In science, an explanation for some phenomenon which is based on observation, experimentation and reasoning. In popular use, a theory is often assumed to imply mere speculation, but in science, something is not called a theory until it has been confirmed over the course of many independent experiments. Theories are more certain than hypotheses, but less certain than laws.
The psychoanalytical ideas set forth by the Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler. Also called individual psychology, Adler’s theories were based on the idea that everyone is born with feelings of inferiority. Life is seen as a constant struggle to overcome these feelings; failure to do so leads to neurosis. (See also psychoanalytic theory.)... adlerian theory
Ideas put forward by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961). Jung theorized that certain ideas (called archetypes) inherited from experiences in a person’s distant past were present in his or her unconscious and controlled the way he or she viewed the world. Jung called these shared ideas the “collective unconscious”. He believed that each individual also had a “personal unconscious”, containing experiences from his or her life, but he regarded the collective unconscious as superior. Therapy was aimed at putting people in touch with this source of ideas, particularly through dream interpretation. Jung’s approach was also based on his theory of personality, which postulated 2 basic types: the extrovert and the introvert. One of these types dominates a person’s consciousness and the other must be brought into consciousness and reconciled with its opposite for the person to become a whole individual.... jungian theory
A system of ideas developed by Sigmund Freud that explains personality and behaviour in terms of unconscious wishes and conflicts. The main emphasis was on sexuality. Freud believed that a child passes through 3 stages in the first 18 months of life: oral, anal, and genital. After this, the child develops a sexual attraction to the parent of the opposite sex and wants to eliminate the other parent (Oedipus complex). Sexual feelings become latent around age 5 but reemerge at puberty. Psychological problems may develop if fixation occurs at a primitive stage. Modern psychoanalysis has progressed from these ideas and is generally based on the observation that most emotional problems are caused by childhood experiences. Psychoanalysis attempts to free the individual from the past, helping him or her to become a real person in the present. Psychoanalytic theory is decreasing in influence.... psychoanalytic theory
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