MASLOW'S AND ERIKSON'S THEORY

LESSON 5:

MASLOW’S THEORY OF HIERAACHIAL NEEDS       

In 1954, Abraham Maslow advocated the hierarchy of basic needs.

According to Maslow:

                               i.            Human needs are many and multiple; all are not of equal importance.

                             ii.            The organism will aspire for a higher order needs only when the lower order needs get fulfilled.

Thus his hierarchy of human needs can be represented as follows:

Ø   Physiological needs: These include need for food, water, oxygen, sleep, sex and the like.

Ø   Safety and security needs: They include shelter, clothing and personal safety, security of the future.

Ø   Affiliation needs: It refers to the individual’s hunger for affection.

Ø   Esteem needs: [In all of us there is a desire for mastery, strength etc., leading to feeling of independence and freedom. We want to be high in the eyes of others] [Satisfaction of this need generates feeling of worth, confidence and adequacy]

Ø   Achievement needs: Achievement needs are related to intellectual domination and cognitive competencies.

Ø   Aesthetic needs: [One whose lower order needs are fully satisfied or known that he need not bother about them, derives pleasure in beauty] This is concerned with appreciation of order and beauty.  

Ø   Self – Actualisation needs: It means to fulfill one’s individual nature in all its aspects. The highest level of functioning occurs when a person is self-actualised.

LESSON 6:

ERIKSON’S THEORY OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

          According to Erikson, the development of a child is the result of his interaction with social environment. At each stage of his development, the child has to face a new crisis.

Stage 1: Trust Vs Mistrust period:

          This period ranges from birth to eighteen months of age. Attitude this stage, the infant completely depends on mother for the satisfaction of its needs. But if the needs are not satisfied, than he loses his sense of trust and security.

Stage 2: Period of autonomy Vs Shame and doubt:

          This period ranges from eighteen months to 3 years. He does not ask any help from others. A child who is denied the freedom to explore his environment begins to doubt his ability and feels ashamed in the presence of others.

Stage 3: Period of initiative Vs guilt:

          This stage covers the period from 3 years to 6 years. He begins to take initiative in interacting with his environment. If the child is discouraged from taking such initiative, he may develop a sense of guilt.

Stage 4: Period of industry Vs inferiority:

          This stage covers the period between 6 years to 12 years. They are full of energy and try to produce new things. Praise motivates them to work and a sense of industry grows in them. But if their performance is poor and they are criticized, they develop a sense of inferiority.

Stage 5: Period of identity Vs role confusion:

          This stage ranges from 12 years to 20 years. At this stage the adolescent tries to search for his new role in society.

Stage 6: Period of intimacy Vs isolation:

          This stage ranges from 20 years to 45 years. The individual seeks to form close intimacy with another person. But failures to develop such intimacy lead to isolation.

Stage 7: Period of generativity Vs Stagnation:

          This stage covers from 45 years to 65 years. Attitude this age a person is established in a professional career. But some may become egoistic and selfish. This leads to personal stagnation.

Stage 8: Period of integrity Vs despair:

          This period covers old age, about 65 onwards. A person develops a positive outlook himself and the outside world if he successfully resolved the seven previous crises. Otherwise he had a sense of despair and depression.

 

PERSONALITY AND SIGMUND FREUD THEORY

LESSON 1:

PERSONALITY

          The terms “Personality” is derived from the Latin word persona, which was the name given to the masks that actors wore and the characters they portrayed.

          Each person has a unique and relatively stable, persisting organization of characteristics that go to make up his individual personality.

          Cattell (1970) define, “personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation”.

          Eysenck (1971) says, “Personality is the more or less stable and enduring organization of a person’s character, temperament, intellect and physique, which determine his unique adjustment to the environment”.

LESSON 2:

Characteristics of Personality:

« Personality is self – consciousness

« It is through and through social

« It is dynamic

« It is the product of heredity and environment

« It is adjustable or modifiable

« It is unique

« It is integrated and functions as a whole

« It is assessable

 

LESSON 3:

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY – FREUD

          Psychoanalysis is a system or school of psychology was the brain child of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), a Viennese Physician.

STRUCTURE OF THE PSYCHE OR MIND

          Freud, divided (it the structure of human psyche or mind) in two different parts, first by arranging it into three layers as the conscious, the subconscious and the unconscious and second, by postulating three other components, ‘id’, ‘ego’ and ‘super ego’.

THE CONCEPT OF CONSCIOUS, SUBCONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS MIND:

          If we were to compare the human mind to an ocean, pond or a river, then the upper layer or the surface would represent  the conscious mind, the main bed would be identified with the subconscious, and the bottom would from the unconscious.

Conscious Mind:

v It occupies only one tenth of our total psyche or mental life.

v The ideas, thoughts and images (that we are aware of attitude any moment of our mental life) are said to lie within this upper layer of our mind.

Subconscious Mind:

          In the subconscious mind there lie all experiences or knowledge which have been gained or learned by an individual through various types of experiences or training.

Unconscious Mind:

v   It is related to the vast part of our mental life which is hidden and usually inaccessible to the conscious.

v   It contains all the repressed wishes, desires, feelings, drives and motives, many of which relate to sex and aggression.

THE CONCEPT OF ID, EGO AND SUPER EGO

Id:

v   The Id represents the animal in man and is seated in the un conscious.

v   It is the source of mental energy and of all instinctive energy of the individual.

v   It is present at birth  and has the qualities of a spoiled child.

v   Id is a quite selfish and unethical.

v   It knows no reality, follows no rules.

v   It considers only the satisfaction of its own needs and drives.

v   It operates according to the pleasure principle.

Ego:

v The Ego develops out of the Id and acts as on intermediary between three sets of forces, i.e., the instinctive, irrational demands of the Id, realities of the external world and the ethical, moral demands of the super ego.

v It controls the Id in terms of reality and to appease the super ego.

Super Ego:

v   It is the direct antithesis of Id and represents the ethical and normal aspect of the psyche.

v   It is usually develop in the child attitude the age of five and is referred to as ‘conscience’, or the judgement from within.

v   Like Id, it is also seated in the unconscious.

v   It is idealistic in nature, and perfection is its goal, rather than pleasure- seeking or destruction.

LESSON 4:

Freud's psycho sexual theory

Freud’s Classification:

          On the basis of his theory of libidinal development, he identified the following types of personality .

ORAL – EROTIC

          At the oral stage of sex development, the child shows excessive pleasures associated with sucking, biting and other activities in infancy.

Oral active type:

          This type of person is pessimistic and jealous.

Oral passive type:

          This type of person is optimistic and immature.

ANAL – EROTIC

          At the anal stage of sex development, the child obtains satisfaction through anal activities.

Sadistic type:

          This type of person obtains pleasure by oppressing others.

Passive type:

          This type of person obtains pleasure from self-torturing.

PHALLIC STAGE

          The child obtains satisfaction from touching, rubbing and exhibiting genital organ. This type of person shows exhibitionism and boasting.

LATENCY PERIOD

          This period is marked by a lack of interest in sex.

GENITAL STAGE

          Coinciding with puberty and adolescence, marked by physical and sexual maturity is the stage known as the genital stage.

          This lasts up to adult years.