Psyche of Personality

Disposition and Inter Mental Life

What are the 2 components of defining personality?

disposition

a component of defining personality; tendencies that are enduring (relatively stable) and distinctive (recognizable)

traits that aren't easily observed

What is meant by intraindividual functioning?

inter mental life

the system of beliefs, emotions, values, goals, skills, memories, experiences, and motivations

enduring; distinctive

Personality refers to the psych. systems that contribute to an individual's ________ and _________ patterns of experience and behavior

• Perform Scientific Observation
• Develop Scientific Theory
• Convert Theory to Useful Applications

What are the steps to understanding personality?

• diverse groups
• objective-> with a goal of replicability
• use of tools (software, assessment)

What are the components of performing scientific observation?

systematic, testable, and comprehensive

What are some qualities of developing scientific theory?

the theory should explain the person's personality as a WHOLE, not just a piece

How to convert sci theory to useful applications?

structure, process, growth/development, and psychopathology/behavior change

What are the 4 areas of personality study?

'building blocks'

structure is the __________ of personality that endure over time

emotion, motivation, cognition, skills

What are some examples of structure as an area of personality study?

process

how emotions, thinking, and motivation shift over time

growth and development

What area of personality study deals with nature vs nurture?

• finding universal patterns of development that are experienced by almost everyone
• understanding developmental factors that lead to individual differences

What are the two challenges in the growth/development area of personality study?

psychopathology/behavior change

how people change and/or resist to change

• organize info about personality
• generate new knowledge about personality
• identify new areas of study

Personality theories should accomplish the following:

Life data Observer data Task data Self-report data

LOTS of data

grades, rewards, achievements, criminal record, your 'paper trail'

examples of life data?

what another person would observe/report about another person

What is observer data?

ask an individual to perform a task and look at how they respond, the purpose is usually not revealed to the participant; more common in lab research

What is task data and when is it used?

data reported by the person

What is self-report data?

language, social media (facebook statuses), brain data (EEG, fMRI)

What are some other sources of data?

nomothetic or 'fixed'

when everyone gets the same items/questions regardless of relevancy, and these items are generally structure. ex: true or false questions

idiographic or 'flexible'

when paarticipants can indicate level of relevancy. these items can be structured/unstructured ex: open ended questions

average behavior, conscious thought, variability, unconscious mental events

What do we try to assess when studying personality?

case studies, correlation studies, controlled experiments

What are the various research strategies?

case study

an in-depth study of a single individual that allows for deeper understanding of complex personality concepts. typically a large amount of info about one person vs small amount of info about large groups

correlation studies

the use of personality tests and questionnaires that are generally used to study personality

controlled experiments

random assignment to experimental conditions where you see how individuals respond in oe condition vs another and the impact of the assigned variable

Led by Philip Zimbardo, this study assigned participants to roles of prisoners and guards within a simulated prison environment. The conditions deteriorated rapidly, with guards abusing the prisoners emotionally and psychologically. The experiment was halted early due to severe ethical violations.

What was the Stanford Prison Experiment

• born in
• oldest child, his mother's favorite, had many siblings
• Jewish-> limited opportunities because of the time period
• born into the Victorian Era
• believed people are born with inherent instincts that are drawn to aggression/pleasure
• thinks people are not necessarily inherently good
• studied medicine in Vienna
• depression & anxiety following the loss of his father let to self-analysis and was a lot of his motivation for his dreams and goals

Sigmund Freud

id

most primitive features of personality are drive by an unconscious need for pleasure

the devil

What is 'id' represented by according to Freud?

ego

develops around the age of 2 and focuses on the reality principle. it reduces the conflict between the other two by implementing defense mechanisms

superego

develops around the age of 5, it's our internal morals that we learn from our same-sex parent, that punishes our ego for any wrong through guilt. this can be pretty extreme

• Oral Stage
• Anal Stage
• Phalic Stage
• Latency. Stage
• Genital Stage

What are Freud's five psychosexual stages of development?

oral stage

Birth-12mos; Freud's first stage of psychosexual development during which pleasure is centered in the mouth

anal stage

1-3 yrs; Freud's pychosexual period during which a child learns to control his bodily excretions

phalic stage

3-6 years Children discover differences between sexes; penis envy

oedipus

boys

electra

girls

latency stage

7-11yrs; child represses sexual interest and develops social and intellectual skills

genital stage

puberty-present; a time of sexual reawakening; source of sexual pleasures becomes someone outside of the family

• a girl with hysteria aka conversion disorder
• symptoms: partial paralysis, blurred vision, persistent cough, and difficulty speaking German (her native language)
• had reliefs from symptoms if she could trace it to a traumatic event in her past
• cured through catharsis, free-association

Who was Anna O?

life instinct

According to Freud, these can shift in a person's life depending on what t hey experience, what stage of life they're in, etc

• impulse to live
• aim for the survival of the species
• manifested through love and sex
• seeking pleasure/gratification

death instinct

the desire to die or destruction, creates conflicts and anxiety, manifested through, aggression, cruelty, and suicide

• this can show. up in acts of violence

oedipal complex

according to Freud, the feeling of attraction to the opposite sex parent; aggression towards the same-sex parent

• hypnosis
• dream interpretation
• catharsis
• transference
• free-association

What are the psychoanalytic techniques?

catharsis

the resolution of catharsis through free-association

free-association

• thoughts without inhibition/falsification
• for Freud, this technique was both a therapy and a sci method

psychoanalytic and cognitive

What are the two perspectives of unconscious motives?

• emphasis on illogical, irrational unconscious processes
• content emphasis on motives and wishes
• emphasis on motivated aspects of unconscious functioning

What is the psychoanalytic perspective?

• absence of fundamental differences between conscious and unconscious processes
• content emphasis on thoughts
• focus o unmotivated aspects of unconscious functioning

What is the cognitive perspective?

• wegner study (What happens when asked to suppress exciting thoughts is shown through)
• subliminal perception (duck image)
• exposure therap and research (spider phobia)
• perceptual defense (reactio to charged words)
• subliminal psychodynamic activation (disordered eating study)

evidence for the unconscious

• greater focus on 'will to power', feelings of inadequacy as motivator
• birth order analyst
• we are primarily motivated by solving feelings of inadequacy

Who was Alfred Adler?

• focuse on social forces/gender identity; moving toward/away/against as general aspects of our personality
• moving toward -> open/seeking communication
• moving away -> shying away from communication
• against -> hostile toward people
• had a very strong reaction to Freud's view of women
• developed Womb Envy

Karen Horneye

• instinct for connection (ABS), we can always come back to our secure base

John Bowbly

• attachment styles, "strange Situation"

Mary Ainsworth

• early interactions influence self-perception appraisal vs rejection
• if you're repeatedly rejected as a kid or always get appraisal; it will impact how you navigate relationships later in life

Henry Stack Sullivan

-Move away from sexual instinct, libido as general pleasure/creativity; collective unconscious; duality of self -Had a relationship w Freud; they had a disagreement in views Collective unconscious-> the mind contained information from previous generations outside of our awareness

Carl Jung

a filed of study that seeks out a brain-based understanding of psychoanalytic structures and processes

what is neuropsychoanalysis?

instinctual drives

idenfitied neural systems in subcortical regions that are similar in structure and function in humans and animals in contributing to emotional states (anger, sexual desire)

defense strategies of the ego

false memories or beleifs are found in individuals with damage to the frontal lobe

dreams

this may be distinct from REM sleep; high level brain mechanisms (related to memory and thinking) have been found to be associated with this

alternative therapeutic methos

deep brain stimulation (DBS); small electrical device is implanted in a specific region of the brain tied to certain disorders and emotional distress

projective tests

personality assessments that present ambiguous visual stimuli to the client and ask the client to respond with whatever comes to mind; scored according to an overall pattern of responses rather than by interpreting any single response

subjectivity/interpretation, reliability, validity concerns, response/cultural bias, etc

what are challenges with projective tests?

• Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist
• First used with his hospitalized patients and narrowed down to ten inkblot cards
• Presented as a way to "understand people" and told they can look at the whole image or any part of the inkblot
• Person is then asked to explain why or how they saw a particular image; everything a person says is recorded
• Assessor is interested in how the response is formed, the reasons for the response, and the content
• Content of responses is then interpreted
• Mostly animals? Mostly humans? Inanimate vs animate objects? Affection or hostility?
• Process is also interpreted Do they repeatedly ask questions? Change answers?
• The end outcome of this test-> interpret responses and connect them to personality features (ex: extraversion, introversion, narcissism) -Does detect psychosis pretty well-> not an aspect of personality

What is the Rorschach Inkblot Test?

• Provides for the discovery and investigation of many interesting phenomena
• Develops techniques for research and therapy (free association, dream interpretation, transference analysis)
• Recognizes the complexity of human behavior
• Encompasses a broad range of phenomena

What are strengths of analytical theory?

• Fails to define all its concepts clearly and distinctly
• Makes empirical testing difficult, at times impossible
• Endorses the questionable view of the person as an energy system
• Tolerates resistance by parts of the profession to empirical research and change in the theory

What are limitations of analytical theory?

denial, regression, sublimation, and displacement

What are some defense mechani