4.5b Personality Theories in Psychology

Understanding Personality in Psychology

• Definition of Personality:
  • Personality refers to an individual's characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting.
  • It is relatively stable over time and across different situations.
  • Influenced by various psychological perspectives including psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, and social-cognitive theories.

Theoretical Approaches to Personality

• Psychodynamic Perspective (Sigmund Freud):
  • Suggests personality is shaped by childhood experiences, sexual drives, and unconscious motives.
  • Personality primarily formed in the first five to six years of life.
• Humanistic Perspective:
  • Focuses on personal growth and self-fulfillment potentials.
  • Emphasizes healthy personality development.

Key Concepts of Freud's Theory of Personality

• Psychoanalytic Theory:
  • Freud believed personality consists of three parts:
  • Id:
    • Unconscious reservoir of our basic drives and instincts.
    • Operates on the "Pleasure Principle" seeking immediate gratification.
  • Ego:
    • Operates on the "Reality Principle," meditating between the demands of the id and superego while being socially acceptable.
  • Superego:
    • Moral component of personality that internalizes societal standards and ideals as conscience.

Levels of Consciousness in Freud's Psychodynamic Theory

• Conscious:
  • Current thoughts and feelings.
• Preconscious:
  • Retrieved memories and stored information accessible at any time.
• Unconscious:
  • Contains forbidden desires and traumatic memories; access is typically through therapeutic techniques.

Defense Mechanisms

• Protection from Anxiety:
  • Defense mechanisms are unconscious strategies the ego employs to manage anxiety and maintain psychological equilibrium.
  • Common Mechanisms:
  • Repression:
    • Expelling anxiety-producing thoughts from consciousness.
  • Rationalization:
    • Making excuses for behavior to alleviate anxiety.
  • Projection:
    • Attributing one’s own unacceptable feelings to others.
  • Denial:
    • Refusing to accept reality associated with anxiety-inducing events.
  • Displacement:
    • Redirecting emotional impulses to a safer target.
  • Sublimation:
    • Transforming unacceptable urges into socially acceptable actions.

Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development

• Stages Overview:
  • Oral (0-1 year): Erogenous zone is the mouth. Conflict may lead to traits such as dependency or aggression.
  • Anal (1-3 years): Erogenous zone is bowel control. Conflict may lead to orderliness or messiness.
  • Phallic (3-6 years): Erogenous zone is the genitalia. Successful resolution leads to sexual identity.
  • Latency (6-puberty): Sexual sentiments subside, focus shifts to social skills.
  • Genital (puberty onward): Mature sexual intimacy and relationships develop.

Contributions of Freud's Theory

• Acknowledged powerful unconscious influences on human behavior.
• Established the importance of early childhood experiences in personality development.

Neo-Freudian Theories

• Carl Jung: Emphasized personal and collective unconscious with archetypes influencing personality.
• Alfred Adler: Focus on social relationships and overcoming inferiority complexes; development of ‘individual psychology’.
• Karen Horney: Emphasized social and cultural factors over sexual drives, introducing concepts of basic anxiety and hostility.

Humanistic Psychology

• Overview:
  • Emphasizes individual potential and the importance of self-actualization.
  • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
  • Physiological needs → Safety → Love/Belonging → Esteem → Self-Actualization.
  • Carl Rogers' Self-Theory:
  • Highlights the significance of self-concept and unconditional positive regard in personal development.

Contemporary Views on Freud's Psychoanalysis

• Many of Freud's theories are considered outdated; modern psychology embraces a more comprehensive view of development that includes lifespan changes.
• Although some modern research supports concepts like the unconscious, it challenges others such as developmental fixation based solely on early experiences.

Conclusion

• Understanding personality requires integrating insights from multiple theories, offering a holistic view of human behavior and motivation.