Psychodynamic Theories Cognive Social Trait Theory Personality Learning Theories *An individual’s unique paern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that persists over me and across situaons. Humanisc Theories Issues in Personality 1. Free will or determinism? 2. Nature or nurture? 3. Past, present, or future? 4. Uniqueness or universality? 5. Equilibrium or growth? 6. Opmism or pessimism? Psychodynamic Theories Sigmund Freud Behavior is the product of psychological forces within the individual, oen Neo‐Freudians outside of conscious awareness Central Tenets 1) Much of mental life is unconscious. People may behave in ways they themselves don’t understand. 2) Mental processes act in parallel, leading to conflicng thoughts and feelings. 3) Personality paerns begin in childhood. Childhood experiences strongly affect personality development. 4) Mental representaons of self, others, and relaonships guide interacons with others. 5) The development of personality involves learning to regulate aggressive and sexual feelings as well as becoming socially independent rather than dependent. Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud • The human PERSONALITY is an energy system. • It is the job of psychology to invesgate the change, transmission and conversion of this ‘psychic energy’ within the personality which shape and determine it. These Drives are the ‘Energy’ Structure of the Mind – Id – Super‐ego – Ego Id • Exists enrely in the unconscious (so we are never aware of it). • Our hidden true animalisc wants and desires. • Works on the Pleasure Principle • Avoid pain and receive instant graficaon. Ego If you want to be with someone. Your id says just take them, but your ego does not want to end up in jail. So you ask her out instead. • Negoates between the Id and the environment. • Develops aer the Id. • Works on the Reality Principle. • In our conscious and unconscious minds. • It is what everyone sees as our personality. Superego • It is our conscience (what we think the difference is between right and wrong) • Develops last at about the age of 5 • The ego oen mediates between the superego and id. Unconscious What happens when the Id and Super‐ ego can’t reconcile? • The psychic energy has to go somewhere! • Id won’t let it go. • Super‐ego won’t let it happen. • To protect itself the organism employs defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms Denial: refusal to acknowledge a painful or threatening reality. Repression: exclude painful thoughts or feelings w/o realizing Projecon: aribung own feelings on others. Regression: revert to childlike behavior Reacon Formaon: exaggeratedly opposite ideas and emoons. Displacement: redirecon of repressed moves or feelings onto substute objects. Sublimaon: transforming repressed moves or feelings into more socially accepted forms. Intellectualizaon ‐ undertaking an academic, unemoonal study of a topic. Raonalizaon‐ coming up with a beneficial result of an undesirable outcome. Thin line Between the conscious and unconscious • Somemes our unconscious thoughts, etc slip into the conscious. • How? – “Freudian slips” – Dreams – Humor So how does this play out? • Humans are driven by the desire for bodily sexual pleasure (libido)– it gets released from different centers at different mes. • But the parents act as the social coercion to balance these desires. – ‘Super‐ego givers.’ • Development is the resoluon of a series of conflicts. So how does this play out • “Psychosexual” Stages of development – Oral: 0–18months • Sucking (Weaning) • Fixaon – Gullible or Cynical – Anal: 18months–3 • Defecaon (Poy training) • Fixaon – Self Destrucve vs. Anal Retenve – Phallic: 3‐5/6 • Genitals (Oedipus and Electra Complex / Castraon Anxiety) So how does this play out – Latency 5/6 – 12/13 • all libidinal acvity is suppressed. – Genital Stage – To puberty and beyond! • genitals and orgasm. • Focused on reproducon Oedipus Complex • Phase One – Boy has a libidinal bond with the mother (breast feeding and mother as primary caregiver) – Parallel to this, the boy begins to idenfy with his father, the figure parallel to him in terms of biological sex. (Idenficaon with the father's role as "lover" of mother.) – In this phase, these 2 relaonship exist side‐by‐ side and in relave harmony. Oedipus Complex • Boy’s feelings Intensify • Sees the father as an obstacle and a rival who he desires to get rid of or to kill. • Worries the father will castrate him. • Boy is never 100% hosle. He keeps the idenficaon so he is torn – ambivalence • Boy hopefully turns his psychic energy into full‐on idenficaon with the father. “Can’t beat’em, join’em.” • Boy is masculinized, eventually seeks his own sexual partner The Electra Complex • But what about girls? • During the phallic stage the daughter becomes aached to her father and more hosle towards her mother. • Believes that mom is responsible for her not having a penis. • This is due mostly to the idea that the girl is "envious" of her father's penis thus the term "penis‐envy". • This leads to resentment towards her mother, who the girl believes caused her castraon. The Psychoanalyc Perspecve Neo‐Freudians • Freud The Neo‐Freudians refers to • Neo‐Freudians theorists who broke with – Carl Jung Freud but whose theories – Alfred Adler retain a psychodynamic – Karen Horney aspect, especially a focus on movaon as the source of energy for the personality. Carl Jung • Shared Freud’s emphasis on unconscious processes • But libido is all life forces not just sexual ones • Unconscious is posive source of strength • Development comes to fruion by middle age Carl Jung • Personal unconscious – That part of the unconscious mind containing an individuals repressed thoughts and feelings • Collecve unconscious – The part of the unconscious that is inherited and common to all members of a species Archetypes – Self • regulang center of the psyche – Shadow • destrucve and aggressive tendencies – Persona • Our public self – Anima • Female archetype as expressed in male personality – Animus • Male archetype as expressed in female personality Atude/Personality Types • Extroverts – Focus on external world and social life • Introverts – Focus on internal thoughts and feelings • Jung felt that everyone had both qualies, but one is usually dominant Personality Types • Raonal individuals – People who regulate their acons through thinking and feeling – Raonal and logical people who decide on facts – Acts tacully and has a balanced sense of values • Irraonal individuals – People who base their acons on percepons, either through their senses or intuion – Relies on surface percepons – lile imaginaon – Beyond the obvious to consider future possibilies Alfred Adler • Didn’t see the conflict between the id and superego • People have innate posive moves that make them strive for personal/ social perfecon • The unique mix of personal and social perfecon creates unique direcons and beliefs that become our style of life • This emerges by 4 or 5 Alfred Adler • Compensaon – Our efforts to overcome real or perceived weaknesses while we strive for that perfecon. • We try to overcome feelings of inferiority • Inferiority complex – Fixaon on feelings of personal inferiority that can lead to emoonal and social paralysis • Would focus on our drive toward superiority and perfecon – father of Humanisc Psychology Karen Horney • Environmental and social factors are important, especially those we experience as children • Viewed anxiety (reacon to real or imagined dangers) as a powerful movang force • seen as being as important as unconscious sexual conflict Karen Horney • Neuroc trends – Irraonal strategies for coping with emoonal problems and thus minimizing anxiety – Submission (Moving toward people) • Feels the need to give in to other and only feels safe when receiving protecon and guidance. • Friendliness is superficial and masks true resentment – Aggression (Moving against people) • Hides inner feelings of insecurity while they lash out – Detachment (Moving away from people) • If I withdraw nothing can hurt me Evaluang Psychodynamic Theories • Culture‐bound ideas – Freud made no connecon between women’s subordinate status in society and their sense of inferiority • Psychodymanic theories are largely untestable in any scienfic way • Most of its concepts arise out of clinical pracce, which are the aer‐the‐fact explanaon. Evaluang the Psychoanalyc Perspecve Modern Research 1. Personality develops throughout life and is not fixed in childhood. 2. Freud underemphasized peer influence on the individual, which may be as powerful as parental influence. 3. Gender identy may develop before 5‐6 years of age. Evaluang the Psychoanalyc Perspecve Modern Research 4. There may be other reasons for dreams besides wish fulfillment. 5. Verbal slips can be explained on the basis of cognive processing of verbal choices. (capture effect) 6. If suppressed sexuality leads to psychological disorders. Sexual inhibion has decreased, but psychological disorders have not. Evaluang the Psychoanalyc Perspecve Freud's psychoanalyc theory rests on the repression of painful experiences into the unconscious mind. The majority of children, death camp survivors, and bale‐scarred veterans are unable to repress painful experiences into their unconscious mind. Projecve Tests Assessing Unconscious Processes Evaluang personality from an unconscious mind’s perspecve would require a psychological instrument (projecve tests) that would reveal the hidden unconscious mind. Themac Appercepon Test (TAT) Developed by Henry Murray, the TAT is a projecve test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through