Week 5

In our last session we talked about identity – about selfhood. Why do we behave how we behave? Why do we think what we think? Why are we who we are?
There are different approaches about this topic:
Trait theorists think that every person has unique characteristics. His character is unchangeable and authentic. He has an honest soul. He behaves always in the same way. Honesty sounds good. But that would mean that we are how we are and that we can not change our character, that we have no influence on it. Consequently the system of rehabilitation of criminals is absurd and senseless. For me it´s unimaginable that all the experience that we make in our lives that they have no effect on us. In my opinion almost everybody says about himself that some specific experience influenced not only his life but above all his character.
Another theory about the identity is the role theory. His ambassadors think that everybody has different personas. We perform like actors. I am a student, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a neighbour etc. Depending on my role my behaviour changes. As a daughter I am acting in another way as I behave as a friend. My behaviour is a response to the social circumstances. There is no doubt about it that in different situations I act in different ways. But which persona is the “real” – the authentic self? I remember a situation: it was New Year´s Eve, I were on a party with some friends. We danced, drunk, laughed and had a lot of fun. But then somebody tapped me on the shoulder: my older broughter. It was totally weird. His little sister is shy, calm and well-behaved. And there were I with a drink in my hand telling dirty jokes.In my opinion Freud´s model of personality is a good combination of the role theory and the trait theory. In his model our self consist of three elements: the id, the ego and the superego. The id is unconscious and includes of the instinctive and primitiv behaviours. This component is present from birth. The superego on the other hand is the result of the social circumstances, the norms and values of our society. And the ego stands between the other both and has to decide whose wishes are more important. I know this antagonism. Do you know it?