Comprehensive Psychology: Personality Theories, Traits, and Development

Personality

Unique and stable pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Psychodynamic Theories

Focus on unconscious and childhood experiences shaping personality.

Psychoanalysis (Freud)

Explains personality through unconscious motives and conflicts.

Unconscious

Reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, and memories.

Free Association

Method of exploring the unconscious by saying whatever comes to mind.

Id

Unconscious, pleasure-seeking; operates on pleasure principle (immediate gratification).

Ego

Conscious 'executive'; mediates demands of id, superego, and reality (reality principle).

Superego

Moral conscience; provides standards for judgment and future goals.

Oral (0-18 mo)

Pleasure on mouth (sucking, biting).

Anal (18-36 mo)

Bowel/bladder control; coping with demands for control.

Phallic (3-6 yrs)

Genitals; Oedipus/Electra complex.

Latency (6-puberty)

Dormant sexual feelings.

Genital (puberty+)

Maturation of sexual interests.

Fixation

Unresolved conflicts cause persistent focus on stage behaviors.

Repression

Banishing anxiety-arousing thoughts from consciousness.

Regression

Retreating to earlier psychosexual stage.

Reaction Formation

Switching impulses into opposites (e.g., hate → exaggerated friendliness).

Projection

Attributing one's own impulses to others.

Rationalization

Offering self-justifying explanations.

Displacement

Shifting impulses toward less threatening targets.

Denial

Refusing to accept reality.

Sublimation

Channeling impulses into socially acceptable activities.

Karen Horney

Social relationships & need for security are key; rejected Freud's sexism ('womb envy').

Carl Jung

Collective Unconscious - shared, inherited memory traces (archetypes like hero, mother).

Alfred Adler

Personality driven by striving for superiority and overcoming inferiority (birth order theory).

Abraham Maslow

Hierarchy of Needs → Self-Actualization (fulfilling potential) → Self-Transcendence (purpose beyond self).

Carl Rogers

People are basically good; growth requires Genuineness, Acceptance (Unconditional Positive Regard), Empathy.

Self-Concept

Our image of who we are; Real self vs. Ideal self — alignment = healthy personality.

Trait

Stable characteristic pattern of behavior.

Factor

Cluster of behaviors that tend to occur together.

Personality Inventory

Questionnaire to assess traits (e.g., MMPI, NEO-PI).

Big Five Factors (OCEAN)

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

Consistency

Traits are stable over time and can predict behavior averages, not specific acts.

Reciprocal Determinism

Interaction between behavior, cognition, and environment — each influences the others.

Self-Efficacy

Confidence in one's ability to succeed.

Personal Control

Perception of controlling environment (internal vs. external locus of control).

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to view oneself favorably and blame others for failures.

Spotlight Effect

Overestimating how much others notice our appearance or mistakes.

Humanistic Critique

Too optimistic; vague; not scientifically testable.

Social-Cognitive Critique

Too focused on situation; underestimates internal traits.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Unconscious drives, childhood.

Neo-Freudian Theory

Social motives, unconscious.

Humanistic Theory

Self-growth, free will.

Trait Theory

Describing personality.

Social-Cognitive Theory

Traits interacting with environment.