General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFreud believed that a person's basic character is formed by age 5
Do you think he was right?
Don
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)Most of the rest is formed quite early.
But people's core personality can change in some important ways in later childhood and even (though very rarely) as adults. (Though not necessarily for the better... most deep later charge is probably trauma-induced.)
sinkingfeeling
(51,438 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,787 posts)I am much different from my early childhood. I evolved throughout life as a result of my environment and opportunities.
emilyg
(22,742 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)no doubt early childhood plays a huge role in the development of a human being.
Happyhippychick
(8,379 posts)or less prominent depending on our environment.
For example if you are born prone to anxiety, having a calm household can make you less anxious. And the reverse is true as well.
uponit7771
(90,302 posts)The Magistrate
(95,243 posts)Most apparent change is simply application in different fields and scopes; the same tune in different scales, so to speak....
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)I've had the good fortune to have many long-term friendships and acquaintances in addition to watching several cousins and my brother grow up.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)A person's character and personality evolve over the whole lifetime, though most people do not go from introverted to extroverted and vice-versa.
newspeak
(4,847 posts)by the way, has anyone read about freud's initial theories about the oedipus complex? It seems freud spent time in france making observations in the cemetaries, of children who were killed. His initial findings found that there were many children who had been sexually assaulted. When he wrote his findings, his friend-a physician, influenced him not to print the findings because he would be castigated by the psychiatry community. He wound up coming up with the oedipus, electra complex. How children have sexual feelings for their parent; instead of how adults are preying on the innocent. In later years, the physician's son had approached freud and informed him his first thoughts were correct, since he had been sexually assaulted by his father, freud's friend who convinced him not to expose his initial findings.
He performed experiments, with the help of his friend, in sexual suppression-like cauterizing the membranes in the nose and other physical experiments. And, minimizing tales from patients of childhood sexual assault. If you think about it, telling a patient who had been sexually raped, that it was really a figment of their imagination, because they had a subconscious lust for his/her parent, probably caused even more damage to the patient.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)I'm leaning toward a cartoon character, but I haven't decided which one.
Uncle Joe
(58,296 posts)belief that self-identity is hard formed.
The brain isn't even fully developed into adolescence, life's minor lessons and major epiphanies have a cumulative effect that alters and molds our character.
Thanks for the thread, NNN0LHI.