Personality Flashcards
Personality
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
Psychodynamic theory
Theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences
Psychoanalysis
Freuds theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
treatment techniques for interpreting unconscious tensions
Unconscious (according to freud)
unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories
Unconscious (according to modern psych)
information processing that occurs without our awareness
Free association
exploring the unconscious where the patient relaxes and says whatever comes to mind no matter how trivial or disturbing
Id
unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual needs and aggressive drives,
operates on the pleasure principle, demands gratification
Ego
Largely conscious “executive” part of the personality, mediates Id, superego, and reality
Superego
Part of the personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for false aspirations
Psychosexual stages
Childhood stages of development during which the Id’s pleasure seeking energies focus on a distinct body part
List Freuds psychosexual stages
OAPLG (oh-a-plag) Oral Anal Phalic Latency Genital
Oedipus complex
Freud’s belief that a boy’s sexual desires for his mother create jealousy and a conflict with his father
Electra complex
Freud’s belief that a girl’s sexual desires for her father create jealousy and a conflict with her mother
Identification (according to Freud)
The process by which children incorporate their parents values into their developing superegos
Fixation (according to Freud)
A lingering of the Id’s energies locked into one of the psychosexual stages in which conflicts were unresolved
Defense mechanisms =
1- Repression 2- Sublimation 3- Reaction Formation 4- Denial 5- Projection 6- Rationalization 7- Displacement
Repression
Prohibited thoughts or urges are pushed away from the conscious into the unconscious (e.g., trauma).
Sublimation
Expressing an unacceptable urge in a socially appropriate manner (e.g., painting nudes, becoming a surgeon).
Reaction Formation
Concealing an unacceptable urge by expressing fierce opposition to that urge (e.g., Ted Haggard).
Denial
Refusal to acknowledge an unpleasant reality (e.g., smoking and health)
Projection
Attributing one’s own negative behavior to others (e.g., an unfaithful husband blaming his wife for infidelity).
Rationalization
Providing a rational explanation for behavior and concealing the true motive (e.g., “I live with my parents to save money”).