Chapter 12 Flashcards
personality
A pattern of enduring and distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world.
psychodynamic perspectives
Theoretical views emphasizing that personality is primarily unconscious (beyond awareness)
Freud and psychoanalysis
Developed psychoanalysis, his approach to personality through his work from patients suffering from hysteria
Freud’s structures of personality
ID: The Freudian structure of personality consisting of unconscious drives; the individual’s reservoir of sexual energy.
Ego: The Freudian structure of personality that deals with the demands of reality.
superego: The Freudian structure of personality that serves as the harsh internal judge of our behaviour; what we often call conscience.
defence mechanisms
The Freudian term for tactics the ego uses to reduce anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
Examples of defence mechanisms
Repression: Ego pushes unacceptable impulses out of awareness
Rationalization: Ego distorts facts to make an experience less life threatening
Displacement: The ego shifts feelings toward an unacceptable object to another more acceptable one (women can’t take anger out on boss so does it on husband)
Sublimation: The ego replaces an unacceptable impulse with a socially acceptable one (man with strong urges becomes a nude painter)
Projection: The ego attributes personal short comings, problems and faults to others (Man desiring an affair accuses wife of sleeping)
Reaction formation: The ego transforms an unacceptable motive into its opposite
Denial: The ego refuses to acknowledge anxiety producing realities
Regression: Ego seeks the security of an earlier developmental period in the face of stress
Freud’s psychosexual stages of personality development
Oral stage: Infant’s pleasure focuses around mouth (18 months)
Anal stage: Having control over the anus/urethra and its functions during toilet training (18 to 36 months)
Phallic stage: Focuses on genitals and self stimulation (3 to 6 years)
Latency period (6 to puberty): Child sets aside all interest in sexuality
Genital stage (adolescence and adulthood): Time of sexual reawakening, sexual pleasure shifts to someone out of the family
Oedipus complex
According to Freud, a boy’s intense desire to replace his father and enjoy the affections of his mother.
Horney’s sociocultural approach
Argued that sociocultural influences on personality development should be investigated, pointed out women might want a penis because of the status that society bestows on the ones that have it. Believed the need for security and not sex is the prime motive in human existence
Jung’s analytical theory
collective unconscious: Jung’s term for the impersonal, deepest layer of the unconscious mind, shared by all human beings because of their common ancestral past.
Collective unconscious contains
archetypes: Jung’s term for emotionally laden ideas and images in the collective unconscious that have rich and symbolic meaning for all people - emerge in dreams, religion
Two common types of archetypes
Anima: Passive feminine side
Animus: Assertive masculine side
Believed everyone has both
individual psychology
Adler’s view that people are motivated by purposes and goals and that perfection, not pleasure, is thus the key motivator in human life
Core principles of psychodynamic theories
- Personality is determined by both current and early life experiences
- Personality can be better understood by examining it developmentally
- We mentally transform our experiences and give it meaning
- The mind is not all conscious
- Individual’s inner world conflicts with the demands of the outer world
- Personality and adjustment are important topics
humanistic perspectives
Theoretical views stressing a person’s capacity for personal growth and positive human qualities
Maslow’s approach
Believed that we can learn the most about human personality by focusing on the very best examples of humans - self actualizers
Roger’s approach
Believed that we are all born with the “raw ingredients of a fulfilling life” we need the right conditions to thrive
unconditional positive regard
Rogers’s construct referring to the individual’s need to be accepted, valued, and treated positively regardless of the person’s behaviour
Rogers noted that often others value us only when we behave in particular ways
conditions of worth: The standards that the individual must live up to in order to receive positive regard from others.
How does rogers promote optimal functioning
- Regardless of what people do, they need unconditional positive regard
- Individuals can become more fulfilled by interacting with people who are empathetic toward them
- Genuineness (being open with one’s feelings) is a third requirement to become fully functioning
trait theories
Theoretical views stressing that personality consists of broad, enduring dispositions (traits) that tend to lead to characteristic responses.
We can describe people in terms of friendly, hostile
How does allport describe healthy mature people as
- A positive but objective sense of self and others
- Interest in issues beyond their own experience
- A sense of humour
- Common sense
- A unifying philosophy of life - typically but not always provided by religious faith
big five factors of personality
The five broad traits that are thought to describe the main dimensions of personality: neuroticism (emotional instability), extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
List all 5 factors of personality
Openness: Imaginative vs practical
Conscientiousness (organized vs disorganized, careful vs careless)
Extroversion (Sociable vs retiring)
Agreeableness (softhearted v ruthless)
Neuroticism (emotional instability) Calm vs anxious
