In responding to the classmates post below, discuss whether you agree or disagree with the content of their original posts. Point out strengths and weaknesses in their arguments. Defend your own position with citations from the texts.

Annie post

This week we learned about Freud’s theory and the theories of neo-Freudians that differed from his. Freud had many followers and some went on to develop their own theories that expanded upon his own theories. Alfred Adler and Carl Jung were two of his followers who did not agree on Freud’s “excessive emphasis on sexual instincts” (Cervone & Pervin, 2016, p. 102). Adler put more of an emphasis on social urges, as well as conscious thoughts, which differed from Freud’s preference of sexual instincts and the unconscious. Adler’s theory deals a lot with inferiority and the motivations we have to compensate for that (Cervone & Pervin, 2016, p. 104). Jung, on the other hand, hadn’t been solely a follower of Freud’s; he had been quite close to Freud and Freud actually believed Jung to be his protégé, who would carry on the psychoanalytic tradition. However, this didn’t happen after conflict arose between the two. Jung believed that Freud had emphasized sexuality too heavily, much like Adler did. Jung viewed the libido as a “generalized life energy,” not as a sexual instinct, which is what Freud believed. Jung also believed our personality development to not be solely focused on what had happened in the past, which differed from Freud’s thinking.

Much like Adler and Jung, Karen Horney and Harry Stack Sullivan broke from Freud’s way of thinking and went on to develop their own theories. Horney’s theory put much more emphasis on cultural influences, as opposed to biological ones (Cervone & Pervin, 2016, p. 107). She also differed greatly on the view of women that Freud had and was very outspoken about the male bias that may have been present throughout his work concerning women. Sullivan also emphasized the role of social factors and contributed a way of thinking about development and personality that differed from Freud’s. He put emphasis on our emotional experiences “not being based in biological drives, as Freud posited, but in relations with others” (Cervone & Pervin, 2016, p. 108).

Freud never did experiments or implemented the use of tests throughout his career. He developed his theories purely from case study evidence. He used free association with his clients and thought it to be a scientific method and primary evidence for his theories, which is problematic. Adler and Horney did a lot of their work through observation, as well. However, Jung and Sullivan had used tests to find results, which helped them develop their theories. As for ethics, I do not believe that ethics were fully considered or upheld for the studies by the neo-Freudians. Reliability and validity is an issue when observation is how you come to your results

Zachary post

 

Neo-Freudians built upon the work of Sigmund Freud in many ways.

The four neo-Freudians of this discussion forum used research designs differing significantly from those of Freud, who utilized case studies involving his patients to draw his conclusions.

DISCUSSION 2

For this worksheet task, you will identify a gap in personality psychology research and begin to develop a basic research question to address the identified gap.

First, review the literature from the article in my chosen track (three that were provided for you and two that you chose on your own). Using the Research Gap Worksheet as a guide, identify a gap in the research from your articles. Based on that research gap, develop a question to address the gap.

Note: The Research Gap Worksheet is filled out to provide an example for you to follow. Use this sheet as a template by deleting the highlighted portion and replacing it with your own content.