Theories of Personality Test 9-12

Free association

instructing a patient to say whatever comes to mind, for the same purpose

Psychic determination

Everthing that happens in a person’s mind has a specific cause

Unconscious mind

Areas and processes of the mind of which a person is not aware

Id

Irrational and emotional (pleasure)

Ego

Rational (reality)

Superego

Moral (morality)

Compromise formation

Finding a compromise amount the different structures of the mind and the different things the individual wants

Using compromise formation….

• ego’s main job

• result is conscious thought and behavior

Psychological part of the mind needs energy (Libido)

• mental energy (psychic energy) is fixed and finite

• some implications not supported by research

Objections of libido

• Unscientific theory

• Dislikes emphasize on sex and sexual energy

• Thoughts on Freud manners, ethic, and personal life

Libido

Life or sex drive (creativity, productivity, growth, “enjoyment of life” )

Thanatos

Death drive (accounts for destructive activity)

Doctrine of opposites

Everything implies, and even requires, its opposite

• extremes on either side are more alike than middle

Physical focus

Where energy is concentrated and gratification is obtained

Psychological theme

Related to the physical focus and the demands of the outside world

Adult character type

Associated with being fixated, or not resolving the psychological issus

Oral Stage (Birth - 18 months)

• Id only (needs met instantly)

• Mouth, lips, and tongue

• Dependency, passive

• Needs not fulfilled of fulfilled too fast

• Adult character type : overall independent or passive

Anal Stage (18 months - 3 yrs.)

• Anus and organs of elimination

• Self-control and obedience

• To find compromise between what is wanted and what is possible

• Too strict or too lenient

• Over controlled over under controlled

Phallic Stage (3 ½ - 7 yrs.)

• Sexual organs

• Coming to terms with physical sex differences and their implications

• Oedipal crisis

• Gender identity and sexuality, love, fear, and jealousy

Identification

Taking on many of the same-sex parents attitudes, values, and ways of relating to the opposite sex

• development of morality, conscious, and the superego : product of identification

Latency (7 yrs. - puberty)

Break from development

Genital Stage (puberty & beyond)

• Not passed through but obtained

• Physical organs and the process of reproduction

• Not limited to having children : focus on creation & enhancement of life

• Maturity

• Psychologically well-adjusted and balanced

• The ability “to love and to work”

Analogy

Mind processing through the stage of psychosexual development is like an army conquering hostile territory

Fixation

Leaving lots of energy behind if a stage is not completely resolved; person continues to struggle with issues from that stage

Regression

Retreat to an earlier stage when under stress

Secondary process thinking

What we ordinarily mean by the word think

• Rational, practical, and prudent

Primary process thinking

The way the unconscious mind operates; the infants as well as the adults

Conscious mind

The part of mental functioning you can observe when you turn your attention inward

Preconscious

Ideas you are not currently aware of but that can be brought into awareness

Unconscious

Areas and process of the mind that do not come into awareness

Defense mechanisms

Technique the ego uses to keep certain thoughts and impulses hidden to avoid or lessen anxiety

Denial

Refusal to believe bad news or anything that might make you anxious

Repression

Failure to acknowledge anything that might remind you of unwanted thoughts

Reaction formation

Creating the opposite idea to what may cause anxiety

Projection

Something about the self may cause anxiety is instead true of others

Rationalization

Creating a rational, logical explanation that doesn’t acknowledge the real motivation

Intellectualization

Translating anxiety-producing thoughts into unemotional theories

Displacement

Moving the object of emotions from a dangerous target to a safe one

Sublimation

Providing a safe outlet for problematic desires

Therapeutic alliance

Patients must be comforted and guided through this process by a therapist with whom they have an emotional bond

Transference

The tendency to bring ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that developed in response to one important relationship into a relationship with the therapist

Psychoanalysis is often criticized for…

• Low-cure rate

• Length (lasting many years)

Psychoanalytical theory has 5 important short-comings….

1. Excessive complexity

2. Case study method

3. Vague definitions

4. Untestability

5. Sexism

Freud was right about…

• Conflicting motives (being a source of confusion/anxiety)

• Sex & aggression being powerful & mysterious forces in psychological life

• Childhood experiences shaping adult personality

• Child’s relationship with parents affects their future relationships

Alfred Adler (inferiority)

Felt Freud focused too much on sex as the ultimate motivator and organizer of thought and behavior

Organ inferiority

Individuals are motivated to attain equality or superiority over people

Masculine protest

Compensation for weakness in childhood results in an adult trying to become powerful

Carl Yung (Myers Briggs)

Freud’s “crown prince” and the first president of the International Psychoanalytical Association

Collective unconscious

Memories and ideas that all humans share, most of which reside in the unconscious, in the form of the basic images

Archetypes

Core ideas of how people think about the world, both consciously and unconsciously

Persona

The social mask one wears in public

Possible danger of persona….

Identifying more with the persona than with the self, which leads to being shallow and having social success as one’s life purpose

Anima

The idea, or prototype, of a female as held in the mind of a male

Animus

The idea, or prototype, of a male as held in the mind of a female

Introverts vs extroverts

Psychologically turned inward versus outward

Ways of thinking…

Rational (recognize meaning), feeling (determine the value of things) , sensing(establishing what is present in the world), and intuiting (figuring out where something comes from and it is going)

Karen Horney

Disagreed with the “penis envy” and women’s desire to be male : women envy freedom to pursue interests and ambitions which is due to the structure of society, not women’s biology

Basic anxiety

Fear of being alone and helpless in a hostile world

Neurotic needs

Needs that people feel but that are neither realistic nor truly desirable

Eric Erickson (psychosocial)

Basic conflict are conscious and arise at various stages of life

• A person might have to come between two (or more) activities, careers, or even lovers

Psychologically development (0 - 2yrs.)

Trust vs. Mistrust

Psychologically development (2 - 4yrs.)

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt

Psychologically development (4 - 7yrs.)

Initiative vs. guilt

Psychologically development (7 - 12yrs.)

Industry vs. inferiority

Psychologically development (12+ yrs.)

Identity vs. identity confusion

Psychologically development (young adulthood)

Intimacy vs. isolation

Psychologically development (middle age)

Generatively vs. stagnation

Psychologically development (old age)

Integrity vs. despair

Object relationship theory

The analysis of interpersonal relationships

• we can only relate to people via the image we have in our minds (images do not always match reality)

4 themes of object relationship theory…

1. Every relationship has elements of satisfaction

2. Mix of love and hate

3. distinction between parts of love object & whole person

Niffle

Refers to a physical object to which someone develops a sentimental attachment

Cross cultural psychology

Research that compares cultures with one another

Cultural psychology

Seeks to understand individual cultures in their own terms and avoids making comparisons