The next few blog posts will cover a number of different personality theories whereby I will attempt to account for my own behaviour and personality. I'm a bit of a weirdo so I am very interested to see how different theorists go about explaining why I am the way I am.
First up is the psychoanalytic approach. This personality theory entails that the personality is largely structured around that which is within the realm of unconscious. The main theorist associated with this approach is Sigmund Freud. He is probably the most well-known psychologist of all time - the old guy sitting in a chair listening to someone lying on a chaise? That's Freud.
What I find interesting about Freud, before I begin to divulge on his theory, is that he was a serious cocaine addict and initially became famous in regards to his research thereof. He was also very much a sexually minded being and a tad bit of a chauvinist - you'll soon find out why I say that when I start talking about his theories.
Freud claimed that our behaviour is caused by different 'drives' or instincts - particularly a life and a death drive. Yes, apparently we have an instinct that is basically a wish to die (but it's usually manifested in aggression) which opposes the life drive i.e. survival, development, etc. Our life drives consist of 'ego drives'and 'sexual drives' - that'll be made clear through the rest of the stuff Freud has to say. He believed that everybody has three levels of consciousness - conscious, pre-conscious and unconscious. Pretty simple. Furthermore he theorised about what he called the Id, Ego and Superego. This is where things get kind of fun.
The Id refers to the innate, primitive part of you that is responsible for all your bodily drives. Basically the Id is the stupid, selfish part of a person that is obsessed with the gratification of desires. It's the "I want, I want. Gimme, gimme" part of you. The superego can be equally as stupid but on the other side of the spectrum. The superego can be recognised as one's conscience as it's the part of us that harshly insists on moral behaviour. So it's the little voice inside of you saying "No, don't do that! You can't do that!" and blah blah... It's like you have a third parent constantly scolding you and telling you what to do according to moral codes represented in one's society. So one is crazily selfish and one is exceedingly socially conscious. To kind of mediate between our desires and our conscience, we have the Ego. The Ego operates within the realm of reality - it's the part of you that is telling everything to shut up and calm down. The poor Ego has to juggle the demands of both the id and the superego as well as your actual reality. In short, the little people inside of your head are pretty much just as strange as you are.
So Freud and his psychosexual stages of personality development... At first I found some of this really weird and almost outlandish but when I started applying it to my own childhood it kind of began to make a bit more sense to me. This is the part where you're going to learn why I am the weirdo that I am according to Freudian theory. I'm only really going to focus on certain aspects that are reflective of my own personality so if you're interested, just Google Freud's theory of development or comment on this post and I'll fill you in if I can.
The first stage of personality development is known as the oral stage which cover approximately the first 18 months of one's life. This is the stage where the erogenous zone(area where sexual pleasure is experienced). It seems weird that a child or a baby can be thought of as being sexual in any way but that's Freud for you. Anyway, this relates to the development of my personality in that I was prematurely weaned from the breast and put onto a bottle. This was because my paediatrician thought that I was 'eating' (drinking or whatever) too much and in order to curb that, I needed to be put on a bottle. This doesn't really sound like a negative thing at all yet it can account for certain behavioural developments that I have carried with me through to this very day.
According to Freud, this has resulted in my personality being characterised by 'oral fixation'(MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER NOW). This can be seen through the fact that I had a dummy/ pacifier until the age of about 4 and I've struggled with overeating and subsequent eating for a very long time. There are typically two types of oral fixation - oral passive (dependent) type and oral aggressive (sadistic) type. Strangely enough, I show characteristics of both types but more obviously for oral passive type. Passive types typically arise from permissive and/or excessive oral gratification (my drinking too much milk as a baby) and this has lead to the following characteristics that I presumably have now as a result: gullible, appeasing, approval or attention seeking and mothering. When I first read that I was shocked as to how well I could apply that to my own developmental situation. Furthermore the aggressive type of oral fixation, which presumably came about as a result of being prematurely put on a bottle, can be held responsible for the following characteristics of mine: pessimistic, manipulative, exploitative and masochistic. It's so strange how it kind of makes sense in my head... What is even weirder is that according to Freud, so much of the things that I have to deal with now as a young adult have come about as a result of things that I experienced all before I was two years old.
Thankfully, I seem to have worked through all the demands of the second stage - the anal stage (18 to 36 months) which refers to the time in a child's development where they are being potty trained and are innately developing the ability of self control. According to my mom, I was no problem in that department... Perfect child, whaaaat? Ha, I can think of many examples of people who definitely didn't work through this stage of development properly...
Next is the phallic stage (3 to 7 years of age) which to be honest I didn't quite relate to at all. This is where it is very clear just how sexist Freud actually was. Freud describes boys as having the Oedipus complex which is a phase where they love and wish to marry their mothers. I've seen that situation before so I can't say that it is at all absurd or unthinkable - it is its converse that I find somewhat laughable i.e. so ludicrous that it is to be amusing. Freud claims that females at this age go through what is known as the Electra complex... Also known as penis envy. I've read this aspect and the subsequent explanations in my textbook, my two different sets of notes and I've listened to it in my lectures and in Youtube videos regarding Freud - every time I see or hear this I can't help but think "FACEPALM". Because personally? I have never had penis envy and I think the idea is perfectly hilarious. To think that girls between the age of 3 and 7 go through what is known as 'castration anxiety' is just insane... I loved being a girl at that age. I don't know how reliable my memory is but I don't remember being in any way envious of someone else's body parts. I was too busy climbing trees and causing trouble, etc. If you've experienced this aspect of Freud's theory or know of a case... please feel free to comment because I find this stuff interesting and I would love to gain knowledge in an area where I am ignorant.
There is a latent stage from the age of 7 until puberty after which we get the genital stage. This stage presumably characterises our lives from puberty onward. This is the time in our lives where we begin to focus on establishing intimate relationships, learning to work and postponing gratification as well as learning responsibility. So this is the stage that you and I are in... unless you're a highly intelligent 7 year old reading my blog? Anyway, hopefully I won't mess up this stage of development too much and I hope to be able to control my behavioural characteristics that have resulted from previous developmental stages.
I'm not saying I'm a Freudian... I honestly think that it would take a serious amount of convincing from a very educated source for me to ever actually properly considering the prospect for choosing to be one. Somehow Freud's belief that women are anatomically, psychologically, morally and culturally inferior to men is a tad off-putting.
He was definitely an interesting read though and no doubt contributed largely and fundamentally to modern psychotherapy. You go, Sig!
Meh, I'm a weirdo.
--J.
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