Personality Theories: Freud's Psychosexual Theory and Carl Rogers' Humanistic Approach

This article explores the case of Jason and his struggles with self-worth and homosexuality through Freud's psychosexual theory and Carl Rogers' humanistic approach. It discusses the interaction between id, ego, and superego, and the tendency of actualization. Jason's case suggests a discrepancy between his self-concept and idea of self, which might have started from an early age. He suppressed his homosexual orientation because of societal standards and wanted to be in compliance with the standards of the idea that other individuals had of him.

PERSONALITY THEORIES
PERSONALITY THEORIES
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Introduction
The case presented is about Glen’s grandfather Jason, his monetary and self worth
struggles. The concepts that will be talked about in this analysis are the homosexual orientation
of Jason, the constant conflict between his self-concept and ideal self and the inevitable distance
that had grown between him and his immediate family. These issues will be discussed in the
light of Freud’s psychosexual personality developmental theory and Carl Roger’s humanistic
approach in personality development.
Summary of the Case
The present case is about Jason, who belonged to a poor family of a farmer. He had a
fairly tough childhood because of dire monetary conditions, given the fact that he was born just
before the Great Depression. He had moderately loving parents, but was essentially more
inclined towards his mother. The inclination however, stopped as he was made fun of by his
brothers at that tender age. Jason grew up to join the army, out of peer pressure, as he wanted to
be manly enough. He married and bore three children, however grew distant from his family
with the passage of time. He did not contribute much to the development of his children and was
excessively distant from his wife. He began having homosexual relationships after his wife
decided to stop having intercourse with him owing to his distant behavior. He justified this as not
infidelity as he did not sleep with other women and only started sexual relationships with men
when his wife decided to stop all sort of intimate relationships with him.

PERSONALITY THEORIES
Theory 1- Psychoanalytic Personality Developmental Theory by Freud
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory states that the personality of an individual is the interaction
between id, ego and superego, the three personality systems. Personalities, according to Freud,
are the outcome of all the conflicts at the five psychosexual developmental stages of an
individual (Ashcraft, 2012).
Homosexual relationships that Jason formed at the later stages can have two explanations. It is
understood that Jason had an Oral fixation, as he would nurse from his mother even at 3 years of
age, which suggests he was over gratified. Therefore at later stages of his life, when his wife
wanted to stop intimate relationships with him, he had to satisfy the urges of his id, while,
keeping intact his moral value, which in turn might have caused him to have homosexual
relationships and yet justify it as not infidelity. However, Freud’s explanation of homosexuality
is rooted in the third stage, or the phallic stage, which lasts from three to six years of age. This is
the stage when male children experience “Oedipal complex” or seeing the mother as a sexual
object and the father as the object of aggression. However, as the “castration anxiety” kicks in,
the child resolves the aggression and starts identifying with the father, while the love towards the
mother is projected as heterosexuality or attraction towards the opposite sex, here the id-ego
conflict is therefore successfully resolved (Gleason, 2018). In case, the child fails to resolve this
conflict and identifies with the mother while shifting the libidinal cathexis towards the direction
of the father (E, d, 2018). In Jason’s case, his brothers made fun of him because of his intimacy
with his mother, which might have led him to internalize the feelings towards his mother and
identify with her instead.

PERSONALITY THEORIES
Theory 2 Humanistic Personality Development Approach by Carl Rogers
Outline of the theory:
According to this theory, all behaviors of an individual revolve around the tendency of
actualization. Either individuals try actualizing organismic or true self or they try to actualize
according the other’s concept of them. According to Rogers, the organismic self is actualized in
case of a well-adjusted individual, which means that there exists a congruency between their
ideal self and their self concepts. When individuals experience incongruence between these two
factors, they start using defense mechanisms to justify their behavior. The two major defenses
that are most commonly used include denial and distortion. Actualization is a need because
people want growth, change and achievement and while everybody actualizes themselves, some
actualize their real selves and others try to actualize an inaccurate idea of them (Ashcraft, 2012).
Analysis of the case:
Jason’s case, in the light of this suggests that there was a distinct discrepancy and
incongruence between his self-concept and idea of self. This tendency might have started from
the early age of three, when his brothers would shame him for being too attached to his mother
and that is when he might have started internalizing is actual self. He joined the army, not
because he had genuine interest in it, but because he wanted to fulfill the society’s concept of a
man. He was lean and short; however, his perception of self was distorted, where he thought
himself to be sturdy and manly. His suppressed his homosexual orientation because of the way,
society perceived it as he wanted to be in compliance with the standards of the idea that other
individuals had of him. This might have been the reason behind the growing distance between
him and his family as he was being unable to keep up with the large discrepancy between his
actual self and the ideal self in front of his own family. He was an infidel to his wife, which he

PERSONALITY THEORIES
was in denial of. This maybe because it would have been against the societal standards or against
the ideas that he wanted others to have of him. He justified his infidelity stating that he did not
have intercourse with other women and only started intimate relationship with men, when his
wife decided to stop sexual intimacy with him. Throughout his life, he actualized a perceived
version of him and not his real self.
Criticisms
There are criticisms of the psychosexual theory that has been used to explain the given
scenario. Firstly, Freud solely uses Failure of completion of the Phallic stage or failure in the
Oedipal complex as the root cause of homosexuality among men , however, pre oedipal trauma
could also be a cause (Elliott, 2015).. That possibility however has been discussed earlier.
Another important criticism is that, the parent child bond in Freud’s theories is solely depicted as
sexual attachment. The disadvantage of the humanist approach is that, Rogers puts a lot of focus
on the good and refuses to shed light on the evil (McLeod, 2018). All of the behaviors of Jason
has been given a positive explanation, which might not actually be the case. Therefore, a further
insight in to the case with the help of other personality theories is required.

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References
Ashcraft, D. (2012). Personality theories workbook (5thed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
E, d. (2018). The Freudian construction of sexuality: the gay foundations of heterosexuality and
straight homophobia. - PubMed - NCBI. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 26 March 2018,
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8505533.
Elliott, A. (2015). Psychoanalytic theory: An introduction. Palgrave Macmillan.
Gleason, N. (2018). Narcissistic Object Choice in Sexual Orientation Identity Development: A
Freudian Perspective on Homosexual Identity Formation. Kon.org. Retrieved 26 March
2018, from https://www.kon.org/urc/v12/gleason.html
McLeod, S. (2018). Carl Rogers | Simply Psychology. Simplypsychology.org. Retrieved 26
March 2018, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html
Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2016). Theories of personality. Cengage Learning