Psychodynamic approaches to individual differences

Question 1

What is included in Freud’s topographical model of Personality?

Answer 1

Conscious, unconscious and pre-conscious

Question 2

What is included in Freud’s structural model of Personality?

Answer 2

Id
Ego
Superego

Question 3

What is Id?

Answer 3

basic instincts, self-serving, devil, child-like

Question 4

What is Ego?

Answer 4

Rational, manage Id and Superego

Question 5

What is Superego?

Answer 5

moralistic, intolerant, angel

Question 6

What is objective anxiety?

Answer 6

a realistic threat

Question 7

What is neurotic anxiety?

Answer 7

Id vs Ego conflict

Id discharge versus realistic constraints

Question 8

What is moral anxiety?

Answer 8

Id vs Superego conflict

Id discharge versus moral and societal constraints

Question 9

What are the defence mechanisms?

Answer 9

Repression
Sublimation
Displacement
Denial
Reaction Formation
Rationalisation
Projection

Question 10

What is repression?

Answer 10

• Pushing feelings down/ ignore feelings

- Uses lots of libido

Question 11

What is sublimination?

Answer 11

channelling unacceptable impulses into admired outlets

Question 12

What is displacement?

Answer 12

taking your feelings out on another person or thing

e.g. kicking the cat

Question 13

What is denial?

Answer 13

denying/avoiding reality soothes the Id

Question 14

What is reaction formation?

Answer 14

overemphasizing the opposite

Question 15

What is rationalisation?

Answer 15

making exuses or justifying something

e.g. sour grapes

Question 16

What is projection?

Answer 16

attributing to someone else, one’s own unacceptable behaviour

Question 17

What are the psychodynamic notions?

Answer 17

• Control of unacceptable impulses
• Avoidance of pain through efforts to control
• Reach harmony between personality components
• Continuous interaction, interplays, forces and counterforces

Question 18

What are the Psychosexual stages?

Answer 18

• Oral
• Anal
• Phallic
• Latency
• Genital

Question 19

What is the assessment method of dreams?

Answer 19

• unconscious wish fulfilment
• to uncover wishes, need to overcome the dreamer’s resistance
• sexual/aggressive impulses manifest in sleep

Question 20

What is the assessment method of free association?

Answer 20

• Say anything/everything that comes to mind without censorship doesn’t matter how illogical, disjointed, or apparently meaningless these seem to be

Question 21

What is the Rorschach Inkblot Test?

Answer 21

• open-ended
• the purpose of the text distinguished
• problematic reliability and validity (Kihlstrom, 2003; ITP p 179)
• symmetrical, increasing in colour 10 cards

Question 22

What is a projective hypothesis?

Answer 22

The assumption that personal interpretations of ambiguous stimuli must necessarily reflect the unconscious needs, motives, and conflicts of the examinee is known as the projective hypothesis

(Gregory, 2007).

Question 23

What constructs are the responses coded to in the Rorschach Inkblot Test?

Answer 23

• Coping style
• Emotional Impulsivity
• Aggression
• Narcissism

Question 24

What is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?

Answer 24

• 31 cards (1 is blank)
• Black and white pictures with different subject content
• Cards for male vs boys, female vs girls and for any person.

Question 25

What 10 variables were the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) scored on the basis of?

Answer 25

1. Main theme
2. Main hero
3. Main needs and drives of the hero
4. Conception of the environment
5. Perception of parental, contemporary and junior figure
6. Conflicts
7. Anxieties
8. Defenses
9. Adequacy of superego
10. Integration of ego

Question 26

Who said, “the basic evil is invariably a lack of genuine warmth and affection”?

Answer 26

Karen Horney 1885-1952

Question 27

What are the three personality types from neurotic trends?

Horney-Coolidge Tridimensional Inventory (3 neurotic trends)

Answer 27

Compliant personality
Aggressive personlity
Detached personality

Question 28

What is a compliant personality?

Answer 28

moving toward others

• intensive conscious need for affection and approval
• urge to be loved and protected
• concerned with meeting other peoples expectations
• desires to control, exploit and manipulate, the opposite of what behaviours and attitudes express

Question 29

What is an aggressive personality?

Answer 29

moving against others
- everyone is hostile
- supremacy, strength and ferocity are paramount
driven to be the best

Question 30

What is a detached personality?

Answer 30

moving away from others

• maintain social distance
• self-sufficiency
• desire for privacy
• sensitive to coercion or influence
• suppress and deny feelings
• emphasis on reason and logic

Question 31

What were the results of the Horney-Coolidge Tridimensional Inventory (3 neurotic trends) study by Coolidge et al?

Answer 31

Compliance - alpha = 0.66
Aggression - alpha = 0.79
Detachment - alpha = 0.72
Test-retest reliability (1wk interval) = 0.92, 0.91, 0.92, respectively

Question 32

What is Bowlby’s attachment theory?

Answer 32

• the mother as the primary caregiver
• psychological characteristics of the caregiver are crucial
• secure base from which to explore the work without fear and with a feeling of safety and self worth

Question 33

What is Ainsworth’s Attachment theory?

Answer 33

3 patterns of behaviour:

• Insecure-avoidant
• securely attached
• Insecure-ambivalent

Question 34

What is Ainsworth’s Insecure-avoidant?

Answer 34

avoid significant others

Question 35

What is Ainsworth’s securely attached?

Answer 35

positive reunions and return to play

Question 36

What is Ainsworth’s insecure-ambivalent?

Answer 36

contract seeking and anger