The 5 personality types according to Erich Fromm.

The 5 personality types according to Erich Fromm.
The 5 personality types according to Erich Fromm are based on the principle of productivity. According to the famous psychoanalyst, it's just one of these types of people who can invest in their own freedom. Only one can achieve their emotional and personal independence.



There are a lot of personality theories. We have personality theories from Jung, Carl Rogers, Cattell, Eysenk or "The Five Great" by Costa and McCrae. We can notice a certain conflict within all of these theories. Does this mean that behavioral science has not yet been able to agree on how to define the characteristics of the human personality?
Selfish people can not love others, nor can they love themselves "
-Erich Fromm-

Every trend, school of thought and authors emphasize their own definition of personality from their own theoretical models. The typology developed by Erich Fromm began with an interesting approach based on the humanistic philosophy which, whether we believe it or not, makes it really useful even in daily life.

If there is one thing that this social psychologist and author of "The Art of Loving" or "The Fear of Freedom" believed, it was human responsibility to achieve real autonomy, and to invest in its own independence while respecting others. According to Erich Fromm, this is synonymous with productivity.
The 5 personality types according to Erich Fromm
Erich Fromm's personality theory of the 5 personality types is based on two primary needs: the need for freedom, as we already knew, and the need for belonging. And when we read his work, there is something that usually attracts our attention. It is the fact that Fromm, a new Freudian psychoanalyst, has given a negative image of man. He considers him to be too passive and justified by his consumption needs.

Therefore, for much of his work, he invites us to promote our own personal development. He says that we should put our side apart from external factors, material things, as well as the need for success and recognition, and invest only in qualities like love, respect, creativity and humility.

The human personality is deeply rooted and difficult to change, and Fromm insists that it would have been enough if we were just a little more aware of our tendencies and attitudes. Enough to have the dedication to change ourselves. Now let's look at what the 5 personality types are according to Erich Fromm.

The receptive personality
The susceptible type is characterized by a constant need for recognition from others. The character of this personality profile that is most pronounced is that the support they usually receive is not given back. There is no input to the second person's life and they do not try to provide any kind of help.

They also tend to be characterized by poor social skills, difficulty in making decisions and a clear underestimation of their own human potential.

Utnyttjaren
Among the 5 personality types, Erich Fromm considers this to be the most common. It refers to the types of profiles that establish relationships and relationships with others of purely selfish interests. They do this for themselves and, as Fromm said, "for commercial interests".

The utilization type is willing to lie and manipulate to get what it wants, and they succeed in doing this by focusing on people with low self-esteem to exploit them.

The collector
The collective personality refers to persons whose sole purpose is to accumulate material possessions. Their only desire, which they consider to be a need, is to accumulate more and more things.

The more things they have, the safer they feel. They feel stronger and consider themselves to have a greater personal satisfaction. However, it should be noted that this unhealthy addiction to material things is never fully met. They always miss something. Their happiness is never complete, and when new things get out on the market, their first impulse is that they must have them.

"It's only the person who believes in himself who can believe in others"
-Erich Fromm-
marketing type
Among all the personality types, Erich Fromm considers that this is the one that works best in the workplace for obvious reasons. There are people who establish relationships with others for financial gain. They are contacts based on clear financial or commercial goals.

But what can first seem quite normal and expected is actually the one that most harms the fundamental principle of human freedom. Why? These commercial contacts try to establish differences in social status where some achieve prestige and power, while others are subjected to.
The productive type
Until now, we have reviewed the personality types that, according to Erich From, represent everything that is not productive. Those profiles who invest neither in their own personal freedom and autonomy and even less in others. But all is not lost and we will not leave you with a pessimistic view of man. Fortunately, there is a fifth personality type where our hopes lie and our personal goals are found.

The productive type is a person who channel all his efforts and all his interest in being someone who is engaged with others. What does this mean? Basically, they are individuals who can build loving, enriching and meaningful relationships with the people in their environment.
They also have a very healthy approach when it comes to dealing with negative feelings and pressure or trying to control others.
Woman on field

Erich Fromm urges us to once again reflect on an idea we have seen so much in the field of personal development. This idea claims that only those who invest in their own psychological value, self-esteem and independence can promote the same thing with others. It is only him who will be able to lay the groundwork for a more human society filled with hope.

As we can see, this perspective regarding the 5 personality types, according to Erich Fromm, has a clear social component that can be used as a source of authentic motivation. Its purpose is to create the changes that will stimulate our personal development. Let's try to put this into practice.