KORBEL FOUNDATION COLLEGE, INC

Purok Spring, Barangay Morales, Koronadal City

BS in Social Work

Subject Code: SWCA2

Subject Name: SOCIAL WORK ASSESSMENT 2
Module No. 2
Topic: The Filipino Personality and Social Work
Instructor: Bella D. Lechonsito, RSW

INTRODUCTION:

In Module 1, we reviewed the concepts relevant to understanding Human

Behavior. In this module, we will walk through selected theories and perspectives
in understanding individual personality.

LECTURE/DISCUSSION:

A. Freud’s Classical Psychoanalytic Theory:

Sigmund Freud was born in Maravia on May 6, 1858 and died in London on
September 23, 1939. As a young man he decided he wanted to be a
scientist and with this goal he entered the medical school of the University
of Vienna in 1873 and graduated 8 years later.

His accomplishments as medical investigator earned him a solid reputation.

He likened the mind to an iceberg in which the smaller part showing above
the surface of the water represents the region of consciousness while the
larger mass below the water represents the region of unconsciousness. In
this vast domain of unconscious are to be found the urges, passion,
repressed ideals and feelings.

Freud explored the unconscious by the method of free association and

developed the first comprehensive theory of personality.

The Structure of Personality:

The personality is made up of three major systems; the id, ego and
superego. They interact closely with one another that it is difficult if not
impossible to disentangle their effects and weigh their relative
contribution to human behavior. Behavior is nearly always the product of
an interaction among these systems.

The ID

The ID is the original system of the personality. It consist of everything

psychological that is inherited and that is present at birth. Freud called the
ID the “true psychic reality” because it represents the inner world of
subjective experience and has no knowledge of objective reality.

The Id functions in such a manner as to discharge the tension immediately

and return the organism to a comfortably constant and low energy level.
This principle of tension reduction by which the ID operates is called the
pleasure principle.

The ID has its command, two processes. These are the reflex action and the
primary processes. Reflex actions are inborn and there is automatic reaction
like sneezing which usually reduce tension immediately.

Primary processes involves more complicated psychological reaction. It

attempts to discharge tension by forming an image of an object that will
remove tension. The primary process itself is not capable of reducing
tension.
THE EGO

The ego comes into existence because the need of the organism require
appropriate transactions with the object world of reality. The basic
distinction between the ID and the EGO is that ID knows only the subjective
reality of the mind whereas the EGO distinguishes between the things in
mind and the things in the external world.

The EGO is said to obey the “reality principle” and to operate by means of
secondary process. It suspends the pleasure principle temporarily. The
reality principle asks in effect whether an experience is true or false. The
secondary process is realistic thinking. By means of the secondary process,
the ego formulates a plan for the satisfaction of the need and tests this
plan, usually by some kind of action, to see whether or not it will work. This
is called reality testing.

The Ego is said to be the executive of the personality because it controls the
gateway to action and decide what instincts will be satisfied and in what
manner. The EGO is the organized portion of the ID that comes into
existence in order to forward the aim of the ID. Its principal role is to
mediate between the instinctual requirements of the organism and the
condition of the surrounding environment.

The SUPEREGO

The superego is the moral arm of personality. It represents the ideal rather
than the real and it strives for perfection rather than pleasure. Its main
concern is to decide whether something is right or wrong so that it can act
in accordance with the moral standards authorized by the agents of society
(1) To inhibit the impulse of the ID (2) to persuade the ego to substitute
moralistic goals for realistic ones (3) to strive for perfection.
The superego inclined to oppose both ID and Ego. It does not only postpone
the gratification, it tries to block it permanently.

THE DYNAMICS OF PERSONALITY

Freud derived the human organism as a complex energy system, which

derives the energy from food it consumes and expends for its various
purposes such as circulation, respiration, muscular exercise, perceiving,
thinking and remembering. According to the doctrine of conservation of
energy, energy maybe transformed from one state to another state but can
never be lost from the total cosmic system. The point of contract between
the energy of the body and that of the personality is the ID and its Instinct.

INSTINCT

Instinct is defined as the inborn psychological representation of an inner

somatic source of exaltation. The psychological representation is called
wish and the body excitation from which it stems called need-instinct are
considered therefore the propelling factors of personality.

Freud named two type of instincts , the life and the death instincts. The
instincts serve the purpose of the individual survival and propagation. The
life instincts perform its work is called libido. The death instincts are
sometimes called the destructive instincts. An important derivation of
instincts is the aggressive drive.

The investment of energy in an action or image that will gratify an instinct is

called objective-cathexis. Anticathexis is when the energy used by the ego
is restraining the ID to act impulsory and irrationally.

Anxiety. The function of anxiety is to warn the person of impending danger,

it is a signal to the ego that unless appropriate measures are taken the
danger may increase until the ego is overthrown. Anxiety is a state of
tension. When anxiety is aroused it motivates the person to do something.
The defense mechanism of the EGO. Under the pressure of excessive
anxiety, the ego is sometimes forced to take extreme measure to relieve
the pressure. These pressures are called defense mechanisms. The
principal defenses are, repression, projection, reaction formation, fixation
and regression (Ann Freud, 1946) . All defense mechanisms have two
characteristics in common: (1) they defy, falsify or distort reality (2) they
operate unconsciously so that the person is not aware of what is taking
place.

Repression is said to occur when an object- choice that arouses undue is

forced out of consciousness by an Anticathexis. Repression may force their
way through the opposing anticathexis or they may find expression in the
form of displacement.

Projection is a mechanism by which neurotic or moral anxiety is converted

into an objective feat called projection. Projection often serves a dual
purpose. It reduces anxiety by substituting a lesser danger for a greater one
and it enables the projecting person to express his impulse under the guise
of defending himself against his enemies.

Reaction formation involves the replacement in consciousness of an anxiety

–producing impulses or feeling by its opposite. The original impulses still
exist but it is glossed over or masked by one that does not cause anxiety.

Fixation and Regression . The person may become fixated on one of the
early stages of development because taking the next step is fraught with
anxiety.

Regression. A person who encounters a trauma retreats to an earlier stage

of development. The part of regression is usually determined by an earlier
fixation of the person.. That is people tend to regress to a stage upon which
they have been previously fixated. Fixation and regression are relative
conditions; a person rarely experience fixation or regression completely.
Rather the personality tends to include infantilisms, that is, immature forms
 of behavior, and predisposition to display childish conduct when thwarted.
Fixations and regression are responsible for unevenness in personality
development.

• Identification and Displacement are two methods by which an

individual learns to resolve frustration, conflicts and anxieties.
Identification maybe dened as the method by which the person takes
over the feature of another person and makes them a corporate part
of her own personality. Identification is also a method by which one
may regain an object that was lost.
• Sublimation is a displacement that produces a higher cultural
achievement. Society acting through the parents and other authority
figures authorizes certain displacement and outlaws others.
• Denial persistent rejection of intolerable reality. Refusal to face
facts. Unconscious person convinces self; genuinely believes facts are
not true. Characteristic of substance abusers.
• Rationalization unconsciously using reason to justify unacceptable
thoughts, feelings or behavior. The fox and grapes.

STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

The child passes through a series of dynamically differentiated stages during the
first five years of life, following for which for a period of five or six years- the
period of latency – the dynamics become more or less stabilized.

Each stage of development during the first five years is defined in terms of the
model of reaction of the particular zone of the body. The oral stage is followed by
the development of cathexis and anticathexis around eliminative functions, and is
called the anal stage. The last stage during the second year and is succeeded by
the phallic stage in which sex organs become the leading erogenous zones.

THE ORAL STAGE

The principal source of pleasure derives from the mouth is that of eating. The oral
stage occur at a time when the baby is completely dependent upon her mother
for sustenance, when it is cradled and nursed by her and protected from
discomfort, feeling of dependency tend to persist throughout life, inspite of ego
developments and are apt to come to the force whenever the person feels
anxious and insecure.

THE ANAL STAGE

When toilet training is initiated, usually during the second year of life, the child
has its first decisive experience with the external regulation of an instinctual
impulse. It has to learn to postpone the pleasure that comes from relieving anal
tensions. Depending upon the particular method of toilet training used by the
mother and her feeling concerning defecation, the consequences of this training
may have far reaching effects upon the formation of specific traits and values.
THE PHALLIC STAGE

During the stage of personality development, sexual and aggressive feelings

associated with the functioning of the genital organs come into focus. The
pleasure of maturation and the fantasy life of the child that accompanies
autocratic activity set the stage of the appearance of the Oedipus complex. The
Oedipus complex is named for the King of Thebes who killed his father and marry
his mother.

The Oedipus complex consist of a sexual cathexis for the parent of the opposite
sex and the hostile cathexis for the parent of the same sex. Fear of the castration
of, as Freud called it castration anxiety induces repression of the sexual desire for
the mother and hostility towards the father. A girl’s love for her father and other
men as well is mixed with a feeling of envy because they possess something she
lacks. Penis envy is the female counterpart of castration complex.

Freud assumed that every person is inherently bisexual, each sex is attracted to
the same members of the same sex as well as to the members of the opposite
sex.
The emergence and development of the Oedipus and castration complexes are
the chief events of the phallic period, and leave a host of deposits in the
personality.

THE LATENCY STAGE

Last from five, six or seven to puberty that is somewhere around 12 years old.
During this stage, Freud believe that the sexual impulse was suppressed in the
service of learning. Sexual instincts are quite permitting child to invest energy in
socialization and education.

Freud maintained that most of the psychological difficulties experienced by adults

result from unresolved childhood conflicts. Through psychoanalysis repressed
childhood memories and fantasis could be uncovered and resolved.

THE GENITAL STAGE

The cathexis of the pre genital period are narcissistic in character. This means that
the individual obtains gratification from the simulation and manipulation of his or
her own body and other people are cathected only because they held additional
forms of body pleasures to the child. During adolescence, some of the self love or
narcissism becomes channeled into genuine object choices. The adolescent begin
to love others for altruistic motives and not simple for selfish or narcissistic
reasons. Sexual attraction, socialization, group activities, vocational planning and
preparations for marrying and racing a family begin to manifest themselves. By
the end of adolescence, these socialized, altruistic cathexes have become fairly
well stabilized in the form of habitual displacements, sublimations and
identifications. The person becomes transformed from pleasure seeking,
narcissistic infant into the reality-oriented socialized adult.
ASSESSMENT:

An assessment will be posted in the google classroom platform to determine the

absorption of the students of one of the personality development theories and be
able to use it in handling case with Individuals during their Student Training
Program under Field Instruction 1.

References/ Recommended readings:

Leonora Serafica de Guzman, et al. Review Notes in Social Work, SSWAP, Manila,
1978;
Thelma Lee Mendoza, SW 220 Human Behavior and Social Change Unit, IPOU and
UP, 1995;
Oscar P. ferrer, SW/CD 201, Philippine Social Reality and Development Unit 3
UPOU and UP, 1996;
Isabel Panopio, et al , General Sociology Focus on the Philippines, Kon, Inc,
Quezon City, 1995