Theories of Understanding

Theories of Personalities
Nicole Morris
University of Phoenix
PSY/405
Karen Lundstorm
March 25, 2013

Theories of Personalities Finding a psychologist who has not been influenced Sigmund Freud is almost next to impossible, as he is viewed as one founding fathers of the study, discipline and science of psychology. By pushing the boundaries of what was expected when it comes to studying the mind and what is considered an acceptable discipline, Freud has provided vast amounts of knowledge to the field of psychology. Freud has impacted every person who has chosen the field of psychology by pioneering the study of pushing a person’s mind to the limits of what was thought to be possible an as a effect of this is a constant reference to those who have followed Freud into the field of psychological study. This paper will discuss one of the many people who have been influenced by Dr. Sigmund Freud positively in their career in psychology. Topics that will also be discussed within this paper is where the two theorist ideas split and begin to differ, despite the respect that is given to Freud his ideas and theories have become merely stepping stones for other theorist over time. The theorists in question, that will be discussed is Carl Jung, and while was influenced by Freud he did break away from Freud’s ideas and develop his own theories to further the study of psychology. Prior to Jung going his own way and working on improving his own theories he and Freud had developed an extremely strong friendship, in fact it was their theoretical differences that destroyed their friendship. Prior to the split of the friendship Freud heavily influenced Jung’s work, in fact both of their ideas and work was quite similar when Jung first began working in the field of psychology. Due to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory being not only the earliest but also the most defined theory in regards to personality, it intrigued Jung who was just starting out in the field. In fact Jung and Freud’s friendship began because Jung would go to see Freud in order to discuss his works (San Francisco State University, n.d.). The work of both Jung and Freud was strongly based on the idea of behavior being determined by the unconscious and they both believed in the process of the unconscious, however, this is where the similarities ended in regards to personality development. Jung believed that personality development was dependent on the conscious mind while Freud was adamant that more emphasis needed to be placed on the unconscious mind. They were both in agreement in regards to the importance of our dreams and how they can be interpreted and be meaningful. The fact may be Jung’s introduction to Freud and his work may very well have started with dreams and the theories behind them. Jung actually quoted Freud on three separate occasions in his thesis regarding the occult phenomena, referencing Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) (Byington, 2005). The reason that Jung may have been drawn to Freud and ultimately influenced by his work is that they both had very similar childhoods, both Jung and Freud had their own personal parental issues that became a prevalent part of the theories they created. The prime example to this is of course Freud’s Oedipus Complex; which is reflected on his family due to the significant age difference between his mother and father. While Jung’s family issues were religious differences (Byington, 2005). As with all psychologists Freud and Jung disagreed on many things and had many different theories on how a person’s personality was structured or developed. Referencing his Oedipus Complex, Freud believed that the personality was broken down into three distinct pieces that conflict with one another: the id, the ego and the super ego. Freud believed that the id contains our drive and ambition, the super ego consists of our moral lessons and ego is the moderator between the two and he believed that the personality will be developed by the time we reached age five or six. Jung’s concept also has a person’s personality split in three; however he explains it very differently to Freud. The way in which Jung’s theory splits the human psyche is that is concentrates on the ego or the conscious mind. Jung’s theory is that the human psyche is a collective conscious or instinctive knowledge that we are all born with (Pierce, 2007). The theory of splitting a person’s personalities shows us that Jung and Freud differed on the importance of the required emphasis needed on early years of growth. Jung did not see any reason for this while Freud was adamant about the necessity of concentrating on the early developing years. However, one reason that Jung did not agree with Freud was that he simply viewed life as a sequence of periods labeled by the different uses of psychic energy. Jung greatly disagreed with the sexual emphasis that Freud began using to develop some of his very influential personality theories. Jung was les mechanistic and empirical in his theories than Freud and his methods differed extremely from Freud’s. Jung based his theories on occult, historic and artistic evidence and he referenced ancient literary works which reflected all of the common archetypes of the collective unconscious mind (San Francisco State University, n.d.). One of the other ways in which Jung and Freud differed in the theories is in their views on free will and deterministic. Due to the fact that his work concentrated on and relied so heavily on the early stages of development Freud believed that much of our actions, reactions and responses would cause us to be deterministic. Jung’s work on the other hand very often reflected his religious beliefs and Christianity so he took a much more spiritual approach to the free will versus deterministic idea. While Jung did believe in free will for the most part he considered the idea behind free will to be something that a person could not actually control. "The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him. As a human being he may have moods and a will and personal aims, but as an artist he is "man" in a higher sense - he is "collective man," a vehicle and moulder of the unconscious psychic life of mankind" (Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), n.d.). As was previously stated Freud believed greatly that our personalities reached their full culmination by the time we reached the age of five or six. Basically Freud believed that everything that we came in contact with in our early years of development would structure our personalities to what they would be as adults. However, Jung believed that our personalities developed over time and though various stages of growth our personalities would become more and more structured to what they would finally develop into. Jung did agree that youth was important but disagreed with Freud about youth being the only determining factor in personality development. Despite all of these different theories however, it cannot be argued that Freud did influence Jung in the field of psychology and Jung is just one of many others who have been influence by the great mind of Sigmund Freud. He has been instrumental in the discovery of the mind as well as progressing and advancing the studies used in exploring the mind and all its mysteries. Freud has been a motivation to so many in his field, not only does he influence them he motivates them to takes he ideas future, aiding research and discoveries along the way. Carl Jung is just one of the many who began with a simple fascination to study the mind under the wing of Sigmund Freud and later took what he learned from Freud to develop his own theories and concepts. Carl Jung took ideas and theories that were similar to that of Freud’s and branched out to develop his own theories thus providing even more advance studies into the field of psychology. Despite the ending of their friendship and the separate theories of how the mind works, it cannot be denied that Sigmund Freud had huge impact on Carl Jung’s beginnings as well as many others in the field of psychology.
References
Byington, C. (2005). FREUD AND JUNG: What Emotion did not allow to Unite. Retrieved from http://www.carlosbyington.com.br/downloads/artigos/en/freud_and_jungin.pdf
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://jodoncarty.tripod.com/page1004.html
Pierce, M. J. (2007). The Life of Carl G. Jung and His Contributions to Psychology. Retrieved from http://m-j-pierce.quazen.com/reference/biography/the-life-of-carl-g-jung-and-his-contributions-to-psychology/
San Francisco State University. (n.d.). MODULE 4Other Theories of Personality. Retrieved from http://online.sfsu.edu/psych200/unit12/124.htm

References: Byington, C. (2005). FREUD AND JUNG: What Emotion did not allow to Unite. Retrieved from http://www.carlosbyington.com.br/downloads/artigos/en/freud_and_jungin.pdf Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://jodoncarty.tripod.com/page1004.html Pierce, M. J. (2007). The Life of Carl G. Jung and His Contributions to Psychology. Retrieved from http://m-j-pierce.quazen.com/reference/biography/the-life-of-carl-g-jung-and-his-contributions-to-psychology/ San Francisco State University. (n.d.). MODULE 4Other Theories of Personality. Retrieved from http://online.sfsu.edu/psych200/unit12/124.htm