The Freud vs. Neo-Freudians

What do you think the world’s most complex creature is? Let us think for a moment. Have an idea? Human beings! Yes, human beings are one of the most complex creatures in the world. Why is that? We are complex creatures because for centuries scientist have worked rigorously on understanding the body and mind. As we see from today’s medicine and technology the blood, sweat, and tears of the scientist and doctors from back in the day were not in vain.

For decades, scientist and doctors have been trying to along with uncovering the functions of the human brain/mind and how it connects and influences ones’ personality. Professionals who study the human brain/mind are known as psychologist.

Thesis Statement

This paper will contain information about the father of psychological theories called psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud and three other psychologists who started with Freud’s theories, but then broke away to expand their own theories on psychoanalysis. The three are Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Erik Erikson; Neo-Freudians.

Freud

Sigmund Freud is known for his contributed work in the field of psychology through his psychoanalytic theory of personality. He emphasized on the importance of human beings’ unconscious mind. That the ones’ unconscious mind governs and influences their behavior to a certain degree which the individual may not be aware of. Freud uses an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind. These levels are; consciousness which are thoughts a person is currently aware of (tip of the iceberg), preconscious is the retrievable information (center), and lastly the unconscious which are thoughts that cannot be easily brought into awareness (bottom of the iceberg that is not easily visible).

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Neo-Freudians

Even though his work has increased the curiosity of other psychologist within the field there were many who criticized his work theories specifically for it having limited focus and diversity. Other psychologist started off with Freud’s theory then bridged off it to explore other options and reasons; their very own theories. These psychologists are known as Neo-Freudians. One Neo-Freudian has opposed and rejected Freud’s theory as it was limited and mainly focused on the sexuality of humans, but Erik Erikson brought his own unique theory to the field of psychology; personality psychology.

Carl Jung

•  History of Carl Jung along with his relationship with Freud.
•  Personal Unconscious
• Collective Unconscious
•  Introversive Type
•  Extraversive Type
• Alfred Adler
•  History of Alfred Adler along with his relationship with Freud.
•  Strive for Superiority
•  Birth Order Theory
•  Inferiority Complex
• Erik Erikson
•  History of Erik Erikson along with relationship he had with Freud.
• Life-Span Development Theory
• Eight Stages of Human Development
• Trust vs. Mistrust
•  Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
•  Initiative vs. Guilt
•  Industry vs. Inferiority
•  Identity vs. Identity Confusion
•  Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Generativity vs. Stagnation
• Integrity vs. Despair
• (Go in depth with each stage)

Conclusion

What was the worlds’ most complex creatures again? Human beings, well their mind to be exact. Every human being was created and crafted uniquely not one is the exact same not even twins. Even though Freud started it all with trying to understand human being’s personality his train of thought along with his box of thought was just too short and small for me. I guess I can say that lean more towards the Neo-Freudian’s side and their theories. Each of the three explored and took their own theories a mile further which two out of the three I find myself relating to.

References

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