Individual Differences in Psychology

Individual Differences in Psychology

• Psychology studies general rules of behavior, seeking to understand how most people behave, based on average behaviors.
• Differential Psychology studies individual differences in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; focusing on psychological traits (long-lasting ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving).
• Psychological traits are relatively stable over time and differ between people, distinct from psychological states (short-term and situational behaviors).
• Differential Psychology vs Cognitive Psychology: While cognitive psychology explores memory processes, differential psychology investigates why some individuals have greater memory capacity.
• Differential Psychology vs Social Psychology: Differential psychology analyzes individual differences in obedience to authority, contrasting it with social psychology's focus on factors causing obedience in general.
• Differential Psychology vs Developmental Psychology: Differential psychology explores individual differences in developing the "theory of mind" (understanding others' desires and beliefs), contrasted by developmental psychology's focus on the typical age for this development.
• Differential psychology also investigates how people differ, why they differ on traits and the effect these variations have on people’s lives.

What is Personality?

• Personality refers to distinctive and enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
• Individuals generally exhibit consistent behavior across time and situations.
• Personality is seen as a long-lasting, internal explanation for behavior.

Historical Perspectives of Personality

A) Psychodynamic Perspectives and Freud

• Freud's theory: An initial attempt at personality. Freud observed patients with conversion hysteria (symptoms that disappear with repressed memories).
• The Unconscious Mind: Freud theorized a significant unconscious mind. Re-experiencing traumatic memories led to symptom relief, hinting at their influence on behavior. Freud developed techniques to discover unconscious memories and feelings.
• Psychic Energy: Personality is an energy system, constantly seeking release. Instincts drive this psychic energy (libido).
• Mental Processes: Awareness levels:
  • Conscious: Current awareness
  • Preconscious: Currently unaware, but can be recalled
  • Unconscious: Beyond awareness

The Structure of Personality (Freud)

• Id: Source of all psychic energy (libido), entirely unconscious, irrational, seeks immediate gratification. Present from birth.

• Ego: Acts as a mediator of reality. Primary function is in the conscious mind, with a reality principle (testing reality before fulfilling Id desires) to balance id needs with superego (moral arm of personality). Develops by age 3.

• Superego: Internalized societal values, moral guidelines. Develops by age 4/5, controls the id and aims for completely blocking gratification, prioritizing moralistic over realistic goals.

Personality Dynamics and Conflict

• Personality arises from the dynamic conflict between the id's impulses, and the ego and superego's controls.
• Behavior represents a compromise between these motives and impulses.
• Anxiety and mental disorders result from conflicts between conscious and unconscious mind, when the ego confronts impulses that threaten to get out of control.

Defense Mechanisms

• Defense Mechanisms: Unconscious mental operations that distort or deny reality. Used to protect against anxiety. Examples:
  • Repression: Pushing anxiety-arousing memories into the unconscious.
  • Denial: Refusal to acknowledge anxiety-arousing memories.
  • Displacement: Redirecting dangerous impulses to a safer target.

Psychosexual Development

• Early Experiences: Freud believed early life experiences shape adult personality. Children progress through four psychosexual stages.
• Erogenous Zones: The id's pleasure-seeking tendencies focused on specific body areas.
• Fixation: Deprivation or overindulgence at a stage can lead to fixation, creating specific adult personality types.
• Regression: Retreating to an earlier stage during stressful situations.

Psychosexual Stages

• Oral (Infancy): Pleasure from sucking and feeding.
• Anal (ages 1-2): Pleasure from bowel movements. Toilet training is significant.
• Phallic (ages 4-5): Pleasure from sexual organs; Oedipus and Electra complexes arise.
• Genital (adolescence+): Sexuality resumes, expressing it in mature relationships.

Evaluating Freud's Theory

• Limitations:
  • Vague concepts, difficult to measure.
  • Unsupportable, untestable predictions.
  • Based on limited observations.
  • Cultural and gender biases apparent.

B) Phenomenological-Humanistic Perspectives

• Contrast to Freud: Behavior is a response to our subjective, conscious experience of the self and environment, not unconscious drives.
• Phenomenology: Emphasis on how we experience the world now.
• Humanism: Positive view of human nature; focuses on internal forces driving behavior.

The Self (Rogers)

• Self-actualization: The highest potential for human beings.
• The Self: An organized collection of self-perceptions, both perceiving ourselves and directing our behaviors.
• Congruence: Consistency between self-perceptions and experience.
• Incongruence: Inconsistency between self-perceptions and experience.

The Self-Concept

• Self-verification: Seeking information that confirms existing self-concepts.
• Self-enhancement: Maintaining a positive self-image. (People often rate themselves better than average.)

Evaluating Phenomenological - Humanistic Perspectives

• Limitations:
  • Relies heavily on self-reports, subjective experiences.
  • Difficulty objectively measuring self-concept and self-actualization.
  • Hard to make testable predictions about human behavior.

Explore the fascinating realm of individual differences within psychology. This quiz uncovers the distinctions between differential psychology and other branches, such as cognitive and developmental psychology. Test your understanding of psychological traits and the factors influencing them.