Comparison of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and William Essay

Comparison of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and William James theoretical positions - Essay Example The paper tells that Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and William James are historical psychologists whose work formed the foundation of psychology. Their theorems and practice in the field has had a great effect to this day. Most of the practicing psychologists in the present times borrow a lot from their work. However, this does not mean that their success in the field did not face challenges. The greatest of all the challenges for each one of them came from fellow psychologist. In efforts to outdo each other in their approach on psychological issues, similarities as well as differences developed that one cannot ignore. The four being the pioneers of psychology were passionate on getting better perceptive in the field. Their approaches aimed at getting facts that could better explain the psychological sphere of the human beings. This search for a better explanation led to common agreements on concepts like mental processes. They all believed that there was a conscious and a subconscious part of the human mind. These two spheres formed the basis for mental processes and Freud and Jung had similar views on dreams as a function of the unconscious mind. Jung in his theorem on individuation argued that human beings needed to incorporate both the conscious and unconscious mind to get the meanings to the dreams. Jung, Alder, and Freud agreed on the power of motive in human behavior. Childhood experience took the centre stage in the reason behind the motive. Cultural orientation, inferiority, and sexuality are all concepts that one gets from childhood. Since community and religious values influence a bigger part in them, the assimilation process into the child’s life is crucial because it affects relationships and psychological functioning of the individual (Meissner, 1987). Though the four could have differed in their theoretical positions of religion and the influence it has on human behavior, they all agreed that it plays a role in human psychology ( Dumont, 2010). Their theorems emphasized on religious interpretation of situations, and understanding of the world at large (Stone, 2011). Right from childhood, a child’s religion affects the way the child perceives different situations all the way to adulthood (Meissner, 1987). Contrast on Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and William James theoretical positions Just as the four psychologists are distinct, their theoretical positions equally had distinctions. They all had distinct approaches on the applicability of the concepts they all agreed were true. An example is in believing on mental processes that lead to human behavior. Human behavior as per Freud’s view required insight into thoughts and feelings for action to take place (Stone, 2011). Though Jung and Freud agreed on the unconscious part of dreams, their approaches on interpretation differed. Jung believed that religious nature formed the basis for interpretation hence dividing the unconscious into ind ividual and collective (Stone, 2011). For him, personal experience and concerns as well as collective religious believe influenced the interpretation (Dumont, 2010). However, this was different with Freud since to him mental processes and behavior took the centre of the dreams. James on the other hand came up with a completely different approach. To him, mental processes were a matter of evolutionary process meaning it is a function of constant changes (Stone, 2011). In his theoretical position on mental processes was more natural selection rather than emotions. Jung, Alder, and Freud agreed on the power of motive. While Freud believed that sexuality influenced motive, Jung and Adler had a different position. Jung considered culture,