Three Influential Psychoanalyst Theorists

Today in Atlas International High School, we learned about the Psychoanalytical Perspective of Personality Development and three psychologists who had a major influence in its development.

The Psychoanalytical Perspective of Personality Development focuses mostly on the unconscious mind and how it forms our personalities. There are three theorists who ascribe to this perspective:

Sigmund Freud is known as the father of this perspective because he created it. He believed that our personalities mostly developed in our early childhoods, and his name is also used in the term, “Freudian Slip,” which is when you say something you’re thinking about out loud accidentally. For example, a waitress serving a man with a bald spot on his head breakfast and accidentally saying, “here’s you bald egg,” instead of, “here’s your boiled egg.”

Carl Jung believed that our personalities developed evolutionarily through our unconscious thoughts and instincts. He also inspired the 16 Personalities Test, also known as the Myers-Briggs test, though his methodology was more complex.

Erik Erikson theorized that personality develops further than in childhood development. He concluded that social influences contribute to our personalities throughout our entire lifetime. He is also the one who developed the idea of the “Identity Crisis,” of which he is most known for.

The development of personalities and the ideas of the thought leaders behind this interesting subject are all taught by our English staff in our Personalities and Development class at Atlas High School. I look forward to going more in-depth in understanding how our minds function!

-Josh