Theory of Personality Development

Theories of Personality Development

Abstract

The study of psychology involves the study of personalities and how these personalities are developed . Two of the most known theories in personality development were by Sigmund Freud and Abraham Maslow Sigmund Freud conceptualized the theory on Psychoanalysis which involved the three components of personality which are the Id , the Ego and the Superego . The Id is the primitive part of the self which drives on pleasure . The Ego is the component which tames the Id to adjust to reality . The Superego is the component which

guides the self to the morals and standards of society . Hierarchy of Needs theory by Maslow on the other hand presents five levels of human needs that are in hierarchical form where the lower needs are to be satisfied first before the higher need is achieved . The five levels of needs are physiological safety and security , love and belonging , self esteem and self actualization . The lower four levels are classified as deficit needs because the need came from a lack or deficiency while the highest level the self actualization needs are classified as growth needs because they do not stem from a deficiency but a desire to fulfill a person 's potential

Theories of Personality Development

Introduction

Every person is born unique . Each has individual sets of characteristics that influence their cognition , motivation and behavior , called personality . The study of psychology involves studying the development of personalities based on vast researches done by social scientists and among the remarkable findings were done by Sigmund Freud , Abraham Maslow , Carl Jung , Alfred Adler and many other contemporary scientists This research focuses its discussion on personality development theories developed by Sigmund Freud , the Id , Ego and Superego and Abraham Maslow 's Hierarchy of Needs

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939 ) was an Austrian psychiatrist born in Freiberg Moravia , now the Czech Republic . For most of his life , he lived in Austria and spent the later part in England . He was known for his theories in psychoanalysis . His special fields were neurology philosophy , psychiatry and psychology (Bettleheim 1983

The Id , Ego and Superego

Before we can understand the Id , Ego and Superego which are , according to Freud , the three components of a human personality , it is worthy to discuss the parts of the mind : the conscious and the unconscious mind These are the building blocks of the theories of psychoanalysis

The conscious mind is everything that we are aware of . All life experiences that we are aware of are registered and stocked in the memory . Memories when retrieved by the mind become part of the consciousness . So that processes like , knowing , understanding realizing , thinking are all functions of the conscious mind . The unconscious mind is the basin of thoughts and feelings that are not part of the conscious mind . These are mind processes that we are not aware of and most of these are unacceptable and unpleasant like traumatic experiences , pain , anxiety and other memories that are suppressed (Bettleheim 1983

Through observations and case...