Personality Theory

Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud

 Freud’s lexicon has become embedded within the vocabulary of western

society. Words he introduced through his theories are now used by everyday
people, such as anal (personality), libido, denial, repression, cathartic,
Freudian slip, and neurotic.
 Freud believed that when we explain our own behavior to ourselves or others
(conscious mental activity) we rarely give a true account of our motivation.
This is not because we are deliberately lying. Whilst human beings are great
deceivers of others, they are even more adept at self-deception. Our
rationalizations of our conduct are therefore disguising the real reasons.
Sigmund Freud

 Freud was the founding father of psychoanalysis, a method for

treating mental illness and also a theory which explains human behavior.
 Psychoanalysis is often known as the talking cure. Typically Freud would
encourage his patients to talk freely (on his famous couch) regarding their
symptoms, and to describe exactly what was on their mind.
The Unconscious Mind
Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the
mind, whereby he described the features of the mind’s structure
and function. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to describe
the three levels of the mind.
On the surface is consciousness, which consists of those thoughts that are the focus
of our attention now, and this is seen as the tip of the iceberg. The preconscious
consists of all which can be retrieved from memory.
The third and most significant region is the unconscious. Here lie the processes that
are the real cause of most behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the
mind is the part you cannot see.
The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive wishes and
impulse kept at bay and mediated by the preconscious area. For example, Freud
(1915) found that some events and desires were often too frightening or painful for
his patients to acknowledge, and believed such information was locked away in the
unconscious mind. This can happen through the process of repression.
Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, and a primary
assumption of Freudian theory is that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a
greater degree than people suspect. Indeed, the goal of psychoanalysis is to make
the unconscious conscious.
 The Psyche
Freud (1923) later developed a more structural model of the
mind comprising the entities id, ego and superego (what Freud
called “the psychic apparatus”). These are not physical areas
within the brain, but rather hypothetical conceptualizations of
important mental functions.
Freud assumed the id operated at an unconscious level
according to the pleasure principle (gratification from satisfying
basic instincts). The id comprises two kinds of biological
instincts (or drives) which Freud called Eros and Thanatos.
Eros, or life instinct, helps the individual to survive; it
directs life-sustaining activities such as respiration, eating
and sex (Freud, 1925). The energy created by the life
instincts is known as libido.
 The ego develops from the id during infancy. The ego's
goal is to satisfy the demands of the id in a safe a socially
acceptable way. In contrast to the id the ego follows the
reality principle as it operates in both the conscious and
unconscious mind.
The superego develops during early childhood (when the
child identifies with the same sex parent) and is
responsible for ensuring moral standards are followed.
The superego operates on the morality principle and
motivates us to behave in a socially responsible and
acceptable manner.

• For example, the superego can make a person feel guilty if

rules are not followed. When there is conflict between the
goals of the id and superego, the ego must act as a referee
and mediate this conflict. The ego can deploy
various defense mechanisms (Freud, 1894, 1896) to prevent
it from becoming overwhelmed by anxiety
Defense Mechanisms
Psychosexual Stages
In the highly repressive “Victorian” society in which Freud
lived and worked women, in particular, were forced to repress
their sexual needs. In many cases the result was some form of
neurotic illness.
Freud sought to understand the nature and variety of these
illnesses by retracing the sexual history of his patients. This was
not primarily an investigation of sexual experiences as such. Far
more important were the patient’s wishes and desires, their
experience of love, hate, shame, guilt and fear – and how they
handled these powerful emotions.
It was this that led to the most controversial part of Freud’s
work – his theory of psychosexual development and of
the Oedipus complex
Freud believed that children are born with a libido – a sexual
(pleasure) urge. There are a number of stages of childhood,
during which the child seeks pleasure from a different ‘object’.
 Piaget's theory of cognitive development
Piaget's theory of cognitive development is a comprehensive theory about the
nature and development of human intelligence. It was first created by the
Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980). The theory deals with
the nature of knowledge itself and how humans gradually come to acquire, construct,
and use it.[1] Piaget's theory is mainly known as a developmental stage theory.
To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of mental
processes resulting from biological maturation and environmental experience. He
believed that children construct an understanding of the world around them, experience
discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their
environment, then adjust their ideas accordingly. [2] Moreover, Piaget claimed that
cognitive development is at the center of the human organism, and language is
contingent on knowledge and understanding acquired through cognitive
development.[3] Piaget's earlier work received the greatest attention.
Child-centered classrooms and "open education" are direct applications of Piaget's
views.[4] Despite its huge success, Piaget's theory has some limitations that Piaget
recognized himself: for example, the theory supports sharp stages rather than
continuous development
Piaget's Theory Differs From Others In Several
Ways:
It is concerned with children, rather than all learners.
It focuses on development, rather than learning per se, so it does not
address learning of information or specific behaviors.
It proposes discrete stages of development, marked by qualitative
differences, rather than a gradual increase in number and complexity of
behaviors, concepts, ideas, etc.
The goal of the theory is to explain the mechanisms and processes by
which the infant, and then the child, develops into an individual who can
reason and think using hypotheses.
To Piaget, cognitive development was a progressive reorganization of
mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental
experience. Children construct an understanding of the world around
them, then experience discrepancies between what they already know and
what they discover in their environment.
There Are Three Basic Components To Piaget's Cognitive Theory:
•Schemas
(building blocks of knowledge).
•Adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another
(equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation).

•Stages of Development:
•sensorimotor,
•preoperational,
•concrete operational,
•formal operational.
Assimilation and Accommodation
Jean Piaget (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004) viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation (adjustment) to the
world. This happens through:

• Assimilation
– Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.

• Accommodation
– This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new
object or situation.

• Equilibration
– This is the force which moves development along. Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a
steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds.
Equilibrium occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an
unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation).
Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore
balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired the process of
assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it.
Example of Assimilation
A 2 year old child sees a man who is bald on top of his
head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father’s
horror, the toddler shouts “Clown, clown” (Siegler et al.,
2003).
Example of Accommodation
In the “clown” incident, the boy’s father explained to his
son that the man was not a clown and that even though
his hair was like a clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny
costume and wasn’t doing silly things to make people
laugh.
With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his
schema of “clown” and make this idea fit better to a
standard concept of “clown”.
Stages of Development
A child's cognitive development is about a child constructing a mental model of the world.
Development is biologically based and changes as the child matures.
Piaget believed that children go through 4 universal stages of cognitive development.
1. Sensorimotor stage (Infancy)
2. Pre-operational stage (Toddler and early childhood)
3. Concrete operational stage (Elementary and early adolescence)
4. Formal operational stage (Adolescence and adulthood).
Each child goes through the stages in the same order, and no stage can be missed out -
although some individuals may never attain the later stages. There are individual differences
in the rate at which children progress through stages.
Piaget did not claim that a particular stage was reached at a certain age - although descriptions
of the stages often include an indication of the age at which the average child would reach
each stage.
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth-2 yrs)
The main achievement during this stage is object permanence - knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden.
It requires the ability to form a mental representation (i.e. a schema) of the object

Preoperational Stage (2-7 years)

During this stage, young children are able to think about things symbolically. This is the ability to make one thing - a
word or an object - stand for something other than itself.
Thinking is still egocentric, and the infant has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others.
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
Piaget considered the concrete stage a major turning point in the child's cognitive development, because it marks the
beginning of logical or operational thought.
This means the child can work things out internally in their head (rather than physically try things out in the real world).
Children can conserve number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9). Conservation is the understanding that
something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes
Formal Operational Stage (11 years and over)
The formal operational stage begins at approximately age eleven and lasts into adulthood. During this time, people
develop the ability to think about abstract concepts, and logically test hypotheses
 Lev Vygotsky
The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934) has become the foundation of much research and theory in
cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly of what has become
known as Social Development Theory.

Unlike Piaget's notion that children’s' development must necessarily precede their
learning, Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the
process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function"
(1978, p. 90). In other words, social learning tends to precede (i.e. come before)
development.
Vygotsky has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development. He
developed his theories at around the same time as Jean Piaget was starting to
develop his ideas (1920's and 30's), but he died at the age of 38 and so his theories
are incomplete - although some of his writings are still being translated from Russian.
No single principle (such as Piaget's equilibration) can account for development.
Individual development cannot be understood without reference to the social and
cultural context within which it is embedded. Higher mental processes in the
individual have their origin in social processes.
Vygotsky's theory differs from that of Piaget in a
number of important ways:
1: Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting/shaping cognitive development - this
contradicts Piaget's view of universal stages and content of development. (Vygotsky does not
refer to stages in the way that Piaget does).
(i) Hence Vygotsky assumes cognitive development varies across cultures, whereas
Piaget states cognitive development is mostly universal across cultures .

2: Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive

development (Piaget is criticized for underestimating this).
(i) Vygotsky states cognitive development stems from social interactions from guided
learning within the zone of proximal development as children and their partners co-
construct knowledge. In contrast Piaget maintains that cognitive development stems
largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their
own.
3: Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of
language in cognitive development (again Piaget is criticized for
lack of emphasis on this). For Vygotsky, cognitive development
results from an internalization of language.
According to Piaget, language depends on thought for its
development (i.e. thought comes before language). For Vygotsky,
thought and language are initially separate systems from the
beginning of life, merging at around three years of age, producing
verbal thought (inner speech).
4: According to Vygotsky adults are an important source of cognitive
development. Adults transmit their culture's tools of intellectual
adaptation that children internalize. In contrast Piaget emphasizes
the importance of peers as peer interaction promotes social
perspective taking.
Effects of Culture: - Tools of intellectual adaptation
Like Piaget, Vygotsky claimed that infants are born with the basic materials/abilities for intellectual
development - Piaget focuses on motor reflexes and sensory abilities.
Lev Vygotsky refers to 'elementary mental functions' –
o Attention
o Sensation
o Perception
o Memory

Eventually, through interaction within the sociocultural environment, these are developed into more
sophisticated and effective mental processes/strategies which he refers to as 'higher mental
functions'.
For example, memory in young children this is limited by biological factors. However, culture
determines the type of memory strategy we develop. E.g., in our culture we learn note-taking to aid
memory, but in pre-literate societies other strategies must be developed, such as tying knots in string
to remember, or carrying pebbles, or repetition of the names of ancestors until large numbers can be
repeated.
Social Influences on Cognitive
Development
Like Piaget, Vygotsky believes that young children are curious and actively
involved in their own learning and the discovery and development of new
understandings/schema. However, Vygotsky placed more emphasis on social
contributions to the process of development, whereas Piaget emphasized self-
initiated discovery.
According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs
through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors
and/or provide verbal instructions for the child. Vygotsky refers to this as
cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the
actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then
internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate their own
performance.
Zone of Proximal Development
The concept of the More Knowledgeable Other is integrally related to the second
important principle of Vygotsky's work, the Zone of Proximal Development.
This is an important concept that relates to the difference between what a child can
achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and
encouragement from a skilled partner.
For example, the child could not solve the jigsaw puzzle (in the example
above) by itself and would have taken a long time to do so (if at all), but
was able to solve it following interaction with the father, and has developed
competence at this skill that will be applied to future jigsaws.
Vygotsky (1978) sees the Zone of Proximal Development as the area where
the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given - allowing the
child to develop skills they will then use on their own - developing higher
mental functions.
Vygotsky also views interaction with peers as an effective way of
developing skills and strategies. He suggests that teachers use cooperative
learning exercises where less competent children develop with
help from more skillful peers - within the zone of proximal development.
Evidence for Vygotsky and the ZPD

Freund (1990) conducted a study in which children had to decide which

items of furniture should be placed in particular areas of a dolls house.
Some children were allowed to play with their mother in a similar situation
before they attempted it alone (zone of proximal development) whilst others
were allowed to work on this by themselves (Piaget's discovery learning).
Freund found that those who had previously worked with their mother (ZPD)
showed greatest improvement compared with their first attempt at the
task. The conclusion being that guided learning within the ZPD led to
greater understanding/performance than working alone (discovery learning).
Classroom Applications
A contemporary educational application of Vygotsky's theories is "reciprocal
teaching", used to improve students' ability to learn from text. In this method,
teachers and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills:
summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher's role in the
process is reduced over time.
Also, Vygotsky is relevant to instructional concepts such as "scaffolding" and
"apprenticeship", in which a teacher or more advanced peer helps to structure or
arrange a task so that a novice can work on it successfully.
Vygotsky's theories also feed into the current interest in collaborative learning,
suggesting that group members should have different levels of ability so more
advanced peers can help less advanced members operate within their ZPD.
Critical Evaluation
Vygotsky's work has not received the same level of intense scrutiny that Piaget's
has, partly due to the time consuming process of translating Vygotsky's work
from Russian. Also, Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective does not provide as
many specific hypotheses to test as did Piaget's theory, making refutation
difficult, if not impossible.
Perhaps the main criticism of Vygotsky's work concerns the assumption that it is
relevant to all cultures. Rogoff (1990) dismisses the idea that Vygotsky's ideas
are culturally universal and instead states the concept of scaffolding - which is
heavily dependent on verbal instruction - may not be equally useful in all
cultures for all types of learning. Indeed, in some instances observation and
practice may be more effective ways of learning certain skills.
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