Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Fromm: Humanistic
Psychoanalysis
(^214) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
individuality are important, but when those forces lead people to be estranged from
their community, it can be harmful to their well-being.
The Burden of Freedom and Political Persuasions
One area of research where Fromm’s ideas also continue to be influential is in the
development of political beliefs (de Zavala & Van Bergh, 2007; Jost, Glaser,
Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003; Oesterreich, 2005). Fromm’s mechanisms of escape
as a response to the burden of freedom are implicated in political beliefs, particularly
in authoritarianism and conformity. Authoritarianism, for example, involves ac-
quiring strength by uniting with a person or a belief system that is more powerful
than the individual seeking strength (Fromm, 1941). Being devoutly loyal to one
political party is a way to unite with a system more powerful than the individual.
Similarly, conformity involves giving up one’s individuality and becoming whatever
other people desire one to be. Conformity often involves giving up independent
thought by going along with the beliefs and stance of one particular political party.
For personality psychologists, one interesting aspect of political beliefs is to
examine how people develop the political persuasions they do and whether person-
ality can predict which type of political party any given individual will be drawn to.
Fromm (1941) articulated how people might be drawn to strongly endorse one po-
litical party over another, but his theory does not clearly articulate which party an in-
dividual will be drawn to. In the United States, there are two big political parties: the
Republicans (conservative) and the Democrats (liberal). Yet, what kind of person is
more likely to become a Republican or a Democrat?
Jack and Jeanne Block (2006) conducted a longitudinal study in which they as-
sessed the personality of a group of preschoolers. Almost 20 years later, they fol-
lowed up with these participants (many of whom were now in or had recently grad-
uated from college) and asked about their political beliefs. When the participants
were in preschool, they were evaluated on a variety of personality dimensions by
their preschool teachers who had been trained in personality assessment.
Twenty years after preschool, the researchers asked these now young adults to
complete some self-report questionnaires assessing political beliefs. Children who
were described by their teachers 20 years previously as being easily offended, inde-
cisive, fearful, and rigid were more likely to be politically conservative in their twen-
ties. Children who had been described as being self-reliant, energetic, somewhat
dominating, and relatively undercontrolled in preschool grew up to be more lib-
eral. This research shows not only how people grow up to deal with their “burden
of freedom” differently, to use Fromm’s words, but it also shows the remarkably
powerful predictive ability of personality, even when personality is measured at a
very young age.
Critique of Fromm
Erich Fromm was perhaps the most brilliant essayist of all personality theorists. He
wrote beautiful essays on international politics (Fromm, 1961); on the relevance of
biblical prophets for people today (Fromm, 1986); on the psychological problems of
208 Part II Psychodynamic Theories