Psychodynamic Theory Of Personality Essay

We currently have four different theories of how personality forms. These are the psychodynamic perspective, behaviorist perspective, trait perspective, and the humanistic perspective. Our personality is very complex and each on these theories serve as a good base for grasping its concept. Each of the four are unique. They each also present some advantages and disadvantages.

The psychodynamic perspective theory ideas was pioneered by Sigmund Freud. He believes that much of the behavior that humans display today was vastly influenced by the unconscious mind. This implies that our motives are much determined by seeking pleasure or the fear of consequences. The advantage of this theory is that it presents good explanations of why we act the way we do from our infancy to our early adulthood. He does this through the psychosexual stages of personality development.
External factors are believed to affect behavior rather than it being predetermined and this is gained through classical or operant conditioning.This way of approach has many limitations as it does not take in to account the biological influences of the human body. With the advances of science today and our understanding of the human brain, this method underestimates the complexity of how our brain affects human behavior.

The humanistic approach focuses much more on the individual and how he/she views oneself. Our behavior is thought to be derived from the notion of the innate desire to fulfill our potential. This is very advantageous as it proposes that us humans strive to be good or for the better is one way or another. This is very helpful in the providing motivation to achieve goals. It poses disadvantages as the approach is inherently difficult to measure scientifically since behavior since much of the data is