Psychoanalytic Theories Of Human Personality Development

Over the years, many theories have been developed to study the human personality. Some of the notable theories are psychoanalytic theory, trait theory, humanistic theory and behavioural theory. In this assignment, we have chosen to compare and contrast the psychoanalytic and humanistic theories.
Psychoanalytic Theory Sigmund Freud formed the basis of psychoanalytic theories which are also known as the Freudian theories or psychodynamic theories. One of the theories that he proposed was the theories on instincts which are the life and death instinct. The life instinct is also known as the libido, which is the sexual energy that motivates us to seek pleasure while the death instinct is that human developed an unconscious desire to die which

Looking at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are five primary needs which emphasizes on human motivation (Poduska, 1992). The physiological needs or basic needs are at the lowest level of the hierarchy. These needs must be satisfied in order for individuals to survive. It is then followed by the safety or security needs where individuals seek for protection and stability. When these needs are satisfied, individuals are motivated to fulfill the next level of needs which is the love and belongingness needs. At this level, they seek for intimacy and form relationships with others (Schultz & Schultz, 2013). The next level is the needs for self-esteem. Individuals at this level are motivated to be recognized and feel worthy (McLeod, 2007). The highest level of the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization. Maslow believed that everyone can reach this level but it requires the realization of one’s capabilities and potentials. If a person achieved self-actualization at the level, he or she is said to have reached his or her unique personality to achieve the highest potential. Unlike Freud who believed that individual develops personality because they are fixated, Maslow believed that individuals form their own personality by climbing up the ladder of the hierarchy of

One of the similarities between the two is that the theories are founded based on the exploitation of personal experiences and the personal development of Freud and Maslow. According to the history of the psychology, it can be seen clearly that both Freud and Maslow found and explained their theories mainly based on their personal childhood experiences and also their personal experiences throughout their life without any conducting any scientific experiment, which caused the theories cannot be tested out by replicating any scientific experiment or research. On the other hand, another similarity between Freud’s psychoanalytic theories and Maslow’s humanistic theories are the differentiation of stages. Freud differentiated the psychosexual stages of development into several stages consist of the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latent stage and genital stage (McLeod, 2013). Whereas, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs were also divided into different stages from the physiological needs, safety needs, love or belongings, esteem and then to the stage of self-actualization (Maslow,