Introduction

Though far from being its primary focus, the depth and dynamic Freudian psychology provides strong insights into 'personalities'. Indeed, on the basis of both his structural analysis of the mental apparatus and his model of human development, Freud allows to understand human beings' subjective experiences, mental pathologies and individual differences in character.

Inner and outer subjective experiences

Freud pays systematic attention to the way individuals subjectively experience their inner mental life as well as the outer world : this is the phenomenological perspective - that complements the psycho-biological one. In this line, Freud is interested in pointing out the typical patterns of experience.

Emergence of the inner/outer polarity

The most fundamental pattern is the major differentiation (second polarity) which appears in the first months of life, between the inner and the outer worlds. The latter is studied by Freud, only insofar as it is subjectively experienced.

This differentiation requires a constant expenditure of mental energy which in turn requires periodical moments of relief. Sleep provides the most common opportunity for such a relief, as it allows to regress back to the primal stage of undifferentiation.

As long as this differentiation is still weak, it operates under the primacy of the innate (first) polarity, through projection of sources of unpleasure and introjection of sources of pleasure. As the differentiation strengthens, projection and introjection become less and less easy to carry out. Repression takes over from projection. Identification and object-choice take over from introjection.

The subjective experience of the inner world : I, Ideal-I and Not-I

The central part of the inner sphere of experience is the I, which has the closest contact with the experienced outer realm. The Ideal-I (experienced as 'conscience') is in the background of any experience and judges it. The Not-I - set of repressed wishes and experiences - is consciously experienced as a set of somatic drives, i.e. needs and feelings. In this latter respect the Not-I merges into the lower part of the I, as a bodily I. The repressed self can gain some indirect expression, through body feelings and fantasy formations that express a compromise between the I and the internalized ideals. Thus, fantasy formation is at the other end of our sense of the outer world.

The subjective experience of the outer world

Freud has the notion that we complete our conception of the outer world by systematically projecting the structures of our inner experience (Totem and Taboo). Projection is therefore more than a primitive defense mechanism. The I is projected as the sense of an everyday social reality, known and reachable. The Ideal-I is projected as a divine realm (sense of sublime). The Not-I is projected as a demonic one. The repressed is projected as social taboos. The counterpart of inner fantasies is what is thought of as the 'unknown' part of reality, beyond nature.

Subjective feelings

Freud's work shows a strange lack of any systematic exposition of emotions. Yet, he defines for instance love as the relation of the I to its source of pleasure, and hate to its source of unpleasure. Following up this method, it is possible to give an account of a very wide range of emotions, as libidinal, aggressive or threatening relationships between the I, the Ideal-I, the It and the external object (in turn experienced as painful, pleasurable or threatening). For instance, affection can be defined as a libidinal tie springing from the I towards the pleasurable object, guilt as an aggressive tie from the Ideal-I towards the I, or a 'neurotic anxiety' as the It threatening the I, triggering a complete inner disorganization. What we actually feel is the motor element of, the movement triggered by these libidinal, aggressive and security drives.

Psychopathologies and soft mental malfunctionings

What we have studied so far are typical patterns of experience that do not especially account for individuals differences. On the other hand, pathologies and soft mental malfunctionings constitute an important source of differentiation. Freud understands the symptom formation process as the result of the clash between a predisposition and a current life situation : such a complemental series leaves a lot of room for individual variations.

Predisposition (innate constitution and formative experiences)

Freud's conception of an individual's "predisposition" is dual: innate factors and formative experience form another complemental series.

On the one hand, hereditary factors prior to any experience come into play, in the form of an innate temperament (soon expressed by the baby's behavior) and of a sexual constitution (e.g. specific levels of sensitivity of the erotogenic zones).

On the other hand, it encompasses early historical and formative experiences that very much shape the future reactions of the developing human (e.g. observation of parental intercourse, seduction by an adult, threat of castration). The most critical experiences are lived from birth to the first years of the latency period, via the thorny Oedipal period. Indeed, around the age of seven, the child can deal with traumatic experiences by other means than repression.

Formative experiences combined with hereditary factors are crystallized under the form of repressed wishes which fuel weakening internal conflicts, libido fixations which involve specific erotogenic zones or external objects, as well as specific vulnerabilities (i.e. typical situations an individual feels as threats). From this, one can easily see that different individuals are unlikely to identically respond to a given situation.

Current life situation ( level of drives' satisfaction)

An individual's predisposition interacts with the current life situation which is critically defined by the levels of libido satisfaction, frustration and by the threats it encompasses. Obviously, if for too long a time an individual has to bear a low level of satisfaction, a high level of frustration or intolerable threats, the way opens up to regression to earlier forms of satisfaction subject to fixations.

Introversion and non-pathological regressions

The first shelter of the individual is wishful fantasy formation expressed in both night and day dreams. Many children make up complete parallel worlds whereby their various drives find satisfaction. This process of introversion is in itself neither pathological nor regressive, though typically used during childhood.

Yet, it can rightly be characterized as pathological if it turns into a strong and systematic withdrawal from reality, and as regressive if an adult person uses it over a certain critical level. Moreover, as Freud importantly points out, introversion plays a key role in the maintenance of libido fixations, as it enables the latter to remain stimulated, psychically active, available for regression. Indeed, the quantity of libido attached to fixations is a tremendously important factor.

Artistic creation is understood by Freud as an 'almost slightly pathological' outcome of a tense situation of frustration. The Freudian psychology allows us to analyze art from various angles and to see it : 1) as an extreme form of introversion both exalted and overcome in creation 2) as a sublimation of the artist's drives in highly socially valued activities 3) or as a regressive kind of activity.

Finally, we should also mention the various 'recreational' forms of regression which only involve limited and temporary mental reorganizations, but still provide some indirect and partial satisfaction: mainly parapraxis (e.g. slips of the tongue) and jokes that release psychical tension from the secondary system.

Pathological regressions: perversions and neuroses

If the satisfaction granted by all these mechanisms still does not compensate the frustrations found in the real world, pathological regressions come about. They can either take the form of a return to an old object-cathect, or to an old drive organization as a whole. A given regression can in turn either be accepted or rejected by the ego and its sense of ideal self.

If the regression does not contradict the individual's sense of self, then it is accepted by the ego as a valid form of satisfaction and becomes an actual feature of the individual's drive organization. Freud uses the name of perversion, as it is the most commonly employed. Yet he specifically mentions that he does not endorse the value judgment the term carries.

If the regression is totally alien to the ego, then it is repressed and an internal conflict arises. External frustration is thus coupled with an internal one : the conditions for neuroses are fulfilled. Pathological symptoms are thereafter built up as substitutes for the regression, which was already an indirect form of satisfaction. They find their strength in the fact that they satisfy both the libido and the ego-ideal and are therefore useful compromises that soften internal conflicts.

Differences in human characters: individuality

The process of individuation is multiform. Its combines a cumulative alteration of the Ego-ideal, a specific libido allocation among the various mental structures, residues of pre-genital drive organizations and an anachronistic maintenance of typical modes of ego defense.

Identification with individuals (formation of the Ideal I)

A fundamental Freudian insight is that "the character of the ego is [largely] a precipitate of abandoned object-cathect and [therefore] contains the history of those object-choices" (The Ego and the Id, 24). The various identifications with individuals gradually modify and build the Ego-ideal.

Freud emphasizes that the earliest emotional tie with people is identification. The parents are of course the primary subjects. The resolution of the Complete Oedipus Complex ends up in a double identification with both the mother and the father. The Ego further identifies with a great variety of people, usually as a way to gain control over the Id, and makes it give up its object attachment by saying : "Look, you can love me too - I am so like the object" (The Ego and the Id, 24).

Identification with groups (formation of the Ideal I)

Identification is not only possible with individuals but also with groups. It is a fact that any individual is a component of numerous groups. Each membership gives rise to three different kinds of ties : 1) identification with other members 2) incorporation into the ego-ideal of the image of the 'leader' -especially in ephemeral and massive groups 3) or more abstractly, incorporation of its 'culture' (the "group's mind" in Freud's terminology).

Location of libido in the mental apparatus (the 'Libidinal types')

Using a clear psycho-biological perspective, Freud distinguishes 'libidinal types' of characters, on the basis of the concrete allocation of libido among the structural agencies.

The erotic type mirrors the preeminence of the Id, with love as the main interest, and loss of love as the main fear. Such a person is extremely dependant on others. The obsessional type reveals the predominance of the super-ego and shows fear of consciousness and high self-reliance. The narcissistic type is characterized by an absence of tension between the ego and the super-ego, and no specific preponderance of erotic needs. The stress is therefore upon independence and self-preservation. Such a person has large amounts of aggressiveness at her disposal which translate into permanent readiness for activity.

Though very interesting, this approach to personality is more descriptive than explicative, as the libido allocation remains unexplained.

Transformation of infantile drives into character traits

Freud raised the hypothesis that certain character traits are strongly linked to pre-genital drive organizations, as residues of infantile psychosexual wishes and habits. These infantile elements are either unchanged, sublimated or subject to a reaction-formation (SE, vol. IX, 175).

Freud famously studied the anal character which typically shows orderliness/cleanliness, parsimony and obstinacy. These traits are understood as the progressive sublimation of an unusually strong erotogenicity of the anal zone (171). Though, cleanliness can also be understood as a reaction formation.

Freud made scattered comments on the concept of phallic character, primarily associated with a strong erotogenicity of the urethra. Ambition, competitiveness are its typical traits.

We can follow up with the definition of an oral character, evidently associated with a propensity to consume and stimulate one's mouth in both common and culturally refined ways.

Anachronistic' institutionalization' of ego defense mechanisms

Before being able to cope with danger situations in an adult ways, the developing ego has recourse to various defense mechanisms. For reasons unexplored by Freud, individuals show spontaneous preferences for such or such modes of defense.

The most primitive one is the projection process. Then, once the inner/outer polarity is firmly established, projection is no longer an option : repression takes over. A more advanced mode of defense, characteristic of the latency period, is the process of reaction formation against undesirable drives. Fantasy formation is a widely used defense mechanism which enables the ego to shelter from a frustrating or threatening reality. The most mature mode is probably the process of intellectualization whereby the individual dissociates ideas from feelings, by selectively repressing the latter.

These defenses mechanisms are useful and necessary to a certain extent in the course of the child development. Yet the crucial point is that they are not relinquished after they have assisted the ego during its difficult years : they become fixated in the ego, in the form of regular modes of reaction.

These are indeed infantilisms that strive to preserve themselves. What is truly fascinating is that the ego even "seeks out those situations in reality which can serve as an approximate substitute for the original danger, so as to be able to justify (.) its maintaining its habitual modes of reaction" (SE, vol. XXIII, 238). The relation of the ego to danger is thus complex, as it seems to seek and fight anachronistic and fake dangers.

A scrap of independence and originality.

Freud both limits and recognizes the role of the individual's "independence and originality", that can alter by themselves the shape of the ego-ideal.

Conclusion

Freud's understanding of humans' mental apparatus and development provides convincing tools for the analysis of subjective experience and individual particularities. Past and present, rather than future, are what explain personalities. In this sense human personalities are both historical and contextual.

BACK TO PSYCHOANALYSIS