Studied by 1 personPsychoanalytic 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
oral stage (0-18 months) - pleasure centers in mouth sucking, biting, chewing
anal stage (18-36 months) - pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination coping with demands of control
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
conscientiousness - organized careful, disciplined, OR you are disorganized, careless, or impulsive
agreeableness - soft hearted, trusting, helpful, OR ruthlessness, suspicious, uncooperative
neuroticism - (emotional stability vs instability) -calm secure, self satisfied, OR anxious insecure, self-pitying
openness - imaginative, preference for variety, independent OR practical, preference, for routing, conforming.
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.
Note
Flashcard