The dynamic approach to understand personality involved search for the processes by which needs, motives and impulses – often hidden from view – interact to produce the individual’s behaviour.
Sigmund Freud stated the most influential dynamic theory of personality. His theory had a major impact on psychology, sociology, anthropology and literature, indeed on western thought in general.
Ever since Freud stated his theory, the most influential dynamic theory of personality remained to be his.
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Psycho-Analytic Theory:
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Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality includes a theory of personality structure, with the ‘Id’ as the storehouse of unconscious drives and impulses; the super-ego as conscience; and the ‘ego’ as the executive source, or mediator balancing the pressures of Id and super-ego with the constraints of reality.
Freud also described the stages of psychosexual development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) and proposed that puzzling events such as dreams and “slip of tongue” reveal unconscious impulses and conflicts.
Dynamic theory of personality also came in the form of modification of Freud’s psycho-analytic theory by C. J. Jung in his theory of “collective consciousness”. Another contribution came in Adler’s individual psychology and his concepts of ‘inferiority complex’, ‘style of life’, etc. Another development has been Horney’s concepts of “basic anxiety and basic hostility”, “moving toward, against, and away from others”. Many others have also modified the original motions of psycho-analysis to fit contemporary society.
The Concept of Defence Mechanisms:
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Which are used to cope with anxiety, has been a major contribution of the dynamic approach. Among these defence mechanisms are repression, reaction, formation, projection, rationalisation, intellectualisation, displacement, regression, and sublimation.
The dynamic theories of personality are very influential. But certain limitations have been slated in respect of these theories. They are limited in that many of their concepts and interpretations are difficult to prove or disprove. The dynamic approach, in general, has been rich in ideas but poor in experimental tests of those ideas.
Psycho-Analytic Theory of Personality:
According to Freud and his psycho-analytic school, human mind can be compared with an iceberg whose very small portion can be seen but greater part is submerged in water. Only a small portion or personality (or mind) is observable in terms of our conscious activities while a large portion is concealed in the unconscious level.
Freud has explained the structure and development of personality in his own way.