Personality: an overview and psychodynamic approaches

Question 1

Who popularised the term ‘personality’?

Answer 1

Allport (1937) - derived from the Latin persona (mask)

Question 2

What is the issue with defining personality?

Answer 2

• theorists struggle to produce a universally accepted definition - concept is so wide
• personality describes a psychological construct

Question 3

What are the aims of studying personality?

Answer 3

• To explain a motivational basis of behaviour
• To understand basic nature of human beings
• To provide descriptions/categorisations of how individuals behave

Question 4

When evaluating theories, what is description?

Answer 4

Identifying behaviour

Question 5

When evaluating theories, what is explanation?

Answer 5

Understanding behaviour

Question 6

When evaluating theories, what is empirical validity?

Answer 6

Shown to be valid

Question 7

When evaluating theories, what are testable concepts?

Answer 7

Can be measured

Question 8

When evaluating theories, what is comprehensiveness?

Answer 8

Wide variety of behaviours

Question 9

When evaluating theories, what is parsimony?

Answer 9

All concepts are necessary

Question 10

When evaluating theories, what is heuristic value?

Answer 10

Stimulate interest

Question 11

When evaluating theories, what is applied value?

Answer 11

practical usefulness

Question 12

Who was Sigmund Freud?

Answer 12

Austrian neuro-physiologist
- neurology and hypnosis
- His theory is a social theory of everything

Question 13

What are some of Freud’s theoretical focus points?

Answer 13

Meaning of dreams, jokes and humour, origins of religion, Shakespeare’s plays, homosexuality, causes of phobias and obsessions, nature and origins of mental disorders, cultural symbols

Question 14

What influenced Freud’s theory?

Answer 14

• Was not convinced by prevailing rational model of human behaviour - He thought the unconscious was far more powerful
• Proposed that there were multiple layers of thought that acted on humans at any given time

Question 15

What did Freud believe to be a route into the unconscious?

Answer 15

Dreams
- Manifest dream content (what is recalled)
- Latent dream content (requires skilled interpretation)

Question 16

What is primary process thinking?

Answer 16

• Irrational mental activity - making the logically impossible, possible
• pleasure principle

Question 17

What is secondary process thinking?

Answer 17

• Rational, logical, organised
• Conscious and prepconscious
• Reality principle

Question 18

What is the background to Freud’s theories of motivation?

Answer 18

Darwinian theory was dominant
- primary urges - hunger and sexuality

Question 19

Which 2 drives did Freud think were fundamental? (+ 3rd in response to WW1)

Answer 19

1. libido - born with a fixed amount of mental energy which will later become adult sexual drives
2. life-preserving drives (eg. hunger and thirst)
3. Death instinct (Thanatos) - response to WW1 - reflects humans’ self-destructive instincts (as distinct from aggressive)

Question 20

What is the topographic model?

Answer 20

• Refers to layers of mental life
• Can move mental content from preconscious to conscious by focusing on it

The conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious

Question 21

What is the conscious in the topographic model?

Answer 21

Pay attention to objects perceived, events recalled, thoughts

Question 22

What is the preconscious in the topographic model?

Answer 22

Memories, plans, wishes, ideas which in the present are out of conscious but can be made conscious

Question 23

What is the unconscious in the topographic model?

Answer 23

Mental contents and processes that cannot be made conscious

Question 24

What are the 3 features of the structural model of personality?

Answer 24

Id, ego, superego

Question 25

What is the Id?

Answer 25

• Unconscious instinctual drives
• Source of survival drives, sexual drives and aggressive drives
• Believed it is the only part of personality to be present in infants
• Derives from pleasure principle (all urges strive for pleasure) - instant gratification

Question 26

What is the ego?

Answer 26

Executive part of personality - regulates behaviour and channels it in a particular direction in accordance with external environment
- reality principle - mediator between child and external world - trying to get what they want but take expectations into account
- conscious

Question 27

What is the superego?

Answer 27

• Conscience - helps make judgements about right or wrong
• internalised moral values and parental attitudes
• opposition of id - helps ego rechannel moral impulses
• preconscious

Question 28

What is the psychosexual model?

Answer 28

• Personality mainly forms during 1st 5 yrs of life
• children pass through these stages during which pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct pleasure-sensitive areas of the body

Question 29

What are the 5 psychosexual stages?

Answer 29

Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital

Question 30

What is the oral stage of development? What are consequences of a fixation?

Answer 30

Birth-12 months
- mouth is focus of pleasure-seeking activity
Fixation - excessive enjoyment of food, gum, smoking, chewing
Over-indulged: oral receptive personality - overly dependent, too trusting, gullible
Under-indulged: oral aggressive personality - exploitative attitudes towards others

Question 31

What is the anal stage of development? What are consequences of a fixation?

Answer 31

18months-3yrs
Focus of pleasure in anal region - often during potty training
Fixation if toilet training done poorly
- Analy expulsive - untidy, disorganised and disregard accepted rules
- Anal retentive - orderly, stingy and stubborn, tendency to hoard things

Question 32

What is the phallic stage of development? What are consequences of a fixation?

Answer 32

3-5yrs
Focus of pleasure-seeking behaviour in genital organs - exploration of own bodies forbidden by adults
Gender awareness - romantic feelings for opposite sex parent (Oedipus/Electra complex)
Fixation = guilt, problems with intimacy and romantic/sexual relationships
- Phallic personality - boastful, narcissistic and vain

Question 33

What is the Oedipus complex?

Answer 33

Process during phallic stage
Boy becomes aware of mother as sexual object and feels hostile towards father
Castration anxiety - sees father as powerful threatening figure
Ends successfully by accepting impossibility of fantasy and identification with father
- Law of the father - first major touchstone of super-ego formation

Question 34

What is the Electra complex?

Answer 34

Parallel to Oedipus complex
Girl wishes to possess her father - feels hostility to mother
Penis envy - equivalent to castration anxiety
Ends successfully in the same way as Oedipus complex BUT Freud believed girls cannot fully resolve this resulting in a weaker ego

Question 35

What is the latency stage of development? What are consequences of a fixation?

Answer 35

5-12 yrs
Characterised by low levels of sexual/romantic interest
Dormant sexual feelings repressed/displaced onto other activities
Children pour repressed libidal energy into school, athletics, same-sex friendships
Fixation - lack of close friends and inability to make meaningful relationships as an adult

Question 36

What is the genital stage of development?

Answer 36

12-18yrs
Changes in body reawaken the sexual energy or libido
Maturation of sexual and romantic interests
Usually leads to normal adult sexual/psychological development

Question 37

What are the 3 descriptive cons of Freud’s theory

Answer 37

• Published very few case studies
• Did not annotate his case studies - poor qual data
• Based theories on neurotic individuals - not general sample

Question 38

What are the 2 descriptive pros of Freud’s theory?

Answer 38

• Addressed complexities of human behaviour
• Opened doors for future research and debates on personality and development

Question 39

What is the explanation con of Freud’s theories?

Answer 39

Some vagueness on what is exactly needed for normal development
eg. not clear how much oral stimulation is sufficient

Question 40

What is the explanation pro of Freud’s theory?

Answer 40

Good face validity - we are all aware of conflicts caused by making choices and the anxiety this can cause
eg. by doing x, we may still feel guilty

Question 41

In what way did Carl Jung disagree with Freud?

Answer 41

De-emphasised the importance of sexuality and saw libido as a positive creative force
- Id, ego and superego were not seen as the core of personality but rather collective unconscious - memories and ideas inherited from ancestors
Archetypes - universal thought patterns - inherited dispositions on how to behave

Question 42

In what way did Alfred Adler disagree with Freud?

Answer 42

Felt that Freud overemphasised the role of sexuality in personality development
Argued for the role of children’s feelings of inferiority and need to compensate - striving for superiority
Argued birth order contributes significantly to individual development

Question 43

How did Karen Horney agree and disagree with Freud?

Answer 43

Agreed with Freud on anxiety-provoking experiences in childhood resulting in maladjustment
Disagreed - environmental forces have greater role in mental life than Freud theorised - need for security and warmth more important than instinctual drives
- Challenged Freud on his view of female sexuality - marked start of orientation of social values towards equality for women