Unit 5: Part 1: Basic Personality and Frued-Module 55

personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Freud's psychoanalytic theory

proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality

humanistic theories

focused on our inner capacities for growth and self-fulfillment

trait theories

examine characteristic patterns of behavior (traits)

social-cognitive theories

explore the interaction between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context

psychodynamic theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

unconscious

-according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories
-according to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware

free association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

id

-a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives
-the id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

ego

-the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality
-the ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

superego

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

identification

the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos

fixate

in personality theory, according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

reaction formation

switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

projection

disguising one's own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

rationalization

offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one's actions

displacement

shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person

sublimation

transferring of unacceptable impulses into socially valued motives

denial

refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

regression

retreating to an earlier psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

neo-freudians

those who adopted Freud's interviewing techniques and accepted his basic ideas but challenged some of his ideas

Alfred Adler- inferiority complex

much of our behavior is driven by efforts to conquer childhood inferiority feelings that trigger our strivings for superiority and power

karen horney

-childhood anxiety triggers our desire for love and security
-opposed Freud's assumptions that women have weak super ego and suffer penis envy and she attempted to balance his masculine bias

Carl Jung - collective unconscious

-places less emphasis on social factors and agreed with Freud that the uncurious exerts a powerful influence
-the concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory and images (archetypes) traces from our species history

projective tests

a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner thoughts, feelings and dynamics

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

rorschach inkblot test

-the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach
-seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

how do scientists view the unconscious mind today?

-our two track mind has a vast out of sight realm
-most of a persons everyday life is determined by unconscious thought process

false consensus effect

the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

terror-management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death