Lecture 12 Flashcards
Psychodynamic views of personality
Freud invoked a role of unconscious processes in the control of behaviour
Topographical model: Argued for 3 levels of consciousness
- Conflicts occurs between the different aspects of consciousness
- Requires compromise formation
- Id, ego, superego
Freud’s developmental model
Human behaviour is motivated by two drives: aggressive, sexual (libido refers to pleasure seeking and desire for intercourse)
Libido follows a developmental course during childhood (stages of development)
Freud’s psychosexual stages
Oral (0-18months): Dependency
Anal: (2-3): Orderliness, cleanliness
Phallic (4-6) Parental identification, oedipal complex, penis envy, castration complex
Latency (7-11) Sublimation of sexual and aggressive urges
Genital (12+) Mature sexuality and relationships
Ego defense mechanisms
Defense mechanisms are unconscious mental processes that protect the conscious person from anxiety
Repression: Anxiety evoking thoughts are kept unconscious
Denial: Person refuses to recognize reality
Projection: Person attributes their own unacceptable impulses to others
What are some ways the ego protects the individual
Reaction formation: Person converts an unacceptable impulse into the opposite impulse
Sublimation: Person converts an unaccaptable impulse into a socially acceptable activity
Rationalization: Person explains away their actions to reduce anxiety
Displacement: Diverting emotional feelings from their original source to a substitute target
Projective tests
Assume that persons presented with a vague stimulus will project their own impulses and desires into a description of the stimulus
Rorschach Inkblots
Thematic apperception test
Evaluations of Freud’s contributions to personality theory
Contributions: Emphasis on unconscious processes, identification of defense mechanisms, importance of childhood experiences in shaping adult personality
Limitations: Theories are not solidly based on scientific observation, excessive emphasis on drives such as sex/aggression
B.F. Skinner radical behaviorism
- Scientific analysis of behaviour
- Personality -> a collection of behaviour patterns
Black box theory: where the mind is viewed as a “black box” that takes in stimuli (inputs), processes them somehow, and then produces behavior (outputs)
Explanatory fictions (“the self”)
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory
Observational (vicarious) learning
People learn by merely observing what others do and what happens to them
Two processes:
- Acquisition
- Acceptance/performance
Consequences are an important influence
Reciprocal determinism
Person, environment and behaviour have a three way relationship
Albert ellis RET - Rational emotive therapy
- Assumes that all humans have fundamental goals, purposes and values
- If people choose to stay alive and try to be happy they are acting rationally
when people think and behave in a way that interferes with these goals, they act irrationally
Evaluation of cognitive social personality theory
Contributions
- Provided emphasis on the role of thought and memory in personality
Limitations
- Overemphasis of rational side of personality
- Avoidance of explanations of unconscious processes in personality
Humanistic personality approaches
Theorists reject the behaviourist and psychodynamic notions of personality
Humanists emphasize the notion that each person has a potential for creative growth
The intent is to assist the person in developing to their maximal potential
Roger’s person centered approach
Believed that humans are good by nature ( in contrast to psychodynamic view of human nature)
Rogers emphasized the notion of self concept
Each person has multiple selves:
True self: The core aspect og being
False self: The self that is created by distortions from interpersonal experiences
Ideal self: What the person would like to be
Evaluation of humanistic personality theory
Contributions: Focus on how humans strive to determine the meaning of life
Limitations: Humanistic approach is not a complete theoretical account of personality, the approach has not generated a body of testable hypotheses and research
