When describing a person, personality is a common word that people do use. Human beings describe each other based on a person’s behaviors, traits, and even thoughts. When applying for a job, one of the purposes of an interview is to learn about the personality of the interviewee so as to gauge whether he/she would fit in the organization. An individual’s personality defines him/her and plays a huge role in shaping the life of a person.
Psychologists describe personality as an individual’s characteristic based on behaviors, thoughts and feelings which make the person unique from others (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). Personality is what defines an individual. Psychologists point out that the personality of an individual is heavily determined by the individual’s genes, and just a few external factors do influence the character of individuals. Also, people’s personalities tend to remain constant throughout a person’s life. Only some few aspects tend to change as a person grows older, a process that can be explained as maturation (Friedman & Schustack, 2016).
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In order to explain the difference in people’s personalities, researchers came up with various theories on the origin of the observed behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in people. One of the most common theory is psychodynamic theory (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). In this paper, the personality of an individual, named Elvis, is analyzed according to the psychodynamic theories by Sigmund Freud.
In Freud’s theory of personality, he explains that behaviors of an individual are heavily influenced by the unconscious mind and a person’s childhood experiences. According to Freud, the mind is made up of the id, the ego and the superego which all influence a person’s personality ( Hossain, 2017) . He explained that development of an individual’s personality relies on the first five years of the individual’s life during which there is interplay of instincts and environmental factors.
According to Freud, people tend to seek after pleasure as a natural response. In this case, they experience the drive to find pleasure by satisfying the Id’s desires. For instance, sexual pleasures that one seeks are dependent on the location of the libido. As a child grows the location of the libido in the brain changes in position and this in turn, influences the type of individual desires. This can be used to explain the varying activities that an individual engages in from childhood to adulthood. It is mostly determined by the different desires that come with the different developmental stages ( Yang, 2015 ).
Freud addressed this through the tripartite theory of personality. All the three, the id, ego, and superego develop at different life stages. He explained that the three are not part of the brain, and they are in no way physical. The id, as depicted by Freud, is the most primitive and instinctive part. It is the first one to grow. Generally, this part constitutes the traits that one inherits from the parents. The id traits include the instincts on sex, the Eros, where the libido is situated, and the aggressiveness instincts ( Biernat, 2015) . It is the id which operates the principles of pleasure and when taken literally, all the wishful thinking or impulse must be immediately satisfied without thinking about the possible outcome. Id component is prominently manifested in during childhood (Friedman & Schustack, 2016).
Most of the id principles are usually unrealistic or can lead to unwanted consequences. As an individual grows, a control mechanism develops to help differentiate between the realistic and unrealistic pleasure demands (Friedman & Schustack, 2016). This is where the ego component arises. The ego serves as a mediator between the demands of the id component which are not realistic, and the living reality and possibilities. Ego is, therefore, the component that aids in the process of making a number of decisions. To satisfy the demands of our pleasure, we need to look at the reality and possible consequences. A pleasure can either be realistic, unattainable or falls behind in a hierarchy of priorities. The ego part will help an individual to classify them into the right category. Behavior of an individual is, therefore, determined by the development of this component of personality ( Yang, 2015 ). The final component is the superego. The Superego considers morals and values that one learns from the society and from his/her parents. Behavioral decisions that one makes might not be the right one in the face of a particular society. People might openly show that they did not like what one did or said. In the long run, some guilt about the behavior will develop. In this scenario, a person is likely feel sorry and unhappy as a result of his/her actions depending on the values that were instilled in him/her during the development of the superego component of personality ( Hossain, 2017) . This explains why the kind of behavior, for example, an aggressiveness that one considers to be abnormal, can be taken as a normal happening by another person, who was brought up in a different kind of environment. Superego develops last in an individual’s life.
My friend Elvis, is somebody I have known since high school. Elvis has a unique personality to many. When encountering him for the first time, one gets the notion of an individual who is aggressive and full of energy. He can be off-putting from the way he expresses his opinions since he seems to care less about what others think of him. He appears emotional and passionate about things that affect his life or those that may influence him in one way or the other. However, this may not be the case since on continuous interaction with him, he turns out to be a very interesting person. One realizes that actually, he is a very calm person and quite understanding. Apart from that, he is caring and a reliable friend. Therefore, employing the three components of personality by Freud, the developmental stages of Elvis’ personality can be described.
First of all, his nature is influenced by the environment he grew up in and his instincts. The aggressive nature and the vigor describe the behavior that Elvis inherited from his childhood environment. The environment could be the parents or guardians he lived with or the immediate society. Our childhood traits shape what we become in adulthood ( Yang, 2015 ). The only difference observed comes from a modification referred to as maturation process. Observing his hyperactive nature keenly, it is obvious that his childhood environment was composed of aggressive individuals. His pleasures were primarily derived from a hyperactive way of action.
But on a subsequent encounter with Elvis, one gets to know of a person who understands himself and is able to compensate his vigor with a social approach. During his young age, Elvis learnt that he must control his pleasure to make him fit into life reality. This is when Elvis developed self-control. This virtue was nurtured by the social environment he lived in when growing up. This fact supports Biernat’s assertion that the ego component grows during the young development stage ( Biernat, 2015) . He developed a trait that fits him in a number of social situations like living in harmony with friends from different backgrounds. Elvis tends to be very talkative when angry, but usually do cool down and avoids public areas after some time. Looking at the personality of Elvis, when angry, his aggressive nature manifests. But after a while, Elvis will feel guilty and apologetic for his aggression and tends to stay alone. This realization and understanding of his behavior is vital to him as he can finally know how to act and handle the different situations in his life. As much as it might have taken him a considerable amount of time to comprehend his actions and reactions, it is important that he is able to be in charge of his actions. This only serves to make him a better person ion the society.
Conclusion
It is apparent that an individual’s personality is influenced by a number of aspects. Just as described by Freud, the personality of an individual is shaped by the person’s instincts and the immediate environment. In addition, a person’s personality develops in three different parts as one grows from childhood to adulthood. This has been exemplified by the case of Elvis’ personality development which confirms the three components. He inherited the vigorous behavior from his immediate environment at a young age. During his development, he learnt on how he can control his behavior to fit into some other environments. Therefore, it is vital to appreciate the various developmental stages in life. This way, we develop the traits that will be useful to a person’s life and affect others in a positive way.
References
Biernat, M. (2015). 96 Personality and Social Psychology Review 19 (2). Personality and Social Psychology Review , 19 (2), 95-96.
Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2016). Personality: Classic theories and modern research . Pearson.
Hossain, M. M. (2017). Psychoanalytic Theory used in English Literature: A Descriptive Study. Global Journal of Human-Social Science Research .
Yang, L. (2015). From the perspective of psychology explore the inner self, the super-ego and the ego in A Rose for Emily. Journal of Jiamusi Vocational Institute , 8 , 036.
