The Man in the Mirror: Self-Awareness as Social Awareness

Type :

School essay

Pages :

5 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

10/19/2007

Category :

Social studies

Sub category :

Psychology

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Summary :

Introduction
The oldest and most controversial methods of exploring human personality
The superego
Freud and his followers' view of human beings
Contemporaries of Karen Horney, Alfred Adler and Erik Erikson
The optimal psychodynamic theory of personality
Social psychology
Conclusion
Works cited

Abstract

Much of the realm of psychology, especially in the disciplines of neuroscience and cognitive studies, is focused on identifying the unified characteristics of human thought and behavior. The brain is studied extensively: years upon years of theories and experiments have yielded an accurate map as well as concrete functions for each individual structure, most recently those of the cerebral cortex. The consistency of the modern brain is helpful in determining what specific occurrences are in fact abnormalities: much like standardized criteria for mental disorders are necessary for correct diagnosis and distribution of medication. And this is what makes the lesser-known focuses on personality and social psychology all the more interesting. A common person automatically draws a line between psychology and insanity. Yet everyday psychology, the interactions between populations and the self-awareness individuals uphold as the fundamental element of being human, goes ignored in a society increasingly fixated on the negative. An individual is more than a brain and genetics, but so often the individual is forgotten in matters of the mind. There is uniqueness to each and every person, a personality that will never be expressed again, a self that is alone in its composition. Sigmund Freud's theory of the psychodynamic personality accounts for many of these peculiarities that are, in essence, the souls of humanity. The focus of social psychology on self-consciousness formed through the eyes of others solidifies the relationship between the self and society that develops a blank personality into the true portrait of an individual.