Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality

Personality Psych Analysis of Tony Soprano
Psychodynamic Theory
Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality makes the argument that human behavior is resultant of the interrelations amongst three constituent parts of the mind including the id, ego, and superego (Petocz, 1999). This theory of personality lays substantial significance of the manner in which conflict, more often than not unconscious, amongst the areas of the mind end up shaping an individual’s behavior and personality. The Id deals with instantaneous satisfaction of basic physical needs and desires and it functions completely unconsciously. The Superego takes into account social rules and morals, and is largely referred to as a person’s conscience. The Superego develops as a child progressively learns what is deemed to be right or wrong. Lastly, the ego, unlike the instinctive Id and the ethical superego, the Ego is the sensible, realistic part of an individual’s personality (Caducci, 2015). It is what is deemed to be the “self” and its main function is to ensure that there is poise in between the demands of the Id and Superego in the real-world setting of reality. In accordance to Freud, there is an incessant conflict amongst the Id, Ego, and Superego and that the personality and behavior of an adult are entrenched in the outcomes of these intrinsic struggles all the way through childhood (Ellis, Abrams and Abrams, 2009).
Furthermore, in accordance to Freud’s beliefs, the nature of the conflict that exists amongst id, ego and superego transform in the course of time as an individual grows and develops from a child to an adult. In particular, he asserted that these conflicts advance through a sequence of five basic phases with every one of them having a dissimilar emphasis. These stages comprised of the oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital phases. As a whole, this notion was referred to as the psychosexual theory of development (Ellis, Abrams and Abrams, 2009). Throughout these five phases, the child faces various conflicts between their biological endeavors, which is the Id, and their social and moral conscience, which is the superego. This is largely for the reason that their biological self-satisfaction desires lay emphasis on dissimilar parts of the body. The capability of the child to come up with a resolution of these internal conflicts is a determination of his or her capacity to cope and function as an adult. The inability to come up with a resolution in any of these five stages can give rise to an individual becoming hooked in that particular stage, which results in unhealthy personality traits (Elliott, 2015).
As aforementioned, one of the key aspects of the theory is the conflict amongst three constituent parts. In the HBO TV Series, The Sopranos, the main character and personality of Tony Soprano can be largely elucidated using Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality. The struggle between the ID, ego and superego correlates to Tony’s struggle between the villain and the family man within his psyche. Tony faces a tough time in balancing the needs of his actual family, his wife Carmela, daughter Meadow and son Anthony Soparano Jr. and mother Livia, which are in conflict with the needs of his Mafia family. More often than not, Tony demonstrates behavior traits representative of a vicious sociopath, but at the same time struggles with depressive disorders and is also susceptible to panic attacks. Tony incessantly tries to make certain that his children do not lead the similar kind of life that he leads. He tried to shadow his children from his mob activities.
Freud’s theory outlines that the human mind is categorized into three levels including the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious. The unconscious mind is considered to be a pool of emotional states, thoughts, urges and memories that are external to our conscious mindfulness. According to Freud, the unconscious goes on to impact a person’s behavior and experience, despite the fact one is oblivious of these underlying influences (Caducci, 2015). Throughout the episodes of the show, Tony has impulsive sexual desires. The preconscious mind comprises of anything that could prospectively be set into the conscious mind whereas the conscious mind comprises of all the views, memories, feelings and desires of which an individual is cognizant at any particular moment (Caducci, 2015). Fitting examples of Freud’s personality theory of the unconscious mind, particularly encompassing the mechanism of repression, the redefinition of sexual urges and the therapeutic techniques are displayed in different episode of the show. Repression is a form of defense mechanisms that takes place when an individual incessantly deflects from painful deliberations, desires or memories in an endeavor to maintain the mind in a more pleasant state (Caducci, 2015). When Dr. Melfi reveals to Tony that he cannot admit that he did not have a mother that loved him and conspired with his uncle to kill him, Tony deflects by turning it around on the therapist.
The theory of personality asserts that the adult personality emanates as an amalgamation of early childhood experiences, on the basis of how these experiences are consciously and unconsciously handled within human growing stages, and the manner in which these experiences form the personality. The influence of childhood memories is specifically perceived in Tony’s life. A great deal of what The Sopranos is based on is Tony’s past and childhood memories with his family. In flashback scenes of an episode, it can be seen how Livia, Tony’s mother, was emotionally violent with her children. For instance, in one of the scenes, Livia waves a fork in Tony’s face and threatens that she could easily stab him with it. Similarly, when Tony Soprano’s father points out that he would like to move with his kids to Reno, Livia tells him that she would rather kill her children by smothering them with a pillow than allow them to leave. These childhood memories significantly shape Tony’s adult personality and more so his parental relationship with his children and for the most part with his son Anthony Soprano Jr. A.J is a troubled child with self-esteem issues. He smokes marijuana during his confirmation, steals communion wine and gets drunk on it, destroys the school’s swimming pool and eventually gets expelled because of exam cheating. A.J is diagnosed with deficit attention deficit disorder (ADD). In spite of knowing that A.J is not performing well in school, Tony buys him a drum set worth $5,000. In addition, he goes ahead to buy him a Nissan Xterra, which he claims is to give motivation.
These childhood experiences also shape Tony’s personality in terms of his search for dominance. During a therapy session, Tony reveals to Dr. Melfi, “Now that my father's dead, he's a saint. When he was alive, nothing. My dad was tough. He ran his own crew. A guy like that, and my mother wore him down to a little nub. He was a squeaking little gerbil when he died.” This made him be in a constant quest for male dominance. This is part of the reason why Tony hesitates opening up to a female therapist and also distrusts a female therapist. In this regard, Tony attempts to reinstate his manliness by sexualizing the relationship with Dr. Melfi, by intruding in her life and also by threatening her (Karson, 2017).
Attribution Theory
In overall, attribution theory examines and gives more insight on aspects of the psycho-social perception of actuality. More precisely, the theory developed by Fritz Heider, takes into account the manner in which people make decisions and judgments regarding the actions and behavior of others, in addition to their individual actions and emotions. Imperatively, the attribution theory is an approach for comprehending the social and individual discernment and takes into account the significant aspect of control that attribution aids in the life of a person. Basically, attribution theory copes with the manner in which individuals make judgments or examinations of their individual behavior or those of others. Nonetheless, in a more extensive manner, the theory takes into account the manner in which individuals see their world and the actions of other persons (Martinko, 2006). Attribution theory deals with the manner in which a social perceiver utilizes information to come at causal elucidations for events. It investigates what information is collected and the manner in which it is amalgamated to create a causal judgment (Fiske and Taylor, 1991).
The attribution theory can be employed to elucidate the behavior of Tony Soprano in The Sopranos. Heider categorized dispositional and situational attributions. Dispositional attribution dispenses the cause of behavior to a kind of internal characteristic of an individual, instead of external forces. Dispositional attribution is the supposition that an individual’s behavior mirrors his internal dispositions like his personality, beliefs, attitude and the like (Fiske and Taylor, 1991). In spite of being a mafia boss and also a sociopath in the outside world, Tony does not treat demonstrate these behaviors owing to his beliefs and attitude of protecting his family from such kind of life. One of the key behaviors that portray this dispositional attribution is Tony’s relation with his son A.J. Tony is seen being largely courageous in his fatherhood duties. He tells his son to do what he says and not what he does. On the one hand, it can be argued that these mannerisms are largely impacted by the fact that Tony lost his own father very early in his life. However, this stems from his internal belief that a man ought to be successful at fatherhood and this is reflected by his children. His belief is that being a success at fatherliness is a fundamental part of living up to the mannishness rules and this means that a man can really be wounded by failures with his children (Barry and Seager, 2014).
Situational attribution takes into account the process of apportioning the cause if behavior to a kind of circumstance or event external to an individual’s control instead of a kind of internal characteristic. Situational attribution is the supposition that an individual’s behavior is impacted by an external effect from the environment or culture (Fiske and Taylor, 1991). The relation between Tony Soprano and seeking therapy is influenced by the external issues around sexuality. Tony’s primary unwillingness to seek therapy is influenced by the external perception that men should be strong and therapy is deemed to be a sign of weakness. In addition, peer support and peer clash regarding male help-seeking are convincingly displayed in The Sopranos, for the reason that once Tony takes the courageous stride of informing the three chief members of his gang that he has been in therapy, two of them are accommodating, and one opens up that he has also attended therapy. The youngest and most impetuous of the member of crew does not show support unlike the others, a response that provides realism to the scenario (Barry and Seager, 2014).
Situational attribution explains Tony’s behavior as an adult. Tony had a complicated relationship as a child, especially the one with his mother. After losing his father early on in his childhood, Tony experienced a very abusive relationship with his mother. For instance, during his childhood, his mother threatens to kill him. Furthermore, his mother continued to undermine his decisions even when he was an adult. These external experiences impact Tony’s behavior as an adult. Tony Soprano is depicted as a victim of domestic violence. In spite of having a severe reputation as a mob boss in the streets, he does not have such experiences back at home. For instance, in the instance where Tony failed to show up during A.J’s swimming competition, his wife Carmella throws an ornament at him and then goes on to hit him with his fists. The influential mob boss is defenseless in the face of the different women in his life, not only his wife but also with his other girlfriends. Tony aspires to have a woman who will take care of him, but claims that all of them end up ‘breaking his balls’. Tony is a perpetrator of harm and detriment to others, but is a victim of domestic violence only from his wife, but also emotional abuse from his mother and other girlfriends (Barry and Seager, 2014).
Conclusion
Psychological theories can be used to elucidate the behavior, decision-making, growth and development and attitude of people. Tony Soprano, the key protagonist in the TV series The Sopranos, is a complex individual with various surprising behaviors and mannerisms. This paper uses Freud’s theory of personality and Heider’s attribution theory to explain such behaviors and decision-making. On the one hand, the attribution theory is an approach for comprehending the social and individual discernment and takes into account the significant aspect of control that attribution aids in the life of a person. On the other hand, the theory of personality proclaims that the adult personality comes about a unification of early childhood experiences, on the basis of the manner in which experiences are consciously and unconsciously handled within human growing stages, and the manner in which these experiences form the personality. Under the attribution theory, Tony hesitates to get into therapy because of the external influence men being perceived as strong and not weak individuals. This is perceived by the fact that Christopher, one of his key men in his mafia, has a significantly negative perspective of Tony’s therapy sessions and fails to support it. Similarly, Tony has the internal belief that being a man means not failing at fatherhood. In this regard, he takes all measures to ensure that his son does not follow his criminal ways insisting that A.J should follow what he says and not what he does. Freud’s theory of personality shows the repressive mechanism used by Tony. Any time he is informed of his mother’s cruel personality and intentions, he deflects and turns it all around against Dr. Melfi. Similarly, Tony battles between finding balance between his family’s needs and also the needs of being a mafia boss. In addition, owing to his negative childhood experiences, Tony ensures that his children do not face similar experiences. Notably, in spite of being poor at his grades and causing mayhem such as ruining the school’s swimming pool, Tony buys A.J a set of drums and also an almost new vehicle.




References
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