AP Psych Chapter 12 - Psychodynamic Perspectives

personality

a pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world

psychodynamic perspectives to personality

theoretical views emphasizing that personality is primarily unconscious (beyond awareness)

psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences - and the therapist's interpretations of them - released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.

id

the part of the person that Freud called the "it," consisting of unconscious drives; the individual's reservoir of sexual energy

ego

the Freudian structure of personality that deals with the demands of reality

superego

the Freudian structure of personality that serves as the harsh internal judge of our behavior; what we often call conscience.

defense mechanisms

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

repression

the master defense mechanism; the ego pushes unacceptable impulses out of awareness, back into the unconscious mind

rationalization

the ego replaces a less acceptable motive with a more acceptable one

displacement

the ego shifts feelings toward an unacceptable object to another, more acceptable object

sublimation

the ego replaces an unacceptable impulse with a socially acceptable one

projection

the ego attributes personal shortcomings, problems, and faults to others

reaction formation

the ego unconsciously makes unacceptable impulses look like their opposites

denial

the ego refuses to acknowledge anxiety-inducing realities

regression

the ego seeks the security of an earlier developmental period in the face of stress

psychosexual stages of development

four distinct stages of the development of the self between birth and adulthood, according to Freud; personality quirks are a result of being fixated, or stuck, at any stage

oral stage (0-18 months)

Freud's first stage of psychosexual development during which pleasure is centered in the mouth (chewing, sucking, biting)

anal stage (18-36 months)

Freud's second stage of psychosexual development during which pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control

phallic stage (3-6 years)

Freud's third stage of development, when the genitals becomes the focus of concern and pleasure

Oedipus complex

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

latency period (6 years to puberty)

this phase is not a developmental stage but rather a kind of psychic time-out. After the drama of the phallic stage, the child sets aside all interest in sexuality

genital stage (puberty on)

sexual feelings re-emerge and are oriented toward others

Carl Jung

neo-Freudian who created concept of "collective unconscious" and wrote books on dream interpretation

collective unconscious

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

archetypes

Jung's term for emotionally laden ideas and images in the collective unconscious that have rich and symbolic meaning for all people

anima archetype

Jung's term used to describe a person's feminine side

animus archetype

Jung's term used to describe people's assertive, masculine side

persona archetype

mask or role we present to others to hide our true self.

individual psychology

Adler's view that people are motivated by purposes and goals and that perfection, not pleasure, is thus the key motivator in human life

compensation (Adler)

involves efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by developing one's abilities