Question

QUESTION (ONE AND ONE HALF PAGES IN LENGTH) - What were the three most significant events in the history of personality psychology and where would we be at if one of the events never occurred?

Answer 1

Three most important events have provided us with three extremely important theories of personality which are:

1. Sigmund Freud's advocacy of three levels of consciousness namely the conscious,sub-conscious and unconscious was an absolute revelation during the late nineteenth century. He based concepts such as that of repression, theory of psychoanalysis and dream interpretation on the idea that a person's consciousness is divided into three parts (mentioned earlier). He further stated (based on concept of divided consciousness) that a person's personality is divided into three parts- the Id, the Ego and the Super ego. The Id is inherited at birth and consists of all the raw and primitive desires of human beings. The Ego is that part of consciousness that helps one strike a balance between Id's desires and one's reality. The Ego takes societal norms into consideration before fulfilling Id's wishes. The Super Ego is based on morality principal. Super ego is that part of a person's personality that strives for perfection rather than fulfilling one's pleasure. All of these concepts and ideas of how human personality work would not have been possible without this revelation.

If this event never occurred:

- Sigmund Freud's critiques such as Carl Jung developed the concepts such as 'collective unconscious' and 'archetypes' after he effectively opposed Freud's ideas. Jung's concept formed a basis for multiple scientific study on memory and language at the time of birth.

- Freud's concept was developed based on study of patients of hysteria. His methods and approach are till date being used in clinical settings to treat patients with mental disorder. Such a reality would not have existed if Freud never made that revelation.

2. Erik Erikson's psycho-social development

Another important event that added to the enriched history of psychology is Erikson's explanation of how personality of a human develops through eight stages in life and that one's interaction with society or its units such as family, friends, teachers and so on affects the outcome of each of these stages and thus the overall personality.

Erikson was a follower in Freud's line of thinking. He was trained in psychoanalysis. His idea of various stages of development was only an extension of Freud's theory of psycho-sexual development except that his approach was in terms of interaction.

If this event never occurred:

The applicability of Erikson's stages are seen in child development practices in clinics and schools.

3. Eysenck's trait theory

Eysenck has first distinguished between trait and type. A trait is a behavioural pattern that is observed to be repeated over time. For instance, a person is recluse and cannot easily talk or be friends with people. A type on the other hand is inclusive and consists of strings of traits that act together to give shape to a behaviour. For instance, Introvert is the word used for those who are recluse, stay to themselves. Hence Introvert is the type. Eysenck then developed those terms- extraversion, intraversion and neuroticism.

If this event never occurred:

- Eysenck's trait theory led to Zuckerman scientifically carrying out biological study on existence of these types of traits in a person. Had Eysenck's theory been never developed, one would be unaware of Zuckerman's psychobiological model explaining how neurotransmitters such as GABA, dopamine, serotonin have certain effect on individual trait that are observed overtly such as extraversion, no emotionality and so one.

- A reality without these famous events in history of psychology would almost affect the current mental health treatment processes such as mental state examination, cognitive behavioural therapy and so on.