Ch 5

LIMITS AND LIABILITIES OF FREUDIAN THEORY

• Many theorists reject the idea that the adult personality is formed almost entirely in the firs 5-6 years of life

• Many neo Freudians challenge Freud's emphasis on instinctual forces

• Many dislike the generally negative tone of Freudian theory

ALFRED ADLER

• His approach is individual psychology

  • His contributions are:

  • Striving for superiority, the role of parental influence, and the effects of birth order

STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY

• A description of human motivation

• Freud depicted motivation in terms of sexual and aggressive theme

• Adler identified a single force called striving for superiority

• Begins with feelings of inferiority

  • Each of us begin life with a profound sense of inferiority

• The moment children become aware of their weakness is when the begin struggling to overcome this sense of inferiority

• The more inferior we see ourselves, the stronger our strive for superiority

• In some cases, excessive feelings of inferiority can have the opposite effect

  • Inferiority complex: a belief that you are vastly inferior to everyone else

  • The result is feelings of helplessness rather than an upward drive to establish superiority

  • People who suffer from this run away from challenges rather than work to overcome them

• Achievement alone is not indicative of mental health

  • Superiority striving must be combined with a concern for social interest

  • e.g., successful businesspeople achieve a sense of superiority AND personal satisfaction through their accomplishments

    • But only if they achieve these goals with consideration for the welfare of others

    • So social interest is concerns and consideration for others(?)

PARENTAL INFLUENCE ON PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

• Like Freud, Adler believed the first few years of life are extremely important in the formation of adult personality

• However, Adler placed an emphasis on the parents role in this process

• Two parental behaviours that lead to problems in later life:

  1. Parents who give their children too much attention run the risk of pampering

  • Pampering robs the child of independence and adds to feelings of inferiority

  1. Parents "give their kids too much freedom"; but it's actually neglect

  • Child who receive too little attention from their parents group up cold and suspicious

    • As adults, they are incapable of warm personal relationships

    • They are uncomfortable with intimacy and may be ill at ease with closeness or touching

BIRTH ORDER

First born children:

• Subject to excessive attention, I.e., pampering

• However, this pampering is short-lived

• Attention must be shared with the second born

• The first borns perception of inferiority is likely to be strong

• Make up the greatest proportion of difficult children

Middle born children:

• Never afforded the luxury of being pampered

• Develop superiority striving

• Spend a life time trying to catch up

• Therefore, they are the highest achievers

Last born children:

• Pampered throughout their childhood by all members of the family

• Spoiled children are very dependent and without personal initiative

• Vulnerable to strong inferiority feelings because everyone  in their immediate environment is older and stronger

CARL JUNG

• Developed analytic psychology

THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

• Distinguishes the collective unconscious from the personal unconscious

  • Consists of thoughts and images that are difficult to bring into awareness

  • However, they were never repressed out of consciousness

• Each of us was born with this unconscious material

• It is made up of primordial images

  • e.g., we respond similarly to the dark because of unconscious images inherited from our ancestors

  • These images are referred to collectively as archetypes

SOME IMPORTANT ARCHETYPES

Anima: the feminine side of the male

Animus: the masculine side of the female

• A principle function of these archetypes is to guide the selection of a romantic partner and the direction of the subsequent relationship

• We project our anima/animus onto potential mates

• Each of us hold an unconscious image of the man or woman we are looking for

  • The more someone matches our projected standards, the more we'll want to develop a relationship with that person

Shadow: the negative unconscious part of us

• I.e., the dark side of our personalities/evil side of humankind

• Located partly in the personal unconscious as repressed feelings and partly in the collective unconscious

  • Evil is personified in myths and stories from various cultures

    • e.g., the devil

EVIDENCE FOR THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

• A criticism is that his theory is difficult to examine through scientific methods

• He relied on sources like mythology, cultural symbols, dreams, and statements of schizophrenics

ERIK ERIKSON

• Freud saw the ego as a mediator

• But Erikson believed the ego performed many corrective functions

• The ego is a relatively powerful, independent part of personality

• Ego psychology

• The principle function of the ego is to establish and maintain a sense of identity

Identity crisis: a term often overused and misused referring to the confusion and despair we feel when we lack a strong sense of who we are

PERSONALITY DEFVELOPMENT THROUGHOUT THE LIFE CYCLE

• To Freud, personality development ends when the superego appears ~age 6

• Erikson maintains that personality development occurs throughout a person's lifetime

• Conceptualized as a path with eight points (crises) where forks in the path are met

• How we resolve each crisis determines the direction of personality development

  • Also influences how we approach later crises

• There is an adaptive way and a nonadaptive way of resolving each crisis

BASIC TRUST vs. MISTRUST

• The child whose needs are met develops basic trust

  • The world is a good place, people are approachable

• When needs aren’t met, infants develop basic mistrust

  • Begin a lifelong pattern of suspicion and are withdrawn

AUTONOMY vs. SHAME & DOUBT

• When children can manipulate and influence what they encounter, children feel autonomy

  • Feel powerful and independent

  • Confident they can navigate challenges

• Overprotective parents can prevent their kids from exercising influence and events, the children develop shame and doubt

  • Unsure of themselves and become dependent on others

INITIATIVE vs. GUILT

• Children who seek out playmates and organize games and other social activities develop initiative

  • Learn how to set goals and tackle challenges with conviction

  • Develop a sense of ambition and purpose

• Children who fail at this stage are left with feelings of guilt and resignation

  • Lack a sense of purpose and show few signs of initiative in social or other situations

INDUSTRY vs. INFERIORITY

• Lots of successes = growth in feelings of competence

• experiences with failure can lead to feelings of inadequacy and to a poor prognosis for productivity and happiness

• Industry: a belief in our strengths and abilities

• inferiority: a lack of appreciation for our talents and skills

IDENTITY vs. ROLE CONFUSION

• During teen years

• Teen make decisions about personal values and religion

• Teens understand, accept, and appreciate ourselves

  • They develop a sense of identity

• If you fail to develop this strong sense of identity, you fall into role confusion

INTIMACY vs. ISOLATION

• The challenge of developing intimate relationships

• People form romantic relationships to develop intimacy

• If you fail to develop intimacy you may face emotional confusion

  • May end up avoiding emotional commitment

GENERATIVITY vs. STAGNATION

• Concern for guiding the next generation

  • A sense of fulfillment by guiding or working with youth/raising kids

  • Develop a sense of generativity

• If you fail, you develop a sense of stagnation

  • A feeling of emptiness and questioning one's purpose in life

EGO INTEGRITY vs. DESPAIR

• Reflections on past experiences and the inevitability of life's end cause us to develop either a sense of integrity or feelings of despair

  • Look back with satisfaction = leave with a sense of integrity

  • Look back with regret = leave with a sense of despair

KAREN HORNEY

• Could not accept Freud's views on women

• Freud maintained that men and women were born with different personalities

• But Horney argued that cultural and social forces are far more responsible than biology

• Reviews on neurosis and called feminine psychology

NEUROSIS

• Neurotic people are desperately fighting off feelings of inadequacy and insecurity

• The way they interact with others prevents them from developing the social contact they unconsciously crave

• Freud describes neurosis in terms of fixated energy and unconscious battles

• Horney looks to disturbed interpersonal relationships during childhood

• Children growing up in anxiety generating situations develop strategies for dealing with threatening people

• The childhood fear of interacting with other people continues

• They have learned that social relationships are a source of anxiety, and their destructive interpersonal style is a type of defence mechanism

• She identified 3 interaction styles

  • It is healthy to see yourself in all three

  • Neurotic individuals simply rely on one

MOVING TOWARD PEOPLE

• Deal with things already by emphasizing helplessness

• Dependent on others

• Compulsively seeking affection and acceptance from their parents and caregivers

• Sympathy provides temporary relief

• Attach yourself to whoever is available

MOVING AGAINST PEOPLE

• Children find aggressiveness and hostility to be the best way to deal with poor home environments

• Compensate for feelings of inadequacy and insecurity by pushing around other children

• Rewarded with a fleeting sense of power and respect from classmates, but have no real friendships

• As adults,  find the need to exploit others

• Learns during childhood that people are basically hostile and only interested in themselves

  • They respond to this perception by doing the same

  • Entering relationships when there is something to be gained

MOVING AWAY FROM PEOPLE

• Instead of interacting with others independent or hostile manner, the child tunes out the world

• The desire for privacy and self-sufficiency can become intense

• As adults, they seek out jobs requiring little interaction with others

• They avoid affection, love, and friendship

• The safest way to avoid anxiety is to avoid involvement

FEMININE PSYCHOLOGY

• She countered penis envy with her own concept of womb envy

  • Each gender has attributes that the other admires

• She pointed out that Freud's observations took place at a time when society placed women as inferior

  • If a woman at that time wished she were a man, it was because of the restrictions and burdens placed on her by the culture, not by inherent inferiority

APPLICATION: PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY AND RELIGION

• These theorists offered new perspectives on humankind and answers to some enduring philosophical questions about the human conditions

• Freud challenged conventional thinking on many religious issues

• According to Freud, religious behavior represents a form of neurosis

  • Begins with the baby's feeling of helplessness and longing for a powerful protector (the father)

• Freud called religion the type of collective wish fulfillment

• To protect ourselves from a threatening and unpredictable world, we project our imagined savior as a form of God

  • God is an unconscious father figure generated in an infantile way to provide us with a feeling of security

• Jung saw that religion often provides followers with a sense of purpose and feelings of security

• The question of God's existence was outside the realm of science

• His interest was with humankind's eternal need to find religion

• Jung's answer was that each of us inherits a God archetype in our collective unconscious

• Suggested that many people seek out psychotherapy when their religion fails to provide reassurance

ASSESSMENT: PERSONAL NARRATIVES

• Researchers use this procedure to study personality

• They ask participants to tell their life stories or some of the critical scenes in that story

MEASURING PERSONALITY WITH PERSONAL NARRATIVES

• Researchers who examine personal narrative typically interview participants

  • People are asked to describe scenes from their life

• These accounts tell us something about the character of the participant

• Interviews are recorded and transcribed

• Judges review the interview transcripts using criteria/themes

• Scores tend to be consistent overtime

Weaknesses:

• How much credence researchers should give these autobiographical accounts

  • How accurately do people report their life stories?

• In response to this concern, most investigators acknowledge that personal narratives are selective representations and fall short of perfect accuracy

  • But what people remember choose to remember and the way they construct their past is revealing

GENERATIVITY AND LIFE STORIES

• Personal narratives are considered useful for studying Erik erikson's stages of personality development

  • Specifically first studying generativity versus stagnation

• Highly generative adults are likely to provide stories in which bad situations lead to good outcomes

STRENGTHS AND CRITICISMS OF NEO-FREUDIAN THEORIES

STRENGTHS

• Their elaboration of important concepts that forward had ignored or deemphasized

  • The role of social factors

• Presented much more optimistic and flattering pictures of humankind

• Described the positive functions by the ego

• Introduced many new concepts into the psychological literature

• The optimism characterized by neo-Freudians helped pave the way for humanistic personality theorists

CRITICISMS

• Theories are supported with questionable evidence

  • Specifically Jung

• Often oversimplify or ignore important concepts