Sigmund Freud- From a very young age Freud wanted to make a great discovery and become famous. One of his biggest discoveries was Psychoanalysis. Freud's clients were able to speak freely of their thoughts; this is where Freud gained a large portion of his understanding of personality. Freud believes there are three levels in one's mind connected to motivation: the unconscious, the conscious and the preconscious. The unconscious holds the reasons behind why we do things that we are unaware of while we are more aware of our conscious. The information in our conscious is easily available to us. The preconscious is the in between; the elements are not conscious but can become conscious. He also states that there are three parts to the mind: Id, Ego and Superego. The Id is present at birth and relies on desires and pleasures to determine what it wants. An id alone is not sufficient enough to make decisions because it cannot distinguish fantasy and reality. The Id is completely in the unconscious. The Ego, on the other hand, is very in tune with reality. The Ego is responsible for meeting the needs of the Id in a way that complies with reality. It's partly unconscious and uses defense mechanisms to defend itself from sexual and aggressive impulses that may cause anxiety. Lastly the Superego, …show more content…
He believes that our personality and behavior is motivated by a goal in the future. A person has a final goal that they wish to achieve, whether it be attainable or not. The goal can be thought of at the age of five and can change throughout a person's life. Some people may believe that they know their final goal but can actually not be aware of it. Adler says goals are influenced (not determined) by environment and genetics. When a person feels inferior they feel the need to compensate; this describes people striving for success. To Adler, in order to understand someone's personality you must understand their