Question

Pick either A, B or C and please answer the following:

A: Freud, Erikson and Margaret Mahler all conceptualized the infant personality from birth differently, with each conceptualizing different stages and theories for them. How did each of these thinkers conceptualize infant personality and development right after birth? What were similar between the three thinkers, and what was different? Go into detail.

B: Most psychoanalysts think that our personality could never be fully knowable and is irrational. Most trait theorists think that the human personality is knowable and rational. Why is this so? Cite reasons why to support your explanation. Go into detail.

C: Adler and Horney critiqued several of Freud’s claims around personality. What were their main critiques of Freud’s theory of personality and what did they posit in contrast? List several and go into detail.

Answer 1

As all ththese theorist defined the development of human being from infant stage. They all talked about personality development of how personality of a child develops thoughout the development years.

Freud was a great psychoanalyst of his time. He was the one who started the school of psychoanalyst. According to Freud, children go through a series of psychosocial stages to reach a fully developed adult personality. At every stage the child seeks pleasure and if he/she didn't get that pleasure, then their is fixation to that stage and that's why the development may get affectd ( Fixation is a concept given by Freud. It is the persistent focus on the earlier stage untill the conflict didn't get resolved). Freud gives the following psychosexual stages in his theory:

1. The oral stage= AGE: Birth to 1 year
2. The anal stage= AGE" 1 year to 3 year
3. The phallic stage= AGE: 3 year to 6 year
4. The latent stage= AGE: 6 year to puberty
5. The genital stage= AGE puberty to death

After Freud gives his psychosexual stages of development, Erik Erikson gives his psychosocial development of personality. As compared to the Freud, Erikson talked about the eight stages of development. During each stage the individual experiences a psychosocial crisis. These crisis are called psychosocial because the individual's psychological needs conflicting with the needs of the society.

Successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and failure at any stage can result in the reduced ability to complete further stages and leads to a unhealthy personality. The psychosocial stages given by Erikson are as follows:

1. Trust vs. mistrust= Birth to 18 months
2. Autonomy vs. shame and doubt= 18 months to 3 years
3. Initiative vs. guilt= 3 years to 5 years
4. Industry vs. inferiority = 5years to 12 years
5. Identity vs. role confusion = 12 years to 18 years
6. Intimacy vs. isolation = 18 years to 40 years
7. Generativity vs. stagnation = 40 years to 65 years
8. Ego integrity vs. despair = 65 years to death

Margaret Mahler, was a great contributor in ego psychology, a school of thought which is evolved from the Freud's concept of personality. She waas of the view that the main development of the individual occur in first few years of life. So, she gives her Separation-Individuation theory of child development. Here, Separation mean to say that the internal separation process of mental separation from mother and that of Individuationis, to developing self concept.

There are three stages in which Margaret define the process of development. These are:

1. Normal autistic stage = Birth to 1 month
2. Normal symbiotic phase = 1 to 5 months
3. Saparation-Individuation phase = 5 months to 3 years

As we have discussed all the three perspectives of the three scientists. Here are some similarities:

• They all talked about the personality development at different age levels.
• They all think that personality start developing from the first day of the child when it borns.
• Each theory has a high reliability and validity through the evidences and observations.
• They all talk about the healthy personality development if the child resolve the conflicts or do the proper learning at the earlier stage of development and disruption in normal development could lead to the maladaptive behavior.
• They all talk about the early experiences of the child build the overall personality.

Despite of these similarities, these thinker are different from each other.

Freud descibed that personallity development till the age of death but at final stage of psychosexual stage he took a very large group of age, while on the other hand, Erikson devide its last stage to further four stages and define them properly. Margaret only decribe the first 3 years of life. She was of the view that all the all the personality development occurs at this span of time. She only talk about the relationship of mother to the child and the good or bad effects of their relations to the personality of the child.