Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality The three major psychoanalytic theories and approaches to personality could not be more different. Freud, who focuses on early childhood and sexual urges, differs from Jung who focuses on the unconscious, who differs from Adler who focuses on human motivation and superiority (Weiten, 2005). Of course, what they all have in common is trying to tease out an understanding of human personality. This paper will compare and contrast each of Freud's, Jung's, and Adler's psychoanalytic approaches, as well as two characteristics in which this author agrees or disagrees with the theories presented. Then the focus will mainly be on Freud and his structure to personality, and finally using real world examples for his defense mechanisms. Overall, this paper strives to present a well-rounded view of Freud's theory, and the theories of his time.

The structural model for Freud's psychoanalytic theory is based on three different levels of personality; the id (immediate personal gratification), the ego (takes into account the reality of the situation, tries to please but also get things done), and the superego (society's values and standards, very strict) (Burger, 2008). Freud also divided personality into three separate conscious, known as the topographic model; it includes the conscious (thoughts one is aware of), the preconscious (readily available information), and the unconscious (no access, thoughts one is not aware of) (Burger, 2008). Freud was known for the structural model, but perhaps he was better known by the controversy surrounding his theories on how personality develops within a person, each stage is marked by an erogenous zone and a fixation (the...

He come to call these the personal conscious, which has thoughts, memories, etc. that are not in one's conscious awareness (similar to Freud's unconscious), and the collective unconscious, which, according to Jung, has all the memories, thoughts, images and ideas from humankinds ancestral past (Weiten, 2005). Obviously, this is where Freud and Jung diverge sharply from the conscious ideas. Jung referred to the collective unconscious as "archetypes," meaning that the material within the collective unconscious is not so much taken from individual people, but represents symbols and images with "universal meaning" (Weiten, 2005).
By contrast, Adler's theory diverges sharply from both Freud and Jung, he did not focus on consciousness, or genitals, or ancestors, but instead decided to focus on motivations (like Freud), specifically striving for superiority and birth order (Weiten, 2005). Adler maintained that each person is "striving for superiority as a universal drive to adapt, improve oneself, and master life's challenges," (Weiten, 2005) which is a focal point within his theory along with pioneering the research for birth order, in which Adler posits that a first born child is likely to feel more inferiority, thus strive for superiority more; middle children are often the "highest achievers"; and last born children will become adults with no "personal initiative" (Burger, 2008).

From each of these theories this author agrees with Freud's structural model, as it seems to fit the best with every person. Most people can say they have…