Personality Perspectives

There exists numerous perspectives and theories that aim to explain and analyze personality. Namely, there are four main perspectives that are used today: the psychoanalytic perspective, the humanistic perspective, the trait perspective, and the social cognitive perspective. We can use these different theories and ideas to explain how one behaves. We can utilize these perspectives to discover why you, for example may be honest, open and responsible. According to the psychoanalytic perspective, Freud, one of the main contributors to modern-day psychology, would argue that that your personality attributes to the fact that your ego does a good job in balancing your superego’s demands (the idealistic part of our personality) and reality, along with controlling the demands of your id (the part of our personality that demands immediate gratification). Freud would also suggest that because you are an honest person, your superego is well-developed. However, Jung, a Non-Freudian, may suggest that your honesty rather is rooted in your hereditary unconsciousness. Furthermore, according to the psychoanalytic perspective, you would also have gone through all of Freud’s psychosexual stages, in order to retain the stable and healthy personality you now possess. Adler would also say that you would have had a healthy childhood. He would argue however that social, rather than sexual tensions were crucial to your development. Another perspective that can be used to analyze your personality is the humanistic perspective. According to Maslow, your psychological and physical basic needs have been met and it is probable that you are in the process of self-actualization. Moreover, due to your open nature, you probably have a relatively good self-concept. This,