Freud_Autoritharian_Personality

Freud's theory, the role of the unconscious and the development of the authoritarian personality The report aims to: Summarise the principal features of Freud’s theory of personality; Identify the meaning of key concepts of Freud’s personality theory, namely repression and the unconscious; Explain how Freud's theory may account for the development of authoritarian personality. Background Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is widely regarded as the father of psychoanalytic movement. For much of his working life Freud lived in the Austrian capital Vienna. Near the end of his life he moved to London, where he died in 1939. Freud’s great contribution to psychology is the idea that, in human beings, outward behaviour and observable personality characteristics are determined by events that take place in the unconscious – the aspect of personality which is not accessible to conscious awareness. Psychoanalysis, the approach to psychology which Freud helped to establish, ‘explores the ways in which human behaviour and thinking is influenced by unconscious processes’ (McAvoy, 2010, p.22). Freud used psychoanalytic concepts to explain normal personality development but also to treat patients who came to him with various psychological problems. Many psychotherapeutic and counselling approaches in use today are based on ideas first introduced by Freud (Reber and Reber, 2001a) Freud and personality Freud’s theory of personality is based on two basic assumptions (McAvoy, 2010): 1) 'Underlying outward personality and dispositions are elements of the unconscious 2) Infant and early childhood experiences are particularly important in personality formation Freud and the unconscious • According to Freud, the unconscious consists of impulses, desires, memories, images and wishes that are believed to be too anxiety-provoking to be allowed to enter consciousness (Reber and Reber, 2001b). These troubling impulses, desires, etc. are kept in the unconscious by the psychological mechanism of repression. Although Freud sometimes spoke of the unconscious as a ‘thing’, a storage space for troubling thoughts and impulses, the concept refers mainly to that which is repressed namely, the images, desires, memories and impulses themselves (Interview with Michael Billig: Part 2, 2010). That which has been repressed has the capacity to return to consciousness and Freud believed that this lies at the root of many psychological problems. However Freud also argued that unconscious impulses and thoughts emerge into consciousness in more mundane ways, through dreams or jokes (Interview with Michael Billig: Part 2, 2010) Childhood development and personality • Freud argued that childhood development consists of a number of distinct stages which are determined by the child’s interaction with the outside world (McAvoy, 2010). How well the child progresses through these stages determines its personality in adulthood. • For example, if an infant experiences some difficulty during the oral stage (the first stage of development which occurs at a time when the child’s interaction with the environment is limited to (breast) feeding), this might lead to the development of certain predispositions in adulthood, such as the tendency to smoke or overeat (McAvoy, 2010). Freud's theory and the development of the authoritarian personality • Freud’s original ideas about the importance of childhood development were later recognised by Adorno et al., cited in McAvoy (2010). They drew on Freud’s ideas when they argued that roots of the authoritarian personality lie in childhood development. Authoritarian personality refers to ‘a kind of personality typified by obedience to authority, strict adherence to rules, and hostility towards anyone different from oneself’ (McAvoy, 2010, p.23). Is thought to underpin Fascism and support for authoritarian regimes. According to Adorno and colleagues, children of harsh parents repress their feelings of hostility towards their parents. This leads them to idealise authority figures and redirect their anger towards weaker others. The authoritarian pattern of behaviour continues later in life and determines dispositions in adulthood. An alternative explanation is that authoritarianism develops through the process of social learning, as children observe and learn the values of strongly disciplinarian parents (Altemeyer, cited in McAvoy, 2010). This explanation also focuses on childhood development, but places less emphasis on unconscious processes. When explaining the causes of authoritarian personality it is not easy to disentangle the effects of the unconscious (of the kind investigated by Freud) and learning (explored by Altemeyer). Conclusion Personality development is an important focus of Freud’s theory, which emphasises the importance of unconscious processes and childhood experiences. Early explanations of authoritarianism drew extensively on Freud’s theory, although the role of repression and the unconscious in the development of authoritarian attitudes has been challenged since, most notably by Bob Altemeyer. People’s attitudes and dispositions are the outcome of multiple influences, including unconscious processes and social learning. References: McAvoy, J. (2010) 'Exposing the authoritarian personality' in N. Brace and J. Byford (Eds.), Discovering Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University. Reber, E. and Reber, A. (2001a) The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology [online] www.credoreference.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/entry/penguinpsyc/psychoanalysis (Accessed 29 July 2010). Reber, E. and Reber, A. (2001b) The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology [online] www.credoreference.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/entry/penguinpsyc/unconscious (Accessed 29 July 2010). Interview with Michael Billig: Part 2 (2010) (audio), DSE141 Discovering psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University.