fei75766_ch08_242-270.indd 250  02/06/20 12:02 PM
Part II    Psychodynamic Theories250
Sense of Identity
Thefourth human need isforasense of identity ,orthecapacity tobeaware ofour-
selves asaseparate entity. Because wehavebeen tornaway from nature, weneed 
toform aconcept ofourself,tobeabletosay,“IamI,”or“Iamthesubject ofmy
actions.” Fromm (1981) believed thatprimitive people identified more closely with
theirclananddidnotseethemselves asindividuals existing apart from theirgroup. 
Even during medieval times, people wereidentified largely bytheirsocial roleinthe
feudal hierarchy. Inagreement withMarx, Fromm believed thattheriseofcapitalism 
hasgiven people more economic andpolitical freedom. However, thisfreedom has
given onlyaminority ofpeople atruesense of“I.”Theidentity ofmost people still
resides intheirattachment toothers ortoinstitutions suchasnation, religion, occu -
pation, orsocial group.
Instead ofthepre-individualistic clanidentity, anewherdidentity develops in
which thesense ofidentity restsonthesense ofanunquestionable belonging tothe
crowd. Thatthisuniformity andconformity areoften notrecognized assuch, and
arecovered bytheillusion ofindividuality, doesnotalterthefacts. (p.9)
Without asense ofidentity, people could notretain their sanity, andthis
threat provides apowerful motivation todoalmost anything toacquire asense of
identity. Neurotics trytoattach themselves topowerful people ortosocial orpoliti -
calinstitutions. Healthy people, however, havelessneed toconform totheherd, 
lessneed togiveuptheir sense ofself.They donothavetosurrender their freedom 
andindividuality inorder tofitintosociety because theypossess anauthentic sense 
ofidentity.
Frame of Orientation
Afinalhuman need isforaframe of orientation. Being splitofffrom nature, 
humans need aroadmap, aframe oforientation, tomake their waythrough the
world. Without suchamap, humans would be“confused andunable toactpur-
posefully andconsistently” (Fromm, 1973, p.230). Aframe oforientation enables 
people toorganize thevarious stimuli thatimpinge onthem. People whopossess 
asolid frame oforientation canmake sense ofthese events andphenomena, but
those wholackareliable frame oforientation will,nevertheless, strive toputthese 
events intosome sortofframework inorder tomake sense ofthem. Forexample, 
anAmerican withashaky frame oforientation andapoor understanding ofhistory 
mayattempt tounderstand theevents ofSeptember 11,2001, byblaming them on
“evil” or“bad” people.
Every person hasaphilosophy, aconsistent wayoflooking atthings. Many 
people takeforgranted thisphilosophy orframe ofreference sothatanything at
odds withtheir viewisjudged as“crazy” or“unreasonable.” Anything consistent 
withitisseensimply as“common sense.” People willdonearly anything toacquire 
andretain aframe oforientation, eventotheextreme offollowing irrational or
bizarre philosophies suchasthose espoused byfanatical political andreligious 
leaders.
Aroadmapwithout agoal ordestination isworthless. Humans havethemen-
talcapacity toimagine many alternative paths tofollow. Tokeepfrom going insane, Final PDF to printer