Personality: psychodynamic models

Lay definitions of personality

value judgements in terms of social attractiveness (appearance & style)

Psychological definitions of personality

characteristics or typical qualities of an individual

Dynamic organisation

personality is a process that is adjusting and adapting to our experiences

Psychophysical systems

personality refers to our minds and bodies

Characteristic patterns

something stable is being produced which becomes that person

What is meant by behaviours, thoughts and feelings

personality includes a wide range of human experiences

aims of studying personality

• Explain the motivational basis of behaviour

• Determine the basic nature of human beings

• Provide descriptions / categorisations of how people behave

• Measure personality

• Understand how personality develops

• Assist in the development of interventions to facilitate behaviour change

• Assess the effects of heredity versus the environment

strategy of the idiographic approach

Emphasises the uniqueness of individuals. There are more differences than similarities with unlimited personality traits

Goal of the idiographic approach

Develop an in-depth understanding of the individual.

Research method/ data collection in the idiographic approach

• Qualitative methods to produce case studies.

• Interviews, diaries, narratives, treatment session data.

Advantages/ Disadvantages of the idiographic approach

advantages: Depth of understanding of the individual.

disadvantages: Difficult to make generalisations from the data.

Strategy of the nomothetic approach

Focus on traits that occur consistently across groups of people. People are unique in the way their traits combine.

Goal of the nomothetic approach

Identify the basic/underlying structure of personality, and the minimum and finite nr of traits required to describe personality universally.

Research method/ data collection of the nomothetic approach

• quantitative methods (structures, measures, relationships)

• self reported personality questionnaires

Advantages and disadvantages of the nomothetic approach

advantages: Discovery of general principles that have a predictive function.

disadvantages:  Superficial understanding of any one person.

strands of personality theorising

• critical strand

• individual differences strand

critical strand

• Developed from case studies of the mentally ill.

• Sigmund Freud is considered the founder.

Individual differences strand

• Documents differences in personality through research and statistical methods.

• Caused by Francis Galton.

Levels of consciousness

• conscious mind

• preconscious mind

• unconscious mind

Conscious mind

• Thoughts, feelings, memories we are aware of.

• Primary process thinking

Preconscious mind

 Thoughts, feelings, memories that are unconscious now, but can be recalled into our conscious mind.

Unconscious mind

• In our unconscious, due to their unacceptable nature (repression)

• Secondary process thinking: irrational

What are the two elements to dreams

• manifest content

• latent content

What is manifest content

• The description of the dream recalled by the dreamer.

• Not a true representation of a person’s unconscious mind.

Latent content of dreams

• The “true” meaning of the dream, identified by the analyst.

• Through dream symbols

3 biological drives of human behaviour

• sexual drives

• life-preserving

• death instinct

structure of personality according to Freud

• Id

• Ego

• Superego

Id

• Develops first in the child.

• Unconscious

• Includes instinctive/primitive behaviours.

• Irrational and operates by pleasure principle.

Ego

• Develops second

• Conscious and executive

• Responsible for dealing with reality.

• Rational and operates based on the reality principle.

Super ego

• Develops last

• Considered the conscience of the child.

• Holds our values and morals learnt from parents and society. 

Intra-psychic conflict

• The idea that the 3 personality structures are in constant conflict

• The ego mediates the impulsive demands of id and the restraining demands of superego.

What are the 5 psychosexual stages

• oral stage

• anal stage

• phallic stage

• latency stage

• genital stage

Oral stage

• Birth to 1 year

• Pleasure zone is the mouth (feeding, sucking, chewing, biting).

• Over-stimulation= oral receptive personality type.

• Under-stimulation= oral aggressive personality type.

Anal stage

• 18 months to 3 years

• Pleasure zone is the anal region (bowel and bladder elimination).

• Inappropriate toilet training= fixation and abnormal personality development.

• Excessive control= anal-retentive personality type.

• OR an anal-expulsive personality type (messy, disorganised, disobedient)

Phallic stage

 

• 3-5 years (according to Freud fully developed at the end of this)

• Pleasure zone is the genitals.

• Boys develop the Oedipal complex

• Girls develop the Electra complex

• Inability to cope with sexual feelings= fixation and abnormal personality development.

Oedipal complex

a sexual attachment to their mother= masculine traits

Electra complex

a sexual attachment to their father= female traits

Latency stage

• 5 to 12 years

• Resting period in the child’s development; energies are taken up in socialisation/learning.

• develops defence mechanisms. 

Genital stage

• 12 to 18 years

• Puberty and mature sexual interest in others

• Conflicts left from previous stages

Freud’s defence mechanisms

Defence mechanisms are developed to cope with the anxiety caused by the conflicting demands of the id, ego and superego

• repression

• regression

• denial

• displacement

• reaction formation

• conversion reaction

• rationalisation

• intellectualisation/isolation

• phobic avoidance

• projection

• sublimation

• undoing

research on the unconscious mind

• subliminal perception (Patton)

• review (Norman)

Research on the structures of personality

• Individual differences (Barron & Block)

• Review supporting oral and anal (Fisher & Greenberg)

Research on defence mechanisms

• repressive coping style (Myers)

• review found 20-60% of therapy clients could not recall abuse (Brewin & Andrews)

• cognitive avoidance (Brewin & Andrews)

Evidence for dream content

• suppressing thoughts (Wegner et al)

• REM dreams are more aggressive (McNamara)

Criticisms of Freud’s theory

• methodological issues

• lack empirical support

• narrow motivational basis

• emphasise biological factors

• deterministic

• negative view of humans

• out of date

What is the Rorschach test and when/ how developed it?

• created in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach

• assessment tool for projective examination of personality

• shown 10 ink blot cards and have to say what it looks like

Elements scored in the Rorschach test

• How respondents describe the image

• Time to respond

• Location of the inkblots that triggered the response

• Determinants (form, colour)

• Popularity or originality of the responses

Rorschach Comprehensive System

standardised scoring system by John Exner

Kimoto et al 2017

6 variables were significantly higher and 3 variables were significantly lower in Dementia versus Alzheimer patients in the RT

Wood et al, 2000

Only a few Rorschach scores have a well-demonstrated relationship to psychiatric disorders, so should not be used in diagnoses

Delavari et al, 2013

Boys and girls score differently on the Rorschach test, and so does Iranian and non-Iranian children

Weiner, 2003

Different cultures classify objects differently

Meyer et al, 2015

education and age (but not ethnicity and gender) predicted differences in Rorschach scores