Psychology Stage 2: Personality Media Character Analysis

Part 1 – Concepts of Personality

A) Psychodynamic Approach to Personality

The first modern approach to explaining personality was made by Sigmund Freud (1856-
1939). Freud thought that the human mind consisted of three different levels: The
conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious level. Moreover, he proposed that there
are three different ‘mental forces’ that determine someone’s personality (Spencer,
Hartstone; 2007):

- The Id (People dominated by the id strive to satisfy sexual and aggressive needs in
order to gain pleasure)
- The Ego (Balancing power between id and superego)
- The Superego (People driven by the superego obey social norms)

Feud’s third famous theory is called psychosexual development. According to Freud, every
human being undergoes a set of stages based on particular erogenous zones (E.g. the oral,
anal or oedipal stages). If one stage is not completed successfully, the child becomes fixated
on that stage and will during its adulthood display characteristics related to that specific
stage (E.g. excessive smokers that did not complete the oral stage).

Known as psychoanalytic theories of personality, Freud’s theories were highly controversial

when they were first published. Today, Freud is considered as one of the most influential
psychologists. Since his approach to personality is theoretical however, it has only limited
effects on applied psychology (Weiten, 2004).

B) Trait Perspective

The trait perspective is a totally different approach to personality. Hans Eysenck (1916-1997)
who developed this approach, believed that personality was based on genetic inheritance
rather than childhood experiences. According to Eysenck, there are three main personality
dimensions (traits) that can be used to describe human personality (Boeree, 2009):

- Extraversion – introversion
- Neuroticism – stability
- Psychoticism – impulse control

Eysenck’s theories can be used to describe how different types of personality would behave
in a range of environments. Unlike Freud’s psychodynamic approach, the trait perspective
can actually be researched and tested. Nowadays, it is the most common theory to describe
personality and is used in a wide range of therapies.
Applying Concepts of Personality to a
Media Character –
Samantha Jones (Sex and the City)
Samantha Jones is a media character that can
be described rather well in terms of Freud’s
theories. Her personality is dominated mainly
by the id – she is an outgoing character driven
by the need to satisfy sexual needs. Samantha is a sexually very adventurous person (eg she
dates a college student many years younger than her, later she begins a homosexual
relationship) who prefers short relationships. During the course of the series, she dates
numerous men and does not ‘waste’ time by getting to know most of them thoroughly (Sex
and the City ‘Samantha Jones’, Youtube).

In terms of Freud’s psychosexual stages, it seems that Samantha’s affection for sexual
pleasures is a result of the unsuccessful completion of the genital stage (puberty to
adulthood). According to Freud, many people who become fixated on the genital stage are
often unsettled and undecided when it comes to relationships – which can result in a vast
number of sexual partners. Samantha seems to be a character created to display that very
behaviour. She is the only character of Sex and the City’s four protagonists whose life seems
to be merely about satisfying sexual needs, “The good ones screw you, the bad ones screw
you, and the rest don't know how to screw you.”(IMDb, 2010).

Furthermore, Samantha can be described in terms of the trait perspective too:

Firstly, she is a very outgoing, extroverted character. She loves to go to parties, “I don't
believe in the Democratic party or the Republican party, I just believe in parties!”(IMDb,
2010), constantly meets new people and stands up for herself. Samantha is a very talkative,
sociable person that is normally not concerned with the consequences of her behavior.

Normally, she is quite neurotic and does not display many features of a stable person:
Samantha is emotionally very unstable (often results in moodiness), mentally confused as
well as irritated. In particular when she cannot satisfy her sexual needs, she is rather cranky.

In the presence of others (foreigners), she is a character that manages well to control her
impulses and does not show any overly psychotic behavior. Even when she is together with
somebody familiar (eg her friends), Samantha tends to control her emotions to a fairly high
extend.
Evaluation
A) Psychodynamic Approach to Personality

Although it might seem that Freud’s psychodynamic approach is the ideal theory to describe
a character like Samantha Jones, it has some major flaws:

Human beings are far too complex to explain their behavior just by relating them to one
unsuccessfully completed psychosexual stage. Samantha for example often displays behavior
(eg extensive consumption of alcoholic beverages) that is related to psychosexual stages
(E.g. oral stage) other than the genital stage. Unlike Freud originally proposed, it would
perhaps be more accurate to describe personalities in terms of several instead of just a
single psychosexual stage.

Since the psychodynamic approach to personality is highly theoretical, it is impossible to

prove that negative childhood experiences actually determine personality. In Sex and the
City, there is very little information about Samantha’s childhood which makes it difficult to
use Freud’s approach to personality.

The main weakness of Freud’s theories is that they do not apply to all human beings.
Extreme characters like Samantha may suit the id-ego-superego model. But what about the
‘normal’ humans? Those that are neither driven by the id or the superego and don’t have
any obsessive behaviours? In those cases Freud’s theories can be limited in terms of
describing and predicting someone’s behavior.

B) Trait Perspective

Even Hans Eysenck’s trait perspective is not sufficient to describe a complex personality.
Samantha might seem to be extroverted and neurotic. But different social environments
change someone’s behavior. As said above, Samantha normally controls her impulses. But
on others occasions, she displays totally different behaviours. Nobody is always extroverted
or always neurotic. Hence the trait perspective is not very accurate in describing Samantha’s
personality too.

Can a complex personality be adequately described with only three dimensions of traits? For
most modern psychologists, there need to be at least five dimensions (Big 5). The answer to
this question remains to be seen. Unlike the psychodynamic approach, the trait perspective
has one major advantage: It might not be perfect (personalities change constantly), but it
can give somewhat accurate behavior predictions. However, the trait perspective is merely a
description of behavior. It does not (unlike Freud!) have any explanation why human beings
have certain personalities.

Overall, human personalities are too complex to be described with a single theory. In the
end, human personalities may be inherited, caused by childhood experience and social
expectations all at the same time.
Reference List
- Dr Boeree 2009, Trait Theories of Personality, viewed 12 June 2010,
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/genpsytraits.html
- IMDb (Internet Movie Database) 2010, Memorable Quotes for Sex and the City
(2008), viewed 16 June 2010, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1000774/quotes
- Spencer P, Hartstone, M 2007, ‘Freud and psychoanalytic theories of personality’, in
Psychology Stage 2, John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd., Milton (Qld), p. 114ff
- Weiten, W 2004, ‘Psychodynamic Perspectives’ in Psychology – Themes &
Variations, Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, Belmont (CA), USA, p.480ff
- Youtube.com 2009, Sex and the City *Samantha Jones*, viewed 20 June 2010,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4j5PVGHTdQ