Psychodynamic theory is one of the theoretical constructs of the development of the integrated model of personality. This presentation discuss its contributions and limitations in predicting human differences.

1. The theories behind the
development of the integrated
model of personality

2. Video 1 - Psychodynamic theory

3. Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud is considered the father of
psychodynamic theory. He tries to unravel
the mystery of the psyche by structuring
the mind into three levels, conscious, pre-
conscious and unconscious.

4. The Conscious Mind
Conscious deals with the part of our awareness
in touch with the reality of our life. It explains
our mental activity in which all thought
processes occur.

5. The Preconscious Mind
Pre-conscious is where information on our past
experiences is stored away, but it is easily
retrievable

6. The Unconscious Level
The unconscious is a reservoir of our inner
states such as desires, wants, needs and
motives.
It is also storage of information of our painful
past that is being repressed and cannot be
accessed readily.

7. Structure of Personality
Freud investigated the interplay of our conscious
awareness, preconscious and unconscious to
explain personality. He proposed a three-part
personality structure consisting of the id
the ego and the superego He posits that our
personality is also a function of our past
experiences

8. The ID
The id operates on the pleasures principle.
It is concerned with the gratification of basic
instincts. The id is the primitive and instinctual
part of the mind that contains sexual and
aggressive drives and hidden memories

9. The Super-Ego
The super-ego operates as a moral conscience,
the norms and culture which taught us the do’s
and don’ts acquired from our parents and
society

10. The Ego
The ego operates on the reality principles. It is
the part that mediates between the desires of
the id and the super-ego.

11. Human Behavior
Behavior is best explained through the interplay
of the id, ego and superego in the conscious,
preconscious and unconscious mind.

12. Human Neuroticism
Human neuroticism also known as personality
disorder is explained by investigating
the part of the ego arising from the internal
conflicts between the id and the
superego.

13. Human Neuroticism
Internal conflicts occur because of the bad
and bitter experiences of our past.

14. Human Neuroticism
When our painful past is suppressed and
depressed into our unconsciousness in our
attempt to forget the painful past we leave
psychological scars.

15. Carl Jung
Carl Jung is a disciple of Sigmund Freud. He went
against his teacher by modifying the three
structure of the mind into two, the ego
and the unconscious.

16. Carl Jung
The ego represents the conscious mind. It
comprises the thoughts, memories, and
emotions or anything a person is aware of. The
ego is largely responsible for feelings of identity
and continuity.

17. The Unconscious
The unconscious is made up of personal
unconscious and collective unconscious

18. Personal Unconscious
Personal unconscious is anything which is not
presently conscious, but can be. Personal
unconscious represents the preconscious and
unconscious of Freud. It explains the memories
that are easily brought to mind and those that
have been suppressed for some reason.

19. Collective Unconscious
Collective unconscious is the part of the
unconscious from our cultural heritage. It is the
reservoir of our experiences as a human being, a
kind of knowledge we are all born with and yet
we can never be directly conscious of it

20. Personality
The interplay of the ego with the personal and
collective unconscious determines who we are.

21. Carl Jung
• Jung replaced the Freudian structure of personality with
the processes of the psyche and its functions to explain
human behavior. He developed four pairs of polar traits
from the eight mental functions to interpret personality:
• Perceiving vs Judging: How people prefer to deal with the
outer world?
• Sensing vs Intuition: How people prefer to take in
information?
• Thinking vs Feeling: How people prefer to make decision?
• Extroversion vs Introversion: How people prefer to focus
their attention and energy?

22. Carl Jung
• He sequences the 4 pairs of mental processes:
• Observable Behavior (Extroversion vs
Introversion)
• Dominant Function (Sensing vs Intuition)
• Auxiliary Function (Thinking and Feeling)
• Inferior Function (Judging vs Perceiving)

23. Contributions of psychodynamic
theories
• It provides us a sound understanding of the
psyche in developing our personality.
• It contributes significantly to the treatment of
abnormal behaviour.

24. Contributions of the Psychodynamic Theory
Psychodynamic theories help us to
understand the processes of the mind in
predicting human differences

25. Contributions of the Psychodynamic
Theory
Psychodynamic Theory provides an
explanation for human behaviour based on
past and childhood experiences and the
unconscious

26. Contributions of the Psychodynamic
Theory
It has led to many discoveries such as dream
interpretation, psychotherapy, defense
mechanisms

27. Contributions of the Psychodynamic
Theory
Takes both nature and nurture into account.
(Nature: id, ego and superego; nurture
parent/childhood experiences)

28. Contributions of the Psychodynamic
Theory
Our past events influences our current behavior
Our pleasurable past make us relatively healthy
while our painful past makes us neurotic or
relatively unhealthy in our mental disposition.

29. Contributions of the Psychodynamic
Theory
The discovery of psychotherapy to treat
personality with psychological and mental
disorders

30. Limitations of the Psychodynamic
Theory
Its explanation of human personality is limited
To the processes of the mind.

31. Limitations of the Psychodynamic
Theory
Its explanation of human behaviour is too
simplistic. It does not include the biological and
genetic component of human behavior.

32. Limitations of the Psychodynamic
Theory
Some concepts such as the level of
consciousness and the structure of personality;
id, ego and superego, are abstract and not
based on empirical evidence.

33. Myer Briggs
Myer Briggs uses the theoretical construct of
Carl Jung to develop Myers Brigg Type Indicator
(MBTI). She came out with human
characteristics under the eight mental processes
and four polar traits and classified human beings
into 16 preferences.

34. Limitations of Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
MBTI assumes behavior is stable and consistent.
It is not sensitive to the environmental
influences that may cause the behavior patterns
to vary over time and across situations.

35. Limitations of Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
It does not differentiate positive and negative
behavior. Hence it is good only to predict
positive behavior. Negative behavior are being
left out

36. Limitations of Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI
Psychodynamic theories investigate the mind to
predict human behavior. How the mind work is
extremely complex.

37. Limitations of Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
Assuming your preference for the thinking type
or the feeling type can be mooted. If an issue is
important a person may think a lot before he
makes a decision. If the issue is unimportant he
may use his gut feeling.

38. Limitations of Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
Likewise being an extrovert or an introvert is on
the situation basis. In the midst of very
important people, a person may choose to be an
introvert while in the midst of friends he may
prefer to be an extrovert.

39. Limitations of Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
Use four pair of polar traits to predict human
personality has its limitation. It is not inclusive of
all the psychological traits.

40. Limitations of Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
MBTI does not differentiate simple and complex
human beings. It cannot predict personality
whose behavioral patterns varies with
situations.

41. Conclusion
In view of its limitations, there is a need to
incorporate the psychodynamic theories with
others schools of personality theories to have a
more accurate prediction of human differences.
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