and unsubstantiated claims
that the analysis resulted in a cure.
5. None of Freud’s of his published case
histories provides compelling evidence
for his theory.

Freud’s Negative Views on Experimental

Research
- Freud had little confidence in the experimental
method, believing that “scientific research and
psychoanalysis are inherently incompatible”
- Have no way of knowing exactly what he did in
collecting his data and in translating his
observations into hypotheses and generalizations.

Scientific Testing of Freudian Concepts

- In 1939, many of his ideas have been submitted
for experimental testing. In this evaluation, case
histories were not considered;
o The researchers found that some Freudian
concepts (could not be tested by the
experimental method) - notably the id,
ego, superego, death wish, libido, and
anxiety.
o Concepts that could be tested (evidence
appeared to support slightly): the oral and
anal, the basic concept of the Oedipal
Dilemma, castration anxiety, and penis
envy.
o Concepts not supported by research
evidence: dreams as disguised
expressions of repressed wishes,
resolution of the male Oedipus complex,
and the idea that women have
inadequately developed superegos.
o Researchers found no evidence to
support: the psychosexual stages of
development or a relationship between
Oedipal variables and sexual problems
later in life.

Criticisms of Psychoanalysis
o Some argue that Freud placed too great an
emphasis on instinctual biological
forces as determinants of personality.
o Others challenge Freud’s focus on sex
and aggression as major motivating
forces and believe that we are shaped
more by social experiences than by sexual
ones.
o Some theorists disagree with Freud’s
deterministic view of human nature,
suggesting that we have more free will
than Freud acknowledged and that we can
choose to act and grow, and to be in at
least partial control of our fate.
o Another criticism focuses on Freud’s
emphasis on past behavior to the
exclusion of our goals and aspirations.
These theorists argue that we are also
 influenced by the future, by our hopes and
plans, as much as or more than by our
experiences before age 5.
o Still other personality theorists think
Freud paid too much attention to the
emotionally disturbed, to the exclusion
of the psychologically healthy and
emotionally mature.
o Critics point to confusion and
contradiction in id, ego, and superego.
Are they distinct physical structures in the
brain? Are they fluid processes?