Brandon here with another addition to my blog on human resources
management for the Society for Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org)Today we
are going to be talking about a major personality theory and how it is used to
conduct assessments. So before we begin, what is a personality theory? Good
question! Even better, what is a personality? According to McLeod (2014), “personality
is the organization within an individual which determines his or her
characteristics” and “a personality theory is an attempt to explain personality
and how it develops” (1).
Moving right along…! How many of my readers have ever heard the
name Sigmund Freud? No, not fraud, Freud! He is the father of psychoanalysis
and his personality theory comes to us as Psychosexual Stages. Go ahead and
laugh, and no it does not refer to stages of killing your partner after sex. The psycho-sexual stages actually refer to developmental stages in which an
individual’s sexual energy (libido) was focused on a specific part of his or
her body, leading to frustration, pleasure, or both.
Freud stressed that the first five years of a child’s life were the
most important in the formation of his or her adult personality. According to
Freud, the id, ego, and superego must be able to develop during this time in
order to satisfy social demands. The ego and superego act in a way to resolve
the conflict established by frustrated wishes, and what society wants.
Each stage in the psycho-sexual model is associated with a conflict
that the individual must overcome in order to advance to the next stage of
development. The more energy an individual exerts while attempting to overcome
a particular conflict at any stage, the more the characteristics associated
with that stage will be present when individual matures psychologically
(McLeod, 2008).
This theory is used to conduct research through testing such as
the Freudian Personality Test. During this test, the subject is taken through
all of the psycho-sexual development stages; oral, anal, phallic, latent, and
genital and is asked to focus on those times in the individuals lives. Identification
of problems during this test show how some people become fixated and how these
fixations can lead to problems for the rest of their lives. Once a fixation is
identified, treatment can be given to help the individual progress past that
particular stage and possibly begin living a better and more meaningful life
(psychologistworld.com, 2015).
The thing that stands out to me the most are the names of the
stages, I would think someone would pick more serious names or not so obvious
names, I don’t know. Especially when the intention is for someone to take it
serious when reading it, why call a slew of subject matter the “anal stage” and
not expect a chuckle instead of a more serious tone. Just a thought. But I
guess that’s why he’s famous and I am writing blogs for a living!
Moving right along…..! On a more serious note, I think the ideas
of the stages themselves were thought out and can be quite evident today. For example,
I have three children all above potty training age. My two oldest, no problem
with the potty training, and they are good in school, don’t have to be told
things more than once, you know, they listen, they respect authority like they
should. And then there’s my youngest, my God did Freud hit the nail on the head
with him! This boy absolutely defied everything me and my wife tried until the
bitter end when HE decided HE was done pooping on himself. And as Freud
predicted, this is the child we have to tell the same things daily, “Quit
running through the house”, “Quit being loud while your brother and sister are
sleeping”. You know, text book hard head with an authority problem. This
phenomena supports Freud’s stages and shows how the truth behind it still
applies today!
The psycho-sexual stages can be interpreted differently across
cultures quite easily. Imagine the family where the child is left to run loose,
bare butt around the house and the parents just hope to catch Sally or Billy
hiding in the corner in time. Could those parents understand why little Sally
and Billy later have a problem with authority and people telling them what to
do and when to do it? Another way to look at this is through the nudist
culture. Surely these individuals had an overabundance of stimulation when they
noticed the opposite sex’s anatomical differences. They still walk around naked
even though society does not accept it. But maybe there is a mix of a lack of
guidance in the anal stage too, since they do not want to abide by authority
and go so far as to set up private places for their birthday suit forays. To
the nudist, do you think they see themselves as having a problem advancing
through Freud’s stages, or do you think they could care less and enjoy their lives?
Not a hard answer.
Now before I leave you, ladies and gentlemen, I have three
question I want to pose to you, just to inspire some thought. After I let you
stew on it for a while, I’ll even be so kind as to give you answers based off
of what I have just been telling you all this time!! See, aren’t I a nice host?
Alright, so, why do people drink so much alcohol even though it can kill them
will be my first question? Another question
would be, why do some people seem more prone to porn and masturbation than
others? Finally, why is my child such a stiffler and cheapskate?
…………………………………………………………………………………..wait
for it……………………………………..wait for it……………………wait for it…………the answers.
People
become orally fixated and just have to have something in their mouth, be it a
cigarette, alcohol, or Lolli pop. Being allowed to suck the thumb or stick
things in the mouth too often as a child can lead to these tendencies in adults
if not corrected. Over stimulation during the genital stage can lead to a child
developing a fixation with masturbating, and this can lead to problems if it
carries over into the public. Special attention to how much touching, and
anti-shaming, can help to correct this issue. Finally, an error in the anal
stage and harsh potty training can make the child reluctant to let their poop
go, or anything else they might value for that matter. This can manifest as problems
sharing toys, spending money, or just being a cheap person in general.
Well, I hope this has been as educational for you as it has been
fun for me. Until next post, don’t be anal!
References
McLeod, S. A. (2008). Psychosexual Stages. Retrieved from
www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html
McLeod, S. (2014). Theories of Personality. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/personality-theories.html
psychologistworld.com. (2015). Freudian Personality Type Test. Retrieved from
http://www.psychologistworld.com/freud/fixation_test.php
