PERSONALI
TY
DEVELOPME
NT
PERSONALITY
DEVELOPMENT
Personality
development is
the improvement of the
organized pattern of
behaviors and attitudes
that makes a person
distinctive.
Personality: A person’s unique and
relatively stable behavior patterns;
the consistency of who you are, have
been, and will become
Character: Personal characteristics
that have been judged or evaluated.
Self-Concept: Your ideas, perceptions,
and feelings about who you are.
Self-Esteem: How we evaluate
ourselves; a positive self-evaluation
of ourselves.
Low Self-esteem: A negative self-
evaluation.
THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Freud was a Viennese physician who
thought his patients’ problems were more
emotional than physical.
Freud began his work by using hypnosis
and eventually switched to
psychoanalysis.
Freud had many followers: Jung and Adler,
to name a few.
Freud used cocaine and tobacco and died
from oral cancer.
More than 100 years later, his work is still
influential and very controversial.
Some Key Freudian Terms
Psyche: Freud’s term for the personality
Libido: Energy
Eros: Life instincts
Thanatos: Death instinct
According to Freud's model of the
psyche, the id is the primitive and
instinctual part of the mind that
contains sexual and aggressive drives
and hidden memories, the super-
ego operates as a moral conscience,
and the ego is the realistic part that
mediates between the desires of
the id and the super-ego.
PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Freud proposed that psychological development in childhood
takes place during five psychosexual stages: oral, anal,
phallic, latency, and genital. These are called psychosexual
stages because each stage represents the fixation of libido
(roughly translated as sexual drives or instincts) on a
different area of the body.
Oral Stage (Birth to 1 year)
In the first stage of personality development, the libido is
centered in a baby's mouth. It gets much satisfaction from
putting all sorts of things in its mouth to satisfy the libido,
and thus its id demands. Which at this stage in life are oral,
or mouth orientated, such as sucking, biting, and
breastfeeding.
Freud said oral stimulation could lead to an oral fixation in
later life. We see oral personalities all around us such as
smokers, nail-biters, finger-chewers, and thumb suckers.
Oral personalities engage in such oral behaviors, particularly
when under stress.
Anal Stage (1 – 3 years old)
The main source of gratification at this stage is the
ability to control bladder movement and the
elimination or retention of feces. A positive and
appropriate experience revolving around potty
training can encourage competence, creativity and
productivity in individuals. Contrarily, anal fixations
can translate into obsession with perfection, extreme
cleanliness, and control or the opposite which is
messiness and disorganization in adulthood.
Phallic Stage (3 – 6 years old)
At this Freud psychosexual stage, the focus of
pleasure is the genitals. Boys start to perceive their
father as rivals for their mother’s affections, while
girls feel similarly towards their mother. Fear of
punishment can lead to repression of feelings felt
toward the opposite sex parent. Fixation at this stage
may bring about sexual deviancy or weak sexual
identity.
Latency Period (6 years to puberty)
At this stage, sexual urges are usually
repressed and the individual spends most
of his/her time interacting with same sex
peers, engaging in hobbies and acquiring
skills.
Genital Stage (Puberty onward)
The focus at this Freud psychosexual stage
is on the sexual urges that are reawakened
and are directed toward opposite sex peers,
with genitals as the primary source of
pleasure. Individuals who completed the
earlier stages successfully become well-
adjusted, caring and secure individuals.
Defense mechanisms
are psychological
strategies that are
unconsciously used to
protect a person from
anxiety arising from
unacceptable thoughts
or feelings.
PERSONALITY TYPES AND OTHER CONCEPTS:
Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist who was a Freudian
disciple, believed that we are one of two personality
types:
Introvert: An introvert is often thought of as a quiet,
reserved, and thoughtful individual. They don't seek
out special attention or social engagements, as these
events can leave introverts feeling exhausted and
drained but some introvert who can be energized by
being alone.
-Shy, self-centered person whose attention is focused
inward.
Extrovert: is a person who is energized by being
around other people. Like being bold, outgoing
person whose attention is directed outward.