Untitled Quiz

Psychodynamic Theories

• Psychodynamic theories assume powerful internal forces shape personality and motivate behavior.
• Sigmund Freud, considered the father of psychodynamic theory, saw personality as a battle between inner drives and social constraints.

Freudian Psychoanalysis

• Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes intrapsychic events motivating behavior, sometimes operating unconsciously.
• Freud believed all behavior is motivated and driven by unconscious forces.
• Freud's theory is based primarily on clinical observations and case studies of patients.
• Key concepts include the id, ego, and superego, each with distinct functions and operating on specific principles.

Drives and Psychosexual Development

• Freud's medical training led to the idea of psychic energy as a source of motivation, inborn instincts/drives.
• Two basic drives: Eros (related to sexual urges and survival) and a drive for self-preservation.
• Libido: psychic energy for sexual urges.
• Psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital, each associated with a specific erogenous zone and developmental tasks.
• Fixation during certain stages can produce adult character traits.

Psychic Determinism

• All mental and behavioral reactions are determined by prior experiences.
• Freud viewed symptoms as meaningful responses to significant life events, not random occurrences.

The Unconscious

• The mind has an unconscious realm; the unconscious is inaccessible to conscious awareness but contains powerful influences.
• Unconscious processes can affect behavior through slips of the tongue, dreams, and other ways.

The Structure of Personality

• The id: fundamental drives guided by the pleasure principle (immediate gratification).
• The ego: mediates between id and superego, operating on the reality principle.
• The superego: internalization of societal values and morals.

Repression and Ego Defense Mechanisms

• Repression: ego defense mechanism pushing threatening thoughts/memories to the unconscious.
• Ego defense mechanisms protect the ego from anxiety and conflict.

Evaluation of Freudian Theory

• Criticism of Freud's theory: vague concepts, difficulty in scientific testing.
• The theory can explain behavior retrospectively but not predict future behavior.
• Theory's limitations/biases: not enough consideration for observations of children, minimizing traumatic experiences, and androcentric bias (male-centered).

Extending Psychodynamic Theories

• Post-Freudian theorists expanded on Freud's work, emphasizing ego functions, social variables, and the entire lifespan.
• Alfred Adler rejected the importance of "eros" and argued that behaviors are driven by feelings of inferiority and striving for superiority.
• Karen Horney challenged Freud's emphasis on the penis and stressed the importance of social and cultural factors.
• Carl Jung greatly expanded the unconscious to include a collective unconscious, filled with universal archetypes.

Humanistic Theories

• Humanistic approaches focus on individual growth potential and conscious experience.
• Carl Rogers emphasized the self-concept and self-actualization as core components of personality.
• Unconditional positive regard is necessary for personal growth.
• Karen Horney highlighted the role of social and environmental factors in personality development.

Social-Learning and Cognitive Theories

• Social-learning theorists like Julian Rotter emphasize learning experiences and environmental contingencies.
• Expectancies and reinforcement history influence behavior.
• Walter Mischel's cognitive-social theory combines learning principles with cognitive processes to explain personality.
• Mischel emphasizes person-situation interaction, rather than fixed traits alone, to explain behavior.
• Albert Bandura's social-cognitive theory focuses on observational learning and self-efficacy.

Self Theories

• Self theories are concerned with the individual's understanding of the self.
• William James established a foundation for self-concepts, distinguishing the material, social, and spiritual dimensions.
• Terror management theory suggests that self-esteem helps individuals cope with existential fears, like death.

The Cultural Construction of Self

• Independent and interdependent construals of self are affected by culture.
• Western cultures tend toward independent self-construals, while many collectivist cultures emphasize interdependence.
• Cultural context plays a role in how individuals define and understand themselves.