Module 5: Personality Flashcards
Personality
Distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person’s response to situations.
Uniqueness of the Individual
Personality explains how the expression of each individual’s thoughts and behaviour is different
Consistency of Behaviour
Personality describes how the behaviour of the individual is consistent over time and across situations.
Process of Personality
Personality accounts for the internal operations producing the unique and consistent expression of an individual’s thoughts and behaviour.
Psychodynamic Perspective on Personality
- Accept the things we cannot change.
- We aren’t aware of what factors produce our personality.
- We can’t change or control our personality
- Sigmund Freud pioneered this perspective.
3 Regions of the Mind
Conscious Mind
-Connects w/ conscious awareness. We are aware of our thoughts and feelings at the moment.
Preconscious Mind
-Connects w/ conscious and unconscious minds. Contains information accessible to the conscious mind when needed.
Unconscious Mind
-Connects w/ the preconscious mind. Contains painful and threatening memories and impulses too threatening for conscious awareness.
Freudian Slip
True desires can be examined by slips of the tongue.
3 Structural Components of the Mind
Id
- Core of personality; Pleasure Principle; Eros and Thanatos; Found in the unconscious mind.
- Dominant id results in narcissism; person might become a psychopath.
Ego
- Develops out of id and subdues its impulses; go-between id and reality; Reality principle.
- Finds a balance between id and superego. A strong ego is healthy!
Superego
- Sense of right and wrong based on morality; Regulated by ego ideal and conscience; Exists at all levels of conscious awareness.
- In constant conflict with id.
- Dominant superego results in overly-denied (socially acceptable) gratification.
Reality Anxiety
Informs the ego of real danger (e.g., a car is drifting into your lane).
Moral Anxiety
Notifies the superego that the ego is considering violating a moral code (e.g., you want to cheat on a test).
Neurotic Anxiety
Warns the ego of the threatening expression of id impulses at the level of conscious awareness (e.g., you want to scream out loud while sitting in a boring meeting).
Repression
Forcing distressing or unacceptable memories, thoughts, and feelings into the unconscious.
ex: sexually assaulted as a child and having no memory of it as an adult.
Denial
A conscious refusal to perceive and believe painful facts or situations exist.
ex: death of a loved one.
Reaction Formation
Unacceptable thoughts and desires in the unconscious are expressed as their opposite in consciousness.
ex: speaking up about being environmentally friendly but litters when no one is looking.
Projection
Attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, impulses, and motives to others.
ex: easing the guilt of cheating on a test by believing everyone is cheating.
Displacement
Shifting the expression of an unwanted impulse from a threatening person to a less threatening one.
ex: taking out work stress on your kids.
Rationalization
Creating an acceptable and local explanation to replace true but threatening cause of behaviour.
ex: masking stealing from work as compensation for unfair salary.
Regression
Reacting to a threatening situation w/ a response characteristic of an earlier stage of development.
ex: an adult throwing a tantrum when not getting what they want.
Sublimation
Transforming inappropriate impulses and motives into socially acceptable and even valuable expressions.
ex: becoming a sex therapist to satisfy one’s own sexual desires.
The 5 Psychosexual Stage: Oral Stage
- Birth to 2 years of age
- Mouth as an erogenous zone
- Conflict associated w/ weaning from breast or bottle feeding.
- Healthy outcome leads to the development of willingness to delay gratification.
- Unhealthy outcome leads to employing oral-related strategies (yelling, binge eating, etc.)
The 5 Psychosexual Stage: Anal Stage
- 2 to 3 years of age
- Anus as EZ
- Conflict associated with toilet training
- Healthy outcomes lead to seeking pleasure at the right time and right place.
- Unhealthy outcomes lead to difficulty interacting w/ others due to inappropriate behaviour.
The 5 Psychosexual Stage: Phallic Stage
- 3 to 6 years of age
- Genitals as EZ
- Conflict associated w/ competition w/ the same-sex parent for the affection of the opposite-sex parent
- Oedipal complex for boys and Electra complex for girls.
The 5 Psychosexual Stage: Latency Period
- 7 to 11 years of age
- No EZ
- Conflict associated w/ practicing emerging sex-role behaviours during interaction w/ same-sex peers.
- Healthy outcome is acquiring and practicing the knowledge and skills necessary to execute sex-role behaviours.
- Unhealthy outcome is exhibiting extreme sex-role stereotypical behaviour and relating with those who behave the same way due to the fear of rejection.
The 5 Psychosexual Stage: Genital Stage
- 11 years to adulthood
- Genitals as EZ
- Conflict associated w/ the expression of emotional feelings and establishing meaningful relationships w/ others.
- Healthy outcome is having the mindset that to get pleasure, one must also give pleasure; creates loving and healthy relationships with others.
- Unhealthy outcome is being unable to form loving and intimate relationships due to the inability to provide comfort and love to others because of selfishness.
