Unit 7 Part 2

Psychoanalytic theory

the first comprehensive theory of personality which included ideas about an unconscious region of the mind, psychosexual stages and defense mechanisms for holding anxiety at bay.

free association

a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever come to mind

* Freud believes free association allowed him into patient’s unconscious

psychoanalysis

freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and action to unconscious motives and conflicts

unconscious

reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories

preconscious

can retrieve and bring to conscious

id

contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that tries to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives

* followed pleasure principle, demand instant gratification without caring about rules

ego

the largely conscious “executive” part of the personality that mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality

super ego

the part of the personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement and future aspirations

all of freud’s psychosexual stages

1. oral stage (0-18 months) - pleasure centers in mouth sucking, biting, chewing

2. anal stage (18-36 months) - pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination coping with demands of control

3. phallic stage (3-6 years) - pleasure zone in genitals, coping with incestuous sexual feelings

   • Oedipus complex - boy’s sexual desire towards mother and jealous at father

   • Electra complex - girl's sexual desire to father and jealous of mother

defense mechanisms

ego’s protective method of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

repression

banishes anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

* forgetting to go meet your mother’s new boyfriend for lunch

regression

retreating to an earlier infantile stage of development

* facing anxiety on first day of school, child may regress to sucking their thumb

reaction formation

ego unconsciously makes unacceptable impulses look like their opposite

* angry at coworker, so act nice to him

projection

people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

* “he doesn’t trust me” but in reality to don’t trust him

rationalization

unconsciously generate self-justifying explanations to hide from ourselves the real reasons for our actions

* “i only cheated on a few questions, i knew most of it”

displacement

diverts sexual and aggressive impulses towards an object or person that is psychologically more acceptable than the one that aroused the feeling

* football player gets yelled at by coach and goes home and yells at brother

sublimation

channeling impulses into socially acceptable behavior

* a hostile student who channel aggressive impulses into contact sports

denial

refuse to accept reality

procrastination

put off or delay something, especially when requiring immediate attention

undoing

attempt to take back unconscious behavior or thought

* after insulting friend, shower them with compliments

Neo-freudians and their contributions

alfred adler

• inferiority complex - feelings of inadequacy and insecurity that serve as a central source of motivation

• sibling rivalry - jealousies between brothers and sisters

Karen Horney

• said childhood anxiety, caused by the dependent child’s sense of helplessness, triggers our desire for love and security.

Carl Jung - believed the unconscious contains more than our repressed thoughts and feelings

• collective unconscious - a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from species’ history

projective tests

present an ambiguous stimulus and then ask takers to describe it or tell a story about it. stimulus has no instant effect.

thematic apperception test (TAT)

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

Rorschach inkblot test

most widely used projective test - set of 10 inkblots and identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretation of the blots

focus of humanistic psychologists

focused on the ways “healthy” people strive to self-determination and self-realization

self actualization

ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self esteem is achieved

carl rogers and ones self concept and unconditional positive regard

agreed with much of maslow’s thinking

self concept - all thoughts and feeling about ourselves (“who am I”)

positive regard - an attitude of total acceptance towards another person

trait perspective

By Gordon Allport: trait - a characteristic pattern of behavior of a disposition to feel and act as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports.

eyesenck’s personality dimensions

extroversion-introversion and emotional-stability-instability will explain normal individual variations.

big five personality factors

1. conscientiousness - organized careful, disciplined, OR you are disorganized, careless, or impulsive

2. agreeableness - soft hearted, trusting, helpful, OR ruthlessness, suspicious, uncooperative

3. neuroticism - (emotional stability vs instability) -calm secure, self satisfied, OR anxious insecure, self-pitying

4. openness - imaginative, preference for variety, independent OR practical, preference, for routing, conforming.

5. extraversion - sociable, fun-loving, affectionate, OR retiring, sober, reserved

person-situations controversy

look for genuine personality traits that persist over time and across situations.

expressive style

our animation, manner or speaking and gestures.

albert bandura and social cognitive perspective

views behavior as influenced by interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and social context

reciprocal determinism and ways individuals and environment interact

interaction influences of behaviors, internal cognition, and environment

external locus of control

attributes academic success or failure to luck or chance, a higher power or the influence of another person

internal locus of control and what self control predicts

People who develop an internal locus of control believe that they are responsible for their own success.

learned helplesness

a state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly

optimism and pessimism

optimism - positive outlook

pessimism - negative outlook

the spotlight effect

overestimating other’s noticing and evaluatiing our appearance, performance, and blunders.

self esteem and the effects of high self-esteem and the effects of low self-esteem

one’s feeling of high or low self-worth

• too much self-esteem, students earn lower grades

• when temporary deflating self image - poeple become more likely to disparage other or be more racist

self-serving bias and findings about self-serving bias

readiness to perceive onself favorably

• people accept more responsibilities for good deeds than bad

• most people see themselves as better than average

defensive self-esteem and secure self esteem

defensive self-esteem is fragile, focuses on sustaining itself. secure self-esteem is less fragile. it’s less contingent on external evaluations.

individualist

someone with an independent sense of “me” and awareness of your personal worth and value. prioritizes personal goal.

collectivist

experience a greater loss of identity. cut off from family, groups, and loyal friends.