~Compare and contrast one theory and theorist from the psychoanalytic and humanistic schools. What are some similarities and differences in each of these schools.
"Unsatisfied wishes are the driving power behind fantasies; every separate fantasy contains the fulfillment of a wish, and improves and unsatisfactory reality" ~Sigmund Freud, 1908. .
"My feeling is that the concept of creativeness and the concept of the healthy, self-actualizing, fully-human person seem to be coming closer and closer together, and may perhaps turn out to be the same thing." .
~ Abraham Maslow, 1963.
These are the words of Sigmund Freud and Abraham Maslow. These two men were psychologists who studied the human mind, yet shared differing theories for the origin and causes of human personality and creativity. Freud speaking with an extremely psychoanalytic approach, and Maslow (along with Carl Rogers) with a more humanistic view. I have chosen to use the ideas of these men for my comparison between the psychoanalytic and humanistic theories on personality.
The psychoanalytic approach (taken by Sigmund Freud) explains personality by breaking it down into 3 separate parts: the id, the ego and the superego. The id consists of all the inherited parts of personality. The id is said to operate on a "pleasure principal", meaning that it seeks to maximize personal pleasure and avoid pain. If the id cannot have instant gratification, it uses a creative outlook (Imagination/thoughts) to help ease the tension of being unable to suffice desire. The ego is somewhat different, in that it realizes the minds desire, but controls the id's want by obeying the "reality principle", and restrains the id from acting out it's desire until it is the appropriate time and place. The superego is somewhat similar to the ego as they both deal with what is accepted by society. It handles all learned behaviors, such as the morals and values of society.