unit 7b - personality Flashcards
personality
an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
psychoanalysis
freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
free association
a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person says whatever comes to mind
three levels of mind
conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
conscious
all our thoughts and perceptions of which we are currently aware
preconscious
a level of mental activity that is not currently conscious, but can easily become conscious (ex. memories, stored knowledge)
unconscious
region of the mind that contains acceptable thoughts, desires, feelings, and painful memories (ex. immoral urges, fears, violent motives)
freud’s dream theory
we dream to fulfill unconscious, socially unacceptable urges. includes manifest and latent content
manifest content
the part of the dream we remember. the plotline and literal meaning of the dream
latent content
the true hidden meaning of the dream, can only be discovered through dream interpretation and analyzing symbols
3 parts of personality
id, ego, superego. the 3 parts overlap and should not be analyzed separately. one is an outgrowth of the other
id
the part of the personality that emerges first. infants are almost all id. includes the pleasure principle
ego
the largely conscious “executive” part of personality that mediates between id, superego, and reality. includes the reality principle
reality principle
satisfying the id’s desires in realistically and socially acceptable ways
superego
the part of personality that represents morals and provides standards for judgement (conscious) and for future aspirations. starts at age 4-5, strives for perfection
stages of development
freud believed that an individual develops through a series of 5 psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital
oral stage
from birth-18 months. pleasure comes from the mouth–sucking, biting chewing
anal stage
18 month-3 years old. pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder function; the child must cope with demands for control. involves fixation, anal retentive, and anal expulsive
fixation
being stuck in a psychosexual stage due to unresolved conflicts. can occur from too much or too little pleasure
anal retentive
the anal retentive person is neat, orderly, organized, and overly concerned with control. caused by too strict of training and too little pleasure
anal expulsive
the anal expulsive person is messy and disorganized. caused by too lax toilet training and too much pleasure