Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories- Fromm: Humanistic
Psychoanalysis
(^204) © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
freedom,by a spontaneous and full expression of both their rational and their emo-
tional potentialities. Spontaneous activity is frequently seen in small children and in
artists who have little or no tendency to conform to whatever others want them to be.
They act according to their basic natures and not according to conventional rules.
Positive freedom represents a successful solution to the human dilemma
of being part of the natural world and yet separate from it. Through positive free-
dom and spontaneous activity, people overcome the terror of aloneness, achieve
union with the world, and maintain individuality. Fromm (1941) held that love and
work are the twin components of positive freedom. Through active love and work,
humans unite with one another and with the world without sacrificing their integrity.
They affirm their uniqueness as individuals and achieve full realization of their
potentialities.
Character Orientations
In Fromm’s theory, personality is reflected in one’s character orientation,that is, a
person’s relatively permanent way of relating to people and things. Fromm (1947)
defined personality as “the totality of inherited and acquired psychic qualities which
are characteristic of one individual and which make the individual unique” (p. 50).
The most important of the acquired qualities of personality is character,defined as
“the relatively permanent system of all noninstinctual strivings through which man
relates himself to the human and natural world”(Fromm, 1973, p. 226). Fromm
(1992) believed that character is a substitute for lack of instincts. Instead of acting
according to their instincts, people act according to their character. If they had to
stop and think about the consequences of their behavior, their actions would be very
inefficient and inconsistent. By acting according to their character traits, humans can
behave both efficiently and consistently.
People relate to the world in two ways—by acquiring and using things (assim-
ilation) and by relating to self and others (socialization). In general terms, people
can relate to things and to people either nonproductively or productively.
Nonproductive Orientations
People can acquire things through any one of four nonproductive orientations: (1) re-
ceiving things passively, (2) exploiting,or taking things through force, (3) hoarding
objects, and (4) marketing or exchanging things. Fromm used the term “nonproduc-
tive” to suggest strategies that fail to move people closer to positive freedom and
self-realization. Nonproductive orientations are, however, not entirely negative; each
has both a negative and a positive aspect. Personality is always a blend or combina-
tion of several orientations, even though one orientation is dominant.
Receptive
Receptive charactersfeel that the source of all good lies outside themselves and
that the only way they can relate to the world is to receive things, including love,
knowledge, and material possessions. They are more concerned with receiving than
with giving, and they want others to shower them with love, ideas, and gifts.
198 Part II Psychodynamic Theories