Psychological Theories of Personality

1. Psychological Theories of Personality Cooley Jung Freud Erikson Horney Merton

2. Charles Cooley - Looking Glass Self • Our sense of self or identity is developed during a process very close to socialization. Our identity is derived from others. • The reactions of others act like mirrors that show us who we are. We look to see the reflections of our psychological selves as we see the reflection of our physical selves. • As a result, develop a set of beliefs about our selves: we say we are smart, funny or clumsy. • Our parents, friends, teachers and acquaintances all help to shape our self-concept.

3. Erikson’s Stages of Social Development • Psychosocial Theory: a theory of development that says that children develop through a series of stages largely through accomplishing tasks that involve them in interaction with their social environment.

4. Erickson believed that the development of self does not end with the child or adolescent stage. • Each stage has different tasks or challenges that are key to forming social relationships. • Failure to meet the requirements of one stage can prevent an individual from succeeding in the next stage.

6. Sigmund Freud • Founder of psychoanalytic theory • Believed our early childhood experiences, usually involving our relationships with parents and family, are stored in our unconscious mind • Those that live with a general sense of frustration, our behaviour may become neurotic and connected with anxiety or obsessiveness which can be treated using dream analysis, hypnosis and individual counseling

7. The Unconscious Mind The Unconscious mind is divided into three parts: • Id – which encourages us to seek physical satisfaction • Superego – prompts us to do the moral thing, not the one that feels best • Ego – the referee between the two and deals with external reality, this is our most conscious self

8. Super Ego Id Ego

9. The Id Resides in the unconscious mind Includes our biological instinctual drives Eg. hunger, pleasure The Ego Part of the ego is unconscious (tied to the id) and part of the ego is conscious and preconscious (tied to the external world) Limits the actions of the id Starts developing during the first year or so of life to find realistic and socially-acceptable outlets for the id’s needs The Superego Represents one’s conscience and idealized standards of behavior in their culture Operates on a morality principle, threatening to overwhelm us with guilt and shame The demands of the superego and the id will come into conflict and the ego will have to resolve this turmoil within the constraints of reality

10. Freud • Why do you think babies are considered to be a “pure ID”? • Believed that through interacting with others, the child • develops a balanced personality that satisfies needs and wants, • judges and acts on what is right • make decisions appropriate to both the self and the society

11. Freud - Psychoanalysis • Psychoanalysis utilizes several techniques, and relies on them in order to determine an individual's unconscious thoughts, and free them through patient insight. • One of these techniques is called free association, and is regarded as an essential part of the psychoanalytic therapy process.

12. Freud – Free Association • http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/free_associations.html • Some psychoanalysis/free association ‘tests’

13. Carl Jung • Responsible for the identification of the Extroverted (outward-looking; outgoing; rely on others for sense of well being) and Introverted(inward-looking; emotionally self sufficient; well being comes from within) personality types. • Worked closely with Freud but split later in their careers • The other aspect of Jung's work which has been very influential is his approach to the analysis of dreams.

14. Jung believed the human mind was made up of two parts – personal unconscious and the collective unconscious • personal unconscious – unique to the individual • collective unconscious – common to all people, contained memories from our ancestors • Carl Jung's theory of personal unconscious includes anything, which is not presently conscious but can be. This includes memories that are easily brought to mind, and memories that have been ignored in our mind • Collective unconscious is the knowledge that we are born with, but we can never be directly conscious of. The feelings of love at first site, and déjà vu are examples of collective unconscious

15. Discover Your Personality – • Jung Typology Test • This is a personality type test to find out what you want to do in the future; what you are good at and what your best skills are. Please go to the following website and take the Personality Test based on Jung’s Theory.http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

16. When you are complete the test, please print your results and answer the following questions: • What was your personality type? Indicate the percentage of each type e.g. INFJ • Please describe what your personality type is from your results? Do you agree with your results? • What other personality types are you compatible with? Do you have friends these traits? • What career choices are you most suited for based on your personality type?

17. Jung – Dream Analysis • The sort of dream dissection through which analysts can gain clues about a patient’s unconscious. A patient's dreams are looked at on two levels, the manifest content, and the latent content. The manifest content of a dream is the actual content of the dream, what actually happened during the dream. In contrast, the latent content of the dream is the symbolic meaning of the content of the dream. In order for an analyst to get to the latent content, they require the patient to discuss the dream's manifest content and encourage free-association about the dream. It then becomes the analysts task to decipher the dream's latent content through both defense mechanisms that may be present in the telling of the dream and in the free association about it.

18. Stages of Sleep • Stage One • Light Sleep • Right after falling asleep • Slow rolling of eye movement may be notice • 4%-5% of total sleep • Stage Two • Accounts for 45%-50% of total sleep • NREM sleep – non rapid eye movement • Muscles relax – heart rate slows • Preparing for deep sleep

19. Stages of Sleep • Stage Three • Accounts for 4%-6% of total sleep • Eye movement activity is not present • Stage Four • Deepest sleep of the four stages • Accounts for 12%-15% of total sleep • Sleep terrors and sleep walking may occur at this stage • Rapid Eye Movement (REM) • Most important sleep stage • Increases following stressful experiences or intense learning

20. How Much Do We Need? • Infants require about 16 hours a day. • Teenagers need about 9 hours on average. • Adults need 7-8 hours a night.

21. Why We Dream • Some believe that dreaming has no function—that instead, it is simply a phenomenon that occurs during REM sleep. • Others are determined to find an explanation for these marvels and have put forth many believable theories, like the ones listed below.

22. What Is Dreaming? • Dreams may get rid of emotional baggage • We usually dream of events related to daily life • Most dreams are not notably pleasant • Getting rid of unacceptable feelings (Freud) • There are hidden meanings and languages of their own (Freud) • The expression of secret wishes and ambitions (Freud) • Information processing, sorting our and fixing a day’s experiences. • Coping with traumatic stress

23. Why We Dream • Dreams Get Rid of Emotional Arousal • Emotions that are not expressed during one’s waking state are expressed in dreams. • For example, if you have a huge argument with somebody, you probably will not dream about it since you were able to yell and get the anger out. • If you are annoyed at a friend but do not tell anybody, you are likely to dream about them and your feelings towards them. • Some believe that this shows that dreams and hypnosis are connected.

24. Why We Dream • The Physiological Theory • We dream to exercise the synapses (pathways) between brain cells. • When we are in our waking state, we constantly receive and transmit external messages. • Dreaming is the form this process takes in the sleeping state. • Thus, dreams may be used to help someone cope with traumatic and stressful events by reducing emotional stimulation.

25. Common Meaning of Dreams • Airplanes • Airplanes signify change, transitions, and new aspirations. Crashes, power outages, or other trouble with planes show doubt about reaching these new destinations or goals. • Falling • Shows lack of emotional support and uncertainty about the future and things to come.

26. Common Meaning of Dreams • Journey • Dreams of preparing for or being on a journey signify long-term goals we hope to achieve. They also symbolize new projects in our lives that we have strong hopes for. In completing a journey, we have reached one of these goals and a period in our life has come to a close. • Marriage • Dreams concerning marriage signify literal desires to marry, especially with young men and women. Marriages may symbolize harmony between different aspects of yourself, the desire to be with a person you love in real life, and the desire to join forces with a business partner. Being unprepared for a wedding often are common before one in real life.

27. Common Meaning of Dreams • Pregnancy • Pregnancies can either be translated as literal or metaphorical. It can be seen as the actual desire to have a baby, or the "birth" of a new idea, project, or concept in your life. Pregnancy dreams are more common in women than men • Rain • Signifies a release of tension, being relieved of stress. The water represents emotion that has been contained in a cloud, or in this case, your mind. It is a symbol for emotional cleansing or sudden understanding.

28. Common Meaning of Dreams • Animals • Animals reflect the personalities of the people we know in reality. Your feelings about these people are usually shown by analyzing the typical temperament of the animal. For example: • Sharks: agressive in business or sex • Horses: children, liveliness • Bears: people with bad tempers • Wolves: threatening people • Large Sea Animals: large emotions • Cars • Cars are representative of oneself, driving in the direction we feel we are headed in our lives. Difficulty, like brake failure or running out of gas, is associated with our lives or feelings being out of control. Difficulty seeing the world ahead shows uncertainty about the future, while accidents represent emotional loss of control.

29. Common Meaning of Dreams • Rain • Signifies a release of tension, being relieved of stress. The water represents emotion that has been contained in a cloud, or in this case, your mind. It is a symbol for emotional cleansing or sudden understanding. • Underwater • Symbolizes immersion in one's emotions. If you are swimming through the water without harm or discomfort, you are aware of your subconscious feelings. If you can breathe underwater, it shows that you are comfortable with your own emotions. Being short of breath isn't the opposite of being able to breathe, however--it may be an indication that you are having difficulty breathing in real life or have sleep apnea.

30. Psychoanalysis, Dream Analysis, Phobias • Simpson’s Episode: • Fear of Flying -

31. Karen Horney • According to Horney we are shaped by how we react to a common neurosis which is a “feeling of being isolated and helpless toward a world potentially hostile”. • Horney suggested that we all have these neurotic needs, or drives that are not healthy.The child, or adult, then deals with anxiety brought about by these neurotic needs in one of three ways:

32. Moving toward people —Here, a person will put themselves down and make light of their accomplishments so others will find them acceptable. The neurotic needs in this category are affection and approval, and having a partner or not being alone. • Moving against people —Here, a person will not trust and try to dominate other people. In this way of dealing with anxiety, success is doing better than everyone else. The neurotic needs here include power, exploiting others, social recognition and prestige, and personal achievement. • Moving away from people —Here, a person deals with anxiety by abandoning relationships and being self-focused and socially isolated. A person is not interested in forming relationships and is indifferent to what is happening. The neurotic needs include personal admiration, self-sufficiency, and perfection.

33. Robert Merton – Deviance Typology • Deviance = behaviors of individuals which violate group norms • It must induce a negative response from the group which causes the behavior to be considered deviant.

34. Because deviance is found naturally within society, Merton believed that it was society itself which causes it. • Further, Merton believed that when social goals or norms place pressure on the individual, they force the individual to either work within the structure society has produced, or instead, become members of a deviant subculture.

35. Merton created a typology of the different options individuals have when deciding whether or not deviance from norms is an option.

36. Five different categories • Conformists • Ritualists • Innovators • Retreatists • Rebels

37. Conformists • The group which chooses to both accept the goals of society and accept the standard means by which to attain their goals. • For example, in order to have a happy life by social standards, they gain a college education, work in a 9 to 5 job, and eventually complete their goal.

38. Ritualists • A ritualistwill reject the goal but still go about the standard means of doing so. • A ritualist may go through the motions of going to college and working 9 to 5, but will not attempt to fulfill the goal of earning excess amounts of money.

39. Innovators • Innovators look to fulfill the goals of society but instead of going about it through established channels, as conformists do, they will find other means to reach their goals. • Examples my include business moguls such as Steve Jobs, or groups such as the Mafia. Both examples took alternate routes to reaching the socially constructed goal.

40. Retreatists and Rebels • Both of these groups have rejected the goals and the means to reach them. The retreatist will stop engaging in society altogether and instead might live in solidarity or in communes with likeminded individuals. • By far, the best example of this is the Hippies of the early 1960s. • Rebels on the other hand, also reject both aspects but instead of leaving society, they try to change it. • The movement of social and political activism among college students in the 1960s is a good example of this group.