Personality and Abnormal Psychology Flashcards
Heinz Kohut
(1913 – 1981) Austrian-born American psychologist best known for his development of self psychology, an off-shoot of object relations theory.
Object Relations Theory
Object relations theory is an offshoot of psychoanalytic theory which emphasizes interpersonal relations, primarily in the family and especially between mother and child. “Object” actually means person, and especially the significant person that is the object or target of another’s feelings or intentions. “Relations” refers to interpersonal relations and suggests the residues of past relationships that affect a person in the present. Object relations theorists are interested in inner images of the self and other and how they manifest themselves in interpersonal situations. Heinz Kuhut’s self psychology is an offshoot of object relations theory. Four important object relations theorists are Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, Margaret Mahler, and Otto Kernberg.
4 Important Object Relations Theorists
- Melanie Klein (1882 – 1960)
- Donald Winnicott (1896 – 1971)
- Margaret Mahler (1897 – 1985)
- Otto Kernberg (1928 – )
Otto Kernberg
(1928 – ) Psychoanalyst and professor of psychiatry most widely known for his psychoanalytic theories on borderline personality organization and narcissistic pathology. In addition, his work has been central in integrating postwar ego psychology with Kleinian (Melanie Klein) and other object relations perspectives. His integrative writings were central to the development of modern object relations, a theory of mind that is perhaps the theory most widely accepted among modern psychoanalysts.
Margaret Mahler
(1897 – 1985) Hungarian physician, who later became interested in psychiatry. She was a central figure on the world stage of psychoanalysis. Her main interest was in normal childhood development, but she spent much of her time with psychiatric children and how they arrive at the “self.” Mahler developed the separation-individuation theory of child development. Note how Mahler’s focus places her within the fold of object relations theory.
Donald Winnicott
(1896 – 1971) Donald Winnicott was an English pediatrician and psychoanalyst who was especially influential in the field of object relations theory and developmental psychology. Winnicott was a close associate of Marion Milner. Winnicott is best known for his ideas on the true self and false self, and the “good enough” parent, and borrowed from his second wife, Clare Winnicott, arguably his chief professional collaborator, the notion of the “transitional object.” A transitional object, comfort object, or security blanket, is an item used to provide psychological comfort, especially in unusual or unique situations, or at bedtime for children.
Marion Milner
(1900 – 1998) British author and psychoanalyst. Outside psychotherapeutic circles, she is better known by her pseudonym, Joanna Field, as a pioneer of introspective journaling. In 1926, Milner began an introspective journey that later became one of her best-known books, A Life of One’s Own (initially published under the name Joanna Field in 1934). This started as a journal in which she would note down times that she felt happy and thoughts going through her mind at those times, in an attempt to discover what happiness was; however, her introspection branched out into other areas, from an analysis of day-to-day worries to mystical experiences. Milner was a close associate of the pediatrician, psychoanalyst, and influential object relations theorist Donald Winnicott.
Melanie Klein
(1882 – 1960) Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst who is known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Klein suggested that pre-verbal existential anxiety in infancy catalyzes the formation of the unconscious, resulting in the unconscious splitting of the world into good and bad idealizations. In her theory, how the child resolves that splitting depends on the constitution of the child and the character of nurturing experiences; the quality of resolution can inform the presence, absence, and/or type of distresses a person experiences later in life.
The Basic Idea of
Psychoanalysis
This therapy, developed by Sigmund Freud, is an intensive, long-term treatment for uncovering repressed memories, motives, and conflicts stemming from problems in psychosexual development. Freud believed that by gaining insight into repressed material, the energy being utilized to deal with repressed conflict would be freed up and made available for further development.
Neo-Freudian Approaches to Psychotherapy
Classical psychoanalysis is very expensive and requires a larger commitment of time than most people can make. As a result, there have been many modifications of the treatment. The neo-Freudian approaches place much more emphasis on current interpersonal relationships and life situations than on childhood experience and psychosexual development.
Transference and Countertransference
Freudian terms. Transference occurs when the patient develops attitudes or feelings toward the therapist which the patient previously experienced in the context of other relationships. It is through transference that the analyst can help recreate the patient’s experiences so that the patient has an opportunity to uncover, acknowledge, and understand his or her relationships with others. The therapist, too, will experience a full range of emotions toward the patient at various points in the treatment. This is known as countertransference and must be understood by the therapist so that it does not impinge on the treatment in a counterproductive way. This is one of the reasons psychoanalysts-in-training undergo psychoanalysis themselves.
Freud and Hypnosis
Early in the development of psychoanalysis, Freud used hypnosis to free repressed thoughts from the patient’s unconscious––but he later dropped that method in favor of alternative methods, notably free association and dream interpretation.
Free Association
Practice in psychoanalytic therapy whereby the client says whatever comes to his or her conscious mind regardless of how personal, painful, or seemingly irrelevant it may appear to be. Through free association, the analyst and patient together reconstruct the nature of the client’s original conflict.
Dream Interpretation
Freud believed that the defenses are relaxed and the mind is freer to express forbidden wishes and desires during dream states. Therefore, understanding patients’ dreams leads to an understanding of their unconscious conflicts.
Resistance
Term coined by Freud. Resistance, or an unwillingness or inability to relate to certain thoughts, motives, or experiences, is a major part of analysis. Such things as forgetting dream material, missing a therapy session, blocking associations, and switching topics rapidly are indications of resistance and are themselves subject to analysis.
John Dollard and Neal E. Miller
Behaviorists who incorporated some psychoanalytic concepts into their theory. They focused on conflicting motives or conflicting tendencies in the development of personality. They were members of the distinguished group of young researchers at Yale University in the 1930s who, inspired initially by Clark L. Hull, sought to combine learning theory with psychoanalysis. The group’s first major publication was Frustration and Aggression, a classic that is still widely cited in introductory texts.
Neal E. Miller
(1909 – 2002) American experimental psychologist. Described as an energetic man with a variety of interests, including physics, biology and writing, Miller entered the field of psychology to pursue these. With a background in the sciences, he was inspired by professors and leading psychologists at the time to work on various areas in behavioral psychology, especially relating visceral responses to behavior. Miller was a member of the distinguished group of young researchers (among whom was John Dollard) at Yale University in the 1930s who, inspired initially by Clark L. Hull, sought to combine learning theory with psychoanalysis. The group’s first major publication was Frustration and Aggression, a classic that is still widely cited in introductory texts.
John Dollard
(1900 – 1980) American psychologist and social scientist best known for his studies on race relations in America and the frustration-aggression hypothesis he proposed with Neal E. Miller and others. Dollard was a member of the distinguished group of young researchers (among whom was Neal E. Miller) at Yale University in the 1930s who, inspired initially by Clark L. Hull, sought to combine learning theory with psychoanalysis. The group’s first major publication was Frustration and Aggression, a classic that is still widely cited in introductory texts. Neal E. Miller said of John Dollard’s contributions to the group: “If trying to bring together contributions from sociology, anthropology, psychology, and psychotherapy no longer seems so novel, it is because Dollard and other pioneers had the courage and tenacity to break through traditional barriers.”
B. F. Skinner
Behaviorist who considered “personality” to be a collection of behaviors that happen to have been sufficiently reinforced to persist.
Albert Bandura’s view of personality
Albert Bandura contends that learning principles are sufficient to account for personality development. The basis of his social learning theory is modeling observed behavior. Bandura stresses that learning occurs not only by having one’s own behavior reinforced (as Skinner believed) but also by observing other people’s behaviors being reinforced. This is called vicarious reinforcement, or more generally, vicarious learning.
Behavioral Theory of Personality
The behavioral perspective holds that personality is the result of an individual’s interactions with their environment. These interactions may include relationships, traumatic life experiences, lessons from parents and teachers, and lessons from movies, TV, and other forms of media. These influences exert their effects through classical and operant conditioning.
Martin Seligman
(1942 – ) American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books. Seligman is a strong promoter within the scientific community of his theories of positive psychology and well-being. His theory of learned helplessness is popular among scientific and clinical psychologists.
Martin Seligman and Learned Helplessness
Martin Seligman conducted classic studies of learned helplessness in the 1960s. In these studies, he placed dogs in a cell with relatively high walls. He then administered a shock to the floor of the cell. Initially, the dogs would attempt to jump free. Over time, they stopped jumping since they were unable to escape. Later, Seligman replaced the high walls with relatively low walls. Nonetheless, when he administered a shock to the floor of the cell, the dogs did not jump, even though they could easily have escaped if they had attempted to do so. Thus, the dogs had learned to be helpless. Seligman and others extrapolated to the realms of human depression and locus of control.
Learned helplessness is a behavior pattern involving a maladaptive response characterized by avoidance of challenges, negative affect, and the collapse of problem-solving strategies when obstacles arise. Three components are necessary for learned helplessness to be present: contingency, cognition, and behavior.
Contingency is the idea that there is an identifiable relation between one’s actions and the environmental response, such as tapping a drum and the ensuing sound. In learned helplessness research, contingency is more often operationalized as its converse— uncontrollability—so that when an agent acts, there is no identifiable relation with a specific response. Cognitions are also necessary. These are thought of as the way one understands and explains contingency or lack thereof. How individuals explain environmental contingencies leads to the third component of learned helplessness—behavior. Thus, learned helplessness exists in a situation in which there is no observable contingency and in which one expects that this uncontrollability will continue and behaves accordingly, such as by quitting.
Behavior Therapy
Behaviorists view maladjustment / abnormal behavior as learned through interactions with the environment. Individuals learn faulty coping patterns that are maintained by some kind of reinforcement. While psychoanalysts consider the symptoms to be manifestations of some disorder, behaviorists consider the symptoms to be the disorder. Behavioral therapies have proven to be quite successful with certain problems, particularly phobias, impulse control, and personal care maintenance for people with intellectual disabilities and hospitalized psychotic patients.
The Psychodynamic Objection to Behavioral Therapy
In contrast to behaviorists, psychoanalysts do not believe that symptom relief is adequate therapy. Because the underlying cause is still there, psychoanalysts suggest that new symptoms will develop to replace the old ones. This is called symptom substitution. Naturally, behaviorists disagree with this viewpoint.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
(CBT)
CBT focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful cognitive distortions (e.g. thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes) and behaviors, improving emotional regulation, and developing personal coping strategies that target solving current problems. Originally, it was designed to treat depression, but its uses have been expanded to include treatment of a number of mental health conditions, including anxiety. Two prominent examples of CBT are Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy for depression and Albert Ellis’s rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT).
Aaron Beck
(1921 – ) American psychiatrist regarded as a father of both cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (Albert Ellis is another father of CT and CBT). Beck’s pioneering theories are widely used in the treatment of clinical depression and various anxiety disorders. Beck developed self-report measures of depression and anxiety, notably the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), which became one of the most widely used instruments for measuring depression severity. Working with depressed patients, Beck found that they experienced streams of negative thoughts that seemed to pop up spontaneously. He termed these cognitions “automatic thoughts,” and discovered that their content fell into 3 categories: negative thoughts about oneself, the world, and the future. He stated that such cognitions were interrelated as the cognitive triad (or the negative triad). Beck found that by helping patients identify and evaluate these thoughts, patients were able to think more realistically, which led them to feel better emotionally and behave more functionally.
Philippe Pinel
In 1792, Philippe Pinel was placed in charge of an asylum in Paris with (typically) horrible conditions. Pinel, however, believed that people with mental illness should be treated with consideration and kindness. He removed shackles from the patients, allowed them to go outside on hospital grounds, gave them beds to sleep on and, in general, made sure the patients were treated humanely. These reforms had beneficial effects on the patients and spread to other asylums.
Humanism
Developed as a system in the mid-20th century. Arose in opposition to both psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Humanistic psychology opposes the pessimism of the psychoanalytic perspective and the robotic concepts of behaviorism. Humanists believe in free will and the idea that people should be considered as wholes rather than in terms of stimuli and response (behaviorism) or instinct (psychoanalysis). Important humanists include Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970) and Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987).
Freud’s Pychoanalytic Theory
(main point)
First comprehensive theory of personality.
Edwin Boring
Historian of psychology who suggested that the development of psychology is due not primarily to the efforts of great people, but to zeitgeist, or the changing spirit of the times. Edwin Boring was also an experimental psychologist in his own right.
8 Psychological Schools
(not entirely in chronological order)
- Structuralism
- First on the scene, beginning with Wilhelm Wundt’s method of introspection; Edward Titchener studied with Wilhelm Wundt and also employed the method of introspection
- Functionalism
- Behaviorism
- Gestalt psychology
- Cognitive psychology
- Psychoanalysis
- Systems psychology
- Humanism
Herman Witkin
Observed a relationship between personality and perception of the world. Witkin classified people according to their degree of field dependence. At one pole is the capacity to make specific responses to perceived specific stimuli (field independence). At the other pole is a more diffuse response to a perceived mass of somewhat undifferentiated stimuli (field dependence). For example, people who are highly field dependent will be more influenced by the opinions of others because they respond in a diffuse manner, not distinguishing separate ideas nor even distinguishing their own ideas from those of others.
Herman Witkin
(continued)
(1916 – 1979) American psychologist who specialized in cognitive psychology and learning psychology. He was a pioneer of the theory of cognitive learning styles (developed in collaboration with Solomon Asch and others). He preferred to diagnose not by inventories but by other means, such as projective tests, task-solving tests, etc. He created the concept of field-dependency vs. field-independency. In particular, he studied field dependence / independence using the rod-and-frame test.
Solomon Asch
(1907 – 1996) Polish-American gestalt psychologist and pioneer in social psychology. He created seminal pieces of work in impression formation, prestige suggestion, conformity, and many other topics in social psychology. (Among others, he collaborated with Herman Witkin to develop the theory of cognitive learning styles.) His work follows a common theme of gestalt psychology that the whole is not only greater than the sum of its parts, but the nature of the whole fundamentally alters the parts. Asch stated: “Most social acts have to be understood in their setting, and lose meaning if isolated. No error in thinking about social facts is more serious than the failure to see their place and function. Asch is most well known for his conformity experiments, in which he demonstrated the influence of group pressure on opinions.
Environmental Psychology
Interdisciplinary field that focuses on the interplay between individuals and their surroundings. The field defines the term “environment” broadly, encompassing natural environments, social settings, built environments, learning environments, and informational environments. Environmental psychology and systems psychology describe similar theoretical perspectives.
Gregory Bateson
(1904 – 1980) English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician (semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation) and cyberneticist (cybernetics is an interdisciplinary approach to exploring regulatory systems––their structures, constraints, and possibilities) whose work intersected that of many other fields. His writings include Steps to an Ecology of Mind (1972) and Mind and Nature (1979). Gregory Bateson was a key figure in systems theory.
Roger Barker
(1903 – 1990) Social scientist, a founder of environmental psychology, and leading figure in that field for decades, perhaps best known for his development of the concept of behavior settings and staffing theory. Behavior settings are theorized entities that help explain the relationship between individuals and the environment, particularly the social environment. There has been a tendency in the social sciences generally to polarize arguments about consciousness, identity, behavior, and culture around either the mind existing “in the head” or the mind being an artifact of social interaction. “Mind”––in the sense used here––is understood as the motivation for behavior. Evidence indicates that both of these “facts” are accurate. Behavior settings are mediating structures that help explain the relationship between the dynamic behavior of individuals and stable social structure. Staffing theory explores the effects of behavior settings being either understaffed or overstaffed. Understaffing refers to the idea that there are not enough people for what the behavior setting promotes, whereas overstaffing is an overabundance of people. Roger Barker may also be considered a key figure in systems psychology.
Systems Psychology
Human behavior must be considered within the context of complex systems. Applications include organizational psychology and family therapy. Key figures are Roger Barker and Gregory Bateson. Systems psychology and environmental psychology describe similar theoretical perspectives.
Humanism
Looks at people as wholes; humans have free will; psychologists should study mentally healthy people, not just mentally ill / maladjusted ones. Key figures are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.
Psychoanalytic Theory
(big picture)
Behavior is a result of unconscious conflicts, repression, defense mechanisms. Key figures are Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler.
Cognitivism
(big picture)
Behaviorism is not an adequate explanation for human behavior; humans think, believe, are creative. Key figure is Noam Chomsky.
Structuralism
Breaks consciousness into elements by using instrospection. Key figures are Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener (who studied under Wundt). Titchener’s conclusions were largely based on associationism, the idea that mental processes operate by the association of one mental state with its successor states, and all mental processes are made up of discrete psychological elements and their combinations, which are believed to be made up of sensations or simple feelings.
Functionalism
Attacked structuralism; studies how the mind functions to help people adapt to their environment. Influenced by Charles Darwin. Key figures are John Dewey and William James. James coined the term “stream of consciousness.”
Behaviorism
Attacked mentalism (theory that physical and psychological phenomena are ultimately explicable only in terms of a creative and interpretive mind); attacked the use of introspection; attacked structuralism and functionalism; advocated for psychology as objective study of behavior. Key figures are John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner.
Kurt Koffka
(1886 – 1941) German psychologist and professor. Had many interests including visual perception, brain damage, sound localization (listener’s ability to identify the location or origin of a detected sound in direction and distance), developmental psychology, and experimental psychology. Kurt Koffka worked alongside Max Wertheimer (phi phenomenon) and Wolfgang Köhler (theory of isomorphism) to develop Gestalt psychology.
Gestalt Psychology
Attacked structuralism and behaviorism; argued that the whole is something other than the sum of its parts. Key figures are Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka.
Thomas Szasz
Outspoken critic of labeling people “mentally ill,” and author of the book The Myth of Mental Illness. Argued that most of the disorders treated by clinicians are not really illnesses. Rather, they are traits or behaviors that differ from the cultural norm. Szasz argued that labeling people as mentally ill is a way to force them to change and conform to societal norms rather than allowing them to attack the societal causes of their problems.
David Rosenhan
In 1973, Rosenhan and seven other “sane” people were admitted into different psychiatric hospitals by reporting auditory hallucinations. Each of these pseudopatients was diagnosed with either paranoid schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Once admitted, they acted normally in every way. Yet even normal activities were interpreted by the staff as evidence of mental illness. The pseudopatients remained in hospital an average of three weeks. When they were finally released (and they were only able to be released with the help of spouses and friends), the discharge diagnoses were either paranoid schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in remission. Rosenhan concluded that clinicians need to exercise greater care when judging normality and abnormality. Once someone is labeled mentally ill, the label never really goes away. Additionally, this study demonstrated that mental illness can be feigned, as well as misdiagnosed.
Primary Prevention
Efforts to seek out and eradicate conditions that foster mental illness and to establish the conditions that foster mental health are called primary prevention. Examples include increasing access to good prenatal and postnatal care, providing training in psychosocial skills to those who need it, promoting opportunities for education, and training parents in child-raising skills. Primary prevention is proactive, not reactive. It seeks to stop mental illness before it occurs rather than treating the illness after it occurs.
Diathesis-Stress Model
A framework that can be used to examine the causes of mental disorders. A diathesis is a predisposition toward developing a specific mental disorder. It could be a genetic or anatomic abnormality, or a biochemical disorder that predisposes an individual to mental illness. Excessive stress operating on a person with a predisposition (diathesis) may lead to the development of the specific mental disorder. According to this model, a person whose brain is over-sensitive to dopamine and who also experiences excessive stress may be likely to develop schizophrenia. The diathesis-stress model reminds us that causal factors at the biological and psychological levels interact with one another.
Other Groups of Disorders
In addition to the disorders already mentioned, the DSM-5 contains classifications of elimination disorders, sleep-wake disorders, sexual dysfunctions and paraphilias, gender dysphoria, impulse control disorders, and substance-related disorders.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Antisocial personality disorder has previously been referred to as psychopathic disorder and sociopathic disorder. The essential feature of the disorder is a pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others. This is evidenced by repeated illegal acts, deceitfulness, aggressiveness, and/or a lack of remorse for said actions. Serial killers who show no remorse, imposters, and many career criminals have this disorder.
Borderline Personality Disorder
People with borderline personality disorder show behavior that has features of both personality disorders and some of the more severe psychological disorders (whatever that means). Characterized by pervasive instability in interpersonal behavior, mood, and self-image. Interpersonal relationships are often intense and unstable. There may be profound identity disturbances manifested by uncertainty about self-image, sexual identity, long-term goals, or values. There is often intense fear of abandonment. Suicide attempts and self-mutilation (cutting or burning) are common.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Characterized by a grandiose sense of self-importance or uniqueness, preoccupation with fantasies of success, an exhibitionist need for constant admiration / attention, feelings of entitlement, and disturbances in interpersonal relationships. As used in everyday language, narcissism refers to those who like themselves too much. However, people with narcissistic personality disorder have very fragile self-esteem and are constantly concerned with how others are viewing them. They may experience marked feelings of rage, inferiority, shame, humiliation, or emptiness when they are not viewed favorably by others. More common in men.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
A pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotional expression. People with this disorder show little desire for social interactions; have few, if any, close friends; and have poor social skills. Typically begins in early adulthood. (Schizoid personality disorder is not the same as schizophrenia.)
Personality Disorders
A personality disorder is a pattern of behavior that is inflexible and maladaptive, causing distress and/or impaired functioning in at least two of the following: cognition, emotions, interpersonal functioning, and impulse control. The DSM-5 lists ten personality disorders (four of the most common in bold):
- Paranoid
- Schizoid
- Schizotypal (for a diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder, patients must have: 1) a persistent pattern of intense discomfort with and decreased capacity for close relationships; and 2) cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior)
- Antisocial
- Borderline
- Histrionic (criteria are: he or she feels uncomfortable when the center of attention is not on him or her; the individual’s interactions with others are usually inappropriately seductive or provocative; he or she shows quickly changing and shallow expression of emotions; the individual uses his or her physical appearance to attract attention; the individual’s speech is lacking in detail; he or she is dramatic and exaggerates his or her emotions; the individual is easily influenced by others; he or she views relationships as more intimate than they really are.)
- Narcissistic
- Avoidant (criteria are: avoids occupational activities involving significant interpersonal contact, due to fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection; is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of acceptance; shows restraint within intimate relationships due to fears of shame or ridicule; preoccupied with fears of receiving criticism or rejection in social situations; inhibited in new interpersonal situations due to feelings of inadequacy; considers self as inferior to others, socially inept, or personally unappealing; is unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing)
- Dependent (difficulty making routine decisions without input, reassurance, and advice from others; requires others to assume responsibilities which they should be attending to; fear of disagreeing with others and risking disapproval; difficulty starting projects without support from others; excessive need to obtain nurturance and support from others, even allowing others to impose themselves rather than risk rejection or disapproval; feels vulnerable and helpless when alone; desperately seeks another relationship when one ends; unrealistic preoccupation with being left alone and unable to care for themselves)
- Anankastic (obsessive-compulsive)
Anorexia Nervosa
Characterized by a refusal to maintain a minimally normal body weight. The person also has a distorted body image, and believes that he or she is overweight even when emaciated. In females, amenorrhea (the cessation of menstruation) is usually present. More than 90% of cases are female and 10% of hospitalized cases result in death due to starvation, suicide, or electrolyte imbalance.
Bulimia Nervosa
Involves binge-eating accompanied by excessive attempts to compensate by purging, fasting, or excessively exercising. In bulimia nervosa, unlike anorexia nervosa, the individual tends to maintain a minimally normal body weight. At least 90% of cases are female.
Depersonalization Disorder
The person feels detached, like an outside observer of his or her body, mental processes, and/or behavior. May also involve a sense that one’s surroundings aren’t real. However, the person retains an accurate perception of reality. In other words, there is no psychotic element.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Previously called multiple personality disorder. Rare disorder characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality states. Usually a reaction to trauma as a way to help a person avoid bad memories. Results when the components of identity fail to integrate. After much therapy, the personalities can usually be integrated into one.
Dissociative Amnesia
Characterized by an inability to recall past experience. The qualifier “dissociative” means that the amnesia is not due to a neurological disorder. Usually caused by trauma or stress.
Dissociative Fugue
Rare disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality, and other identifying characteristics of individuality. The state can last days, months, or longer.
Dissociative Disorders
In dissociative disorders, the person avoids stress by dissociating, or escaping from his or her identity. The person otherwise has an intact sense of reality. Examples of dissociative disorders include dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, dissociative identity disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder), and depersonalization disorder.
Illness Anxiety Disorder
Formerly known as hypochondriasis. The person is preoccupied with fears that he or she has a serious disease. These fears are based on a misinterpretation of one or more bodily signs or symptoms. These fears continue even after complete medical exams have proven that the person doesn’t have the disease he or she claims to have.
Conversion Disorder
Conversion disorder is a type of somatic symptom disorder (formerly called somatoform disorder) characterized by unexplained symptoms affecting voluntary motor or sensory functions. Examples include paralysis when there is no neurological damage or even blindness when there is no evidence of damage to the visual system or brain. Conversion disorder used to be called hysteria.
Somatic Symptom Disorder
A somatic symptom disorder, formerly known as a somatoform disorder, is any mental disorder which manifests as physical symptoms suggesting illness or injury, but which cannot be fully explained by a general medical condition or by the direct effect of a substance, and are not attributable to another mental disorder (e.g., panic disorder).
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
In general, somatic symptom disorders (formerly called somatoform disorders) involve the presence of physical symptoms which are not fully explained by a medical condition. The afflicted person is not faking, but really believes that he or she has a medical condition. Examples include conversion disorder and illness anxiety disorder.
Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
The primary disorder within this grouping is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is developed as a reaction to a traumatic event such as sexual abuse, a combat situation, or an accident or situation of violence in which the individual or someone close to them is injured or killed. The most likely sufferers of PTSD are combat veterans, emergency workers, and survivors of violence or sexual assault. Sufferers typically relive the traumatic event through flashbacks or nightmares and often display hypervigilance and depressed mood.
Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
This grouping of disorders includes obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which is characterized by repeated obsessions (persistent irrational thoughts) that produce tension and/or compulsions (irrational and repetitive impulses to perform certain acts) that cause significant impairment in a person’s life. Loosely speaking, obsessions are thoughts and compulsions are behaviors. In addition to OCD, several specific obsessions and compulsions are recognized as individual disorders.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Characterized by a mistaken belief that parts of one’s body are misshapen or ugly. Listed in the “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders” section of the DSM-5.
Hoarding Disorder
Listed in the “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders” section of the DSM-5.
Trichotillomania
Hair pulling disorder. Listed in the “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders” section of the DSM-5.
Excoriation
Skin-picking disorder. Listed in the “Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders” section of the DSM-5.
6 Common Specific Phobias
- Claustrophobia (closed places)
- Acrophobia (heights)
- Cynophobia (dogs)
- Arachnophobia (spiders)
- Ophidiophobia (snakes)
- Glossophobia (public speaking)
Anxiety Disorders
There are more than 10 disorders listed in the anxiety disorders section of the DSM-5. One type of anxiety disorder is a phobia. A phobia is an irrational fear of something that results in a compelling desire to avoid it. Most of the familiar phobias are what the DSM-5 calls specific phobias. A specific phobia is one in which anxiety is produced by a specific object or situation.
Agoraphobia
Fear of being in open places or in situations where escape might be difficult. Agoraphobics tend to be uncomfortable going outside their homes. Often develops after one or more panic attacks.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Characterized by anxiety that is due to social situations. Sufferers have persistent fear when exposed to social / performance situations that might result in embarassment.
Panic Disorder
Often linked to agoraphobia, but recognized by the DSM-5 as a separate condition. Manifests as frequent panic attacks––periods of intense fear or foreboding accompanied by a physiological fight-or-flight response.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Characterized by a low-key sense of constant anxiety. Most sufferers are unable to state what makes them anxious. Often they are able to maintain a high level of functioning without seeking psychiatric care.
2 New Mood Disorders in DSM-5
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PDD): has long been controversial but has recently been supported by research. Affects as many as 20% of women of reproductive age, and is characterized by dysphoric / depressed mood, anger, and physiological symptoms for several days prior to menstruation.
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD): presents in childhood and is characterized by negative mood accompanied by poor control of temper, even at minor provocations.
Monoamine Theory of Depression,
also called the
Catecholamine Theory of Depression
This theory of depression implicates the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin. According to this theory, too much norepinephrine and serotonin leads to mania, while too little leads to depression. (It should be noted that more recent research complicates this simple notion.)
Note that norepinephrine is both a monoamine and a catecholamine, whereas serotonin is a monoamine but not a catecholamine.
Cyclothymic Disorder
Does not quite meet the criteria for bipolar disorder, but essentially is characterized by similar, less severe symptoms.
Persistent Depressive Disorder
Formerly known as dysthymia. Does not quite meet the criteria for major depressive disorder, but essentially is characterized by similar, less severe symptoms.
Bipolar Disorders
The bipolar disorders (formerly known as manic-depression) are mood disorders characterized by both depression and mania. Manic episodes are often characterized by an abnormal and persistent elevated mood, accompanied by a decreased need for sleep. There is also a flight of ideas and increased self-esteem. Judgment is usually impaired, sexual and other behavioral restraints are lowered, and the individual tends to be impatient with any attempts to restrain their behavior. Manic episodes generally have a rapid onset and a briefer duration than depressive episodes. Bipolar I disorder has these manic episodes, whereas bipolar II disorder has hypomania. In contrast to mania, hypomania typically does not significantly impair functioning, nor are there psychotic features, although the individual may be more energetic and optimistic.
Major Depressive Disorder
Characterized by at least one major depressive episode. The essential feature is at least a 2-week period during which there is a prominent and relatively persistent depressed mood, or loss of interest in all or almost all activities. Other symptoms include appetite disturbances, substantial weight changes, sleep disturbances, decreased energy, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt (sometimes delusional), difficulty concentrating or thinking, and thoughts of death or attempts at suicide. In order for major depressive disorder to be diagnosed, these symptoms must cause significant distress and/or impairment in functioning. As many as 15% of individuals with this disorder die by suicide.
The Double-Bind Hypothesis
of Schizophrenia
The double-bind hypothesis of schizophrenia holds that as a child, the person with schizophrenia received contradictory and mutually incompatible messages from his primary caregiver (usually the mother). Torn between these contradictory messages, the child may begin to feel anxious, and these disorganized messages become internalized. From this point, the child begins to see his perceptions of reality as unreliable. Although this hypothesis is not widely supported, research has suggested that faulty family communication may play some role in explaining the origins of some forms of schizophrenia.
The Dopamine Hypothesis
of Schizophrenia
The etiology of schizophrenia remains unclear. The leading biochemical explanation for schizophrenia is the dopamine hypothesis. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, plays an important role in movement and posture in certain brain pathways. The dopamine hypothesis suggests that the delusions, hallucinations, and agitation associated with schizophrenia arise from an excess of dopamine activity at certain sites in the brain. A variant is that the amount of dopamine is normal but there is an over-sensitivity to dopamine, or too many dopamine receptors. Evidence supporting the dopamine hypothesis comes from the effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs.
Process Schizophrenia
vs.
Reactive Schizophrenia
If schizophrenia development is slow and insidious, it is referred to as process schizophrenia, and prognosis for recovery is especially poor. If the onset of symptoms is intense and sudden, it is referred to as reactive schizophrenia, and prognosis for recovery is better.
Prodromal Phase
vs.
Active Phase
(of schizophrenia)
Before schizophrenia is diagnosed, a patient often goes through a phase characterized by poor adjustment. This phase is called the prodromal phase. The prodromal phase is exemplified by clear evidence of deterioration, social withdrawal, role functioning impairment, peculiar behavior, inappropriate affect, and unusual experiences. This phase is followed by the active phase of symptomatic behavior.
Catotonic Motor Behavior
(e.g., in schizophrenia)
Various extreme behaviors characteristic of some people with schizophrenia. The patient’s spontaneous movement and activity may be greatly reduced or the patient may maintain a rigid posture, refusing to be moved. At the other extreme, catatonic behavior may include useless and bizarre movements not caused by any external stimuli.
Disturbance of Affect
(e.g., in schizophrenia)
A common characteristic of schizophrenia is disturbance of affect, or the expression of emotion. Problems with affect may include blunting, in which there is a severe reduction in the intensity of affect expression; flat affect, in which there are virtually no signs of affective expression; or inappropriate affect, in which the affect is clearly discordant with the content of the individual’s speech or ideation. For example, a patient with inappropriate affect may begin to laugh hysterically while describing a parent’s death. Interestingly, it has become more difficult to assess the affective aspects of schizophrenia because the antipsychotic medications used in treatment frequently blunt and flatten affect as well.
Disorganized Thought
(e.g., in schizophrenia)
Disorganized thought is characterized by the loosening of associations. This may be exhibited as speech in which ideas shift from one subject to another in an unrelated way such that a listener would be unable to follow the train of thought. Speech may be so disorganized that it seems to have no structure––as though it were just words thrown together, incomprehensibly. This is sometimes called word salad. In fact, a person with schizophrenia may even invent new words. These new words are called neologisms.
Hallucinations
(for example, in schizophrenia)
Hallucinations are perceptions that are not due to external stimuli but have a compelling sense of reality. Hallucinations can occur in all sensory modalities. The most common form of hallucination is auditory, involving voices that the individual perceives as coming from the external world.
Delusions
(for example, in schizophrenia)
Delusions are false beliefs, discordant with reality, that are maintained in spite of strong evidence to the contrary. Common delusions include delusions of reference, persecution, and grandeur. Delusions of reference may involve an individual’s belief that others are talking about them, or that common elements in the environment are directed at them. Delusions of persecution involve the belief that the person is being deliberately interfered with, discriminated against, plotted against, or threatened. Delusions of grandeur involve the belief by the person that he or she is a remarkable figure, such as an inventor, historical figure, or even the King of England. Other delusions involve the concept of thought broadcasting, which is the belief that one’s thoughts are broadcast directly from one’s mind to the external world, and thought insertion, the belief that thoughts are inserted into one’s mind.
Positive vs. Negative
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into positive and negative types. Positive symptoms are behaviors, thoughts, or affects added to normal behavior. Examples include delusions and hallucinations, disorganized speech, and disorganized or catatonic behavior. Positive symptoms are considered by some to have two distinct dimensions––a psychotic dimension (delusions and hallucinations) and a disorganized dimension (disorganized speech and behavior)––perhaps with different underlying causes. Negative symptoms are those symptoms that involve the absence of normal or desired behavior. An example is flat affect, or blunted emotional expression.
Paul Eugen Bleuler
(1857 – 1939) Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist most notable for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness. Bleuler coined many psychological and psychiatric terms, including “schizophrenia,” “schizoid,” “autism,” “depth psychology” (psychoanalytic approaches to therapy and research which take the unconscious into account), and what Sigmund Freud called “Bleuler’s happily chosen term ambivalence.”
Overview of Schizophrenia
The term schizophrenia was coined in 1911 by Paul Eugen Bleuler. Before that, schizophrenia was called dementia praecox (“praecox” is Latin for “very early”). Schizophrenia literally means “split mind,” and this has led many lay people to confuse schizophrenia with multiple personality disorder (currently known as dissociative identity disorder). By “split mind,” Bleuler did not mean that the mind is split into different personalities, but that the mind is split off from reality. Although no single feature need be present to diagnose schizophrenia, a person with schizophrenia may have any or all of the following symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thought, inappropriate affect, and catatonic behavior.
Neurological Disorders
This grouping of disorders includes those that are linked to the development of the nervous system, and that typically, but not always, first present during infancy, childhood, or adolescence. Included are learning and communication disorders, attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), and the autism spectrum. Also includes disorders typically associated with old age, such as alzheimer’s.
Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder
(AD/HD)
Characterized by developmentally atypical inattention and/or impulsivity / hyperactivity. Children with AD/HD may have very short attention spans and have difficulty staying on task. These children are frequently unable to follow instructions or requests and are often unable to stick to activities for extended periods of time. Group situations are particularly difficult for these children. Hyperactivity manifests in motor activity such as excessive running or climbing, fidgeting, and restlessness. Impulsivity is manifested by an inability to delay gratification, impatience, and frequently interrupting others. The disorder typically manifests by age 3, but it is often not diagnosed until the child begins school. As many as 3 - 5% of children may experience the symptoms. The disorder is more prevalent in males than in females. Symptoms usually attenuate during adolescence, but may continue into adulthood.
Autism Spectrum
Describes a range of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairment in social skills and communication skills as well as repetitive behaviors. “Autism Spectrum” encompasses the former DSM-4 diagnoses of autism, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Individuals with these disorders are often inflexibly routined and stereotyped. Children with autism may not cuddle or make eye contact, and may display little or no facial expression. Impairment in language skills, both receptive and expressive, is often present. Children with autism spectrum disorders tend to be oversensitive to sensory stimuli such as sound, lights, color, odor, and/or touch. Autism spectrum disorders often persist into adulthood, and many affected individuals will not be able to achieve an autonomous life with adequate social adjustment as adults.
Tourette’s Disorder
A tic disorder characterized by multiple motor tics (e.g. eye-blinking, skipping, deep knee bends) and one or more vocal tics (e.g. grunts, barks, sniffs, snorts, coughs, utterance of obscenities). Tics are sudden, recurrent, and stereotyped. The duration of the disorder is lifelong, but periods of remission may occur. Tourette’s disorder occurs in ~ 4 – 5 individuals out of 10,000.
Important Points about DSM-5
Published by the APA in 2013. DSM-5’s classification scheme is not based on theories of etiology or treatments of different disorders. Rather, it is based on atheoretical descriptions of symptoms of the various disorders. For example, the DSM-5 doesn’t list “neurosis” as a category of mental disorder, since neurosis is a theoretical term derived from psychoanalytic theory.
Walter Mischel
(1930 – 2018) The practice of explaining behavior on the basis of personality types or traits has not gone unchallenged. Indeed, the concept of stable personality traits has been seriously challenged by Walter Mischel. Mischel believed that human behavior is largely determined by the characteristics of the situation rather than by those of the person. Walter Mischel was an Austrian-born American psychologist specializing in personality theory and social psychology.
Sandra Bem
Developed theory of gender identity that is related to personality. Bem’s theory holds that because people can achieve high scores on measures of both masculinity and femininity on personality inventories, it follows that masculinity and femininity must be two separate gender dimensions. Androgeny is defined as the state of being simultaneously very masculine and very feminine. Sandra Bem (1944 – 2014) was an American psychologist known for her works in androgyny and gender studies.
Machiavellianism
Someone who is manipulative and deceitful (from Niccolo Machiavelli’s book, The Prince) is sometimes described as having “Machiavellian” personality traits. People who score high on Machiavellianism tend to agree with statements such as, “most people don’t really know what’s best for them,” “the best way to handle people is to tell them what they want to hear, and, “anyone who completely trusts anyone else is asking for trouble.” Experiments have shown that people high in Machiavellianism are much more successful manipulators than those low in Machiavellianism.
Julian Rotter
Worked on locus of control. Locus of control and self-esteem are related. People who attribute their success to ability (internal LOC) tend to have higher self-esteem than people who attribute their success to luck or task ease (external LOC). Meanwhile, people with high self-esteem tend to attribute their failures to bad luck or task difficulty (external LOC), while people with low self-esteem tend to attribute their failures to lack of ability (internal LOC).
David McClelland
Identified personality trait referred to as the need for achievement (N-Ach). People who are rated high in N-Ach tend to be concerned with achievement and take pride in their accomplishments. They avoid high risks (to avoid risk of failing) and low risks (because easy tasks won’t generate a sense of achievement). They set realistic goals, and do not continue striving toward a goal if success appears unlikely.
David McClelland is not to be confused with James McClelland, who, together with David Rumelhart, published a two-volume book about parallel distributed processes (PDP), proposing that information processing is distributed across the brain and is carried out in a parallel fashion.
Idiographic vs. Nomothetic, and
Gordon Allport’s Approach to Personality
Idiographic is a word expressing what Kant described as a tendency to specify, and is typical for the humanities. Nomothetic is a word expressing what Kant described as a tendency to generalize, and is typical for the natural sciences. In the context of personality, Gordon Allport preferred an idiographic approach (i.e. case studies), as opposed to studying individuals en masse (a nomothetic approach). Allport later substituted the term morphogenic for idiographic and dimensional for nomothetic.
Gordon Allport’s Concept of
Functional Autonomy
Gordon Allport was one of the first researchers to distinguish between motive and drive. He suggested that a drive forms as a reaction to a motive, and may outlast the motive as the reason for the behavior. The drive is then autonomous and distinct from the motive, whether the motive was instinct or something else. The idea that drives can become independent of the original motives for a given behavior is known as functional autonomy.
Gordon Allport
(1897 – 1967) American psychologist who was one of the first psychologists to focus on the study of personality, and is often referred to as one of the founding fathers of personality psychology. He contributed to the formation of values scales and rejected both a psychoanalytic approach to personality, which he thought was too deeply interpretive, and a behavioral approach, which he thought did not provide deep enough interpretations of data. Instead of these popular approaches, Allport developed an eclectic theory based on traits. He emphasized the uniqueness of each individual, and the importance of the present context, as opposed to past history, for understanding personality.
Gordon Allport
(continued)
Gordon Allport organized traits into a three-level hierarchy: cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits.
Cardinal traits are traits that dominate an individual’s whole life, often to the point that the person becomes known specifically for these traits. Allport suggested that cardinal traits are rare and tend to develop later in life.
Central traits are the general characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality. Terms like intelligent, honest, shy, anxious are considered central traits.
Secondary traits are related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances. For example, impatience while waiting in trafic.
Hans Eysenck
(1916 – 1997) German-born British psychologist best remembered for his work on intelligence and personality. At the time of his death, Eysenck was the living psychologist most frequently cited in the peer-reviewed scientific journal literature. A 2019 study found him to be the most controversial of 55 intelligence researchers. Eysenck used factor analysis to develop a theory of personality. He determined that the broad dimensions of personality are types, followed by more specific traits. Eysenck’s goal was to test, scientifically, Jung’s division of extroversion and introversion. His research distinguished first 2, then 3 dimensions on which personality varies: extroversion / introversion, neuroticism / emotional stability, and psychoticism. It is common practice in personality psychology to refer to these dimensions by the first letters E, N, and P.
Raymond Cattell
(1905 – 1998) British and American psychologist whose work explored the basic dimensions of personality and temperament, the range of cognitive abilities, the dynamic dimensions of motivation and emotion, the clinical dimensions of abnormal personality, patterns of group syntality (the inferred behavioral tendencies of a group acting as a group that correspond to personality in an individual) and social behavior, applications of personality research to psychotherapy and learning theory, predictors of creativity and achievement, and many multivariate research methods for investigating and measuring these domains. As a personality researcher, Cattell was a trait theorist; he used factor analysis to identify 16 basic traits, or relatively stable reaction tendencies, that constitute the building blocks of personality. As an intelligence researcher, Cattell divided mental abilities into two major types: fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. He argued that crystallized intelligence increases throughout the lifespan, while fluid intelligence gradually increases throughout childhood and adolescence, levels off in young adulthood, and begins a steady decline with advanced age.
Type A vs. Type B
One well-known type theory dichotomy. Type A personality is characterized by competitive / compulsive behavior. Type B personality is laid-back / relaxed. Type A is more prone to heart disease than Type B, and is most prevalent among middle- and upper-class men.
Trait vs. Type Theories of Personality
A trait is a characteristic pattern of behavior or conscious motive. The term type is used to identify a certain collection of traits that make up a broad, general personality classification.
Carl Rogers
Humanist and creator of psychotherapy technique known as client-centered therapy, person-centered therapy, or non-directive therapy. Client has innate capacity for growth. Therapist must have three attributes:
- Congruence (genuineness or realness)
- Unconditional positive regard
- Accurate empathic understanding
Humanistic vs. Existential Psychology
Existential psychology is more concerned with the “dark and bleak” aspects of human experience, such as anxiety and death. Humanistic psychology focuses more on the positive aspects of human experience, such as growth and self-actualization. Moreover, in contrast to humanists who believe that people are “basically good,” existentialists, in recognizing Man’s potentialities for growth and greatness, as well as for evil and destruction, make no assumptions about the essential goodness or badness of human nature.
George Kelly
(1905 – 1967) Considered the father of cognitive clinical psychology (what about Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis?) and best known for his theory of personality, personal construct psychology. Kelly proposed the notion of the individual as scientist, a person who devises and tests predictions about the behavior of significant people in his or her life. The anxious person, rather than being the victim of inner conflicts and dammed up energy (as in psychodynamic theory), is one who is having difficulty understanding the variables in his or her environment. According to Kelly, psychotherapy is a process of insight whereby the individual acquires new constructs that will allow him or her to successfully predict troublesome events.
Abraham Maslow
See physical flashcard.
Qualities self-actualized people have in common,
according to Abraham Maslow
- A non-hostile sense of humor
- Originality
- Creativity
- Spontaneity
- A need for some privacy
- Peak experiences: profoundly and deeply moving experiences that have important and lasting effects on the individual
Kurt Lewin
Considered the founder of modern social psychology. Heavily influenced by Gestalt psychology. Advocated rigorous applied research. Nicknamed the “practical theorist.” Created field theory, which proposes that behavior is a function of both the person and the environment:
B = f(P, E)
Lewin saw personality as dynamic and constantly changing, and composed of multiple regions called “systems.” He developed a model of change in human systems involving three steps:
- Unfreezing (creating the perception that a change is needed)
- Changing (moving toward the new, desired behavior)
- Refreezing (solidifying the new behavior as the norm)
Phenomenology
Phenomenology (from Greek phainómenon––”that which appears”––and logia––”study”) is the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness. As a philosophical movement it was founded in the early years of the 20th centuery by Edmund Husserl in Germany. In its most basic form, phenomenology attempts to create conditions for the objective study of topics usually regarded as subjective: consciousness and the content of conscious experiences such as judgments, perceptions, and emotions. Although phenomenology seeks to be scientific, it does not attempt to study consciousness from the perspective of clinical psychology or neurology. Instead, it seeks through systematic reflection to determine the essential properties and structures of experience.
Phenomenology in relation to
Humanism, Existentialism, and Gestalt
The humanistic approach is sometimes called phenomenological because humanistic psychologists argue that objective reality is less important than a person’s subjective perception and understanding of the world. The existential approach similarly employs phenomenological analysis. So does the Gestalt approach. Phenomenology involves the process of discovering the obvious rather than relying on interpretation. Gestalt therapy has been identified as the “therapy of the obvious.”
Albert Ellis
(1913 – 2007) American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). REBT is seen as the first form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The goal of REBT is to help the person identify self-defeating thoughts and feelings, challenge the rationality of those feelings, and replace them with healthier, more productive beliefs. REBT employs the ABC model: external events (A) do not cause emotions (C), but beliefs (B) and, in particular, irrational beliefs (IB), do. REBT (and CBT in general) is considered a directive form of therapy, as opposed to Carl Rogers’ client / person-centered approach, which is considered non-directive. (REBT was previously called RET.)
4 Categories of Personality Theories
- Psychoanalytic (more generally, psychodynamic)
- Behavioral
- Phenomenological
- Type and trait
Defense Mechanisms
Defense mechanisms are the ego’s recourse for releasing excessive pressures due to anxiety. All defense mechanisms have two common characteristics: 1) they deny, falsify, or distort reality; and 2) they operate unconsciously. There are 8 main defense mechanisms:
- Repression (unconscious forgetting)
- Suppression (conscious forgetting––contradiction?)
- Projection
- Reaction formation (the tendency of a repressed wish or feeling to be expressed at a conscious level in a contrasting form)
- Rationalization
- Regression
- Sublimation
- Displacement (kicking the dog)
Jung’s 4 Psychological Functions
- Thinking (that psychological function which, in accordance with its own laws, brings given presentations into conceptual connection)
- Feeling (primarily a process that takes place between the ego and a given content, a process, moreover, that imparts to the content a definite value in the sense of acceptance or rejection)
- Sensing (that psychological function which transmits a physical stimulus to perception)
- Intuiting (that psychological function which transmits perceptions in an unconscious way)
Typically, one of these 4 functions is more dominant than the other 3. (Used in conjunction with Jung’s 2 major orientations of extroversion / introversion.)
Jung’s 2 Major Orientations of Personality
- Extroversion: an orientation toward the external, objective world
- Introversion: an orientation toward the inner, subjective world
(Used in conjunction with Jung’s 4 psychological functions)
4 Major Jungian Archetypes
- Persona: a mask that is adopted by a person in response to the demands of social convention.
- Anima: the unconscious feminine side of a man.
- Animus: the unconscious masculine side of a woman.
- Shadow: the animal instincts that humans inherited in their evolution from lower forms of life; responsible for the appearance in consciousness and behavior of socially reprehensible thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Jung’s Conception of Libido
Jung preferred to think of libido as psychic energy in general, not just psychic energy rooted in sexuality.
Creative Self and Style of Life
Two of Alfred Adler’s concepts. The creative self is that force by which each individual shapes his or her uniqueness and makes his or her own personality. Style of life represents the manifestation of the creative self and describes a person’s unique way of achieving superiority (as opposed to inferiority). The family environment is crucial in molding a person’s style of life. (Adler coined the term “lifestyle.”)
Fictional Finalism
An important Adlerian concept. Fictional finalism is the notion that an individual is motivated more by his or her expectations of the future than by past experiences. According to Alfred Adler, human goals are based on a subjective or fictional estimate of life’s values rather than on objective data from the past.
Anna Freud and Ego Psychology
Anna Freud modified and extended her father’s theory. Her contributions were a result of her work in psychotherapy with children. She suggested that psychoanalytic theory and psychotherapy could profit from more direct investigation of the conscious ego and its relation to the world, to the unconscious, and to the superego. She also augmented our understanding of the ego defense mechanisms. She is usually considered to be the founder of ego psychology.
Erik Erikson as “Ego Psychologist”
Erik Erikson, along with Anna Freud, is credited with being one of the originators of ego psychology. According to ego psychology, the ego is more than just a servant of the id. Although Erikson accepted Freud’s theory, he focused less on the parent-child relationship and gave more importance to the role of the ego, particularly the person’s progression as self.
Erik Erikson as “Ego Psychologist”
(continued)
Erik Erikson provided a direct extension of psychoanalysis to the psychosocial realm. He expanded and reworked Sigmund Freud’s stages to cover the entire lifespan, and in so doing, showed how even negative events or conflicts could have positive effects on adult personality. He used this framework to describe the healthy person on his or her own terms and not merely as opposed to the unhealthy individual.
Two Renowned Ego Psychologists
- Anna Freud, daughter of Sigmund Freud; she is usually considered to be the founder of ego psychology
- Erik Erikson
Alfred Adler
(1870 – 1937) Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. The term “individual psychology” does not imply a focus on the individual as typically understood. Adler said one must take into account the patient’s whole environment, including the people the patient associates with. “Individual” is used to mean that the person is an individisible whole. In developing individual psychology, Adler broke away from the psychoanalytic school of Sigmund Freud. Adler emphasized the importance of feelings of inferiority in driving the development of personality. Alfred Adler coined the term inferiority complex.
Alfred Adler’s theory of personality,
in a nutshell
Alfred Adler’s theory focused on immediate social imperatives of family and society (social variables) and their effects on unconscious factors. Adler was the originator of the inferiority complex, that is, the individual’s sense of incompleteness and imperfection, both physically and socially. According to Adler, it is striving toward superiority that drives personality. This striving enhances the personality when it is socially oriented (i.e. when the striving leads to endeavors that benefit all people); when the striving is selfish and not socially oriented, it becomes the root of personality disturbances.
Freud vs. Jung vs. Adler
- Freud’s major assumption is that behavior is motivated by inborn instincts.
- Jung’s principle axiom is that a person’s conduct is governed by inborn archetypes.
- Adler assumes that people are primarily motivated by striving for superiority.
Analytical Psychology
Analytical psychology is the name Carl Jung gave to his new “empirical science” of the psyche, to distinguish it from Freud’s psychoanalytic theories. Among widely used concepts owed specifically to analytical psychology are:
- Anima / Animus
- Archetypes
- The Collective Unconscious
- Complexes (a complex is a core pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions, and wishes in the personal unconscious, organized around a common theme, such as power or status)
- Extraversion / Introversion
- Individuation
- The Self
- The Shadow
- Synchronicity
Jung’s Conception of the Self
The Self, according to Carl Jung, signifies the unification of consciousness and unconsciousness in a person, representing the psyche as a whole. It is realized as the product of individuation, which in his view is a process of transformation whereby the personal and collective unconscious are brought into consciousness (by means of dreams, active imagination, or free association) to be assimilated (or integrated) into the whole personality. In Jung’s own words, individuation “is the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology.” For Jung, the Self is an encompassing whole which acts as a container. It can be symbolized by a circle, a square, or a mandala––Sanskrit for “magic circle.”
The Structure of the Mind,
According to Carl Jung
Jung identified the ego as the conscious mind, and he divided the unconscious into two parts: the personal unconscious, similar to Freud’s notion of the unconscious; and the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious is a system that is shared among all humans and is an inheritance from the experiences of our ancestors. It includes images that are a record of common experiences, such as having a mother and a father. These images are the building blocks of the collective unconscious, and they arise out of archetypes.
Jungian Archetypes
Jungian archetypes refer to unclear underlying forms or the archetypes-as-such from which emerge images and motifs such as the mother, the child, the trickster, and the flood, among others. History, culture, and personal context shape these manifest representations, thereby giving them their specific content. These images and motifs are more precisely called archetypal images. However, it is common for the term archetype to be used interchangeably to refer to both archetypes-as-such and archetypal images.
Instinct
An instinct is an innate psychological representation (wish) of a bodily (biological) excitation (need). Instincts are the propelling aspects of Freud’s dynamic theory of personality. Freud proposed two general types of instinct: life and death, sometimes called Eros and Thanatos, respectively. The life instincts serve the purpose of survival (hunger, thirst, sex, etc.). The form of energy by which the life instincts perform their work is called libido. The death instinct represents an unconscious wish for the ultimate, absolute state of quiescence.
Antipsychotic Drugs
The introduction of antipsychotic drugs in the 1950s to treat schizophrenia changed the atmosphere in psychiatric hospitals. Surgeons stopped performing lobotomies and using electroshock therapy for schizophrenia as these antipsychotic drugs represented a major breakthrough in treatment, and many formerly “hopeless” patients were released from psychiatric hospitals.
Prefrontal Lobotomies
Between 1935 and 1955, tens of thousands of patients were subjected to prefrontal lobotomies to treat schizophrenia. In this surgical treatment, the frontal lobes of the brain were severed from the rest of the brain. Lobotomy didn’t cure schizophrenia––it just made the patient easier to handle since, in many cases, the patient became tranquil and showed an absence of feeling.
Superego
The superego is similar to the id in that, because it strives for the ideal rather than the real, it too is not directly in touch with reality. However, the superego represents the moral branch of personality, striving for perfection. The superego has two subsystems: the conscience and the ego-ideal. The conscience provides rules and norms about what constitutes “bad” behavior. For a child, whatever parents disapprove of will be incorporated into the child’s conscience. The ego-ideal provides rules for “good,” appropriate behavior. Whatever parents command will be incorporated into the child’s ego-ideal. Ultimately, a system of right / wrong is substituted for parental punishment / reward.
Ego
Since the mental image cannot effectively reduce tension on a permanent basis, the ego and its mode of functioning, the secondary process, come into play. The ego operates according to the reality principle, taking into account objective reality as it guides or inhibits the activity of the id and the id’s pleasure principle. The aim of the reality principle is to postpone the pleasure principle until the actual object that will satisfy the need has been discovered or produced. Although the ego suspends the primary process, it does so only in the service of the id. The mutual give and take of the ego and secondary process with reality promotes the growth and elaboration of perception, memory, problem-solving, thinking, and reality-testing. The ego can be understood to be the organization of the id––receiving its power from the id, it can never really be independent of the id.
Id
The reservoir of all psychic energy. Operates according to the pleasure principle, whose aim is to immediately discharge any energy buildup (i.e. relieve tension). The primary process is the id’s response to frustration, operating under the dictum “obtain satisfaction now, not later.” For example, if a person gets hungry and food is unavailable, it is through the primary process that a memory image of food might alleviate the frustration experienced. The mental image of the object is known as wish fulfillment. However, since the person can’t eat his mental image, another system forms.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory:
The 3 Components of Self
- Id
- Ego
- Superego
Particular Resonance of
Phenomenological and Humanistic Theories of Personality
The phenomenological approach, like humanism, emphasizes people’s self-perceptions and their drive for self-actualization as determinants of personality.
General Paresis
Advances were made in the later part of the 19th century in the biomedical understanding of physical and mental disorders. An important development was the discovery of the etiology (cause) of general paresis. General paresis was a disorder characterized by delusions of grandeur, mental deterioration, eventual paralysis, and death. It was ultimately discovered that general paresis was due to brain deterioration caused by syphilis (which was untreatable until 1909), and that the mental disorder seen in the syndrome was caused by organic brain pathology. The idea that physiological factors could underlie mental disorders was an important advance in our understanding of abnormal psychology.
Dorothea Dix
Important reformer in the United States. From 1841 – 1881, she was a zealous advocate of treating the hospitalized mentally ill in a humane way. Her campaign was instrumental in improving the lives of the mentally ill in the United States.
Emil Kraepelin
In 1883, Emil Kraepelin published a textbook in which he noted that some symptoms of mental disorders occurred together regularly enough that the symptom patterns could be considered specific types of mental disorders. He then described these disorders and worked out a scheme for classifying these disorders by integrating clinical data. Kraepelin’s classification system was effective in summarizing what was known at the time. It was also a precursor to our current classification system, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
William Sheldon
(1898 – 1977) American psychologist who created an early theory of personality. He characterized people by body type, relating body type (somatotype) to personality type. He used 3 terms:
- Endomorphy (soft and spherical)
- Mesomorphy (hard, muscular, and rectangular)
- Ectomorphy (fragile and lightly muscled)
Ugo Cerletti and Bini (first name unavailable)
In 1938, Cerletti and Bini introduced the use of electroshock for the artificial production of convulsive seizures in psychiatric patients. They believed that epileptic-like convulsions could cure schizophrenia (they were wrong). The convulsions were so violent that patients were in danger of fracturing vertebrae and other bones.
Karen Horney
(1885 – 1952) German psychoanalyst who practiced in the U.S. during her later career. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views. She is credited with founding feminist psychology in response to Freud’s theory of penis envy. Horney disagreed with Freud about inherent differences in the psychology of men and women, and she traced observed differences to society and culture rather than biology. As such, she is often classified as neo-Freudian. Horney is well known for her theory of neurosis.
Karen Horney’s Thesis
A child’s early perception of the self is important. A sense of helplessness as a child confuses the child, makes the child feel insecure, and produces basic anxiety in the child. To overcome basic anxiety and attain a degree of security, the child uses 3 strategies in relationships with others: moving toward people to obtain the good will of people who provide security; moving against people, or fighting them to obtain the upper hand; and moving away, or withdrawing, from people. (These 3 strategies are the general headings under which the 10 neurotic needs fall.) Healthy people use all 3 strategies, depending on the situation. However, the highly threatened child will use one of these strategies rigidly and exclusively, and this carries over into adult personality.
Karen Horney’s Concept of the Neurotic Personality
Karen Horney postulated ten neurotic needs, each directed toward making life and interactions bearable:
- for affection and approval
- for a partner to take over one’s life
- for restriction of one’s life
- for power
- for exploitation of others
- for prestige
- for admiration
- for achievement
- for self-sufficiency and independence
- for perfection
While healthy people have the need for affection and the need for independence (what about the need to exploit others?), Horney emphasizes that neurotic needs resemble healthy ones except in four respects: 1) they are disproportionate in intensity; 2) they are indiscriminate in application; 3) they partially disregard reality; and 4) they have a tendency to provoke intense anxiety.
