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      DISTINCTION BETWEEN FREUD & NEO-FREUDIANS (Lecture Series-6)
                                                  B.A. Ist (Honors)
                                                 th
                                      (Paper-IV     : Systems in Psychology) 
                                                         By
                                               Dr. Masaud Ansari
                                            Department of Psychology, 
                                            A.P.S.M. College, Barauni
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                                          L. N. M. University, Darbhanga                   22 APRIL 2020
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     Neo-Freudian’s view
         Freud attracted many followers who modified his ideas to create new theories about
     personality. These theorists, referred to as neo-Freudians, generally agreed with Freud that
     childhood experiences matter, but deemphasized sex, focusing more on the social
     environmentand effectsof cultureon personality.
         Freud’s writings were controversial, but they soon attracted followers, mostly young,
     ambitious physicians who formed an inner circle around their strong minded leader. These
     pioneering psychoanalysts, whom we often call neo- Freudians, accepted Freud’s basic ideas:
     the personality structures of id, ego, and superego; the importance of the unconscious; the
     shaping of personality in childhood; and the dynamics of anxiety and the defense
     mechanisms. But they broke off from Freud in two important ways. First, they placed more
     emphasis on the conscious mind’s role in interpreting experience and in coping with the
     environment. And second, they doubted that sex and aggression were all - consuming
     motivations. Instead, they tended to emphasize loftier motives and social interactions.
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   Neo-Freudian’s views
    1. The social and cultural, rather than biological factors are basic to the understanding of the
     humannature.
    2. The Oedipus complex, the formation of superego and alleged inferiorities are cultural though
     there may be a biological foundation for oral and anal stage, it can be modified by cultural
     factors.
    3. Emphasis is placed on ‘interpersonal relationship’ in the formation of character and the
     production ofanxiety.
    4. It is not the sexual behaviour that determines character but the character determines the sexual
     behaviour.
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          Distinction Between Freud & Neo-Freudians
           Sl.                   Freud                                                           Neo-Freudians
           No.
                                                             Alfred Adler            Erik Ericson           Karen Horney                Seligmann
             1     Topographical Structure:               Individual              Erikson’s theories     Basic anxiety             Five basic 
                   Conscious, Preconscious and            Psychology              of development                                   orientation: 
                   Unconscious                                                    and the ego                                      Receptive, 
             2     Structural Model: Id, Ego and          InferiorityFeelings                            Basic evil                Exploitative, 
                   Superego                                                                                                        Hoarding, 
                                                                                                                                   Marketing and 
             3     Psychic energy and theory of           Style of Life                                  Basic hostility           Productive
                   instincts
             4     Anxiety and defence                    The Creative                                   Neurotic needs            Threebasic escape 
                   mechanisms                             Power of the Self                                                        mechanisms: 
                                                                                                                                   Automaton 
                                                                                                                                   conform,
                                                                                                                                   Authoritarianism,
                                                                                                                                   Destructiveness
             5     Stages of Psychosexual                 Birth Order             Stages of              The idealized Self-       Eight basic needs: 
                   Development                                                    Psychosocial           image                     Rootedness, Sense 
             6     Freud’s Social Psychology                                      Development                                      of identity, Frame of 
                                                                                                                                   orientation, Unity, 
             7     Mind-body position                                                                                              Effectiveness, 
                                                                                                                                   Excitation and 
                                                                                                                                   Stimulation