Psy 210 - Personality Theories Paper

Personalities Theory Paper

PSY/210

The two personality theories I chose were the psychodynamic theory and the trait theory.

The psychodynamic theory by definition is the systematized study and theory of psychological forces that underline human behavior, with emphasis being on the conscious and unconscious motivation of the human mind. Sigmund Freud suggests that the psychological processes are flows of energy through the brain, therefore creating the psychodynamics aspect of the theory. Other psychologists noted for this theory are Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Melanie Klein.

The trait theory by definition is the major approach to study the human personality. Gordon Allport is one of the first pioneers in the study of these traits, in which he refers to these traits as dispositions. Allport's approach to this theory was that there are central traits basic to each individual's personality, and secondary traits being more peripheral. He also indicated that common traits are those that could be present within a specific culture, yet may vary from culture to culture. Hans Eysenck suggested that the human personality can be reduced to three major traits.

To compare these two theories is interesting because the psychodynamic theory calls for the study of human behavior and the trait theory calls for the study of the human personality. Freud discovered that the laws of dynamics could be directly applied to the personality as well as to the body. This is how he discovered dynamic psychology. His creation would study the transformations and exchanges of energy within the personality itself. This compares to the trait theory in that the trait theory directly relates to the study of the human personality. The five traits contained in this theory are those of openness, extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Eysenck's position was that this could be reduced to three factors: extroversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. These two theories compare in that both directly relate to the human personality.

In contrast, both of these theories have specifics that make them completely different to each other as well. Freud believed that the mind could be mapped geographically, basing his theories on the physical observations of his patients. This led to his proposal that the mind could be considered an iceberg, stating that people are only aware of small portions of the information that dwells within their minds. This would lead to his theory of the three levels of consciousness: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious, wherein the conscious mind would be aware of certain feelings or emotions; the preconscious, where elements that we are unaware of could be exposed by focusing