Psych Wars: Lessons of the Unconscious Force by Marcus

Psych Wars: Lessons of the Unconscious Force by Marcus - August 2018 Scholarship Essay

Episode I
Dr. Freud the Psychoanalytical Menace

The state of psychology is in turmoil! Is human behavior instinctually driven or a reflection of external stimuli? There was an individual who took great interest in this premise: “he is a person, and his name is Sigmund”. Dr. Sigmund Freud was a neurologist that developed the psychoanalytical perspective. Freud was inspired after observing hypnotism demonstrations done to treat the symptoms of hysteria. He then used these experiences to establish free association. Free association became the foundation of psychoanalysis treatment.

Father Freud believed that human behavior was a result of intentions that were unknown. Freud theorized that all aspects of the human personality are derived from biological instincts. He used the combination of unconscious motives and biological instincts to define various concepts including: the libido, divisions of the mind, anxiety, ego-defense mechanisms, and dream analysis. Freud’s ideas were based off the thought that an individual’s present behavior is a reflection of their past. These techniques were carried out to counter popular belief being: “the biggest problem in the universe is that no one helps each other”.

Episode II
Attack of the Pupils

There is unrest in the Freudian beliefs, with criticism coming from cynics as well as supporters. Carl Jung is a successor of Freud who expanded on his mentor’s work of psychoanalysis. The two theorists did come across a number of creative differences which led to “aggressive negotiations” on numerous ideas such as the components of a personality and the focal point of the libido. Luckily, no lightsabers were used to achieve a diplomatic solution.

The Neo Freudian movement under the leadership of Jung, led to diversity and expansion of thoughts. While Freud saw libido primarily as sexual energy, Jung considered this view was too narrow and instead classified the libido as general biological energy that is concentrated on different problems as they arise. For Jung, the libido is the driving force behind a person’s “psyche” or personality. Jung did agree with Freud’s view of the ego being an individual’s conscious experience; but Jung accepted the personal unconscious and collective unconscious as components of personality rather than the id and superego. Jung’s personal unconscious was considered to be our memories (recalled and suppressed), but does not believe in these memories being instinctually driven. Jung’s masterpiece though, was his understanding of the collective unconscious which is recognized as the collective ancestral experiences that humans have gathered throughout our evolutionary pasts. Jung’s expansion on Freud’s theories opened the floodgates for a diverse group of Neo Freudians.

Episode III
Revenge of the Neo Freudians

There are pupils on both sides, though criticism is everywhere. While Jung and Freud viewed human behavior being influenced primarily from one’s instincts, Karen Horney comes along and proposes that external forces shaped personality development and neurotic behavior. Horney does support the unconscious force and brings balance to psychoanalysis with her beliefs in cultural influences.

In a stunning move, Horney agreed with Freud’s theory on the groundwork of neurotic behavior is found in the relationship between parent and child. However, she did not accept Freud’s notion of fixation during the psychosexual stages explaining adult personality disorders; but rather the dynamic between child and parent determining whether or not a child will develop a level of basic anxiety or hostility. Horney speculated that the initial parenting style influenced a child’s behavior throughout their development of life, but ultimately change was possible while an individual adapted to their surrounding culture. One of Horney’s most notable criticisms comes from Freud’s theory on women experiencing penis envy. Freud believes that a young girl will discover that she will does not have a penis and will then attempt to make up for it in different ways and envy males throughout her lifetime. Horney considers this to be unreasonable and counters back with the notion that males face “womb envy” as a deeply hidden anxiety because of their envy of motherhood. Horney’s challenge on instinctual influence inspired a new approach for psychology.

Episode IV
A New Approach

It is a period of civil disagreements. Alfred Adler alters the context of human behavior by introducing individual psychology. Adler’s biggest contributions to psychology include his observations of inferiority vs. superiority, opinions on lifestyle and birth order. Though his rejection of Freud’s psychoanalysis concepts on dreams and ego defense mechanisms were just as important. Similarly to Horney, Adler believed the influence of society was just as important as personal development.

Alfred Adler could be considered a rebel to the psychoanalyst and very well classified as a humanist since his views were related to humans striving to find inner harmony. Adler emphasized understanding the person as a whole being, whereas Freud displayed a fragmented view of the mind as an explanation of one’s behavior. Adler had agreed that dreams were important and believed that they were an expression of one’s lifestyle. Though he didn’t believe they were unconscious messages for people to decipher. According to Adler, dreams provide emotional support for mistaken lifestyle and offer self-deception. He believed that people living a healthy lifestyle dream little or not at all. Adler’s concept of safeguarding strategies are comparable to Freud’s ego-defense mechanisms, except that these strategies can be used on conscious or unconscious levels. These devices were used to protect people from outside threats and problems of life. Adler’s challenge of psychoanalysis encouraged more debate on the understanding of nature vs. nurture.