1
Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective
Name
PSY/250
Date
, Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective
2
Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective
Combinations of our different characteristics or qualities that form us into individual distinctive
characters is known as our personality. Our personality is who we are, who we become. Personality
is a major interest within the study of psychology because it can be used to better understand who
people are. It helps us understand why people react differently in same situations, as well as the
consistency of their responses. The four main personality theories include the psychoanalytic
perspective, the social cognitive perspective, the trait perspective, and the humanistic perspective.
They all have a common goal of attempting to identify different patterns in personality, finding how the
patterns formed and what makes people unique (Cherry, 2016). The purpose of today’s paper is to
discuss The Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective including what makes it unique, the main
components of each of the psychoanalytic social personality theories, the main differences between
theories, and will conclude with a description of how Erik Erikson’s personality theory applies to my
own life, my personality, and my personality development through history.
What makes the psychoanalytic-social perspective of personality unique?
The uniqueness of the psychoanalytic perspective of personality is that it concentrates on how
personality develops. It emphasizes the role of the unconscious and early childhood experiences that
determine adult personality. Sigmund Freud created the psychoanalytic perspective of personality with
his belief that things hidden in the unconscious, especially childhood experiences, are responsible for
shaping personality, and the contents of the unconscious could be revealed through dreams, slips of the
tongue, and/or free association. Freud’s believed that the unconscious mind consists of three
components: the id, the ego, and the
Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective
3
Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective
Name
PSY/250
Date
, Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective
2
Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective
Combinations of our different characteristics or qualities that form us into individual distinctive
characters is known as our personality. Our personality is who we are, who we become. Personality
is a major interest within the study of psychology because it can be used to better understand who
people are. It helps us understand why people react differently in same situations, as well as the
consistency of their responses. The four main personality theories include the psychoanalytic
perspective, the social cognitive perspective, the trait perspective, and the humanistic perspective.
They all have a common goal of attempting to identify different patterns in personality, finding how the
patterns formed and what makes people unique (Cherry, 2016). The purpose of today’s paper is to
discuss The Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective including what makes it unique, the main
components of each of the psychoanalytic social personality theories, the main differences between
theories, and will conclude with a description of how Erik Erikson’s personality theory applies to my
own life, my personality, and my personality development through history.
What makes the psychoanalytic-social perspective of personality unique?
The uniqueness of the psychoanalytic perspective of personality is that it concentrates on how
personality develops. It emphasizes the role of the unconscious and early childhood experiences that
determine adult personality. Sigmund Freud created the psychoanalytic perspective of personality with
his belief that things hidden in the unconscious, especially childhood experiences, are responsible for
shaping personality, and the contents of the unconscious could be revealed through dreams, slips of the
tongue, and/or free association. Freud’s believed that the unconscious mind consists of three
components: the id, the ego, and the
Psychoanalytic-Social Personality Perspective
3
