Ch.12 Personality Flashcards
What are the characteristics of the ID, ego and superego?
ID:
- Unconscious Drives
- Follows pleasure principle: desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
Ego:
-Deals with the demands of reality
-Reality principle: ego’s way of dealing with the ID, takes in account the risks and possible outcomes.
Super Ego:
- moral branch of personality (internally judges a person’s behavior); acts as our conscious
What’s the importance of the unconscious in psychoanalysis?
The unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect.
What is the importance of birth order in Adler’s psychoanalysis?
Believed it had a profound influence on personality.
1) Firstborn child would experience more psychological problems
2) Middle child would be the “healthiest”
3) Youngest child would be spoiled and cause trouble
What are the psychoanalytic defense mechanisms?
Rationalization
Reaction Formation
Regression
Repression
Denial
Displacement
Projection
Sublimation
What are the criticisms of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory?
Critics say that his ideas about sexuality, early experience, social factors, and the unconscious mind were misguided.
How does the Repression Defense Mechanism work?
The master defense mechanism; the ego pushes unacceptable impulses out of awareness, back into the unconscious mind
ex. As a child a person was sexually abused by a relative. As an adult , the person can’t remember anything about the traumatic experience.
How does the Projection Defense Mechanism work?
The ego attributes personal shortcomings, problems, and faults to others.
Ex. A person who wishes to cheat on romantic partner accuses that their partner of flirting with other people.
How does the Rationalization Defense Mechanism work?
The ego distorts to make an experience less threatening
Ex. A person is turned down from a job they really wanted. They tell themselves that the job is not that great and everything happens for a reason.
How does the Displacement Defense Mechanism work?
The ego shifts feelings toward an unacceptable object to another, more acceptable object.
Ex. A person cannot express their anger to their boss, so instead they blow up at a close friend.
How does the Sublimation Defense Mechanism work?
The ego replaces an unacceptable impulse with a socially acceptable one.
Ex. A person with strong sexual urges becomes an artist who paints nudes
How does the Reaction Formation Defense Mechanism work?
The ego transforms an unacceptable motive into its opposite.
Ex. A person with strong sexual urges becomes a religious zealot who rails against sexuality.
How does the Denial Defense Mechanism work?
The ego refuses to acknowledge anxiety-producing realities
Ex. When told of a loved one’s terminal illness, a persona cannot believe it and denies the reality of the diagnosis
How does the Regression Defense Mechanism work?
The ego seeks the security of an earlier developmental period in the face of stress.
Ex. After a romantic breakup, a person sits in their room and watches cartoons from childhood.
