Personality: an overview and psychodynamic approaches Flashcards
Who popularised the term ‘personality’?
Allport (1937) - derived from the Latin persona (mask)
What is the issue with defining personality?
- theorists struggle to produce a universally accepted definition - concept is so wide
- personality describes a psychological construct
What are the aims of studying personality?
- To explain a motivational basis of behaviour
- To understand basic nature of human beings
- To provide descriptions/categorisations of how individuals behave
When evaluating theories, what is description?
Identifying behaviour
When evaluating theories, what is explanation?
Understanding behaviour
When evaluating theories, what is empirical validity?
Shown to be valid
When evaluating theories, what are testable concepts?
Can be measured
When evaluating theories, what is comprehensiveness?
Wide variety of behaviours
When evaluating theories, what is parsimony?
All concepts are necessary
When evaluating theories, what is heuristic value?
Stimulate interest
When evaluating theories, what is applied value?
practical usefulness
Who was Sigmund Freud?
Austrian neuro-physiologist
- neurology and hypnosis
- His theory is a social theory of everything
What are some of Freud’s theoretical focus points?
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
What influenced Freud’s theory?
- 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
What did Freud believe to be a route into the unconscious?
Dreams
- Manifest dream content (what is recalled)
- Latent dream content (requires skilled interpretation)
What is primary process thinking?
- Irrational mental activity - making the logically impossible, possible
- pleasure principle
What is secondary process thinking?
- Rational, logical, organised
- Conscious and prepconscious
- Reality principle
What is the background to Freud’s theories of motivation?
Darwinian theory was dominant
- primary urges - hunger and sexuality
Which 2 drives did Freud think were fundamental? (+ 3rd in response to WW1)
- libido - born with a fixed amount of mental energy which will later become adult sexual drives
- life-preserving drives (eg. hunger and thirst)
- Death instinct (Thanatos) - response to WW1 - reflects humans’ self-destructive instincts (as distinct from aggressive)
What is the topographic model?
- 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
What is the conscious in the topographic model?
Pay attention to objects perceived, events recalled, thoughts
What is the preconscious in the topographic model?
Memories, plans, wishes, ideas which in the present are out of conscious but can be made conscious
What is the unconscious in the topographic model?
Mental contents and processes that cannot be made conscious
What are the 3 features of the structural model of personality?
Id, ego, superego
What is the Id?
- 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
What is the ego?
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
What is the superego?
- Conscience - helps make judgements about right or wrong
- internalised moral values and parental attitudes
- opposition of id - helps ego rechannel moral impulses
- preconscious
What is the psychosexual model?
- 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
What are the 5 psychosexual stages?
Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital
What is the oral stage of development? What are consequences of a fixation?
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
What is the anal stage of development? What are consequences of a fixation?
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
What is the phallic stage of development? What are consequences of a fixation?
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
What is the Oedipus complex?
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
What is the Electra complex?
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
What is the latency stage of development? What are consequences of a fixation?
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
What is the genital stage of development?
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
What are the 3 descriptive cons of Freud’s theory
- Published very few case studies
- Did not annotate his case studies - poor qual data
- Based theories on neurotic individuals - not general sample
What are the 2 descriptive pros of Freud’s theory?
- Addressed complexities of human behaviour
- Opened doors for future research and debates on personality and development
What is the explanation con of Freud’s theories?
Some vagueness on what is exactly needed for normal development
eg. not clear how much oral stimulation is sufficient
What is the explanation pro of Freud’s theory?
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
In what way did Carl Jung disagree with Freud?
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
In what way did Alfred Adler disagree with Freud?
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
How did Karen Horney agree and disagree with Freud?
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
