Freud's Theory And The Biological Approach example essay topic

Personality Theories Psychodynamic theoristsAndHumanistic theories Table of ContentsFreudJungAdlerRogersMaslowHumanistic strengths and weakness Psychodynamic strengths and weakness Some similarities of both Web Resources Freud Biography Biography Sigmund Freud was born May 6, 1856, in a small town -- Freiberg -- in Moravia. His father was a wool merchant with a keen mind and a good sense of humor. His mother was a lively woman, her husband's second wife and 20 years younger. She was 21 years old when she gave birth to her first son, her darling, Sigmund. Sigmund had two older half-brothers and six younger siblings. When he was four or five -- he wasn't sure -- the family moved to Vienna, where he lived most of his life.

A brilliant child, always at the head of his class, he went to medical school, one of the few viable options for a bright Jewish boy in Vienna those days. There, he became involved in research under the direction of a physiology professor named Ernst Br"u cke. Br"u cke believed in what was then a popular, if radical, notion, which we now call reductionism: 'No other forces than the common physical-chemical ones are active within the organism. ' Freud would spend many years trying to 'reduce' personality to neurology, a cause he later gave up on. Freud was very good at his research, concentrating on neurophysiology, even inventing a special cell-staining technique.

But only a limited number of positions were available, and there were others ahead of him. Br"u cke helped him to get a grant to study, first with the great psychiatrist Charcot in Paris, then with his rival Bernheim in Nancy. Both these gentlemen were investigating the use of hypnosis with hysterics. After spending a short time as a resident in neurology and director of a children's ward in Berlin, he came back to Vienna, married his fianc " ee of many years Martha Bernays, and set up a practice in neuropsychiatry, with the help of Joseph Breuer. Freud's books and lectures brought him both fame and ostracism from the mainstream of the medical community. He drew around him a number of very bright sympathizers who became the core of the psychoanalytic movement.

Unfortunately, Freud had a penchant for rejecting people who did not totally agree with him. Some separated from him on friendly terms; others did not, and went on to found competing schools of thought. Freud emigrated to England just before World War II when Vienna became an increasing dangerous place for Jews, especially ones as famous as Freud. Not long afterward, he died of the cancer of the mouth and jaw that he had suffered from for the last 20 years of his lifeJungBiographyCarl Gustav Jung was born July 26, 1875, in the small Swiss village of Kessewil. His father was Paul Jung, a country parson, and his mother was Emilie Preis werk Jung. He was surrounded by a fairly well educated extended family, including quite a few clergymen and some eccentrics as well.

The elder Jung started Carl on Latin when he was six years old, beginning a long interest in language and literature -- especially ancient literature. Besides most modern western European languages, Jung could read several ancient ones, including Sanskrit, the language of the original Hindu holy books. Carl was a rather solitary adolescent, who didn't care much for school, and especially couldn't take competition. He went to boarding school in Basel, Switzerland, where he found himself the object of a lot of jealous harassment. He began to use sickness as an excuse, developing an embarrassing tendency to faint under pressure.

Although his first career choice was archeology, he went on to study medicine at the University of Basel. While working under the famous neurologist Krafft-E bing, he settled on psychiatry as his career. After graduating, he took a position at the Burghoeltzli Mental Hospital in Zurich under Eugene Bl euler, an expert on (and the namer of) schizophrenia. In 1903, he married Emma Rauschenbach. He also taught classes at the University of Zurich, had a private practice, and invented word association at this time!

Long an admirer of Freud, he met him in Vienna in 1907. The story goes that after they met, Freud canceled all his appointments for the day, and they talked for 13 hours straight, such was the impact of the meeting of these two great minds! Freud eventually came to see Jung as the crown prince of psychoanalysis and his heir apparent. But Jung had never been entirely sold on Freud's theory. Their relationship began to cool in 1909, during a trip to America. They were entertaining themselves by analyzing each others' dreams (more fun, apparently, than shuffleboard), when Freud seemed to show an excess of resistance to Jung's efforts at analysis.

Freud finally said that they'd have to stop because he was afraid he would lose his authority! Jung felt rather insulted. World War I was a painful period of self-examination for Jung. It was, however, also the beginning of one of the most interesting theories of personality the world has ever seen. After the war, Jung traveled widely, visiting, for example, tribal people in Africa, America, and India. He retired in 1946, and began to retreat from public attention after his wife died in 1955.

He died on June 6, 1961, in Zurich. Personality Theories Psychodynamic theoristsAndHumanistic theoriesAdlerAlfred Adler was born in the suburbs of Vienna on February 7, 1870, the third child, second son, of a Jewish grain merchant and his wife. As a child, Alfred developed rickets, which kept him from walking until he was four years old. At five, he nearly died of pneumonia. It was at this age that he decided to be a physician. Alfred was an average student and preferred playing outdoors to being cooped up in school.

He was quite outgoing, popular, and active, and was known for his efforts at outdoing his older brother, Sigmund. He received a medical degree from the University of Vienna in 1895. During his college years, he became attached to a group of socialist students, among which he found his wife-to-be, Rais sa Timofeyewna Epstein. She was an intellectual and social activist who had come from Russia to study in Vienna. They married in 1897 and eventually had four children, two of whom became psychiatrists. He began his medical career as an, but he soon switched to general practice, and established his office in a lower-class part of Vienna, across from the Prater, a combination amusement park and circus.

His clients included circus people, and it has been suggested (Furtmuller, 1964) that the unusual strengths and weaknesses of the performers led to his insights into organ and compensation. He then turned to psychiatry, and in 1907 was invited to join Freud's discussion group. After writing papers on organic inferiority, which were quite compatible with Freud's views, he wrote, first, a paper concerning an aggression instinct, which Freud did not approve of, and then a paper on children's feelings of inferiority, which suggested that Freud's sexual notions be taken more metaphorically than literally. Although Freud named Adler the president of the Viennese Analytic Society and the co-editor of the organization's newsletter, Adler didn't stop his criticism. A debate between Adler's supporters and Freud's was arranged, but it resulted in Adler, with nine other members of the organization, resigning to form the Society for Free Psychoanalysis in 1911. This organization became The Society for Individual Psychology in the following year.

During World War I, Adler served as a physician in the Austrian Army, first on the Russian front, and later in a children's hospital. He saw first hand the damage that war does, and his thought turned increasingly to he concept of social interest. He felt that if humanity was to survive, it had to change its ways! After the war, he was involved in various projects, including clinics attached to state schools and the training of teachers. In 1926, he went to the United States to lecture, and he eventually accepted a visiting position at the Long Island College of Medicine. In 1934, he and his family left Vienna forever.

On May 28, 1937, during a series of lectures at Aberdeen University, he died of a heart attack. Rogers Carl Rogers was born January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, the fourth of six children. His father was a successful civil engineer and his mother was a housewife and devout Christian. His education started in the second grade, because he could already read before kindergarten. When Carl was 12, his family moved to a farm about 30 miles west of Chicago, and it was here that he was to spend his adolescence.

With a strict upbringing and many chores, Carl was to become rather isolated, independent, and self-disciplined. He went on the the University of Wisconsin as a agriculture major. Later, he switched to religion to study for the ministry. During this time, he was selected as one of ten students to go to Beijing for the "World Student Christian Federation Conference" for six months. He tells us that his new experiences so broadened his thinking that he began to doubt some of his basic religious views.

After graduation, he married Helen Elliot (against his parents' wishes), moved to New York City, and began attending the Union Theological Seminary, a famous liberal religious institution. While there, he took a student organized seminar called "Why am I entering the ministry?" I might as well tell you that, unless you want to change your career, never take a class with such a title! He tells us that most of the participants "thought their way right out of religious work". Religion's loss was, of course, psychology's gain: Rogers switched to the cl ini cal psychology program of Columbia University, and received his Ph. D. in 1931. He had already begun his clinical work at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. At this clinic, he learned about Otto Rank's theory and therapy techniques, which started him on the road to developing his own approach.

He was offered a full professorship at Ohio State in 1940. In 1942, he wrote his first book, Counseling and Psychotherapy. Then, in 1945, he was invited to set up a counseling center at the University of Chicago. It was while working there that in 1951 he published his major work, Client-Centered Therapy, wherein he outlines his basic theory. In 1957, he returned to teach at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. Unfortunately, it was a time of conflict within their psychology department, and Rogers became very disillusioned with higher education.

In 1964, he was happy to accept a research position in La Jolla, California. He provided therapy, gave speeches, and wrote, until his death in 1987. Maslow Abraham Harold Maslow was born April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the first of seven children born to his parents, who themselves were uneducated Jewish immigrants from Russia. His parents, hoping for the best for their children in the new world, pushed him hard for academic success. Not surprisingly, he became very lonely as a boy, and found his refuge in books.

To satisfy his parents, he first studied law at the City College of New York (CCNY). After three semesters, he transferred to Cornell, and then back to CCNY. He married Bertha Goodman, his first cousin, against his parents wishes. Abe and Bertha went on to have two daughters. He and Bertha moved to Wisconsin so that he could attend the University of Wisconsin. Here, he became interested in psychology, and his school work began to improve dramatically.

He spent time there working with Harry Harlow, who is famous for his experiments with baby rhesus monkeys and attachment behavior. He received his BA in 1930, his MA in 1931, and his PhD in 1934, all in psychology, all from the University of Wisconsin. A year after graduation, he returned to New York to work with E.L. Thorndike at Columbia, where Maslow became interested in research on human sexuality. He began teaching full time at Brooklyn College. During this period of his life, he came into contact with the many European intellectuals that were immigrating to the US, and Brooklyn in particular, at that time -- people like Adler, Fromm, Horney, as well as several Gestalt and Freudian psychologists. In 1951, Maslow served as the chair of the psychology department at Brandeis for 10 years, where he met Kurt Goldstein (who introduced him to the idea of self-actualization) and began his own theoretical work.

It was also here that he began his crusade for a humanistic psychology -- something ultimately much more important to him than his own theorizing. He spend his final years in semi-retirement in California, until, on June 8 1970, he died of a heart attack after years of ill health. Humanistic strengths and weakness Strengths and Weaknesses of Humanistic Theory Strengths of Humanistic Theory. Like every theory, some people find the humanistic approach to be valid while others see it for the numerous inherent flaws. Some of the strengths of this theory include the focus on both the positive nature of humankind and the free will associated with change.

Unlike Freud's theory and the biological approach, which focus on determinism or our lack of power over ourselves, Maslow and others see the individual as very powerful. A second positive aspect of humanistic theory is the ease in which many of its aspects fit well with other approaches. Many therapists have adopted a humanistic undertone in their work with clients. While they may argue humanistic theory does not go far enough, they see the benefit of the core components in helping people change. Finally, most have seen the benefits of humanism carries over into different professions. If you take a health class, you are likely to discuss Maslow's hierarchy.

If you study economic or business, you will also focus on moving upward in our lives in order to be more aware of who we are and where we fit in with the world. The same holds true with other professions, including literature, criminology, and history, among others, as the basics of humanistic thought strike an undertone in all of what is considered human. Weaknesses of Humanistic Theory. With the good, always comes the bad, and this theory is no different. The biggest criticism of humanistic thought appears to center around it's lack of concrete treatment approaches aimed at specific issues. With the basic concept behind the theory being free will, it is difficult to both develop a treatment technique and study the effectiveness of this technique.

Secondly, there are those who believe humanistic theory falls short in it's ability to help those with more sever personality or mental health pathology. While it may show positive benefits for a minor issue, using the approach of Roger's to treat schizophrenia would seem ludicrous. Finally, humanistic theory makes some generalizations about human nature that are not widely accepted as complete. Are people basically good or are their some individuals who are not capable of this? Can we adequately argue that everyone follows the same levels as Maslow explained, or are these levels, and even what they stand for, be determined by the individual?

Why do some people seem to make negative choices even when positive solutions are staring them in the face? These questions plague humanistic thought and the difficulty in researching the theory does not provide any freedom. Despite these problems, humanistic theory has been incorporated into many differing views on psychotherapy and human change. Many argue now that a humanistic undertone in treatment provides a nice foundation for change.

While it may not be sufficient, it may still be necessary for a significant personality change to occur. Psychodynamic strengths and weakness Strengths: improving psychology's scientific status, conditioning being a useful explanation of learning and the way aspects of memory, language and social behaviour work. The development of behaviour therapy, which is a successful method for treating phobias and other problems. Weaknesses: mechanistic and oversimplified in its complete disregard of mental processes, limited to simple learning explanations, environmentally deterministic, over-reliant on animal research, shallow therapeutically - treating the symptom but not the cause Similarities of both Although the theorists we studied showed great differences, there were also some underlying similarities: 1. The importance of early childhood development, and especially the ability to establish healthy relationships with both parents. Freud, Jung, Adler, Rogers, Horney, & Maslow all believed childhood experience was a fundamental determiner of adult personality.

Rogers call for 'unconditional positive regard' (unconditional love) drives this point home nicely. In order to develop the capacity for love and empathy, we must be shown love and empathy early on. Important General Agreements among personality theorists 2. The fundamental importance of society in shaping personality. Adler, Jung, and Horney were among the first to point out the fundamental importance of society in the creation and maintenance of psychological health (or un health). Just as war can lead to an increased acceptance of violence, extended periods of peace can lead to an increased acceptance of cooperation and pro social behavior.

3. The ability of the human to alter aspects of their personality. Although none of the theorists state that this is an easy goal, most theorists we examined (Freud being the most pessimistic exception) believed that humans have a tendency towards psychological growth and mental health which can be encouraged. 4.

The understanding that multiple viewpoints (or subjective perceptions) exist, and we must understand the individuals perception in order to assist them. This point is shown most strongly in the therapy of Rogers, Horney, Maslow and Adler. They treated the individual as a whole, and wanted to learn what the client thought about their own environment rather than rigidly classifying people with respect to prior clinical experience. 5. Finally, most theorists we examined (Freud is again the exception) have a positive outlook toward human behavior and the capacity for a psychologically healthy human evolutionary process. These theorists are upbeat and positive about life and seem to have genuine empathy and liking for their fellow humankind.

There were also some large theoretical differences observed among the theorists. 1. When is personality fixed? Adler argued basic personality was fixed at age five, and Jung thought that the thirties and forties were an important time of intense personality development. 2. What is the goal of the personality theorist?

Cat tell was in the traditional 'understand and control' camp of psychology, while Carl Rogers argued it is pathological to try to control other peoples behavior. 3. What is the role of the client during treatment? Here, we have seen somewhat of an evolution in treatment philosophy.

Early theorists such as Jung and Freud were very directive in their therapy, and controlled much of the interpretations of thoughts and behaviors. More recently, theorists have tried to make the client a full partner in the research, even to the point of having the client suggest solutions. Web Resources web web web web web class web. g mu. edu This was done on power point.