The psychoanalytic theory of personality development postulate that a person’s personality is formed through conflicts among the essential structures of an individual’s mind, i.e. the mind, id, and the superego (Fonagy & Target, 2014). Notably, bullying among adolescents especially in the school setting has drawn much research attention as it is considered one of the most prevalent and damaging forms of school violence. The psychoanalytic theories of personality development will help in the interpretation of the ramifications of bullying on a student’s mental wellness. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development will aid in the interpretation of bullying since an individual’s cognitive development is perceived as a progressive reorganization of his or her mental processes due to biological maturation as well as environmental experiences (Fonagy & Target, 2014). Even though Piaget contributes vital insight into the subject of childhood development, a better psychological lens for evaluation of the case is provided by Freud and Erikson. In this accord, this paper focusses on Freud’s perspective of the case and Erikson’s view of the situation.
Freud’s View
Freud posits that early experiences have far-reaching and long-term ramifications on the personality of an individual. In this accord, dysfunction on any of the five developmental stages that children undergo is detrimental to the personality of an individual (Marcus, 2016). According to Freud, the last state of psychosexual development, the genital stage, expands an individual’s interest on the wellbeing of others. An individual at this stage is expected to be calm, caring, and emotionally well-balanced. However, if individual’s at this developmental stage are confronted with deeming conditions and circumstances, such as bullying, they tend to become withdrawn, and they begin to care less about the welfare of others due to the deterioration in trust. In reference to the case, the HS girl that experienced bullying is likely to be socially dysfunctional and alienated from the rest of the teenagers. Ultimately, such aspect results in debilitating personal traits later in life. The bottom line is that according to Freud, the girl who underwent bullying will be hesitant to trust people and she may develop introvert tendencies.
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Erikson’s perspective
Erikson is referred to as the most influential Neo-Freudian because his psychological theories have been vastly applied in the medical context in a bid to understand the impact of dysfunction in childhood development on an adult’s stature (Bjorklund & Causey, 2017). However, Erikson holds views that differ from Freud’s perspective as he places less emphasis on the sexual urge, employs a more adaptive view of human nature, emphasizes more on the ego, and staunchly believes that development continues through adulthood. Erikson, in his psychosocial theory, asserts that children undergo a myriad of developmental stages in the course of their lives. The first stage of development is trust versus mistrust and development sequentially continue to the last stage, which is integrity versus despair.
A high school girl in Erikson’s perspective is at the identity versus role confusion stage. In this stage, an individual strives to form social and vocational identities. In this regard, the traumatic experience associated with bullying will shape the girl’s outlook on life. To be precise, the bullying victim will be skeptic to socialize with her peers since the bullying episode has conditioned her to perceive her peers as imminent threats to her wellness. Therefore, it is likely that the girl will be withdrawn from the rest. Conclusively, both Freud and Erikson consensually admit that bullying adversely debilitates an individual social life as well as his or her perspective of others. Holistically, the girls will grow up incapable of forming lasting relations with her peers due to the fear of being subjected through the same conditions she experienced in early childhood.
References
Bjorklund, D. F., & Causey, K. B. (2017). Children's thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences . Sage Publications.
Fonagy, P., & Target, M. (2014). Psychoanalytic theories: Perspective from developmental psychopathology . Routledge.
Marcus, S. (2016). Freud and the Culture of Psychoanalysis: Studies in the Transition from Victorian Humanism to Modernity.
