Personality Flashcards
Sigmund Freud
Viennese neurologist who developed first comprehensive theory of personality.
Acc. to Freud; many mental disorders were produced by
psychological factors rather than physiological factors
Psychoanalytic Theory;
Explained psychological disorders
Accompanying treatment - Psychoanalysis
Psychic determinism
all psychological events have a cause. We are not free to choice our actions; actions determined by inner forces that lie outside of our awareness. (slip of tongues, dreams & neurotic symptoms- reflections of deep psychological conflicts) Adult personality stem from early childhood experiences.
Symbolic meaning
No action is meaningless. there is a symbolic meaning of our beh.s & our dreams.
Unconscious motivation
largely responsible for our personality & actions. (analogy of iceberg). The part of personality which we are aware of is just the tip of iceberg.
three components of the human psyche, that give rise to personality; differences in strengths of these account for individual differences in personality
id, ego & superego
Id
The preconsciously or portion of the psyche.
(most part of behaviour is directed by the id)
- Unconscious; present at birth
- Source of biological needs/desires
(libido –sexual drive; aggressive drive)
- seeks for immediate satisfaction/gratification.
- Governed by the Pleasure Principle.
(no matter whether desires are the or inappropriate)
- No interaction with the real world
Ego
The rational part of the personality.
- Being reasonable
- Defence mechanisms can operate consciously, preconsciously or unconsciously ( but most of the time conscious).
Emerges in early infancy
Two main functions;
1) to satisfy Id’s needs
2) to resolve the conflicts btw. id & superego
- Interacts with the real world.
Governed by the Reality Principle; redirects id impulses into acceptable ways; delay gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet.
Considers environmental conditions & the consequences of one’s actions.
If the ego cannot function properly- anxiety arises
* The ego will try to minimize anxiety via defence mechanisms; make corrective actions.
Superego
Conscience, the sense of morality
- The side effect of living within a society; internalization of our interactions with society & parents.
- Develops from ages 3 to 6 from interactions with caregivers; when the child identifies with a same-sex person.
- Superego deals with rightness/ wrongness of actions
- Allows for exhibiting appropriate & acceptable behaviours
- Can operate consciously, preconsciously or unconsciously.
- Governed by the Morality Principle; tries to repress id’s desires.
- When a person behaves in the right way- feelings of pride, self-worth, when behaves in a bad way- guilt & shame ( guilt prone vs. psychopathic personality)
Defence mechanisms
unconscious manoeuvres to minimize anxiety (changing perceptions of reality).
Essential for psychological health but over-reliance on one or two could cause problems & psychological illnesses (e.g. hysteria).
Types of defence mechanisms
- Repression
- Denial
- Regression
- Reaction formation
- Projection
- Displacement
- Rationalization
- Intellectualization
- Identification with the aggressor
- Sublimination
- Repression
motivated forgetting of emotionally threatening memories or impulses (you forget bec. you want to forget).
Blocking a threatening idea, memory, or emotion from consciousness.
Ex: a person who witnesses a traumatic combat scene finds himself unable to remember it
Ex: You can’t remember your father’s funeral.
Infantile amnesia (repression)
they produce too much pain; so we repress unhappy memories.
- Denial
–Not accepting reality because it is too painful.
(psychotic disorders; schizophrenia)
Ex: You are alcholic but don’t believe you have a problem with alcohol.
Ex: A mother who losses child in a car accident insists her child is alive
- Regression
Returning to more primitive levels of behaviour in defence against anxiety or frustration.
Returning psychologically to younger age; early childhood when life was simpler & easier.
Ex: College student starts sucking his thumb during a difficult exam.
Ex: Mary began to sleep with her favourite teddy bear again because She felt that she was homesick and anxious when she started her first year in college.
- Reaction formation
Transforming an anxiety-producing emotion into its opposite.
The emotion observed is the opposite emotion the person feels unconsciously (expressed in an exaggerated way)
Ex: A married woman sexually attracted to co-worker experiences hatred & revulsion about him.
Ex: A man who cheats on his wife buys presents & flowers to his wife.
Ex: Homophobic men- showed higher levels of penile erection while watching an explicit videotape of homosexual stim
- Projection
unconscious attribution of our neg. characteristics onto others.
Attributing your own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to someone or something else
Ex: Married man with powerful unconscious sexual impulses toward females claims other women are always after him.
Ex: Paranoids; deep down they want to harm others, but bec. they find it unacceptable belive that other people want to harm them.
- Displacement
Directing an impulse from threating target toward a safer, non-threatening target.
Channeling a feeling or thought from its actual source to something or someone else.
Ex: You can not harm your partner; rather you show your aggression by breaking the window.
Ex: At work, your boss yells at you; but you can not yell at him. Instead you come at home you yell at your wife or your children.
.
- Displacement
Directing an impulse from threating target toward a safer, non-threatening target.
Channelling a feeling or thought from its actual source to something or someone else.
Ex: You can not harm your partner; rather you show your aggression by breaking the window.
Ex: At work, your boss yells at you; but you can not yell at him. Instead, you come home you yell at your wife or your children.
- Rationalization
providing a reasonable-sounding exp. for your failures or unreasonable behaviours
Justifying one’s behaviour or failures by plausible or socially acceptable reasons in place of the real reason.
Ex: After Carla rejected him, Phil told his friends that he didn’t think she was very attractive and interesting and that he really wasn’t all that crazy about her.
Ex: Jack told his parents that he got a C in his psychology course bec. all the As and Bs went to students cheated on tests
- Intellectualization
Avoiding emotions assoc. with anxiety-provoking experiences by focusing on abstract & impersonal thoughts (isolating the emotional aspect of the experience)
Attempt to avoid a painful thought or feeling by objectifying and emotionally detaching oneself from the feeling. (mostly used by doctors or occupations that involve high levels of stress)
Ex: A woman whose husband cheats on her reassures herself that acc. To evolution; men are naturally promiscuous
Ex: A doctor who is performing an autopsy; reassures that that is just a physical body.
- Identification with the aggressor
adopting the psychological characteristics of people we find threatening (internalization of another person’s qualities) .
Ex: A basketball player who initially fears his tyrannical coach comes to admire him & adopts his dictatorial qualities
- Sublimation
transforming socially unacceptable impulse to a socially acceptable (admired) goal.
Transformation of unwanted impulses into something valuable to society
Ex: Dexter; likes blood; becomes a blood analyst.
Ex: a man who sets fire in childhood becomes the chief of the local fire department.
Ex: A boy who enjoys beating up on other children becomes a successful professional boxer.
Stages of psychosexual development
Oral Stage Birth – 18months Anal - 18 months to 3 years Phallic - 3 to 6 years Latency - 6 to 12 years Genital - 12 years and beyond
Oral Stage (Birth – 18months)
Erogenous zones: mouth, tongue & lips.
Acc. to Freud; babies in this stage satisfy (obtain pleasure) their sexual urges through sucking, biting, drinking & swallowing.
Major event; breastfeeding of the baby.
Being weaned from breastfeeding is the first challenge (baby’s personality determined)
Oral fixation may occur in 2 ways;
Erogenous zone overstimulated; dependent & excessively optimistic.
Erogenous zone understimulated; pessimistic & aggressive
Being fixated at this stage may mean excessive use of oral stimulation, pre-occupied with eating, drinking, smoking, biting nails, sucking thumb
Anal Stage (18 months- 3 years)
Erogenous zone: anus
Acc. to Freud; babies in this stage satisfy (obtain pleasure) their sexual urges by expelling faeces & bowels.
Major event; toilet training
The child should learn to delay gratification (inhibit urges)
& move bowels to toilet
Parents’ approach to toilet training will affect the child’s
personality.
Anal fixation may occur in 2 ways;
Parents harsh; neatness, stubbornness, obsessive, orderliness
Parents uncontrolled; disorganized, messy, careless, unpunctual
Phallic Stage (3 - 6 years)
Erogenous zones are genitals (clitoris for girls; penis for boys)
Most important stage
Major event; development of sexual identity
Oedipus Complex (boys) & Electra Complex (girls)
Oedipus Complex
sexual desires for his mother & the father seen as a rival.
Castration anxiety(father will punish him for his desires); castration anxiety.
Abandons sexual feelings for mother & identifies with his father.
(identification with the aggressor)
So someday have a relationship with a woman like her mother.
(displacement)
Electra complex
sexual desires for her father & the mother seen as a rival.
For both boys & girls- the first affection & attention is on the mother.
Later for girls, this focus changes, from the mother to the father
Development of penis envy ( attracted to father bec. father has penis)
Mom knows about their attraction to father & bec. of fear, girl abondons feelings for father &identify with their mothers.
No anxiety- underdeveloped superego & defense mechanisms.
Fixations-males macho; females- femme fatal
Latency Stage (6 - 12 years)
No erogenous zone!
Sexual impulses are submerged into the unconscious
Superego is dominant
No conflict & no major event
Personality governed by reality & morality principles
Learning of skills important. (School)
Identıty ımproves by playing with the members of the same sex
Genital Stage (12 years- beyond)
Erogenous zone; the genitals
libido begins to be used in its sexual role.
Death instinct reappears in hostility, rebelliousness,
Major event; ability to love & establish rel.s with the opposite sex.
If the other stages have been completed successfully, the individual should now be well-balanced, warm, and caring
Maturity, creation & enhancement of life.
Add something constructive to life and society.
Major criticisms on Psychosexual development stages
Unfalsifiable; a boy hates the mother, but Freud would say that is reaction-formation
Failed predictions; e.g. repression;
People are no more likely to forget neg. life experiences than pos. life experiences.
Unrepresentative samples; upper class-neurotic Viennese women; but generalized to the rest of humanity.
Neo-Freudians
Modified Freud’s views in significant ways
Neo-Freudians - Similarity with Freud
Unconscious influences & importance of early experience
Neo-Freudians - The difference with Freud
Less emphasis on sexuality & more emphasis on social drives
