Psychology of Personality - Intrapsychic Domain

PSYC 3370

intrapsychic domain aka

• psychoanalytics

• psychodynamics

• freudian

sigmund freud

father of psychotherapy, born 1856

• interpretations of dreams: the unconscious mind is expressed in dreams

assumptions of the intrapsychic domain

• human nature relies on psychic energy that drives us

  • libido

  • thanatos

libido

the survival/life instinct

thanatos

the death instinct

freud’s mind

• conscious

• preconscious

• unconscious

conscious (freud’s mind)

things we are aware of in our mind

preconscious (freud’s mind)

information stored in our mind that we can easily bring into awareness

unconscious (freud’s mind)

things we are unaware of in our mind but that still affect us anyways

motivated unconscious

the unconscious motivates us to do things we did not mean to do

• freudian slip

• deja vu

freudian slip (motivated unconscious)

the unconscious breaking into our conscious by saying things we do not mean

deja vu (motivated unconscious)

the remembering of something from our unconscious

freud’s personality

always interacting, different goals lead to internal conflict

no one part balances, they all balance each other

• id

• ego

• superego

id (freud’s personality)

pleasure principle: basic instinct, wants instant gratification

babies operate with this

ego (freud’s personality)

reality principle: consequences and rewards

early schoolchildren operate with this

superego (freud’s personality)

morality principle: can reason right from wrong/ethics, empathy for others

adolescents and above operate with this

freud’s personality dynamics of anxiety

• objective/normal anxiety

• neurotic anxiety

• moral anxiety

• self-esteem anxiety

objective/normal anxiety (freud’s personality dynamics of anxiety)

a threat/reason motivates us, evolutionary worry

neurotic anxiety (freud’s personality dynamics of anxiety)

debilitating worry, too strong to overcome by yourself

often irrational

id beats ego

moral anxiety (freud’s personality dynamics of anxiety)

impossible standards/expectations/pressure create worry

self-esteem anxiety (freud’s personality dynamics of anxiety)

not freudian, newer

the need to protect our self-esteem creates worry, intolerance against feedback/threats to self-esteem

freud and ana’s defense mechanisms

protect the ego and minimize anxiety

• repression

• denial

  • fundamental attribution error

• displacement

• rationalization

• reaction formation

• sublimation

• projection

repression (freud and ana’s defense mechanisms)

precursor to all other defense mechanisms

prevention of undesirable thoughts/feelings/impulses from awareness by forcing them into the unconscious

denial (freud and ana’s defense mechanisms)

the refusal to accept the reality of something → pretending

• fundamental attribution error

fundamental attribution error (denial)

to protect self esteem we

• internally attribute our successes to ourselves

• externally attribute our failures elsewhere

displacement (freud and ana’s defense mechanisms)

a threatening impulse is taking out on a non-threatening object

rationalization (freud and ana’s defense mechanisms)

finding justifications/reasons for outcomes

reaction formation (freud and ana’s defense mechanisms)

impulses/feelings are overcompensated for by doing opposite actions

sublimation (freud and ana’s defense mechanisms)

channeling/redirecting/carrying out undesirable impulses into socially acceptable ways

projection (freud and ana’s defense mechanisms)

attribution of one’s own positive/negative traits to an outside person/group/force

pointing out your own flaws/thoughts/feelings/insecurities in others

psychosexual stages of development theory

each stage has a focus on a certain body part/process, unresolution or trauma can lead to fixations on these things

• oral

• anal

• phallic

• latent

• genital

oral (psychosexual stages of development theory)

birth - 18 months

sucking, biting, using mouth to explore the world (feeding, teething)

• conflict: id fueled search for pleasure/tension reduction vs weaning, independence OR teething for relief vs violent biting

anal (psychosexual stages of development theory)

18 months - 3 years

potty training, encouragement by caregivers to learn self-control and relief

• conflict: lack of self-control (inappropriate behavior) vs too much self control (rigidity, controlling others)

phallic (psychosexual stages of development theory)

3 years to 5 years

awareness of anatomy and differences between sexes

• child competes with same sex parent for the affection of their opposite sex parent vs child learns to identify with their same sex parent

  • oedipus complex → castration anxiety for sons

  • jung’s elektra complex → penis envy for daughters

latent (psychosexual stages of development theory)

6 years to 12 years/right before puberty

not much going on in middle childhood, learning to make own decisions, identity, and friends of the same sex

genital (psychosexual stages of development theory)

puberty to adulthood

hormones, sexual awakening to libido’s sex drive, interest in using genitals

psychoanalysis

deeper and longer than modern psychotherapy

freud’s approach to bring the unconscious into conscious to bring insight into issues and symptom reduction → free association, dream interpretation, projective techniques

• past: psychologists did research and test norming, psychiatrists did therapy UNTIL introduction of psychomedicine

free association (psychoanalysis)

sit behind client in a distraction free room while they talk uninterrupted about whatever → unconscious thoughts may surface

dream interpretation (psychoanalysis)

dreams reveal unconscious

• manifest content: actual elements of the dream

• latent content: what those elements represent symbolically

projective techniques (psychoanalysis)

let patient interpret ambiguous stimuli to reveal unconscious

• rorschach ink blot test → identify what you see in an ink blot

• thematic apperception test → make story from picture

apperception

finding the meaning or understanding of what we perceive

neoanalytic/freudian movement

contemporary views on psychoanalysis

much more focus on

• ego, not id

• cognitive unconscious, not motivated unconscious

false memories

hypnosis/regression therapy’s use of suggestion can create false memories instead of bringing unconscious to conscious

cognitive unconscious

we have certain automatic mental processes we are not aware of

subliminal messaging

using the unconscious to prime you to certain decisions

erik erikson

supported some of freud’s stages but

• focused on ego and lifespan → psychosocial development

infancy/1-2 (psychosocial development)

needs attachment/basic wants met or may develop antisocial or narcissistic tendencies

crisis: trust vs mistrust

influenced by: mother

early childhood/2-4 (psychosocial development)

needs to balance independence with rules

crisis: autonomy vs shame/doubt

influenced by: both parents

preschool/4-5 (psychosocial development)

needs to learn how to act more maturely when it comes to morals

crisis: initiative vs guilt

influenced by: family

school/5-12 (psychosocial development)

needs to balance success and failure, learn effort and personal strengths or may develop inferiority or superiority complex

crisis: industry vs inferiority

influenced by: neighbors and school (teachers)

adolescence/13-19 (psychosocial development)

needs to figure out who they are and what they want their life to look like

identity crisis

crisis: identity vs role confusion

influenced by: peers and role models

early adulthood/mid-life/20-40 (psychosocial development)

needs to figure out if they want to get married or not, may struggle with dating, social pressure, and loneliness

mid-life crisis

crisis: intimacy vs isolation

influenced by: friends and partners

adulthood/40-65 (psychosocial development)

needs to see if they are feeling fulfilled in their career/ambition or if they are stuck

crisis: generativity vs stagnation

influenced by: those at home and work

maturity/65-death (psychosocial development)

needs to grapple with retiring, regrets, and inevitability of death

crisis: ego integrity vs despair

influenced by: others

karen horney

feminist interpretation of psychoanalysis

• rejection of penis envy, women just want to be treated as equals

• women fear success due to the social fallout of being more assertive/less motherly

• spoke about gender as a social construct

narcissistic injury

a baby functions on id → needs are neglected → becomes narcissistic because they have to rely and focus on themselves

narcissism

inflated ego but low self-esteem

overcompensation for inferiority presents itself in manipulating others to serve yourself

• more of these in prison than anti-social

object relations theory

relationships to persons/activites/things that are gratifying and sources of connections drive personality organization and motivation more than instinctsid

attachment theory

emotional bonding with a caregiver, usually the mother. caregiver fulfills needs and help develop personality

• harlow’s monkeys preferred the cloth mother for comfort over the wire mother that fed

• bowlby and ainsworth: secure vs insecure attachment (avoidant, resistant, disorganized)

• reactive attachment disorder

separation anxiety

attached child is distressed when separated from caregiver

secure attachment

healthy

• mild distress at separation

• seeking closeness

• readily soothed

avoidant attachment (insecure attachment)

indifference to separation and return

resistant attachment (insecure attachment)

• severe distress to separation

• ambivalent to return

disorganized attachment (insecure attachment)

dazed and contradictory behavior towards attachment figure

reactive attachment disorder

disturbed and developmentally inappropriate patterns of social relating that aren’t due to disability or another disorder

usually due to inadequate care

motives

what pushes us to get our needs met

3 big motives: need for achievement/power/intimacy → satisifaction

• hierarchy of needs (maslow): basic needs at the bottom, complex as you go up to self-actualization

need for achievement (motives)

for overcoming challenges with success, showing of initiative

could be nature/nurture

• correlated with things like:

  • entrepreneurship, business sense

  • being a good student: deliberate attempts to get good grades, checking course requirements, meeting with a professor or advisor

• slight sex differences in expression

need for power (motives)

for influencing/controlling/deciding the situation or people

no sex differences

• correlated with things like:

  • arguments

  • election to student office in college

  • larger risks taken when gambling

  • assertion in small groups

  • prestige possessions: sports cars, luxury good, etc

  • controlling tendencies when it comes to situations and other people

need for intimacy (motives)

for warm and fulfilling relationships, connections can be platonic or romantic