Chapter 11.2, 11.3, 11.7, 11.9 Key Terms

conscious

mental activity (thoughts, feelings, and memories) that we can access at any time

unconscious

mental activity of which we are unaware and unable to access

• A reservoir of mostly unacceptable urges and desires is kept in our unconscious through a process called repression

• According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.

Freudian slip

When you sometimes say things that you don’t intend to say by unintentionally substituting another word for the one you meant

• Happens in free association (Therapist says “Neck” and patient means to say “Head” but they say “Dead” instead)

  • Freud suggests that slips of the tongue are actually sexual or aggressive urges accidentally slipping out of our unconscious 

    • Linguists today have found that slips of tongue occur when we are tired, nervous, or not at our optimal level of cognitive functioning 

personality

long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways

• Freud:

  • Result of our effort to balance the conflict between two forces: our biological aggressive and pleasure-seeking drives versus our internal (socialized) control over these drives

    • id, ego, superego

Id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. It operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification (the drives, desires, and the “I Wants” → is the devil on your shoulder)

• Is present at birth 

• functions entirely in the unconscious 

• ex. Have a chocolate cake → wants you to eat all you can/as much as you want

Superego

The partly conscious part of personality that develops as a child interacts with others, and according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. Strives for perfection and judges our behavior, leading to feelings of pride or—when we fall short of the ideal—feelings of guilt (this is what I should be, what I should aspire to, and is the best version of myself → angel on your shoulder)

• tells you what you should and shouldn’t do

• get this from your parents

• ex. Have a chocolate cake → share the cake with others

Ego

the partly conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the other two and reality (can’t give in to one and will never be as good as the other wants). It operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

• represents the self, or the part of one’s personality that is visible to others

• ex. Have chocolate cake → don’t eat all the cake (will make you sick) 

Psychodynamic Personality Theory

The approach was created by Sigmund Freud that states that human behavior is largely instinctual, irrational, and unconscious 

• Basically thinks we’re all animals

neurosis

tendency to experience negative emotions

• an imbalance in the system can lead to anxiety disorders or unhealthy behaviors

Defense Mechanisms 

Unconscious protective behaviors that aim to reduce anxiety. These are: denial, displacement, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and sublimation

Denial

Refusing to accept real events because they’re unpleasant (your ego denies)

• ex. Kaila refuses to admit she has an alcohol problem, although she is unable to go to a single day without drinking excessively 

Displacement

Transferring inappropriate urges or behaviors from an unacceptable target onto a more acceptable or less threatening target 

• ex. During lunch at a restaurant, Mark is angry at his older brother, but does not express it and instead is verbally abusive to the server 

• ex. Hate your mom, but it’s unacceptable to hit her, but “okay” to hit the dog

Projection

Take the negative feeling you have, and rather than own it, you attribute the unacceptable desires to others

• ex. Kim often cheats on her boyfriend because she suspects he is already cheating on her 

Rationalization

Justifying behaviors by substituting acceptable reasons for less acceptable real reasons 

• ex. Chris failed his history course because he did not study or attend class, but he told his roommates that he failed because the professor didn’t like him

Reaction Formation

Reducing anxiety by adopting beliefs contrary to your own beliefs/switching the unacceptable desire into something opposite

• ex. Nadia is angry with her coworker Beth for always arriving late to work after a night of partying, but she is nice and agreeable to Beth and affirms that partying is “cool.”

• ex. Nick has a unconscious deep-seated hatred of his younger sibling because of an event → becomes an obsessive love that he showers onto the sibling (does it because he can’t cope with the fact that he hates them)

Regression

Returning to coping strategies for less mature stages of development 

• ex. After failing to pass his doctoral examinations, Giorgio spends days in bed cuddling his favorite childhood toy

Repression

Suppressing painful memories and thoughts.

• ex. LaShea cannot remember her grandfather’s fatal heart attack, although she was present

Sublimation

Redirecting unacceptable desires through socially acceptable channels.

• ex. Jerome’s desire for revenge on the drunk driver who killed his son is channeled into a community support group for people who’ve lost loved ones to drunk driving. 

• ex. Someone gets frustrated at playing golf → would throw raw eggs at a tree in the yard

Psychosocial development

Personality goes through five stages: oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, and genital stage 

• In each stage, libido flows through a certain body part 

Oral Stage (0-18 months)

The psychosexual stage in which an infant’s pleasure is focused on the mouth (biting, chewing, etc.) and the child develops a sense of trust and comfort through this oral stimulation

• primary conflict = the weaning process

• fixation = smoking, overeating

  • Ex. Nick can’t stop smoking → because he never successfully worked through the oral stage (mother weaned him off too soon → now fixated (= so incapable of getting through a stage that you’re left taking it through adult life) on smoking

Anal Stage (18-36 months)

For a child to feel successfully accomplished, they have to feel they have control over their bladders

• primary conflict = toilet training

• fixation = neatness, messiness (OCD) 

• If they aren’t successful, then there’ll be huge consequences, such as being gay, messy, wasteful, or destructive (thought being gay was a sexual malady in the 1800s)

Phallic Stage (3-6 years) 

pleasure center shifts to the genitalia → when children begin to identify that there are two different children and that the difference is important (when kids from every culture start playing house and start exploring their bodies)

• Freud looks at this and says that if they don’t get through this is when boys begin to develop a conflict for sexual attraction for their mothers (Oedipus Complex for boys, Elektra Complex for girls)

• fixation = vanity, overambition

• little girls develop penis envy (envious that boys have it and they don’t)

Neo-Freudians

Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, and Karen Horney

Alfred Adler

Developed the idea of individual psychology = focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority 

• inferiority complex

• said people are always striving to be better, not necessarily better than other people, but better than who they’ve been (want to be superior) 

  • If we fail at being the best we can (and disappoint parent’s), we develop an inferiority complex

individual psychology

focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority 

inferiority complex

refers to a person’s feelings that they lack worth and don’t measure up to the standards of others or of society

• believed feelings of inferiority in childhood are what drive people to attempt to gain superiority and that this is the striving force behind all our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. 

Carl Jung

Said the unconscious is real and that cultures have a collective unconscious themselves. Developed the idea of analytical psychology and archetypes. 

• Growing up in a culture where there is a collective idea of your role can have a negative impact on you

• Archetypes = shared images

• developed the idea of penis envy in the Phallic Stage

Archetype

pattern that exists in our collective unconscious across cultures and societies

• shared images

• ex. facing death, becoming independent, etc

Collective unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history.

• ex. Most religions have a flood myth (the actual reason they have them is because the origin location of some religions had floods in their area very frequently)

Analytical psychology

Working to balance opposing forces of conscious and unconscious thoughts, and experience within one’s personality.

• this work is a continuous learning process—mainly occurring in the second half of life—of becoming aware of unconscious elements and integrating them into consciousness.

Karen Horney

One of the first female psychoanalysts. Famous for saying that Freud completely misunderstood women and women’s psychology/sexuality. Instead, boys developed womb envy (said this was because all men have pockets in their pants/shirts and pockets are artificial vaginas). Also developed three stages of coping.

• Attached specific identifiers for women along the way (pointed out that boys and girls have different stages) 

Karen Horney’s Three Stages of Coping

moving toward people, moving against people, and moving away from people

KH: moving toward people

Affiliation and dependence → child seeking positive attention and affection from parent; adult needing love

KH: moving against people

Aggression and manipulation → Child fighting or bullying other children; adult who is abrasive and verbally hurtful, or who exploits others. 

KH: moving away from people

Detachment and isolation → child withdrawn from the world isolated; adult loner 

Gordon Allport

Found 4500 words in the English language that could describe people and sorted them into 3 categories: cardinal traits, central traits, and secondary traits

Cardinal traits

one that dominates your entire personality, and hence your life (ex., greed, altruism) 

• not very common → few people have personalities dominated by a single trait 

Central traits

Those that make up our personality (loyal, kind, agreeable, friendly, wild, grouchy, etc) 

Secondary traits

Those that are not quite as obvious or as consistent as central traits. They are present under specific circumstances and include preferences and attitudes. 

• Feel nervous before making a speech in English class even though you’re not normally a nervous person 

Traits

Long-lasting personality characteristics

• people are naturally extroverted, trusting, etc

States

Temporary changes in feelings or behavior 

• ex. happiness, sadness, anger, joy, etc

Persona

The mask we adopt

Temperament

The inborn, genetically based personality differences

• Believed that personality is largely governed by biology (Hans and Eysenck)

  • The Eysencks believed people had two specific personality dimensions: extroversion/introversion and neuroticism(unstable)/stability 

    • Unstable (+) & Stable (-) = y-axis

    • Introverted (-) & Extroverted (+) = x-axis

Five Factor Model/OCEAN

five traits – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (do you get anxious)– that describe personality.

• Each of these traits has been demonstrated to be relatively stable over the lifespan and is influenced by genetics

Raymond Cattell

Narrowed the list Gordon Allport created to 171 traits

• Identified 16 factors on dimensions of personality: warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to change, self-reliance, perfectionism, and tension

Trait Approach

Suggests that you can break down anyone’s personality into components and measure where you stand in each particular component (asking: are you an introvert or an extrovert?)

• One of the dominant approaches to personality today

  • However, trait theories do a better job of describing how people behave than why they behave

Assumptions of the Trait Approach

Personality traits are relatively stable over time and are relatively stable over diverse situations 

• Not always true (some people are shy around strangers and outgoing with friends and family)

  • People differ with respect to how much of a personality trait they possess

Objective Personality Tests (Self-Report Inventories) 

Standardized, written tests that measure one or more aspects of an individual’s personality. Although these tests are thought to be generally reliable, many people accuse them of being culturally biased 

• The MMPI = a standardized, objective test with over 500 items

  • Measures 10 personality scales

Latency Stage (6 to 14 (puberty))

Nothing much changes (not an important stage in your life) since you’re going through so much

• sexual feelings are dormant 

Genital Stage (puberty to rest of your life)

Pleasure centers are back where they’re supposed to be (the genitals), and sexual reawakening as incestuous urges resurface → redirect that to more socially acceptable partners (resembles the other-sex parent)

• mature sexual interests (strong desire for the opposite sex)

• if you got through all the other stages, you’re developing natural connections with other people

Projective Personality Tests

Consists of unstructured stimuli that can be perceived in many ways

• Rely on the assumption that people’s responses are guided by unconscious needs, motives, fantasies, etc

• Many psychologists consider these to be too subjective and unreliable

• ex. Draw a person test, Thematic apperception test, Rorschach inkblot test

Thematic apperception test (TAT) 

A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes (ex. inkblot test)

Rorschach inkblot test

A projective test designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 ink blots.