Final answer:
Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis posits that personality development is influenced by unconscious drives and progresses through psychosexual stages, focusing on sex and aggression. Neo-Freudians adjusted Freud's theories, focusing more on social and cultural influences. Erik Erikson extended personality development across the lifespan with his psychosocial theory.
Step-by-step explanation:
Freudian Psychoanalysis and Personality Development
According to Sigmund Freud, our personalities are shaped by unconscious drives, primarily influenced by sex and aggression.
He suggested that personality develops through a linear progression of psychosexual stages, each characterized by an erogenous zone that is the focus of a child's pleasure-seeking urges.
Freud believed that adult personality is largely determined by how we pass through these stages. Should an individual not receive proper nurturing during a stage, they might become fixated, displaying unhealthy personality traits as adults.
Freud identified three primary components of personality: the id, ego, and superego. The ego is responsible for finding a balance between the impulsive desires of the id and the moralistic demands of the superego.
His followers, known as neo-Freudians, while agreeing that childhood experiences are important, they diverged from Freud's heavy emphasis on sexual urges and instead gave more weight to social interactions and cultural influences on personality development.
Erik Erikson, a prominent neo-Freudian, proposed a psychosocial theory of development that extends across the entire lifespan.
Unlike Freud, who emphasized psychosexual stages, Erikson focused on the interplay between our base desires and societal expectations.
He articulated eight stages of development, asserting that our psychosocial growth continues throughout life, shaping our personalities as we age.