Freud - Theory

PERSONALITY
DEVELONPMENT
LET’S CREATE THEM

IN OUR IMAGE….
Theories of Personality
 There are number of theories

developed by psychologists to
explain personality and its
development. Each theory is
unique and explains personality
development and functioning in
its own way. Some of the
prominent theories are
explained here under:
Psychoanalytical Theory:
This theory was developed by famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. This theory has three
major parts: (a) The personality structure which includes Id, Ego and Super ego (b)
Topography of mind and (c) Psychosocial stages of development,
Personality Structure
Freud constructed a model of personality with
three interlocking parts: the Id, the Ego and the
Super ego.
The ID
 This is the most primitive part, develops with the birth of the child. It
can be thought of as a sort of store house of biologically based urges:
 the urge to eat, drink, eliminate and especially, to be sexually
stimulated.
 The sexual energy underlies these urges is called the libido.
 According to Freud the Id operates on a ‘pleasure principle’. That is-
left to itself, the id would satisfy its fundamental urges immediately
and reflexively as they arose without regard to rules, the realities of
life or morals of any kind.

The Ego
 This part usually develops from the school year of life of the child—as a result
of social contacts. The ego consists of elaborate ways of behaving and thinking
which constitute the executive function of the person.
 The ego delays motives of Id and channels behavior into more socially
acceptable outlets. It keeps a person working for a living, getting along with
people and generally adjusting to the realities of life. Freud characterized the
ego as working in the service on the ‘reality principle’.
 That is, the ego tries to satisfy the id’s urge for pleasure, but only in realistic
ways. The ongoing tension between insistent urges of the id and the
constraints of reality helps the ego develop certain skills to safeguard the self-
image. These skills are called ego defense mechanisms
The Super ego
 This part of personality corresponds closely to what we

commonly call the conscience. It consists mainly of
prohibitions learned from parents and other authorities. The
super ego may condemn as ‘wrong’ certain things which the
ego would otherwise do to satisfy the id.
 However, super ego is guided by ‘ego ideal’- a set of values

and moral ideals that are pursued because they are
perceived to be worthy. In other words the super ego
operates on the ‘moral principal’.
 Freud believed that because of the diverse nature of these

three parts, there will be constant conflicts between one
another, which leads to three types of anxiety,
Three types of anxiety
 (1) Reality anxiety-arising when the individual is confronted by dangers or
threats in the external world.
 (2) Neurotic anxiety-arising when the individual’s Id impulses threaten to
break through his ego controls and result in behaviour that will lead to his
punishment and
 (3) Moral anxiety- arising when the individual does something or even
contemplates doing something in conflict with his super ego or moral values
and arouses guilt feelings.
Topography
 It is understood that there will be constant

conflicts going on between id, ego and super
ego. These conflicts may occur in the
conscious, subconscious and unconscious levels
of human psyche.
 Freud refers to the unconscious, the
subconscious and the conscious as the
‘topographical’ aspects of the self, also called
as the level of consciousness.
The conscious
 According to Freud the conscious part of mind is that part which is

ready to receive the stimuli from the external world. It helps to
perform the functions like eating, drinking, reading, writing, talking,
thinking and such other activities and also helps us to behave in an
appropriate way.
 It will be functioning only when the individual is in a wake up state.

At the conscious level we will be aware of certain things around us
and of certain thoughts.
THE PRECONSCIOUS
 This is also known as

subconscious. At this level are
memories or thoughts that are
easily available with a
moment’s reflection. For
example, what we had for
breakfast or what class was
held today morning.
 Preconscious will be functioning between conscious and
unconscious parts. In character it resembles conscious to
greater extent and will have better adjustment with it. Its
contents can be recalled easily.
 It prevents the suppressed thoughts and other prohibited

motives in the unconscious from entering the conscious
part. Hence, it is also called as ‘Censor’.
THE UNCONSCIOUS
 This part of mind contains memories, thoughts and motives which we cannot easily call
up. It is the largest and also the powerful part of mind. It contains the natural instincts,
thoughts inappropriate desires, irrational motives and painful experiences. All the
experiences suppressed by conscious part will remain here. These forces will be trying
to come to conscious part for satisfaction. But their entry is prevented by preconscious
 Hence, they try to come out when preconscious
part is at rest. They appear in the form of dreams,
or in the form of slip of tongue, slip of pen,
automatic writing, amnesia, etc.
 Freud has developed certain techniques such as

free association, dream analysis, analysis of
transference, analysis of resistance, hypnosis and
such other techniques in order to bring out the
contents of unconscious which cause mental illness.
 Freud has compared these
three levels to an ‘Ice berg’ in
water. The conscious part will
be like tip of ice berg which is
above the surface level.
Although that is the part we
can see, it is only a small part.
 The subconscious part, as a

thin layer is separating the
conscious and unconscious.
The major part of the mind
that is unconscious will be like
a submerged big part of ice
berg.
Psychosexual stages of development
 In his theory of child development, Freud
described a succession of stages around body
zones. In his opinion, every child will have an
innate tendency to seek pleasure especially
through physical stimulation and particularly
through stimulation of parts of the body that are
sensitive to touch: the mouth, the anus and the
genitals. Such a pleasure includes many
psychological issues also. Hence, these stages are
called as psychosexual stages. These are:

Oral stage (Birth to age one)
 According to Freud’s theory, the

infant obtains sensual pleasure first
by sucking and later by biting. A
baby given too little or too much
opportunity to suck, or made
anxious about it may acquire oral
fixations, leading to abnormal
behaviour like over talkativeness,
dependency, chain smoking, etc.
ii. Anal stage (age one to age three)
 This is a period of toilet training by parents. The anus becomes
highly sensitive area. The child finds pleasure in holding on and
letting go of feces. Parents try to teach to avoid such prohibited
behaviour connected with excretion.

Anal stage (age one to age three)
 This leads to fixation causing abnormal characteristics during adulthood such

as messiness and disorders such as excessive compulsiveness, over
conformity and exaggerated self-control.
3.Phallic stage (age three to age five)
 During this stage the child’s interest shifts

toward genitals. The child enjoys stimulating
the genital organs. Freud believed that it is
at this time the children develop sensual
feelings toward the parent of the opposite
sex.
 Boys develop ‘Oedipus complex’, i.e.

develop affection towards mother and in
turn develop castration anxiety. On the other
side, girls develop affection towards father
which is called as ‘Electra complex’.
4. Latency stage (age six through puberty)
 During this period the child’s interest is shifted towards learning more
about the world, sexuality is largely repressed and the ego expands.
5.Genital stage (adolescence and beyond)
 Mature heterosexual interests develop during this phase. The stage is set for
responsible enjoyment of adult sexuality. During this stage the sexual interests will
lie outside the family circle.
Adler’s Theory of Striving for Superiority
 Alfred Adler was the follower of Freud, but opposed
his views and established his own school of thought
called Individual Psychology. Adler stressed on the
social, rather than biological determinants of
personality and on the upward drive of the self. In his
view the prime source of man’s motivation is the
innate striving for superiority by attaining perfection.

 According to Adler, every child will suffer
from some weakness which results in
development of inferiority. But every child
will try to compensate one weakness
through some other ability. For example, a
bodily handicapped child may work hard
and get a rank in the examination.

 An ugly looking girl may gain social recognition

by becoming a famous singer. Inferiority
feelings are thus essential requirements of
psychological growth. Adler thought that under
optimal circumstances of development, striving
for superiority take socially constructive forms
having to do with co-operative relationships
with people, identification with the group and
efforts to bring about the ideal society.
Erickson and Psychosocial Crisis
 Erik Erickson’s theory is known as Ego

psychology. According to Erickson, as the
individual progresses through his developmental
stages, meets with psychosocial crises peculiar
to each stage. It is psychosocial because,
society has developed social institutions specific
to each stage in an attempt to mold and
socialise the individual as he progresses through
these stages.
Erickson’s - Psychosocial stages
 In Erickson’s scheme, there are eight psychosocial

stages extending through the life span from infancy
to old age. Each stage will experience certain
conflicts called crises.
 Among all the crises the ‘search for identity’ during

adolescence is most powerful motive. Erickson also
states that the individual develops a healthy
personality by mastering inner and outer crises
with positive solutions to life’s problems.
Humanistic Theories
 These theories are developed by two psychologists—Carl
Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
 Humanistic theories emphasis the importance of people’s

subjective attitudes, feelings and beliefs especially with
regard to self. Roger’s theory focuses on the impact of
disparity between a person’s perceived real self and his
ideal self that is, ‘how I am and how I would like to be’.
Maslow focuses on the significance of self-actualization.
 Humanistic theories believe that each person is potential

enough to be creative and responsible, he is free to choose
his destiny and every individual strives to fulfill his need
for self-actualization or realizing his/her fullest potential.
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PERSONALITY

LET’S CREATE THEM

 There are number of theories

can be thought of as a sort of store house of biologically based urges:

 the urge to eat, drink, eliminate and especially, to be sexually

 The sexual energy underlies these urges is called the libido.

 According to Freud the Id operates on a ‘pleasure principle’. That is-

left to itself, the id would satisfy its fundamental urges immediately

and reflexively as they arose without regard to rules, the realities of

life or morals of any kind.

 This part of personality corresponds closely to what we

 However, super ego is guided by ‘ego ideal’- a set of values

 Freud believed that because of the diverse nature of these

 It is understood that there will be constant

 According to Freud the conscious part of mind is that part which is

 It will be functioning only when the individual is in a wake up state.

 This is also known as

 It prevents the suppressed thoughts and other prohibited

 Freud has developed certain techniques such as

 The subconscious part, as a

 In his theory of child development, Freud

described a succession of stages around body

zones. In his opinion, every child will have an

innate tendency to seek pleasure especially

through physical stimulation and particularly

through stimulation of parts of the body that are

sensitive to touch: the mouth, the anus and the

genitals. Such a pleasure includes many

psychological issues also. Hence, these stages are

called as psychosexual stages. These are:

 According to Freud’s theory, the

 This is a period of toilet training by parents. The anus becomes

highly sensitive area. The child finds pleasure in holding on and

letting go of feces. Parents try to teach to avoid such prohibited

behaviour connected with excretion.

 This leads to fixation causing abnormal characteristics during adulthood such

 During this stage the child’s interest shifts

 Boys develop ‘Oedipus complex’, i.e.

 Alfred Adler was the follower of Freud, but opposed

his views and established his own school of thought

called Individual Psychology. Adler stressed on the

social, rather than biological determinants of

personality and on the upward drive of the self. In his

view the prime source of man’s motivation is the

innate striving for superiority by attaining perfection.

 According to Adler, every child will suffer

from some weakness which results in

development of inferiority. But every child

will try to compensate one weakness

through some other ability. For example, a

bodily handicapped child may work hard

and get a rank in the examination.

 An ugly looking girl may gain social recognition

 Erik Erickson’s theory is known as Ego

 In Erickson’s scheme, there are eight psychosocial

 Among all the crises the ‘search for identity’ during

 Humanistic theories emphasis the importance of people’s

 Humanistic theories believe that each person is potential

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