Module 45: Introduction to Personality and Psychodynamic Theories

Personality

An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Psychodynamic Theories

Theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious mind and importance of childhood experiences

Psychoanalysis

Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

Unconscious

According to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and memories

Free Association

In psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious where the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how crazy

Id

Unconscious psychic energy that according to Freud, is meant to satisfy sexual + aggressive drives (operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate fulfillment)

Ego

Partly conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, balances demands of id, super ego, and reality (operates on the reality principle)

Reality Principle

Satisfies id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

Superego

The partly conscious part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (conscious) and for future aspirations

Conscience

Sense of right and wrong

Psychosexual Stages

The childhood stages of development (according to Freud), during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on sexual zones; oral-anal-phalic-latency-genital

Oedipus Complex

By Freud, a boy’s sexual desires towards his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for father

Identification

According to Freud, process where children incorporate parents’ values into their developing superegos

Fixation

According to Freud, being stuck at an earlier psychosexual stage where conflicts were unresolved

Defense Mechanism

In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Repression

A defense mechanism, unconsciously pushing threatening thoughts and memories out of awareness

Denial

A defense mechanism, person refuses to accept painful truth

Displacement

A defense mechanism, redirecting emotions from the original target, to a safer substitute

Projection

A defense mechanism, believing a trait you have is actually possessed by the person you portray it against

Reaction Formation

A defense mechanism, expressing the exact opposite of the impulse

Regression

A defense mechanism, goes back to behaviors from an earlier stage

Rationalization

A defense mechanism, creating logical explanation for illogical behavior

Sublimination

Most mature defense mechanism, unacceptable impulses are turned into socially valued activities

Alfred Adler and Karen Horney

Agreed with Freud about importance of childhood, but believed childhood social (not sexual) tensions are crucial for personality formation

Carl Jung

Less emphasis on social factors, but agreed with Freud that the unconscious has a powerful influence

Collective Consciousness

Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history (epigenetic marks)

False Consensus Effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Terror- Management Theory

Theory of death-related anxiety, emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of impending death

Projective Test

A test that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of people’s inner dynamics

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

A projective test where people express their inner feelings and interests through stories they make about ambiguous scenes

Rorschach Inkblot Teat

A projective test designed by Herman Rorschach, identifies people’s inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots