Question

to what extent do we continue to change and develop during adulthood? Which capacities appear to remain static during adulthood and which seem to be fluid? Classify them in reference to psychoanalytical theory.

Answer 1

Psychoanalytical theory of personality is developed by Sigmund Freud, according to this theory, human behavior is the result of the interaction between the id, superego, and ego. Where id represents instincts, superego represents morality, the ego represents reality.

According to his perspective, the child is born with the libido that is a desire for sexual activity; if the child completes these stages successfully psychologically he will be a successful adult.

Biologically a person can be mature and adult by the age of 16. Legally a person is an adult when he completes the age of 18. Adulthood is divided into early adulthood 20-40 years, middle adulthood 40 to 60-65 years and late adulthood is 65 onwards.

Throughout adulthood the body undergoes changes and the human being keeps on learning through his experiences and interactions. There are two types of intelligence fluid and crystallized intelligence the fluid intelligence peak during adolescence and start declining progressively around the age of 30 to 40. Fluid intelligence is the ability to deals with the problems logically and without referring to the pre-existing knowledge, this is the period of early adulthood when the person is learning and settings goal in his life developing a family. It starts declining because it is rooted in psychological functioning.

The crystallized intelligence is statistic it grows with age, it is the ability to use the previously acquired knowledge that one gains through his education and experiences. It is either maintained or increased as one age because the experiences and knowledge acquired are always useful.

The psychoanalytical theory says if the child completes all the stages of libido that is sexual activities and desire he becomes successful because there is no negative experience with him. The psychoanalytical theory says the mind is divided into the conscious and subconscious mind. The childhood experiences remain in the sub-conscious mind and its negative effect on adulthood in the form of psychological disorders.

The human behavior is the result of id, ego, and superego, which helps in developing human behavior if the person uses his fluid intelligence that is at peak during adolescence that deals with the situation logically he can control his ego. The ego satisfies the demand of id that is immediate satisfaction, if there are no negative consequences exist. With this, the human earns experiences and knowledge that remain as the static or crystalized intelligence and grows with time.