Freud vs. Adler, Term Paper Example

Introduction

Psychologists have different meaning of what personality really is.  They have been unable to agree on a single definition of the term.  Yet, most agree that personality is a set of permanent traits that dictates a person’s behavior. Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler were two doctors who had different views on personality. Although their theories were very different, their lives had many parallels. Both were from Jewish descent and were brought up in middle class families. Both had younger brothers who had died in infancy. Freud grew up in a large family with more than nine siblings, yet his life’s work was not focused on social relationships among families. Adler, on the other hand, grew up in a much smaller family, but focused on social relationships. Adler received his medical degree in 1895. It often believed that his interest in patient care conflicted with medical care precise diagnosis.  Freud was drawn to medicine by his curiosity of human nature. He never intended to practice medicine, but wanted to research in physiology (Freud, 1957).  However, he worked in the psychiatry department of a Vienna hospital for three years. It is believed that his work with many patients suffering from mental illness is what prompted his desire to learn more about the human psyche. Both Adler and Freud contributed greatly to research in understanding how the human personality is formed and works.

Adler-Early Recollections

Adler’s theory of personality and behavior attempts to understand why an individual behaves the way he/she does using a holistic approach is in direct contrast of Freud’s reductionist approach to psychoanalysis (Meissner, 2000). In other words, Adler believed that to true understand a person, one had to examine many other aspects from that person’s life.  Adler concluded that birth order, family dynamics, goals, social interests, and even lifestyles must be examined to truly understand a person’s personality (Bliss, 1970).  For years, parents have wondered how children born to the same parents and raised in the same environment could turn out so different. Well, according to Adler’s theory, they should be different due to their differences in perception.  Adler conveyed that early recollections shaped and guided a person throughout life because those recollections are key in perception and relationship to the world.  In a study done, college students who were pursuing different careers were asked to recollect five different memories. The researchers examined those memories to determine if early recollections could be the distinguishing factor for career choice.  The results linked early recollections and career choices.  They found that nursing students had profound mother figures. Business students had strong family ties, but not as strong as nursing students did. Counseling students had more closely knit families than nursing or business students (Chung, 2002).

Adler-Birth Order

Adler believed that a person’s birth order had an effect on his/her personality as well. First born children seem to possess more artistic qualities. They also seem to have more traditional and conservative personalities. A study completed in 1970 examined birth order and vocation. The study compared creative writers and scientists. The findings supported that a greater percentage of first born and only children became scientists rather than creative writers.  A later study conducted in 1974 investigated how birth rates affected servicemen and women. The study was completed using 3,000 random participants. The findings showed that first born held higher ranks a greater number of times than latterborns. They believed these finding support Adler suggestions that first borns have a need for power and approval and fear failure (Farley, 1974).

Adler-Lifestyle

One’s lifestyle is largely influenced by social environmental experiences as a child. According to Adler, “Lifestyle is a complex construct encompassing multiple personality variables that determine an individual’s perceptions, understanding, beliefs of, and movement within the world in reaching perceived goal” ( Meissner, 2000  ). Lifestyle is a holistic construct of how a person interacts with the world around them. This interaction is influenced by how the person views themselves and others. Adler believed that a child’s early interests conveyed what type of lifestyle he/she would live later in life. The child’s level of interests would increase and decrease based upon the child’s perception of the attainability of the goal. Adler believed that an individual’s personality and character were formed between the ages of four to six. So, the environment of a child is very important during this age. They discover characteristics that may remain with them for life. For example.

“Students who possessed strong feelings of belonging and social interest as well as a strong striving for perfection exhibited greater self-efficacy than those who were not strong in these characteristics. Those students who were strong in belonging and social interest but less desirous of recognition also exhibited greater general self-efficacy than those who did not possess these characteristics.” (Chung, 2002)

Freud-Personality Types

On contrast to Adler, Freud believed that children progress through five stages of psychosexual development regardless to environment.  Human behavior is driven by instinct (Meissner, 2000). One of Freud leading examples of was the Oedipus Complex. Using this diagram, Freud conveys how repression plays a dominant role in personality. According to this diagram, boys and girls begin developing strong sexual desires around the age of five or six. However, this strong desire is directed to their mother and father. Hence, a rivalry begins. The boy competes with his father for the mother attention and the daughter competes with the mother for the father’s attention. In other words, human beings are born with certain instincts that become apparent when one wants or needs something. If this concept is so, there is really no good or evil, but reactions to natural stimuli. For example, Freud said:

“In reality, there is no such thing as ‘eradicating’ evil tendencies. Psychological – or, more strictly speaking, psycho-analytic – investigation shows instead that the deepest essence of human nature consists of instinctual impulses which are of an elementary nature, which are similar in all men and which aim at the satisfaction of certain primal needs. These impulses in themselves are neither good nor bad. We classify them and their expressions in that way, according to their relation to the needs and demands of the human community. It must be granted that all the impulses which society condemns as evil – let us take as representative the selfish and the cruel ones – are of this primitive kind” (Freud, 1957).

Cook-Greuter (2000) believes that Freud thought that the intellect was supposed to be a balance between impulses and drives for satisfaction. He believes that Freud hoped that humans possessed human rationality that could suppress these drives when negative outcomes were inevitable. This theory would explain the existence of serial killers and rapists. They have the desires to commit these crimes, but their intellect is not strong enough to suppress the drives. In Freud’s theory, he is explaining how intractable impulses can lead societies to war.

Freud-Mental Health

Fraud divided one’s mental health into two levels-unconscious and conscious. According to Freud, the unconscious is what contains all the urges and instincts that possess all human beings. These are the things that motivate one’s words, feelings, and actions. He believes that every human being is conscious of the overt behaviors, but may be unaware of the mental process that motivates them. Unconscious is unavailable to the conscious mind. Dreams, slips of the tongue, and other types of repression are proof that the unconscious exists (Freud, 1957).  The mind is further divided into three provinces-the Id, Ego, and Superego. Fraud maintains that the core of personality is completely unconscious and is referred to as the Id. It is derived from the impersonal pronoun meaning “the it” or the “not yet owned”. The Id has no contact with reality, but strives to satisfy one’s basic needs. The sole purpose of the Id is to seek pleasure. An example of the Id at work would be an infant. Infants are driven by pleasure impulses only.  The ego, on the other hand, is in contact with reality. During the transition from infancy, the Id transforms into the ego. According to Freud’s theory, the ego is the person’s only source of communication with the world. As the person ages, the ego is governed by what Freud calls the ‘reality principle’. This principle takes the place of the person Id. In some ways, the ego plays a mediator between the Id and the real world. A person may desire to do something that is pleasurable to him/her, but the ego reminds the person of the consequences of the action in reality. Finally, the superego is the part of a person’s personality that governs morals and idealistic principles. The superego grows out of the ego. In Freud’s theory, as a person grows and matures, the final stage they should reach is the superego.  Meissner (2000) sums it up by saying that the superego tells a person if his/her actions are appropriate or not. Freud does not specify any age for each stage (Meissner, 2000). So it is very possible to have a grown person in the Id stage-still making decisions based upon instincts.

Conclusion

Both Adler and Freud offered elaborate ideas about how personality is formed and how personality affects all aspects of one’s life. Adler believed that personality was influenced by a number of outside factors. On the other hand, Freud believed that one’s personality was inherently present from infancy. One’s personality was not affected by outside factors, but each person was merely trying to satisfy basic instincts. Although Adler and Freud were not able to agree on what personality is, they each developed theories that are still in practice today.

References

Bliss, W. D. (1970). Birth order of creative writers. Journal of Individual Psychology, 26(2), 200-202.

Chung, Y. B. (2002). Career decision-making self-efficacy and career commitment: Gender and ethnic differences among college students. Journal of Career Development, 28(4), 277-284

Cook-Greuter, S. R. (2000). Mature ego development: A gateway to ego transcendence? Journal of Adult Development, 7(4), 227-240.

Farley, F. H. (1974). Birth order, rank, and branch of service in the military. Journal of Individual Psychology 30(2), 227-231.

Freud, S. (1957). The unconscious. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The Standard Edition (Vol. 14, pp. 159-215). London: Hogarth. (Original work published 1915)

Meissner, W. W. (2000). The self as structural. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 23(3), 373-416.