Psychology Theories Sigmund Freud is one of the most famous psychologists to ever hit the study of psychology. His name alone symbolizes the importance of his theories, and the name that comes to most people's heads when saying the word psychology is Sigmund Freud. Freud was a psychodynamic psychologist and came from the conservative point of view which states that man is bad and society is good, which I do not agree with 100% because not all man's actions are necessarily bad and with bad intentions.
Freud was a real pessimist when it came to human nature. He identifies man's weaknesses in saying that man is a biological creature with biological drives.He reflected these ideas off of Darwin's original ideas. I do agree with this theory because man's drives are survival and self-preservation. Freud also stated that mankind's aggression helps him to survive, he says that man has an innate sense of survival.
I also agree with this theory because aggression and dominance guarantees our survival. He also believed that over the many thousands of years that man has been alive man developed rational thought. Freud stated that people do not have to live like animals because overtime we developed a society that has rules and regulations in order to keep our animal nature in check.I agree with Freud on this because of many cases when a person has some bad intentions in mind but let's them go when they know the consequences.
Another thing Freud said was the idea of Opposing Instincts which when comes to mind creates conflict. The first of the two opposing instincts is the Eros, which is the life instinct, which also ensures the organisms life. The ID presses us to survive and pushes us to produce. The Eros seeks pleasure and then we rationalize it.
Next comes the Thanatos, which is the death instinct, and this instinct says that all organisms have a death wish towards themselves and I agree completely.This he says becomes our own destruction. Freud says it is natural to move towards death and this I think is obvious. The feelings we have must be expressed and released and we direct our feelings outward.
This becomes our aggression toward others. Freud's view on the mind is in the shape of an iceberg.He believes that mankind's mind works in the unconscious, which I do not agree with at all I feel that man is mostly conscious when it comes to behaviors. Every choice that mankind makes he is aware of, but maybe the consequences of our action might be unknown. The Structure of Personality which is another interesting part of Freud's theory basically states that we have an ID, a Superego and an Ego.
The ID is a biological reservoir of urges and impulses that need to be gratified. He says the ID does not have a conscious, it acts on instinct. It seeks out gratification and pleasure. It is the pleasure principle.
The Superego is the Morality Principle, and the Superego knows the difference between right and wrong. The Superego is a bunch of learned internalized morals and values of society. This is basically the thing that keeps the ID in check. Freud said that Superego is our conscious, and that the Superego is the most powerful tool (guilt and pride). Last but not least is the Ego, which is the reality principle.
The Ego finds socially acceptable ways to satisfy the ID. It finds the balance between the ID and reality. The functions of the Ego is to find a compromise between the ID and the Superego. The Ego must also learn to deal with anxiety, and it also helps to boost the self-esteem.
Without the Ego there would be no mental health. I completely agree with Freud's theory of the Structure of Personality because I feel we have different parts of our behavior that we can control and that we are conscious about and there are other behaviors that come directly from our unconscious.Our ego lies to us, denies, falsifies, and distorts reality which in turn causes us to create what Freud likes to call the seven defense mechanisms. The first of the seven defense mechanisms is Repression. Repression pushes the problem to the subconscious. It is the exclusion of impulses and thoughts from the conscious mind.
Next comes Denial, and denial is the cutting of the conscious mind from external threats.An example of this would be when you are walking in the mall with your girlfriend and a beautiful woman walks by and you look but when your girlfriend asks you say, I wasn't looking at her. Next there is a defense mechanism called Sublimation which is the changing of bad behavior and impulses into socially acceptable behavior and impulses. One example of this could be playing football for a scholarship in order to go to college.
Another defense mechanism is Reaction Formation which is a development of behavior opposite of that which brings you anxiety. Somebody saying that they hate homosexuals would be a clear example of this defense mechanism. The next mechanism is called Projection which is when the unconscious attribution of your thoughts and feelings is brought onto others.Finding flaws in others is a good example of Projection. Displacement is the next defense mechanism, and this is when an urge is placed onto another object. Taking out anger onto others when you really should be mad at yourself.
Last but not least is the defense mechanism of Rationalization which is giving a good reason in place of the true reason. A great example of this would be when a person fails a test and they blame it on work, or some other corny reason instead of saying that they were to lazy to study. With all the different defense mechanisms of the ego I feel that we use all of them some time or another in order to hide our true instincts.Even though I agree with a majority of what Freud says I do not believe that man is completely bad and that society is good.
Both man and society play a big role when it comes to behavior. Another well known psychologist which is actually a student of Freuds' is Carl Jung who is also a psychodynamic psychologist which means he also comes from the conservative point of view which I mentioned earlier meant he felt man is bad and society is good. Carl Jung went a little deeper than Freud did in his theories and he challenges some of his ideas. One that I agree with the most is that Jung's iceberg is right side up and at the top of the iceberg is the ego, and the level underneath that is the personal unconscious, and the final level of the iceberg is finally the collective unconscious which is almost the exact opposites of Freud's.
What I mean by deeper is that he feels that man is not just sexual but spiritual as well.He says that the major difference in man is based on the Libido which is your sex drive. As you can see Jung has a much broader level of human interest. Jung theories are strongly based on Darwin's theory of Evolution. Jung thinks we evolved behaviorally which has allowed us to prosper and move forward in order to keep up with society. I do not agree once again that man is bad and society is good, I feel both play a big part in human behavior.
Another part of Jung's theory as well as Freud's theory that I don't like is that I don't feel that man is mainly sexual.The part of Jung's theory that I do agree with is that man has evolved behaviorally overtime because if we didn't we would still be behaving like the cave men did thousands of years ago. It's clearly obvious that man has evolved behaviorally. The next part of Carl Jung's theory is the Archetypal Complex, which are common ways of dealing with the world.
In other words it's a genetically transmitted response strategy. It ensures survival. There are two examples of Archetypal Complexes and they are the enemy archetype and the social archetype.The enemy archetype means that something that is different is threatening to us which I could not agree with more. There are examples in everyday life when a person does not know what something is they immediately show some sort of aggression or frustration which proves they are afraid of what is different or what they do not really know or understand. The social archetype basically means strength in numbers.
Also the social archetype is what we look to for support and look to interact and socialize with. The response strategy is to develop a need to conform.With the whole idea of Archetypal Complexes I agree that different people use different ways to deal with the world's problems, and I also think the enemy archetype could not be more precise about mankind being threatened by something that is different. The next part of Jung's theory is the idea of Individuation which is the integration of our conscious perceptions of the outside world with our unconscious archetypal experiences.
Polarities, which are opposite extremes, which ties in the Principle of entropy which, is a state of disorder and a randomness of energy. The last thing Jung states in his theory is the idea of Wholeness which is having both polarities of our life met. Carl Jung's theory challenges much of Freud's, but in some ways is similar. Jung gets more into man being more spiritual than sexual which is almost the opposite of Freud.
I probably only agree with Jung's theories of the Archetypal Complexes and the examples that I stated with them. The next psychologist that I will mention will be a social psychodynamic psychologist by the name of Alfred Adler. Alfred Adler came from the liberal point of view in which he felt man is good and society is bad. He was much less of a pessimist than Freud was; Almost a complete opposite from Freud. Adler believed that society impedes humans.
His view of the mind is much like Carl Jung's, but instead of having the ego at the top he has the conscious alone at the top with the unconscious on the bottom, which I probably agree with the most. He felt that social interests drive motivation, which is an innate drive to be social and to belong. He also stated in his theory that mankind is dependent on others and their reactions and their acceptance which in turn leaves mankind very vulnerable. The main idea of this theory is that he feels that mankind is more social than biological.
I mostly agree with this because humans these days try to be something there not. They go to the extremes to try to fit in.A great example of this would definitely be that in today's schools there are cliques and clans of different people that feel that they are cooler or better and than the people who are not as popular do whatever they can to fit in with a certain group. Teenagers nowadays are probably the best example there is of Adler's theory of social interest.
Another part of Adler's theory that he brings up is the idea of the creative self which he says drives us toward human nature. There are two parts to this theory and they are the superiority complex and the inferiority complex. First ...
