personality
Personality
theories of personality go with therapy
3/26/24
personality: an individual's unique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving
personality theory: a theory that attempts to describe and explain individual similarities and differences
psychoanalysis: Freud’s theory of personality which emphasizes unconscious determinants of behavior, sexual and aggressive, instinctual drives, and the enduring effects of early childhood experiences on later personality development
he believed that behavior is the result of the constant interplay between conflicting psychological forces that operate at three different levels of awareness: — the iceberg
conscious level: all thoughts, feelings, and sensations that you are aware of at a particular moment
part of the iceberg that is entirely above the surface
precocious level: contains information of which you are not currently aware but is easily capable of entering your consciousness
childhood memories and your social security number
part of the iceberg that is at the water level kind of
unconscious level: submerged thoughts, feelings, wishes, and drives (aggressive and sexual in nature), exert enormous influence over our conscious thoughts and behavior
may include trauma and other childhood experiences
part that of the iceberg that is under the water
the goal of psychoanalysis: to uncover what is at that unconscious level so that it can be dealt with
Sigmund Freud
techniques used to uncover what is at that unconscious level
hypnosis
dream analysis
two layers, manifest content and latent content
manifest content: what we remember and it is a censored expression of the dreams other layer which is the latent content
latent content: the underlying or true meaning of the dream (sexual or aggressive)
(not technique but he thought that slip of the tongue was what the person meant to say)
free association: a psychoanalytic technique in which the patient spontaneously reports all thoughts, feelings, and mental images as they come to mind)
the patient is going to be able to relax sit or lie down on comfortable furniture out of the view of the therapist
analyst will look for recurring themes and things you are trying to censor
he believes that there are three distinct psychological processes or structures of personality that are constantly conflicting and interacting
id: completely unconscious, the irrational component of personality, that seeks immediate satisfaction of instinctual urges and drives
present at birth
operates on the pleasure principle
pleasure principle: the motive to __ pleasure and avoid tension or discomfort
part of us that wants what we want right now
the brain's reservoir of psychological energy is derived from two conflicting instinctual drives:
Eros: the self-preservation of life instinct which is reflected in the expression of basic biological urges that perpetuate the existence of the individual and the species
hunger, thirst, physical comfort, and sexuality (he considers most important)
instinct is driven by libido
libido: the psychological and emotional energy associated with expressions of sexuality
the sex drive
Thanatos: the death instinct, reflective in aggressive destructive and self-destructive actions
Superego: the partly conscious self-evaluative moralistic component of personality that is formed through the internalization of parental and societal rules
total opposite of id
the internal parental voice
develops at around four or five
ego: the partly conscious rational component of personality that regulates thoughts and behavior and is most in touch with the demands of the external world
the ego operates on the reality principle
the reality principle: the awareness of environmental demands and the capacity to accommodate them by postponing gratification until the appropriate time or circumstances exist
feels anxiety uses strategies to reduce those, defense mechanisms:
defense mechanisms: largely unconscious distortions of thought or perception that act to reduce anxiety
repression: the complete exclusion from the consciousness of anxiety-producing thoughts, feelings, or impulses — the most basic defense mechanism
could include traumatic events, things that happened that embarrassed you or that you experienced that caused you anxiety
displacement: emotional impulses are redirected to a substitute person or object usually one less threatening or dangerous than the original source of conflict
ex. angered by a neighbor's comment a mother spanks her daughter for accidentally spilling her milk
sublimation: a form of displacement in which sexual urges are rechanneled into productive nonsexual activities
a graduate student works on her thesis for 14 hours a day while her husband is on a business trip
rationalization: justifying one's actions or feelings with socially acceptable explanations rather than consciously acknowledging one’s true motives or desires
ex. after being rejected by a university a student explains that they are glad bc they would be happier at a smaller less competitive college
projection: the attribution of one’s own unacceptable urges or qualities to others
when there is something about you or you have done something that causes you anxiety so you project that onto somebody else
ex. a married women who is sexually attracted to a coworker accuses him of flirting with her
reaction formation: thinking or behaving in a way that is the extreme opposite of unacceptable urges or impulses
ex. threatened by their awakening sexual attraction to girls adolescent boys often go out of their way to tease and torment adolescent girls
denial: the failure to recognize or acknowledge the existence of anxiety-producing information, such as an alcoholic fails to acknowledge that he is addicted to a drug
ex. when people break up and someone says they are sorry they broke up but then the other person says that they are just on a break
undoing: a form of unconscious repenting that involves neutralizing or atoning for an unacceptable action or thought with a second action or thought
did something you shouldn’t and try to make up for it
a woman who gets a tax refund by cheating on her taxes so she makes a larger-than-usual donation on the following Sunday
regression: retreating to a behavior pattern characteristic of an earlier stage of development
after her parent's divorce, a 10-year-old refuses to sleep in her bed alone crawling into her bed with her mother
3/27/24
He believed that we go through psychosexual stages
psychosexual stages: age-related developmental periods in which the child’s sexual urges are expressed through different areas of the body and the activities associated with those areas
he doesn't believe that children experience sexual urges the way adults do, but he does believe that the child experiences pleasure
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stage | age | activity |
|---|---|---|
oral | birth-18 months | babies experience pleasure through activities such as sucking, biting, and chewing |
anal | 18-36 months | pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder functions, the pleasure is on the control of their bodies |
phallic | 3-6 years | pleasure focuses on the genitals, boys form an unconscious attraction toward their mother |
latency | 6-puberty | sexual feelings go dormant |
genital | puberty+ | maturation of sexual interests occurs |
oral: birth-18 months, babies experience pleasure through activities such as sucking, biting, and chewing
anal: 18-36 months, pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder functions, the pleasure is on the control of their bodies
phallic: 3-6 years, pleasure focuses on the genitals
Oedipus: a child’s unconscious desire for the opposite-sex parent, usually accompanied by hostile feelings toward the same-sex parent, Oedipus was abandoned by his parents at birth and he unknowingly married his mother and killed his father
identification: an ego defense mechanism that involves reducing anxiety by modeling the behavior and characteristics of another person
Electra complex: the girl’s parallel experience to the Oedipus — not Freud’s idea
because of all the stress of phallic latency: sexual feelings go dormant
genital: puberty+, maturation of sexual interest occurs
believed children were either overindulged in their pleasure or deprived of pleasure in these stages
oral: cut off too early or kept on too late
anal: potty trained too early or too late
fixation: when a person continues to seek pleasure through behaviors that are similar to those associated with that psychosexual stage
fixated on the oral stage by chewing gum, chewing on pens, etc
fixated on the anal stage, people who like to have control and structure
Neo-Freudians:
accepted these basic ideas:
the personality structures of the id, ego, and superego,
the importance of the unconscious
the shaping of personality in childhood
the dynamics of anxiety and the defense mechanisms
veered away in these ways:
took in belief that is primarily motivated by sexual urges
disagreed with his contention that personality is determined by early childhood
they departed from his generally pessimistic view of human nature and society
they place more emphasis on the role of the conscious mind in interpreting experience and coping with the environment
placed more emphasis on loftier motives and social interaction
psychodynamic perspective:
Sometimes Freud is put in with this, sometimes they are put under psychoanalysis
People who are Neo-Freudians
Alfred Adler and Karen Horney: they agreed that childhood is important, they believe that childhood social not sexual tensions are crucial for personality formation
Alfred Adler: placed more emphasis on the importance of conscious thought processes and social urges
much of our behavior is driven by an effort to contour childhood feelings of inferiority
these feelings motivate people to compensate by emphasizing their talents and abilities and working hard to improve themselves
if they are unable to compensate they develop *** an inferiority complex
inferiority complex: a general sense of inadequacy, weakness, and helplessness
Karen Horney: she stressed the importance of social relationships, especially the parent-child,
she believed that disturbances in human relationships, not sexual conflicts, were the cause of psychological problems
said that childhood anxiety caused by a dependent child’s sense of helplessness triggers the desire for love and security and as a result, three patterns of behavior develop to defend against that basic anxiety:
those who move toward other people have an excessive need for approval and affection
those who move against others have an excessive need for power, especially power over other people, they are often competitive, critical, domineering, and need to feel superior to others
those who move away from other people have an excessive need for independence and self-sufficiency which often makes them seem aloof and detached from others
the healthy personality is flexible in balancing these different needs, there are times when each behavior pattern is appropriate
Carl Jung: placed less emphasis on social factors and agreed with Freud that the unconscious exerts a powerful influence and that the unconscious contains more than a person’s repressed thoughts and feelings
he believed that personality develops throughout the lifespan
he rejected the idea that behavior is fueled by sex and aggression but rather is fueled by the drive for psychological growth and self-realization
he also believed in the collective unconscious which is the deepest part of the human psyche
collective unconscious: the hypothesized part of the unconscious mind that is inherited from previous generations and that contains universally shared ancestral experiences and ideas
humanities shared and inherited experiences
even tho you don’t know all that they experienced it is in your brain influencing you
within the collective unconscious are these things called archetypes
archetypes: mental images of universal human instincts, themes, and preoccupations that are the main components of the collective unconscious
common archetypes:
the powerful hero
the powerful father
the nurturing mother
the witch
the wise old man
the innocent child
death and rebirth
the idea that there are two personality types: introverts and extroverts
introverts: direct their attention inward, and tend to need time alone to re-energize
extroverts: direct their attention and energy outward,
assessing the unconscious
personality test:
projective test: provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger the projection of one’s inner dynamics
Thematic Apperception test (TAT): involves creating stories about each of a series of ambiguous scenes
show a scene and look at the story that you tell they look for motives, needs, anxieties, and conflicts of the main character, and how the conflicts are resolved
The Rorschach inkblot test: developed by Hermann Rorschach, uses ink blots that the test taker is asked to describe
included 10 pictures, 5 in black and white, 5 in color, they just describe what they see in the ink blots, observe their responses, and record their behaviors, , and
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4/9/24
trait perspective/theory: focuses on identifying, describing, and measuring individual differences, it’s interested in describing our temperaments and typical perspective
trait: a relatively stable enduring predisposition to consistently behave in a certain way
Gordon Allport: he came up with over 4,000 traits he focused more on surface traits
surface traits: characteristics or attributes that can be easily inferred from observable behavior
examples of the surface traits: happy, gloomy, exuberant, and spacey
Raymond Cattell: reduced the list to 16 traits,
ex. reserved and unsociable or outgoing and sociable,
affected by feelings or emotionally unstable
serious or happy-go-lucky
relaxed or tense
Hans Eysenck: reduced the list to 4 basic personality types
Introverted or extroverted
neurotic or stable
Introverted and neurotic: they are likely to be described as moody, anxious, pessimistic, reserved, rigid, and quiet
Extroverted and neurotic: described as touchy, restless, excitable, impulsive, or active
Introverted and stable: careful, controlled, even-tempered or calm
Extroverted and stable: sociable, outgoing, carefree, and lively
The five-factor model of personality/the big five: the widely accepted one, two different dimensions and within that range, you will fall somewhere between low and high
neuroticism
either calm or worrying
even-tempered unemotional or temperamental emotional
hearty or vulnerable
extroversion
reserved or affectionate
loner or joiner
quiet or talkative
openness to experience
down-to-earth or imaginative
conventional, uncreative or original, creative
prefer routine or prefer a variety
agreeableness
antagonistic or acquiescent
ruthless or soft-hearted
suspicious or trusting
consciousnesses
lazy or hardworking
aimless sor ambitious
quitting or persevering
It simply describes behavior nothing else
assessing traits, a personality inventory/self-inventory is used
personality inventory: a psychological test often a questionnaire with often true false or agree-disagree items on which people respond to items or standardized questions designed to gain a wide range of feelings and behaviors that are compared to establish norms
the most widely used one is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)
in its second revision
original purpose was to identify emotional disorders and this is still considered its most appropriate use even though it is used in a lot of screening processes
some of the topics: social topics, politics, religion, sex attitudes, physical thoughts, psychological health, interpersonal relationships, and abnormal thoughts and behaviors
a lot of them are true false and cannot say options
often used to evaluate the mental health of candidates for police officers, doctors, nurses, and professional pilots
empirically derived test: developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups, the MMPI-2
factor analysis: a statistical procedure that is used to identify clusters of test items that tap into basic components of traits or intelligence
would someone respond a certain way to look a certain way
the humanistic perspective: emphasizes human potential and such uniquely human characteristics as self-awareness and free will
focus on the healthy personality and the whole person
Abraham Maslow: (the hierarchy of needs) People want to become the best version of themselves they can be
Carl Rogers: he was very impressed with his patient’s desire/drive to grow and develop their potential
he referred to his patients as clients not patients, they were working together, and the clients were voluntarily participating in therapy
he believes the most basic human motive is the actualizing tendency
actualizing tendency: the innate drive to maintain and enhance the human organism
he believed that all other motives whether emotional or biological are secondary
influenced by different factors:
self-concept: the set of perceptions and beliefs that you hold about yourself, including your nature your personal qualities, and your typical behavior
we are motivated to act in accordance with our self-concept
to have the most positive self-concept and to have the healthiest personality we need a growth-promoting climate with these three conditions
genuineness: being open with your own feelings, dropping your facade, and being transparent and self-disclosing
unconditional positive regard: the sense that you will be valued and loved even if you don’t conform to the standards and expectations of others
conditional positive regard: the sense that you will be valued and loved only if you behave in a way that is acceptable to others
empathy: non-judgmentally reflected and meanings
4/10/24
Social-cognitive perspective: focuses on the idea that people actively process information from their social experiences this information influences their goals expectations beliefs and behavior as well as the environments they choose
emphasizes the importance of external events and stresses our capacity for self-regulation
differs from psychoanalytic and humanistic perspectives in several ways:
first rather than basing their approach on self-analysis or insights derived from psychotherapy social cognitive theorists rely heavily on experimental findings
second, it emphasizes conscious self-regulated behavior rather than unconscious mental influences and instinctual drives
third, it emphasizes that our sense of self can vary depending on our thoughts findings, and behaviors in a given situation
Albert Bandura
reciprocal determinism: a model proposed by Bandura that explains human functioning and personality as caused by the interaction of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors
each factor both influences the other factors and is influenced by the other factors
a person's cognitive skills, abilities, and attitudes represent the person’s self-system, it is our self-system that guides how we perceive evaluate, and control our behavior in different situations the most critical elements influencing the self-system: are our beliefs of self-efficacy
self-efficacy: the beliefs that people have about their ability to meet the demands of a specific situation, feelings of self-confidence or self-doubt
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