Personalities
Psychoanalytic Theories:
- Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development
Freud's theory of psychosexual development is on of the best known personality theories, but also one of the most controversial. According to Freud, children progress through a series of stages during which the libidinal energy of the id becomes focused on specific erogenous zones. Successful completion of each stage results in moving on to the next phase of development, but failure at any particular stage can result in fixations that can impact adult personality. Learn more about the psychosexual stages of development. - Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development
According to Erik Erikson, each stage plays a major role in the development of personality and psychological skills. During each stage, the individual faces a developmental crisis that serves as a turning point in development. Erikson was more interested in how social interactions influence the development of personality and was primarily concerned with the development of ego identity. Successfully completing the stages leads to the development of a healthy personality. While Freud's theory suggested that personality is largely formed at set in stone at a very early age, Erikson believed that personality continues to develop and grow throughout life. - Horney's Theory of Neurotic Needs
Theorist Karen Horney developed a list of neurotic needs that arise from overusing coping strategies to deal with basic anxiety. Learn more about these neurotic needs described by Horney.
- Classical Conditioning is one of the best-known concepts of behavioral learning theory. In this type of conditioning, a neutral stimulus is paired with a naturally occurring response. Once an association has been formed, the previously neutral stimulus will come to evoke the response.
- Operant Conditioning is one of the fundamental concepts in behavioral psychology. This process involves strengthening or weakening a behavior using reinforcement and punishment.
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs emphasizes the importance of self-actualization and is often pictured as a pyramid. The base of the pyramid consist of basic survival needs, while the top of the pyramid is focused on self-actualizing needs.
Is This Important? Do I Need to Care or Know?
This subject, like the other psychology page on disorders, has its importance but is not the most up front thing you should know. Everyone has a personality that is based off the psychological part of human nature. The whole argument over "Nature vs. Nurture" is all based around psychological personalities and where we all fall. It is fascinating to know, and it is something you should at least have a background on to be more aware about yourself and life around you.
Link to Article
http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/p/personality.htm