Theories of Personality Flashcards
Different Theories of Personality
Psychodynamic theory
Trait theory
Social cognitive theories
Humanistic theories
Psychodynamic theory
- Freud, levels of consciousness, structure of personality, Pleasure principle and reality principle, Defense mechanisms.
- Stages of psychosexual development. Greater emphasis on the ego and social relationships, and lesser emphasis on sexual and aggressive motivation
Trait theory
trait theorists look within the personality to explain behavior. But the structures of personality they bring into focus are not opposing mental states or entities. Rather, they believe that personality consists of a distinctive set of relatively stable or enduring characteristics or dispositions called traits. They use personality traits to predict how people are likely to behave in different situations.
Social cognitive theories
Emphasizes the roles of cognitive and environmental factors in determining behavior.
Humanistic theories
- proposing that conscious choice and personal freedom are central features of what it means to be a human being
- To humanistic psychologists, we are not puppets whose movements are controlled by strings pulled by the unconscious mind or the environment; rather, we are endowed with the ability to make free choices that give meaning and personal direction to our lives.
Personality
It is a stable pattern of psychological characteristics and behavioral patterns that accounts for our individuality and consistency over time.
Psychoanalytic theory
Freud’s theory of personality that holds that personality and behavior are shaped by unconscious forces and conflicts
Levels of consciousness
- Conscious
- Unconscious
- Preconscious
Conscious
To Freud, the part of the mind corresponding to the state of present awareness
Unconscious
To Freud, the part of the mind that lies outside the range of ordinary awareness and that holds troubling or unacceptable urges, impulses, memories, and ideas.
Preconscious
To Freud, the part of the mind whose contents can be brought into awareness through focused attention.
The structure of Personality
- Id
- Ego
- Superego
Id
Freud’s term for the psychic structure existing in the unconscious that contains our baser animal drives and instinctual impulses.
Ego
Freud’s term for the psychic structure that attempts to balance the instinctual demands of the id with social realities and expectations
Superego
Freud’s term for the psychic structure that corresponds to an internal moral guardian or conscience.
Pleasure Principle
In Freudian theory, a governing principle of the id that is based on demand for instant gratification without regard to social rules or customs.
Reality principle
In Freudian theory, the governing principle of the ego that takes into account what is practical and acceptable in satisfying basic needs.
Freud’s theory of personality
- Freud proposed that personality consists of three mental entities called id, ego, and superego.
- The balance and interactions of these three parts of the personality largely determine our behavior and our ability to function effectively in meeting the life challenges we face.
- Freud did not consider these mental entities to be actual structures we could locate in the brain. Rather, he conceived of them as hypothetical concepts that represent the opposing forces within the personality.
- Our behavior is a product of the dynamic struggles among the id, ego, and superego
Defense Mechanisms
In Freudian theory, the reality-distorting strategies of the ego to prevent awareness of anxiety-evoking or troubling ideas or impulses.
6 Defense Mechanisms
- Repression
- Denial
- Regression
- Projection
- Displacement
- Reaction Formation
2 extra Defense Mechanisms
- Rationalization
2. Sublimation
Repression
In Freudian theory, a type of defense mechanism involving motivated forgetting of anxiety-evoking material. Banishment to the unconscious of unacceptable wishes, fantasies, urges, and impulses. Yet repressed desires or memories may become revealed in disguised forms, such as in dream symbols and in slips of the tongue (so-called Freudian slips)
Projection
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving the projection of one’s own unacceptable impulses, wishes, or urges onto another person.
Displacement
In Freudian Theory, a defense mechanism in which an unacceptable sexual or aggressive impulse is transferred to an object or person that is safer or less threatening than the original object of the impulse.
Reaction formation
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving behavior that stands in opposition to one’s true motives and desires so as to prevent conscious awareness of them. Behaving in a way that is the opposite of one’s true wishes or desires in order to keep these repressed
Regression
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism in which an individual, usually under high levels of stress, reverts to a behavior characteristic of an earlier stage of development
Denial
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving the failure to recognize a threatening impulse or urge. Refusal to recognize a threatening impulse or desire
Rationalization
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving the use of self-justification to explain away unacceptable behavior, impulses, or ideas.