Personality Theory

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Personality Theory

• Chapter 7The Neo-Freudians
• Erich Fromm

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The Problems with Classical Psychoanalysis

• In addition to the problems weve reviewed,
  psychoanalysis
• doesnt enable us to deal with the relation of
  personality to culture.
• is pessimistic and conservative.
• assumes evil in humans in the form of asocial
  instincts.

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Erich Fromm

• Fromm was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1900.
• He earned a PhD in sociology at age 22 from
  University of Heidelberg.
• Also educated in psychology and psychoanalysis
• Strongly influenced by Marxism
• At the Institute of Social Research, he studied
  authoritarianism in German workers in late 20s
  and early 30s

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• Fled Nazi Germany in 1933.
• Taught in a number of American universities and
  in psychoanalytic institutes
• Lived in Mexico
• Toward the end of his life he moved to
  Switzerland, where he died in 1980
• The author of more than 20 books
• note especially Escape from Freedom (1941)

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Emphases

• Personality, society, and culture
• How did modern techno-industrial society develop?
  
• Where does our alienation, conformity, violence,
  and materialism come from?
• Psychoanalysis doesnt give us an answer.
• Societies shape character orientation through
  families and the way they rear children.

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Fromms Theory of Personality

• Fromm adhered to much of psychoanalysis
• unconscious mental life, repression and other
  defenses, intrapsychic conflict.
• He accepted Freudian ego theory.
• His theory is really a social, economic, and
  cultural analysis of human societies.

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• The human freak of the universe
• Experiences both existential and historical
  dichotomies
• Life versus death
• Living in a time of peace versus war
• Humans have five special needs that set him apart
  from other creatures

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The Special Needs of Humans

• Relatedness
• Rootedness
• Transcendence
• Identity
• A frame of orientation

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• Human societies exist to fulfill these needs.
• No society has succeeded in fulfilling all of
  them.
• A sane society
• Humanistic, communitarian socialism

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Character Structure

• The concept of character structure links society,
  family, and individual.
• Fromm refers to this as character orientation.
• Character orientation expresses the way we relate
  to others and to society.

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• Two basic types
• Productive
• biophilous in love with life
• Nonproductive
• receptive (from Freuds oral incorporative)
• exploitative (from Freuds oral sadistic)
• hoarding (anal retentive)
• marketing (a contemporary addition of Fromms)

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• necrophilous love or attraction to death
• the most malevolent and damaging of the character
  orientations
• Everyone expresses all the character types, with
  one or two being dominant.

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Marketing Ourselves

• Does our society induce it?
• Mechanisms of escape may be part of character
  orientations
• authoritarianism
• malignant aggression, serving no social purpose
• automaton conformity

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Dreams

• Fromm accepted the Freudian view of dreams
• Unconscious meaning
• The disguise of the manifest content
• Some dreams may reflect efforts to solve
  difficult problems.
• Disguise is not always there.

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Personality Development

• Fromm disagreed with psychosexual stages but
  accepted
• Freuds description of stages and behaviour
• Processes fixation, unconscious motives,
  repression)
• Development depends on how parents rear their
  children.

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• The Oedipus Complex
• Fromm believed Freud was correct on 3 points
• Sexual interest in children
• Children can stay tied to their parents
• Father-son conflict
• it is not inevitably sexual

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• The Oedipus Complex only appears in patriarchal
  societies.
• It stems from the irrational exercise of
  authority.
• Other ways in which parents can damage their
  children pessimism, narcissism, and necrophilia
• The gentle fostering of independence is necessary.

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Research

• Fromms 1930s investigation of authoritarianism
  in German workers
• The psychoanalytic interpretation of open-ended
  questions
• Methodologically flawed but provocative research

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• Social Character in a Mexican Village (1970), a
  massive study of character orientations in a
  peasant village
• Used open-ended questionnaires, in-depth
  interviews, and projective tests

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• 3 major character orientations
• Nonproductive-receptive among most disadvantaged
• Productive-hoarding understandable among
  subsistence farmers
• Exploitative nonproductive were aggressive
  productive were richest and held power

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Fromm in Perspective

• An informed psychology of the ego
• emphasizes the role of the family in the
  personality development of children
• Character orientations how we relate to others
  and society
• Social philosophy a compelling view of society

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Take-Home Messages

• The problems with psychoanalysis
• Weak on personality-society-culture relation
• Conservative and pessimistic
• Are human instincts necessarily evil?

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• Fromm trained in sociology, psychology, and
  psychoanalysis
• Strongly influenced by Marxism
• Began to study the relation of individual to
  society in late 1920s
• The problem of authoritarianism

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• Societies shape character through families and
  the way they rear children
• The human condition
• Dichotomies existential and historical
• Multiple orientations exist in everyone
• One or two will be dominant
• Productive biophilous
• Nonproductive receptive, exploitative, hoarding,
  marketing, necrophilous

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• The unique needs of humans
• Relatedness
• Rootedness
• Transcendence
• Identity
• A frame of orientation
• Human societies fail in meeting these needs.

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• A sane society is possible
• Character orientations the way we relate to
  others and to society
• Productive, the biophilous way
• Mechanisms of escape
• Authoritarianism
• Malignant aggression
• Automaton conformity

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• Accepted the Freudian dream theory, but proposed
  that not all dreams express a forbidden wish
• Personality development
• Not staged
• Character orientations develop through learning
  in the family
• The Oedipus Complex and the exercise of authority

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• How should we raise our children?
• Research
• The study of authoritarianism
• Social Character in a Mexican Village

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Fromm in perspective

• A persuasive ego psychologist with an emphasis on
  character orientation and its development in the
  family
• A compelling social philosopher who examined
  human needs in relation to society