The Development of Self

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, while Sigmund Freud and George Herbert Mead created distinct theories on how humans develop a sense of self-identity, they shared some common ideas about how personality is formed. The author points out that Freud and Mead both stressed the importance of self-development through relationships: Freud felt that the relationship with siblings and parents were most important; whereas, Mead felt that the sense of self slowly evolved throughout a lifetime with diverse social interactions being integrated into the self. The paper relates that, like Freud, Mead developed stages of self-development; however, unlike Fraud, these stages did not create conflict within oneself.

From the Paper:

"Mead divided his "me" concept into three stages the "imitative", "play", and "game" stages. These stages are in sharp contrast to Freuds psychosocial stages in which human behavior arises out of our struggle to pass through sexual stages. Babies in the imitative stage engage in mimicing the symbols and gestures they experience and will eventually try to take on the role of the other, in most cases the mother, which then leads into the "play" stage where we will pretend to actually be the other person. In the "game" stage we begin to also consider our role in society as a whole and it is at this point that the "me" is complete and the individuale self is established within the social context."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Jones, E. (1955). The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. New York:Basic Books Inc.
• Gay, P. (1988). Freud: A Life for Our Time. Penguin books, Canada
• Mead, G.H (1934). Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

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