Question

Explain the Psychodynamic and Humanistic views of personality. What are some advantages and disadvantages of each?

In a paragraph please, thank you

Answer 1

The Psychodynamic view of personality was developed by Freud. He believed that a person's action or overt personality was always a result of the underlying unconscious motives. He said that though the person might not be aware of these driving forces, any action or reaction he has, is an otcome of those forces. He believed that a person's personality was guided by aggression and his sexual urges. He also said a person's personality depended upon how they passed through their developmental stages - oral,anal, phallic, etc. If a person was fixated at one stage, the consequences of the fixation would be shown in his personality. For example, a person who is fixated at the anal stage would have a very rigid life.
The Humanistic view however, has a more optimistic view of personality. They say that a person is in direct control of his life, and can make his life into whatever he wants it to become. If an unhappy person wants to become happy, he surely can provided he adops certain skills and techniques into his life. The Humanistic approach also accepted a person on the whole, including the flaws which were considered to be natural. Unlike the Psychodynamic approach, the Humanistic view believes that a personality is a life long development and cannot be based on a few factors alone.