Personality Psych Exam 1

personality

dynamic & organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his/her cognitions, motivations, & behaviors in various situations

• psychological construct/complex abstraction that encompasses the person’s unique genetic BG, learning history, & ways in which these factors influence responses to various environments/situations

personality psychology

studies how personality originates, develops, & functions

• there’s no single framework—each theory has strengths & weaknesses

study of personality

a scientific analysis of individual differences that help account for why and how people react uniquely to various situations

primary focus: offer explanations for each individual’s unique ways of responding to his or her physical, social and cultural environments

freud’s psychoanalytic theory

• Freudian outlook: deterministic–individual’s personality is fixed by age 6

  • People don’t have free will

  • Behavior determined by innate drives (biological forces/instinctual forces) to do with sex & aggression/love & death

    • The forces drive us, but we have to control these urges

    • The goal is to learn how to control these urges (via laws, religion, etc…), but we are basically born to have these unhealthy instincts

  • We are driven by:

    • Life (sexual instincts)

    • Death (aggressive instincts)

instincts

driving forces in personality, govern behavior, and motivate to seek gratification & homeostasis (when you are in a completely comfortable state)

2 main instincts that motivate us:

1. Life instincts–instinctive urges to preserve life, including basic needs (primarily sexual drives/instincts)

   1. Libido: originally sexual instincts, later revised to psychic & pleasurable gratification of life instincts

2. Death instincts–instincts to return to a state of balance, free of painful struggles before death. As a result comes aggression

   1. Freud believed people hold an unconscious desire to die, which is why people do all sorts of life threatening things (skydiving, cliff jumping, etc…)

      1. The adrenaline rush is affected by this death drive

the unconscious

the depository of hidden wishes, needs, & conflicts of which the person is unaware & filled with sexual and aggressive impulses, and unresolved issues

• example from class:

  • A couple came in for therapy because the wife liked decorating for halloween, but her husband surprised her by taking a day off of work to decorate the house with scary halloween decorations instead of cute ones. The wife had been unhappy in the marriage for some time.

  • She says that that was her final straw

  • What was the first question Prof. Herman asked her?

    • Who cheated on who? Your mom on your dad or your dad on your mom?

    • The wife was adamant on not tolerating disrespect because she saw how her mother idolized her father even though he was cheating; the wife took this out on her husband by letting everything trigger her

freud’s 3 parts of mental consciousness

• Conscious–ideas and sensations of which we are aware

• Preconcious–contains the experiences that are unconscious but that could be conscious easily

• Unconscious–contains the experiences and memories of which we are not aware

freud’s 3 systems of the mind:

id, ego, superego

id

pleasure principle (our unconscious sexual and aggressive instincts, like a baby screaming or throwing a tantrum after they don’t get a toy right away, drinking and driving, unprotected sex)

• dominates Freud’s theory of personality

ego

balances the superego (someone who knows how to balance things)

superego

strives for perfectionism; internalization of societal values instilled primarily by parents (looking perfect all the time, everyone has to like you)

• Where our conscience comes from

• An overly active superego produces an individual who suffers from strong feelings of guilt & inferiority

• Strong superego results in 3 kinds of anxiety: realistic, neurotic, & moral

realistic anxiety

represents fear of danger from the external world, and degree of anxiety must be in keeping to the degree of harm

neurotic anxiety

when people fear that their instincts/desires of their id will get out of control & cause them to do something that they’ll regret (everything has to be perfect, everyone around them must be perfect)

moral anxiety

when one does something against their own conscience or when one fears excessive criticism and demands from one’s parents/society (you go against what you believe is right because you have to be perfect)

order of psychosexual development

1. oral

2. anal

3. phallic

4. latency

5. genital

fixation

defensive attachment to an earlier stage as a result of a traumatic experience in a particular stage; Freud considered this to be a defense against anxiety

oral stage

the mouth

• Fixation during oral phase (due to deprivation/overindulgence) leads to:

  • Development of oral personality

    • pessimism/optimism

    • suspiciousness/gullibility

    • self-belittlement/cockiness

    • passivity/manipulativeness

• Prof’s grandson became envious of little brother, therefore he developed a speech impediment (regression)

  • It appeared out of nowhere and later on it went away very quickly

anal stage

• the time when the passive aggressive personality can develop

  • When parents force their children to be potty trained before they’re ready, they start to feel bad about themselves; the child learns to be passively aggressive due to feeling that powerlessness

    • Passive aggressive–you mean to be aggressive, but you do so under the guise of not intending to be aggressive

    • Fixation during anal phase:

      • Overdemanding/overcontrolling parent forces toilet training too quickly, leading to anal personality (tendency to hold onto/retain)

        • They hold onto money (stinginess), feelings (constrictedness), own way of doing things (stubbornness)

phallic stage

• time where the focus is on the genitals (girls realize they do not have male genitals and start to feel inferior/envious; boys fall in love with their mothers theory comes into play–they see the dad as a rival)

  • Fixation during phallic phase leads to phallic personality:

    • Reckless, narcissistic, vain/proud

    • Afraid/incapable of close love

  • Major conflict: object of their sexual desire

oedipal complex

• boys develop sexual longing for their mother & sees their father as their rival

  • Results in development of superego

electra complex

• developed by Jung to coincide w/female aspect of Oedipus complex

  • Freud: females experience penis envy which causes love for father because he has desired object

  • Believed it was the driving force which will cause girls to repress hostile female competition/anger for castration

defense mechanisms

protect people against pain and are universal reactions, all meant to keep anxiety at bay (maladaptive)

• ex: Prof’s friend’s husband had a GF for years, the friend was in denial that he wasn’t cheating

repression

unconsciously banish painful memories from consciousness

• Patient’s mother was abused by father & brother, repressed those experiences, and instead became overprotective of her

supression

active & conscious attempt to stop anxiety-provoking thoughts by simply not thinking about them (stored in the preconscious)

denial

refusal to perceive an unpleasant event in reality

rationalization

to make excuses for maladaptive behaviors

displacement

unconsciously redirect anger on substitute objects/people (ex: people that bully aren’t treated well at home)

sublimation

form of displacement, though done by displacing anger on ones or in ways that are socially acceptable (channeling anger into exercise, turning grief into art)

regression

movement from mature to immature behavior (bedwetting, thumb-sucking)

projection

attributing our own undesirable characteristics onto others (complain about something to someone, even though they themselves have that characteristic)

reaction formation

convert undesirable characteristics to their opposites (someone struggling with their sexuality might be a vocal public campaigner against that sexuality, a man feeling insecure about his masculinity acts aggressive/displays toxic masculinity)

rationalization

justification of behavior through the use of plausible, but inaccurate, excuses (“I drink because my life is stressful”)

intellectualization

dissociation between thoughts & feelings w/elaborate rationale to explain unbearable pain (“I grew up in a household of abuse, everyone acted out, alcohol was a way of life, so now I drink, but at least I’m not abusing my family like my parent’s did”)

undoing

performing an act to nullify/make amends for an undesirable one (mafia: they are murderers, but they keep the neighborhood safe

freud’s 4 major assessment techniques:

free association, dream analysis, resistance, and transference

free association

• therapist encourages patient to report, without restriction, any thoughts that occur to them no matter how irrelevant/unimportant/unpleasant

  • Fundamental role in psychoanalysis

dream analysis

• therapist encourages patient to report, without restriction, any thoughts that occur to them no matter how irrelevant/unimportant/unpleasant

  • Fundamental role in psychoanalysis

resistance

• unwillingness to disclose painful memories

  • Freud: believed resistance caused those memories to be repressed in the unconscious

transference

ambivalence, attitudes of both affection and hostility, toward parents and are displaced onto the therapist 

positive transference

special affection toward therapist

counter transference

therapist’s reaction w/personal feelings toward the patient

negative transference

showing anger & hostility toward the therapist

jung and the psyche

Refers to your total personality as the psyche–represents all the interacting system within human personality which accounts for all mental life & behavior of a person

psychic energy

energy that flows continuously from consciousness to unconsciousness and back

• believed we all have this energy that is invisible to the naked eye and that without this energy there’s no life

self-realization

integration of all aspects of the psyche (thoughts/feelings/behaviors) and is the aim of individual development 

• Ultimate goal; fulfill our unique potentials & natures; continues lifelong

ego (jung)

• center of consciousness; unifying force in the psyche; contains conscious thoughts (behavior, feeling, memories)

  • The psyche also includes the personal unconscious and collective unconscious

    • Thought that you could be born with someone else’s memories

      • “Other mommy example”: prof’s son described a woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, etc…

        • On a random day, he forgot he ever said that

personal unconscious (jung)

contains forgotten experiences that have lost their intensity often due to unpleasantness/weak impressions; only accessible under certain circumstances

collective unconscious

storehouse of latent memories of our human & prehuman ancestry consisting of instincts & archetypes that we inherit as possibilities and that often affect our behavior

archetypes

universal themes/symbols that can be activated by forces operating in the psyche, thereby generating visions that are projected onto current experiences

• universal theme/idea common to all of mankind

persona

consists of the role humans play in order to meet demands of others (hiding who you really are)

shadow

consists of the inferior, evil, and repulsive side of human nature 

• 2 main aspects:

  • Personal unconscious: all experiences humans reject on moral/aesthetic grounds

  • Collective unconscious: universal personifications of evil within our psyches

    • Selfishness, repressed instincts, and the unauthorized self that your conscious mind rejects

anima/animus

elements of the opposite sex within us

anima

feminine archetype in a man

• contra sexuality is feminine and governs his irrational feeling function

animus

masculine archetype in a woman

• contra sexuality is masculine and governs her rational thinking function

extraversion

outgoing & relatively confident approach to life

introversion

retiring & reflective approach to life

the four functions (ways people relate to the world)

• Sensing– initial, concrete experiencing w/o reason/evaluation

• Thinking–understand events through use of reason & logic

• Feeling–gives us 

• Intuiting–process data through intuition, rely on gut feeling

MBTI

combo of 4 types plus two fundamental attitudes; introspective self-report questionnaire

• introversion/extroverion 

• sensing/intuiting

• thinking/feeling

• judging/perceiving

what are the rational (judging) functions?

thinking & feeling

what are the irrational (perceiving) functions?

sensation & intuition

summary of jung’s thoughts on personality

personality evolves thru life and behavior is determined by past events & future goals

• Method of amplification: used to interpret dream & reveal their meanings

• Word-association tasks

• dream analysis

• painting therapy

summary of freud’s thoughts on personality

personality is fixed by the end of early childhood

what was adler’s mentality?

treat the whole patient, not just the ailment; must be a kind doctor—the individual as an indivisible entity

• the individual can only be understood in terms of participation w/other members of society

• we’re drawn towards our goals, purposes, ideals (teleology)

individual psychology

theory which seeks to understand the behavior of each person as an organized entity, focuses on the whole personality

teleological

power to will or the belief that individuals are guided to move toward goals

teleological position

belief that goals determine behavior & behavior is directed & shaped by a designing force

• adler: to understand human personality we must understand human goals; all current behavior is directed by future goals

what is adler’s ultimate goal?

superiority—the striving to attain perfection (done so to make up for feelings of inferiority)

Story: Professor's friend did not go to college and is dumb. She is the only one in her friend group with no college degree, and as such, feels inferior. She's particularly insecure around the professor, for the professor has a doctorate degree. It annoys the professor, because the professor likes her for being the least judgmental. She's also an avid reader, but once again struggles to say things due to her fear of being perceived as a stupid. She is really thoughtful too with reading. She's also obsessed with the menopause belly, in her mind if she loses the look, she has nothing now.

• this is an example of the adlerian mentality—compensating for lack of motivation by making her looks her entire personality

two paths to superiority:

• constructive—healthy

• destructive—personal superiority at the expense of others

path is determined in first 5 years of life

organ inferiority

caused exaggerated strivings as the result of feeling unmanliness (lack of humanity)

masculine protest

attempt to compensate for feelings of inferiority by acting as though superior to others

overcompensation

exaggerated attempts by individuals to overcome their feelings of inferiority by acting as though they are personally superior to others

• A lot of our strife is self inducing. But when we start overacting, that is what causes our problems.

  • How you react determines health or unhealthy compensation

  • Doing something because you can't get over something is overcompensation

Adler believed two main factors guided personality development:

• Parenting

• Birth order

  • Birth order effects–how each child is treated by parents depends on the birth order and correlates to personality development

  • Spacing, sex, birth defects, & developmental delays all play a role as well

3 main factors of a destructive lifestyle

• Organ inferiority

• Neglect/rejection

• Pampering

constructive lifestyle

• little fighting, non-blaming, mutual respect and admiration

  • Better at letting things go

  • Don’t need to compete with people, just worried about yourself

ruling type

1. strives for personal superiority by trying to exploit or control others

   1. Ex: whatever Prof would say, her friend would have to suggest something else (a different time, different place, etc…)

getting type

1. unhealthy person who attains personal goals by relying indiscriminately on others for help

   1. Either they were raised to have everything done for them or they didn’t get anything done for them and now they want it done for them

   2. Can’t make decision on what to wear

avoiding type

1. lacks confidence to confront problems and avoids/ignores them

   1. Won’t speak up or go after what they want

   2. Ex: parent watching their kid cut the line and doesn’t do anything

socially useful type

healthy person who actively and courageously confronts & solves their own problems in accordance w/social interest

Adlers’s assessment techniques

1. Early recollections

2. Dream analysis–reflect’s individual’s unconscious attempts to achieve personal goals in accordance w/their unique lifestyle 

3. Birth-order analysis

Adler’s theory for therapy

• Neurotics & psychotics: individuals who have developed faulty styles of life usually the result of faulty parenting

  • Neurotics–believe they’re actually superior & act consistent nw/those beliefs, belittle others, all are competitors & must be defeated

  • Psychotics–view others w/suspicion, validate worth w/delusions of grandeur privately by comparing self to others

Horney’s focus

focused on the unique interpersonal conditions of a person’s life and emphasis the role of socialization & deemphasized the role of biology

hypercompetitiveness

• an attitude in which a person is driven to attain personal success at any cost, ultimately to enhance one’s feelings of self-worth; indiscriminate in their pursuit of success

  • Can include manipulation, aggressiveness, exploitation, and derogation of others 

  • Don’t care who they step on

competition avoidance

• need by individuals to check their ruthless competitive ambition because of excessive fear of losing affection & approval of others

  • Result of growing up in the shadow of parents who are adored by outsiders; ingenuine warmth leading to insecurity

personal development competitiveness

an attitude in which the primary focus isn’t on the outcome, but on the enjoyment & mastery of the task

neurotic needs

unconscious, unhealthy defensive attitudes

1. 
   

Horney’s view on personality development

• Everybody is born with innate skills

• A healthy person is in contact with their real self–unique set of potentials for constructive growth within each person

idealized self

defensive identification w/their idealized images by achieving success, glory, triumph, in the outside world

• develops due to a lack of connection with the real self

idealized image

fantasies of being perfect beings

tyranny of the shoulds

accepting nothing less than perfection from oneself