Personalities Theory Activity Psychodynamic Theory and Humanistic Theory are two of the five major theories of Psychology. While they both serve a purpose in understanding the human mind and have similarities, they approach the subject of mental illness from two completely different perspectives. To compare and contrast both theories I will summarize and give a brief background on the psychologists that developed them. Psychodynamic Theory is defined as various forces that move through personality to determine behavior. Freud believed that personality is determined by childhood events and development. The traits or mental illness a person develops can not be changed without determining the events that caused the problem through psychoanalysis. The two main founders of Psychodynamic Theory are Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Sigmund Freud was the first to construct a psychological theory of personality. He believed that people were only aware of a small portion of their mind and that what was under the surface was a preconscious and unconscious mind. His theory also included three psychic structures called the id, ego and superego. Psychosexual development plays a major role in Freud’s theory. He believed that there were 5 stages of psychosexual development that all children go through and these stages determined the behaviors the child would display as adults. Carl Jung developed his own psychodynamic theory called analytical theory. Jung believed that sexual instinct was just one of several important instincts that people have. Understanding human behavior according to Jung was to understand self-awareness, self direction and knowledge of unconscious impulses. Humanistic Theory is based on the premise that people are capable of free choice, self fulfillment and ethical behavior. Personality is determined by the choices we make. People can change their environment by focusing on self actualization and self development. Mental illness occurs when people lose...