Psychoanalytic Theories of Personality

• Psychoanalytic and Neoanalytic theories explore the brain structures of personality
• These theories distinguish between conscious, preconscious, unconscious, dynamic unconscious
• They also differentiate between the id, ego, and superego
• Psychosexual stages of personality development are reviewed within these theories
• Personality types and characteristics associated with fixations at distinct stages of psychosexual development are described
• Sex differences in psychosexual development are discussed
• Reality anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and moral anxiety are also differentiated

Heritability

• BIS and BAS demonstrate a correlation of 0.5-0.6 to heritability
• Environmental factors exert influence

Personality Disorders

• Depression is linked to overactive BIS and low BAS
• Bipolar disorder is associated with overactive BAS and BIS

Main Questions

• Psychoanalytic and neoanalytic theories address the components of the mind and personality
• They also address the stages of personality development

Components of Mind and Personality

• Freud proposed three components related to the mind and three for personality therefore, Freud is considered the founder of personality psychology

Mind

• Conscious mind is accessible and located in the prefrontal cortex, dealing with planning, decision-making, and the present
• Preconscious is accessible below the surface of the brain (hippocampus) and holds ordinary memory
• Unconscious mind is inaccessible, forming the largest component, and is related to the cerebellum (movement, balance, sleeping)
• The unconscious is most important for determining personality, thoughts, feelings, and behavior as it contains disturbing or threatening content, such as shameful experiences, sexual desires, and selfishness

Contemporary Psychoanalysis

• Dynamic unconscious stores threatening memories/information
• Non-conscious stores non-threatening information

Structural Model of Personality

• Id is present from infancy involving drives and instincts
• It operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification
  • Phanatos is an aggressive impulse
  • Thanatos is a death instinct
  • Eros is a is sexual impulse
• It involves primary process thought
• The ID uses psychic energy to operate
• Primary process thought fulfills the id and pleasure principle through mental images that satisfy immediate gratification
• Sexual impulses manifest as diffused bodily gratification
• Ego emerges from the psychic energy of the id, determining what is safe, and operates based on the reality principle to satisfy the ID
• Secondary process thought matches objects within the environment to the image created by primary process thought
• An example is where the hunger drive is the primary process thought of cooking, and satisfying the instinct (ego) is achieved by buying a cookie in reality
• Superego internalizes the values of one's parents (parenting figures)
• It brings morality to the ego's actions, creating the conscience which comprises of values that prevent some actions (i.e. stealing), with the Ego ideal reflecting what is desired and valued by parents establishing standards of perfection
• The ego manages the id and superego
• Each is present at different levels of consciousness

Psychosexual Development

• Psychosexual development is closely related to the structural model
• Each of the stages involve unconscious conflict which relate to the individuals need for sexual gratification
• The erogenous zone is the focus of sexual gratification in each stage
• Successful development involves passing through all five stages without fixation
• Fixation at one stage prevents resolution of conflicts in subsequent stages

Psychosexual stage breakdown

• Oral Stage (0-1.5 years): Erogenous zone is the Mouth, Unconscious conflict of Weaning, Cause of fixation is Premature/traumatic weaning, Personality type of Oral incorporative and Oral sadistic
• Anal Stage (1.5-3 years): Erogenous zone is the Anus, Unconscious conflict of Toilet training, Cause of fixation is Lenient/rigid toilet training, Personality type of Anal expulsive and Anal retentive
• Phallic Stage (3-5 years): Erogenous zone is the Genitals, Unconscious conflict of Oedipus/Electra complex, Cause of fixation is failure to identify with same-sex parent, Personality varies by sex and is associated with poor development
• Latency Stage ( 6-11 years): Erogenous zone are the genitals, the Unconscious conflict is missing, the Cause of fixation is missing and the Personality type is missing
• Genital Stage (Puberty - Adulthood): Erogenous zone is the Genitals, the Unconscious conflict is missing, the Cause of fixation is missing and the Personality type is missing

Fixation at the Oral Stage

• Oral Incorporative personality types have issues like, they are in the early oral stage, and are gullible, dependent, and cheerful, which involves behaviours symbolic of this, like smoking, drinking, and taking information in
• Oral Sadistic types are relatively late in the oral stage, that are Sarcastic, Cynical, Hostile, Quarrel some, with a behavior that includes biting, and may enjoy chewing things

Fixation at the Anal Stage

• The Erogenous zone shifts to anus after is stage is successful
• Anal Expulsive personalities (no rules/not cared for) that are untidy, disorganized, hostile, and destructive
• Anal Retentive personalities need strict order, they can be stringy, stubborn, orderly, rigid, and obsessive

Fixation at the Genitalia Stage

• Causes differences in sex and poor moral development

• Oedipus complex is an unconscious dynamic of young boy for their mother which results in the experience rivalry for their Father and castration by Father (very traumatic) causing castration anxiety. This is resolved by a forced identification develops a superego by internalizing their father

• The Electra complex is composed far after the Oedipus complex(not as developed. Which is the Unconscious dynamic with their mothers where they realize that both mother and themselves do not have a penis. Therefore, shift affection to their dads achieving sexual unity. which results in girls resolving the conflict by internalizing mother's values

• In girls this creates less castration anxiety and are less likely to develop a superego

• Failure to resolve the phallic crisis influence personality

  • Males: develop excessively masculine characteristics (brash, aggressive, dominant, excessively concerned with virility=strong sex desire, energy)
  • Females: become promiscuous as they attempt to access organ they lack (flirtatious, sarcastic, hostile etc)

• Passing this stage makes individual's caring adults

• Personality is complete up to the phallic stage (0-5 years) and is critically dependent

• Freud must be credited for highlighting importance of the 5 years as previously childhood was irrelevant to personality psychology