Final answer:
Neo-Freudians, including Adler, Jung, Erikson, and Horney, expanded upon Freud's theories, focusing more on social and cultural influences on personality development rather than strictly on psychosexual stages. They emphasized the importance of individual growth and the development of an ideal Self through social interactions and cultural environment.
Step-by-step explanation:
Neo-Freudians vs. Freud
The Neo-Freudians such as Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Erik Erikson, and Karen Horney, adapted and expanded upon the original teachings of Sigmund Freud.
While they agreed with Freud on the importance of childhood experiences in shaping personality, they shifted the focus from Freud's emphasis on psychosexual development to include a broader range of social and cultural influences. Neo-Freudians proposed that:
- Psychological development is through social interactions and cultural influences rather than merely sexual stages.
- We learn principles of behavior and socialization through our culture and environment.
- We strive to develop, rather than regress, aiming towards self-improvement and personal growth.
- To live our lives as our 'ideal' Self involves pursuing goals and ideals that are in harmony with our true potential and societal values.
For example, Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory is one of the best-known Neo-Freudian theories. It has eight stages of development that span across the entire lifespan, emphasizing the social nature of our development as opposed to the purely sexual nature suggested by Freud.
Unlike Freud, who focused on the internal conflicts within a person, Erikson placed a greater emphasis on the roles of culture and society and the conflicts that can take place within the ego itself, which he called ego identity.