Psychoanalytic theory of personality

• Psychodynamic theories view personality with a focus on the unconscious mind and the importance of childhood experiences.
• Psychoanalysis is Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality, attributing thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts.
• Psychoanalysis also refers to Freud's therapeutic technique, using free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences to release repressed feelings and gain self-insight.
• The unconscious, according to Freud, is a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. Contemporary psychologists view it as information processing we are unaware of.
• Free association, in psychoanalysis, is a method of exploring the unconscious where the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind.
• The id is a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, operating on the pleasure principle.
• The ego is the partly conscious, "executive" part of personality that mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality, operating on the reality principle.
• The superego is the partly conscious part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and future aspirations.
• Defense mechanisms are the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
• Repression is the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
• The collective unconscious is Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history.
• The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective test where people express inner feelings and interests through stories about ambiguous scenes.
• A projective test is a personality test, such as the TAT or Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics.
• The Rorschach inkblot test identifies people’s inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots.

Freud's Treatment, Views & Personality

• Psychodynamic theories see behavior as an interaction between the conscious and unconscious mind, originating from Freud’s psychoanalysis.
• Freud believed disorders with no physical explanation reflected unacceptable thoughts and feelings hidden in the unconscious.
• Freud used free association to explore a patient’s hidden mind.
• Personality results from conflict among the id (pleasure-seeking impulses), ego (reality-oriented executive), and superego (internalized ideals/conscience).

Freud's Defenses on Anxiety

• Anxiety arises from tensions between the id and superego.
• The ego uses unconscious defense mechanisms like repression.

Accepted & Rejected Ideas of Freud

• Neo-Freudians accepted many of Freud’s ideas but emphasized the conscious mind and social motives more.
• Contemporary theorists reject Freud’s emphasis on sexual motivation.
• Current theorists highlight the unconscious and the influence of childhood experiences on adult personality.
• A shared evolutionary history shapes some universal predispositions.

Freud's Psychoanalysis & Modern Understanding of the Unconscious

• Freud highlighted the unconscious, irrationality, human sexuality, and conflict between impulses and restraints, and defense mechanisms.
• Freud's concept of repression and the unconscious as a collection of repressed thoughts lack scientific support.
• Freud offered after-the-fact explanations.
• Development is lifelong.
• The unconscious is a parallel track of information processing outside our awareness, including schemas, priming, implicit memories, emotions, prejudice, and stereotypes.
• Research supports reaction formation and projection (the false consensus effect).

Projective Tests

• Projective tests use stimuli open to interpretation to reveal inner dynamics.
• The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and the Rorschach inkblot test are examples.
• The TAT provides a valid and reliable map of implicit motives.
• The Rorschach inkblot test has low reliability and validity but can be a source of suggestive leads or an interview technique.

Explore the psychoanalytic theory of personality, emphasizing the unconscious mind and childhood experiences. Understand Freud's psychoanalysis, which uses techniques like free association and dream analysis to uncover repressed feelings. Learn about the id, ego, and superego and their roles in shaping behavior.