NEO-FREUDIANS
• At first, Freud’s ideas were met with resistance and ridicule by the growing
community of doctors and psychologists.
• Eventually, a number of early psychoanalysts, objecting to Freud’s
emphasis on biology and particularly on sexuality, broke away from a strict
interpretation of psychoanalytic theory, instead altering the focus of
psychoanalysis (the term Freud applied to both his explanation of the
workings of the unconscious mind and the development of personality and
the therapy he based on that theory) to the impact of the social
environment.
• At the same time, they retained many of Freud’s original concepts such as
the id, ego, superego, and defense mechanisms. These early
psychoanalysts became the neo-Freudians, or “new” Freudian
psychoanalysts.
Carl Gustav Jung
• JUNG(“YOONG”) disagreed with Freud about the nature of the unconscious
mind. Jung believed the unconscious held much more than personal fears,
urges, and memories. He believed there was not only a personal
unconscious, as described by Freud, but a collective unconscious
• According to Jung, the collective unconscious contains a kind of “species”
memory, memories of ancient fears and themes that seem to occur in
many folktales and cultures.
• These collective, universal human memories were called archetypes by
Jung. There are many archetypes, but two of the more well known are the
anima/animus (the feminine side of a man/the masculine side of a woman)
and the shadow (the dark side of personality, called the “devil” in Western
cultures). The side of one’s personality shown to the world is termed the
persona.
• Some of Freud's followers stayed in the psychoanalytic tradition and modified Freud's
theories from within. Women, as you might imagine, were not too pleased about “penis
envy.”
• Clara Thompson (1943/1973) and Karen Horney [HORN-eye] (1926/1973) argued that it
was insulting and unscientific to claim that half the human race is dissatisfied with its
anatomy.
• When women feel inferior to men, they said, we should look for explanations in the
disadvantages that women live with and their second-class status. Other psychoanalysts
broke away from Freud, or were actively rejected by him, and went off to start their own
schools.
• Jungian Theory Carl Jung (1875–1961) was originally one of Freud's closest friends and a
member of his inner circle, but the friendship ended with a furious quarrel about the
nature of the unconscious. In addition to the individual's own unconscious, said Jung
(1967), all human beings share a vast collective unconscious, containing universal
memories, stories, symbols, and images, which he called archetypes.
Alfred ADLER
• Alfred Adler was also in disagreement with Freud over the
importance of sexuality in personality development. Adler (1954)
developed the theory that as young, helpless children, people all
develop feelings of inferiority when comparing themselves to the
more powerful, superior adults in their world.
• The driving force behind all human endeavors, emotions, and
thoughts for Adler was not the seeking of pleasure but the seeking of
superiority. The defense mechanism of compensation, in which
people try to overcome feelings of inferiority in one area of life by
striving to be superior in another area, figured prominently in Adler’s
theory personality.
• In contrast to most of the other psychological theories covered in this
text, individual psychology is not a depth psychology; that is, it does
not postulate intangible forces and constructs deep within the
psyche.
• “to be a human being means the possession of a feeling of inferiority
that is constantly pressing on towards its own conquest” (Adler, 1938)
• In the continuing struggle for security the person is impelled to
conquer current reality in an effort to secure a better future, an
“impulse toward upward development.”
• Firstborn children with younger siblings feel inferior once those
younger siblings get all the attention and often overcompensate by
becoming overachievers.
• Middle children have it slightly easier, getting to feel superior over
the dethroned older child while dominating younger siblings. They
tend to be very competitive.
• Younger children are supposedly pampered and protected but feel
inferior because they are not allowed the freedom and responsibility
of the older children.
• Although some researchers have found evidence to support Adler’s
birth order theory, and some have even linked birth order to career
choices other researchers point to sloppy methodology and the bias
of researchers toward the birth order idea. In what has been referred
to as the most thorough study of birth order and personality to date,
evidence strongly suggests birth order has very little to no significant
impact on personality development and only a tiny influence on the
development of our intellect
• In the end, birth order is only an influence (albeit, according to Adler,
a major influence on the style of life) rather than an absolute
determinant of an individual’s behavior. So-called birth order
characteristics are probabilities only