Modules 19 & 20: Theories of Personality

1. Modules 19 & 20: Theories of Personality

2. Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory • Developed in 1800s • emphasizes the importance of early childhood experiences, unconscious or repressed thoughts that we cannot voluntarily access, and the conflicts between conscious and unconscious forces that influence our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors

3. Conscious vs. Unconscious Forces • Conscious thought: wishes, desires, or thoughts that we are aware of, or can recall, at any given moment • Unconscious forces: wishes, desires, or thoughts that, because of their disturbing or threatening content, we automatically repress and cannot voluntarily access • Unconscious motivation: the influence of repressed thoughts, desires, or impulses on our conscious thoughts and behaviors

5. Techniques to Discover the Unconscious • Free association: technique in which clients are encouraged to talk about any thoughts or images that enter their head; • assumption: free-flowing, uncensored talking will provide clues to unconscious material • Dream interpretation: technique of analyzing dreams; • Assumption: dreams contain underlying, hidden meanings and symbols that provide clues to unconscious thoughts and desires (latent content)

6. Techniques to Discover the Unconscious cont. • Freudian slip: mistakes or slips of the tongue that we make in everyday speech; such mistakes, which are often embarrassing, are thought to reflect unconscious thoughts or wishes

8. Divisions of the Mind • Freud divided the mind into three separate processes; each has a different function • interactions among the id, ego, and superego result in conflicts • Id: first division of the mind to develop (aka pleasure seeker) • contains two biological drives: sex and aggression • Id operates according to the pleasure principle: satisfy drives and avoid pain, without concern for moral restrictions or society’s regulations

9. Divisions of the Mind- Ego • Ego: second division of the mind, develops from the id during infancy (Negotiator) • goal is to find safe and socially acceptable ways of satisfying the id’s desires and to negotiate between the id’s wants and the superego’s prohibitions • large part of ego is conscious; smaller part is unconscious • follows reality principle: policy of satisfying a wish or desire only if there is a socially acceptable outlet available.

10. Divisions of the Mind-Superego • Superego: third division of the mind (aka regulator) • develops from the ego during early childhood • goal: apply the moral values and standards of one’s parents or caregivers and society in satisfying one’s wishes • moral standards of which we are conscious or aware and moral standards that are unconscious or outside our awareness

11. Anxiety in Freudian Theory Anxiety: uncomfortable feeling that results from inner conflicts between the primitive desires of the id and the moral goals of the superego • ego’s continuous negotiations to resolve conflict causes anxious feelings • ego uses defense mechanisms to reduce the anxious feelings

12. Defense Mechanisms Defense mechanisms: Freudian processes that operate at unconscious levels and that use self-deception or untrue explanations to protect the ego from being overwhelmed by anxiety Two ways to reduce anxiety: • can take realistic steps for reducing anxiety • use defense mechanisms to reduce anxiety

13. Defense Mechanisms cont. • Rationalization: covering up the true reasons for actions, thoughts, or feelings by making up excuses and incorrect explanations • Denial: refusing to recognize some anxiety-provoking event or piece of information that is clear to others • Repression: involves blocking and pushing unacceptable or threatening feelings, wishes, or experiences into the unconscious

14. Defense Mechanisms cont. • Projection: falsely and unconsciously attributes your own unacceptable feelings, traits, or thoughts to individuals or objects • Reaction formation: involves substituting behaviors, thoughts, or feelings that are the direct opposite of unacceptable ones • Displacement: involves transferring feelings about, or response to, an object that causes anxiety to another person or object that is less threatening

15. Defense Mechanisms cont. • Sublimation: involves redirecting a threatening or forbidden desire, usually sexual, into a socially acceptable one • Overuse of defense mechanisms may prevent us from recognizing or working on the real causes of our anxiety. • Growing scientific evidence that we use defense mechanisms • Many of us have a dominant or most-often-used one, but only effective in reducing short-term anxiety

16. Freud’s Developmental Stages Psychosexual stages • five developmental periods, each marked by a potential conflict between parent and child • conflicts arise as a child seeks pleasure from different body areas that are associated with sexual feelings (erogenous zones)

17. Developmental Stages • Fixation: potential personality problems occur during any the oral, anal, or phallic stages • process through which an individual may be locked into a particular psychosexual stage because his or her wishes were either overgratified or undergratified

18. Developmental Stages cont. Oral stage; early infancy-first 18 months • -Potential conflict: infant’s pleasure is centered around the mouth; pleasure-seeking activities: sucking, chewing, biting • -Fixation at this stage: oral wishes gratified too much or little, continue to seek oral gratification as an adult

19. Developmental Stages cont. Anal stage; late infancy-1 ½-3 years • Potential conflict: infant’s pleasure seeking is centered on the anus & its functions of elimination • Fixation at this stage: continue to engage in activities related to retention or elimination, such as being stingy or being rigid; for elimination, being generous or messy

20. Developmental Stages cont. Phallic stage; early childhood-3-6 years • Potential conflict: when the infant’s pleasure seeking is centered on the genitals. • Oedipus Complex: Competes with parent of the same sex for the affections & pleasure of the parent of the opposite sex; girls have penis envy • Problems in resolving: Electra complex-feelings of inferiority for women & something to prove for men

21. Developmental Stages cont Latency stage; 6 years-puberty • Potential conflict: child represses sexual thoughts & engages in nonsexual activities, developing social & intellectual skills Genital stage; puberty through adulthood • Potential conflict: individual has renewed sexual desires he/she seeks to fulfill through relationships with members of the opposite sex • If conflicts resolved in first 3 stages, develops loving relationships & healthy & mature personality

22. Freud’s Followers & Critics • Vienna Psychoanalytic Society: followers of Freud • Carl Jung • Believed collective unconscious, not sex is the basic force in the development of personality • Collective unconscious: ancient memory traces & symbols passed on my birth & shared by all people in all cultures • his theory-analytical psychology

23. Freud’s Followers & Critics cont. • Alfred Adler • Adler disagreed with Freud’s theory that humans are governed by biological and sexual urges • Adler proposed that humans are motivated by social urges • each person is a social being with a unique personality • Philosophy: “individual psychology” • we are aware of our motives and goals & have the capacity to guide and plan our futures

24. Freud’s Followers & Critics cont. • Karen Horney • trained as a psychoanalyst • objected to Freud’s view of women being dependent, vain, and submissive because of biological forces and childhood sexual experiences • took Issue with Freud’s idea of penis envy • personality development, (women or men) can be found in child-parent social “interactions”

25. Freud’s Followers & Critics cont. Karen Horney cont. theorized that: • major influence on personality development: child-parent interaction; conflicts are avoidable if the child is raised in a loving, trusting, and secure environment • founded the psychology of women, considered feminist • Was a Neo-Freudian • Neo-Freudians turned the emphasis of the Freud’s psychodynamic theory away from biological drives toward psychosocial & cultural influences

26. Neo-Freudian Theory Today • Issue 1: How valid is Freud’s theory? • Too comprehensive; can explain almost any behavior • Difficult to test; some components have been experimentally tested & supported • Must be updated; needs to include genetic factors • Issue 2: How important are the first five years? • Research has shown that the first five years are not as significant as he proposed

27. Neo-Freudian Theory Today • Issue 3: Are there unconscious forces? • Neuroscientists have developed a different concept: • implicit or nondeclarative memory: learning without awareness, such as occurs in experiencing emotional situations or acquiring motor habits. We are unaware of such learning, but it can influence our conscious thoughts, feelings & behavior; part of cognitive-emotional system

28. Neo-Freudian Theory Today • Issue 4: What was Freud’s impact? • Widespread use of Freudian terms • His concepts have been incorporated into many fields of psychology

29. Humanistic Theories • Official beginning: Early 1960s • Major figure: Abraham Maslow • Emphasize our capacity for personal growth, development of our potential, and freedom to choose our destiny. • Humanistic theories emphasize our capacity for personal growth, development of our potential & freedom to choose our destiny

30. Humanistic Theories cont. • Three characteristics: • Phenomenological perspective: your perception of the world, whether or not it is accurate, becomes your reality • Holistic view: individual parts of personality form a unique and total entity that functions as a unit • Self-actualization: our inherent tendency to develop and reach our true potentials

31. Maslow • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: • Divides needs into two categories: • deficiency needs:growth needs: Physiological & needs at higher psychological needs levels, such as That we try to fulfill if beauty & justice They are not met

33. Maslow cont. • Goal: work toward self-actualization • Based on characteristics of self-actualized individuals Albert Einstein Abraham Lincoln

34. Rogers: Self Theory • also called self-actualization theory • based on two major assumptions: • personality development is guided by each person’s unique self-actualization tendency • each of us has a personal need for positive regard

35. Rogers: Self Theory • Roger’s self-actualization tendency: • refers to an inborn tendency for us to develop all of our capacities in ways that best maintain and benefit our lives • relates to biological functions & psychological functions • guides us toward positive or healthful behaviors rather than negative or harmful ones

36. Rogers: Self Theory cont. • Self or self-concept • refers to how we see our describe ourselves positivenegative tend to act, feel, tend to act, feel & think optimistically & think pessimistically Constructively & destructively

37. Rogers: Self Theory cont. • Two kinds of selves: ideal selfreal self based in our hopes & based on actual wishes; how we would like experiences; to see ourselves how we really see ourselves • Positive regard: love, sympathy, warmth, acceptance, and respect, which we crave from family, friends, and people important to us

38. Rogers: Self Theory cont.: • Conditional positive regard: positive regard we receive if we behave in certain acceptable ways • Unconditional positive regard: warmth, acceptance & love that others show you regardless of your behavior

39. Application: Shyness Shyness: feeling of distress that comes from being tense, stressed, or awkward in social situations & worrying about fear & rejection. Psychodynamic approach: • -unresolved conflict at one or more of Freud’s psychosexual stages • -conscious & unconscious fears & use of defense mechanisms Social Cognitive Theory: • -breaks shyness down into 3 observable components- cognitive, behavioral & environmental • -therapies based on this theory have helped shy people reduce shy behavior

40. Assessment: Tests • Psychological assessment: use of various tools to measure various characteristics, traits, or abilities in order to understand & predict behaviors

41. Assessment: Tests • Personality tests: measure observable & unobservable behaviors or characteristics; Used to identify personality problems & psychological disorders & to predict behavior. • Ability tests: measure what we have learned (achievement), our potential for learning or a specific skill (aptitude), potential to solve problems (intelligence)

42. Assessment: Tests • Projective tests: require individuals to look at some meaningless object/ambiguous photo & describe what they see; through interpretation, they project their conscious & unconscious feelings, needs & motives • Examples: • Rorshach inkblot test showing an inkblot & asking what the image is • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): showing 20 pictures & asking what people are doing or thinking • Handwriting analysis

43. Assessment: Tests • validity: the test measures what it is supposed to measure • reliability: having a consistent score at different times • Barnum principle: method of listing many general traits so that almost everyone who reads the horoscope thinks that these traits apply specifically to him & her; these traits are so general they apply to almost everyone

44. Assessment: Tests • Objective personality tests, or self-report questionnaires: consist of specific, written statements that require individuals to indicate whether the statements do or do not apply to them.

45. Assessment: Tests • Examples of objective test: • Integrity tests • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2: a true-false self-report questionnaire that consists of 567 statements describing a wide range of normal & abnormal behaviors; intended to measure personality style & emotional adjustment in individuals with mental illness

46. Self-Esteem • How much an individual likes him/herself; includes feelings of self-worth, attractiveness & social competence-

47. Optimism vs. Pessimism • Optimism: relatively stable personality traits that lead to believing & expecting that good things will happen. • Pessimism: relatively stable personality trait that leads to believing & expecting bad things will happen.

48. Module 20 Social Cognitive & Trait Theories

49. Social Cognitive Theory • Says personality development shaped by 3 forces: • Environmental conditions: social, political & cultural influences & learning experiences • Cognitive-personal factors • Cognitive: includes beliefs, expectations, values, intentions & social roles • Personal: emotional makeup & biological/genetic influences • Behavior

50. Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory • Created by Albert Bandura • Personality development, growth & change are influenced by 4 human cognitive processes: • 1. language ability • 2. observational learning • 3. purposeful behavior • 4. self-analysis