Final answer:
The psychodynamic perspective, initially proposed by Sigmund Freud, is the perspective in psychology that views behavior as directed by often hidden forces within one's personality, focusing on unconscious drives and early childhood experiences.
Step-by-step explanation:
The major perspective in psychology that considers behavior as being influenced by often hidden forces within one's personality is known as the psychodynamic perspective. This view was initially proposed by Sigmund Freud, who suggested that unconscious drives, primarily influenced by sex and aggression, as well as childhood sexuality, play a significant role in shaping our personality. Freud's theories have been adopted by his followers, known as neo-Freudians, who generally agreed with the importance of childhood experiences but put less emphasis on sexual motivations and more on the impact of the social environment and culture on personality.
Moreover, the psychodynamic perspective was the dominant theory in the early half of the 20th century, later giving way to other theories such as humanism, the learning perspective, and behavioral theories. Each of these has provided additional insights into the forces that shape personality, either by focusing on self-actualization and free will, as humanism does or by emphasizing the role of environment and learned behaviors, as behaviorism and learning perspectives do.