Self in Relationships - Assignment Example

The first aspect being investigated is the transactional analysis whose basis for the theory of personality stems from the premise that human personality is structured according to three separate states of the ego; Parent, Adult and Child (PAC model) as set forth by Berne. These categories are more of discernible phenomena that can be directly observed. In the child state of ego, individuals will behave as they did when they were children, where child behaviour is largely impulsive and stimulus-bound rather than reason-mediated.

Some of the expressions in the child ego state include irresponsibility, day dreaming, hot tempers, humor, spontaneity and fun. The parent ego state is one that has developed through aping parent behaviours and attitudes as a child, although it is modifiable as one emulates new parental figures or is impacted by actual parental experiences. In a parent ego, one is limit setting, controlling and rigid as well as nurturing and comforting. The adult ego state is one disconnected from emotions, with actions being based on logic and reason.

It results from interaction with the physical and social environment over time (Solomon 2003, pp. 15-22). In counseling, Berne’s views inform transaction analysis approach where the counselor guides the individual through an adjustment path towards achieving autonomy. Another view of self in relation to others is based on the concept of hidden personalities which can be derived from two albeit different perspectives; Roger’s and Freud’s. Roger’s championed humanistic psychology basing his view on an actualising tendency.

In Roger’s view, the conscious perceptions are primary to self concept. Here, personality is distinguished between two selves; real and ideal. The real self is a result of the actualising tendency and it is what one can become while the ideal self is what the society imposes on the person. Basing on Roger’s humanistic psychology, a person-centered counseling theory is derived where intervention is based on providing the individual with an opportunity to pursue actualisation (Hewstone, Fincham and Foster 2005, pp. 297-298). Freud’s objective psychoanalytic view of self grants the forces outside awareness the primary role in personality, with the person’s relation to society being controlled by urges buried deep within the individual and thus a hidden personality.

Freud also places emphasis on hedonistic principle where sexual and aggressive tendencies are expressed through other avenues since they are in conflict with the society (Simanowitz and Pearce 2003, pp. 1-3). A psychoanalytic counseling theory is derived from Freud’s perspective, with the purpose of intervention in this case being to help the individual bring to consciousness the unconscious and guide them through a developmental stage that was not resolved in their lives. Winnicot brought a paradigm change in psychoanalysis, switching from Freud’s sexuality theory to maturation theory.

He theorized on human development in form of a working theory where an individual progresses from dependence toward independence. Here, human maturation takes the form of development set off by a spontaneous gesture provided by the potential true self. A baby relates first to the mother as an object that is not an external entity from them; the baby is transitively the mother as the baby is entirely dependent. Maturation follows the pattern of separating from the mother as the