UNIT 10 - PERSONALITY

1. UNIT 10 - PERSONALITY Module 55 - Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective: Exploring the Unconscious Module 56 - Psychodynamic Theories and Modern Views of the Unconscious Module 57 - Humanistic Theories Module 58 - Trait Theories Module 59 - Social-Cognitive Theories and Exploring the Self

2. Personality • Personality is the unique and consistent pattern of behavior, thinking, and feeling that makes up an individual. Personality researchers have tried to provide answers that explain how personality develops and how people are similar and different. Personality research has generated widespread interest, from employers who seek to find the perfect employee to people wondering whether someone they have recently met is trustworthy.

4. 55.1 – Explain how Freud’s treatment of psychological disorders led to his view of the unconscious mind. Psychoanalytic Perspective • In his medical practice, Sigmund Freud encountered patients suffering from nervous disorders. • Their complaints could not be explained in terms of purely physical causes. • In his quest for answers, he “discovered” the unconscious.

5. 55.1 – Explain how Freud’s treatment of psychological disorders led to his view of the unconscious mind. Exploring the Unconscious • Freud said the unconscious mind is a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. • He used psychoanalysis to retrieve and release painful, embarrassing unconscious memories (repression) through free associationand dreamanalysis.

6. 55.2 – Describe Freud’s view of personality. Freud’s Model of the Mind • The mind is like an iceberg. • It is mostly hidden, and below the surface lies the unconscious mind. • The preconscious stores temporary memories. • Sigmund Freud believed that personality is influenced by the unconscious, which is comprised of wishes, inner conflicts, and memories that we are unaware of but that still affect our behavior. He believed that even though people are unaware of the unconscious, it can enter conscious and preconscious awareness through symbolic points. Conscious awarenessincludes all of the mental processes a person is aware of at any given moment. Preconscious awarenessis made up of memories and information that are not presently in conscious awareness but can easily be recalled.

7. 55.2 – Describe Freud’s view of personality. Freud’s View of Personality • Personality develops as a result of our efforts to resolve conflicts between our biological impulses and social restraints.

8. 55.2 – Describe Freud’s view of personality. Id, Ego, and Superego • Freud believed that personality is the result of psychological energy that produces three distinct components of personality: the id, the ego, and the superego. 1) Id – present at birth and is the unconscious portion of personality. The id is primitive and is not affected by values, ethics, or morals. The id’s psychological energy comes from two opposing instinctual drives called Eros and Thanatos. The nature of Eros is to preserve life by alerting an individual to hunger, thirst, and sexuality. Freud believed that a person’s sex drive provides a psychological energy he referred to as the libido. He thought that Thanatos, or the death instinct, is responsible for aggressive and destructive behaviors. The id is governed by the pleasure principle, which demands immediate gratification. 2) Ego – emerges from the psychological energy of the id. The ego is partly conscious and represents the rational, decision-making part of the personality. The ego relies on the reality principle, which, when necessary, delays the demands and the needs of the id until a more appropriate time. 3) Superego – emerges at about age five or six and represents the internal voice of reason. The superego is comparable to a person’s conscience acting as a judge and jury. The individual who doesn’t live up to the demands of the superego experiences guilt and anxiety.

9. 55.2 – Describe Freud’s view of personality. • Personality structure • Id • Pleasure principle • Ego • Reality principle • Superego • Conscience

10. 55.3 – Identify Freud’s developmental stages. Personality Development • Freud believed that personality formed during the first few years of life, which is divided in to psychosexual stages. • During these stages the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on pleasure sensitive body areas called erogenous zones.

11. 55.3 – Identify Freud’s developmental stages. Psychosexual Stages • Freud believed that personality develops through a series of five distinct psychosexual stages. Each stage is unconsciously associated with an area or pleasure (erogenous zone) in which the unconscious tries to achieve satisfaction. If the unconscious is not able to adequately satisfy the needs associated with a particular stage, then fixation could occur. Fixation is a defense mechanism that occurs when the individual remains locked in an earlier developmental stage because his or her needs were either under or over gratified during that stage. This can affect the individual in adulthood as he or she unconsciously tries to achieve pleasure through adult activities that were denied him or her in childhood.

12. 55.3 – Identify Freud’s developmental stages. Psychosexual Stages 1) Oral Stage (0 to one year old) -Pleasure associated with the mouth. -Activities: putting objects such as pacifiers into the mouth, sucking, biting, or chewing. -Fixation: could result in adult oral activities such as chewing fingernails, smoking, overeating, chewing on straws, or being overly talkative or sarcastic.

13. 55.3 – Identify Freud’s developmental stages. Psychosexual Stages 2) Anal Stage (two years old) -Pleasure associated with anal area. -Activity: proper toilet training; child learning control over bowels. -Fixation: if toilet training is too harsh or not mastered, this could result in adult anal retentive characteristics such as obsessive neatness or anal expulsive characteristics such as extreme messiness.

14. 55.3 – Identify Freud’s developmental stages. Psychosexual Stages 3) Phallic Stage (three to five years old) -Pleasure associated with genitals (one’s own). -Oedipus Complex: occurs when the son displays incestuous feelings for his mother and resistance towards his father. As a results of these feelings, the boy develops castration anxiety. This anxiety arises from the thought that the father will eventually punish the boy for his incestuous thoughts for his mother by castrating his penis. -Electra Complex: occurs when the daughter questions why boys have penises and girls do not. In turn, the girl develops penis envy and starts to display incestuous feelings towards her father and resistance towards the mother. -Identification: boy’s resolve and reduce the anxiety caused by the Oedipus complex and castration anxiety by forming an alliance with the father, who once was the enemy. The boy uses the defense mechanism of identification, which involves imitating his father’s attitudes and values. It is during this stage that the boy’s superego starts to develop. Similar to boys, girls resolve the electra complex and penis envy by identifying with the mother, who in turn helps develop the girl’s superego.

15. 55.3 – Identify Freud’s developmental stages. Psychosexual Stages 4) Latency Stage (late childhood) -Sexual impulses lie dormant with focus on same-sex friendships and the development of social and intellectual skills. Through redirecting energy into emotionally sage and socially acceptable activities (i.e. sublimation), the child forgets the highly stressful conflicts of the phallic stage.

16. 55.3 – Identify Freud’s developmental stages. Psychosexual Stages 5) Phallic Stage (adolescence) -Sexual impulses reemerge and emphasis is again placed on the genitals (individuals and others). The focal activity during this stage is experimenting with loving, intimate relationships that are mutually gratifying.

17. 55.4 – Describe Freud’s views on how people defend themselves against anxiety. • Freud believed that the urges of the id and the demands of the superego could cause conflicts, and that the role of the ego is to mediate such conflicts, which Freud called “intrapsychic”. Intrapsychic conflict, he held, can lead to anxiety. In order to reduce this anxiety and protect itself against unpleasant impulses and circumstances, the ego relies on defense mechanisms.

18. 55.4 – Describe Freud’s views on how people defend themselves against anxiety. Defense Mechanisms • Repression– the exclusion from conscious awareness of painful, unpleasant, or undesirable memory or urge. (Note: “suppression” is a conscious decision to forget about something or avoid thinking about it). -Example: Someone who experienced child abuse represses those memories 2) Rationalization– providing excuses or explanations to justify thoughts or behaviors. -Example: A student blames the teacher for not allowing enough time to finish a test. • Projection– ascribing or assigning one’s own undesirable feelings or thoughts to others. -Example: You say to your friend, “You’re such a liar!” when you feel guilty about recent lies you told.

19. 55.4 – Describe Freud’s views on how people defend themselves against anxiety. Defense Mechanisms 4) Reaction Formation – when a person behaves in a way that contradicts their actual thoughts. -Example: Jimmy has a crush on Jill, but instead of showing it he makes fun of her. 5) Sublimation – attempting to turn unacceptable thoughts or actions into socially acceptable behavior. -Example: Many aggressive people join football or hockey teams. 6) Displacement – shifting anger and hostility to a less threatening target. -Example: Mason got into an argument with his teacher and slammed the door on the way out.

20. 55.4 – Describe Freud’s views on how people defend themselves against anxiety. Defense Mechanisms 7) Compensation – trying to make up for unconscious impulses or fears. -Example: Julie is very strict with her employees, trying to make up for her shortcomings as an effective boss. 8) Denial – not being willing to accept the truth. -Example: People who are addicted to drugs don’t want to admit it. 9) Regression – in time of stress, an individual’s reverting to a behavior that is associated with an earlier stage of development. -Example: Evie cried in response to getting a speeding ticket.

21. 55.5 – Discuss how contemporary psychologists view Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective. • Recent personality researchers have given limited support to the psychodynamic perspective. The main criticism cited is the difficulty of providing the existence and consequent influence of the unconscious. There is no empirical way to study the origins and the effects of the unconscious. In addition, case studies, Freud’s main research method, are limited in providing applicable data and cannot be generalized to a larger population. Studying one individual does not correlate to an entire population because the case study may be atypical only representing that one individual. Freud also based his theory on Western European thought and North American values, which makes it difficult to relate to other countries. • However, the psychodynamic perspective brought about additional research in the development of personality, since in order to disprove Freud’s theories, researchers had to search for theories that would offer differing explanations.

22. 55.5 – Discuss how contemporary psychologists view Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective. Modern Research and Freud’s Ideas • Freud offered after-the-fact explanations, which cannot be tested scientifically. • Many of his ideas have been disputed by modern research. • Development is not fixed in childhood. • Gender identity can develop without a same-sex parent present. • Dreams do not exist to disguise wishes. • Suppressed sexuality does not lead to psychological disorders. • Stressful situations lead to enhanced memories, not repressed ones.