Psychodynamic Theory of Personality

Concepts of Personality Psychodynamic Approach

• Personality encompasses feelings, cognitions, and behaviors that make individuals unique, shaped by biological and environmental influences
• Personality theory aims to clarify individual differences in response to experiences and motivations behind behaviors like criminal activity, job performance, or health outcomes
• Most personality theories suggest consistency in personality, but traits can evolve. Illness or injury often prompts significant personality changes
• The examination of personality integrates diverse perspectives such as psychodynamic, humanistic, and trait theories, informing assessment and application

Psychodynamic theory

• Psychodynamic theory, founded by Sigmund Freud, emphasizes unconscious processes and the impact of childhood experiences on personality development
• Freud's psychoanalysis was aimed at curing mental illness by systematically analyzing patients' words.
• Freud sought to comprehend the unconscious and its effects on psychological well-being and behavior,
• Early psychodynamic theories faced controversy, but Freudian theory pioneered talking therapy as a mainstream mental health treatment

Key concepts of freud's psychodynamic approach

• The human psyche encompasses the conscious (ego), preconscious, and unconscious levels
• The conscious level contains present awareness—current thoughts, feelings, and perceptions
• The preconscious level holds accessible information not currently in conscious thought e.g. memories
• The unconscious level is the reservoir of wishes, fears, unacceptable desires, instincts, and traumatic memories, which shape personality
• According to Freud, the unconscious serves as the self-protector, suppressing distressing information
• Freud compared the psyche to an iceberg, with the conscious mind as the visible tip and the unconscious as the submerged mass influencing behavior
• While the unconscious is difficult to study scientifically, researchers suggest many mental activities (memories, motives, feelings) are largely inaccessible to consciousness
• Freud considered dreams the "royal road to the unconscious," where defenses are lowered, allowing repressed material to emerge in distorted forms
• Dreams provide clues about how the unconscious operates and influences behaviour
• Freud distinguished between the manifest content (presented dream material) and the latent content (hidden meaning)
• The psyche disguises distressing material in dreams, presenting it in a more acceptable way
• The "Freudian slip" reveals the unconscious mind, linking seemingly random errors to unconscious associations
• Freud's theory includes the Id, Ego, and Super-ego, which develop in childhood to fulfill basic urges throughout life and correspond with the psyche levels
• Freud's work revealed conflict between these structures reinforcing early childhood's role in personality
• Freud's theory states conflict among the Id, Ego, and Super-Ego leads to abnormal psychopathology

Id, Ego, Superego

• The Id operates on the pleasure principle, existing from birth and driving instinctive urges for immediate gratification
• The Ego operates on the reality principle, develops early in life, and mediates between the Id and Superego
• The Super-ego operates on the morality principle, develops last, internalizes societal expectations, and drives guilt and shame
• The Id, if dominant, results in impulsivity, selfishness, and lack of morals that may lead to disorders
• The superego, if dominant, results in strict, overcontrolling, and neurotic characteristics and can result in depression, anxiety, or OCD
• The Ego is the rational part of personality that mediates between the Id's desires and the Superego's moral demands
• Development of a healthy personality relies on a dominant Ego
• According to Freud, conflict between the id and superego leads to anxiety, which the ego resolves through defense mechanisms

Defence mechanisms

• Repression: Pushing threatening thoughts into unconsciousness e.g. not remembering trauma
• Regression: Reverting to childlike behavior in overwhelming situations e.g. throwing a tantrum
• Projection: Attributing unacceptable feelings to others e.g. accusing partner of cheating
• Denial: Refusing to acknowledge reality e.g. spending while in debt
• Displacement: Redirecting feelings to a substitute target e.g. taking frustration out on friends
• Rationalisation: Justifying outcomes with excuses e.g. blaming teacher for poor test performance
• Sublimation: Replacing unacceptable feelings with socially acceptable behaviors e.g. being aggressive on the field
• Freud suggested using defense mechanisms to reduce threatening emotions
• Excessive defense mechanisms can hinder healthy personality development

Freud's Psychosexual Stages

• According to Freud, childhood experiences shape adult behavior, highlighting the role of psychosexual development

• Freud outlined five psychosexual stages focused on pleasure-seeking through different erogenous zones

• Fixation on a stage can result in maladaptive behaviors as adults and propensity to mental illness

• Oral Stage (birth to 18 months): Focus on the mouth, involving feeding and weaning results in fixation due to under/over stimulation which is related to talking, smoking, over-eating

• Fixation results in "Oral personalities" range from optimistic to aggressive depending on the individual, often seeking constant oral stimulation

• Anal Stage (18 months - 3 years): Focus on anus, pleasure from defecating and toilet training results in fixation which is related to being messy, obsessively tidy, rigid, authoritarian personalities.

• Harsh or lax toileting by the caregiver can have implications in adulthood.

• Harsh potty training can result in an anal-retentive personality due to needing to being obsessively tidy

• Overly lenient potty training can result an anal-expulsive personality which is related to being messy

• Phallic Stage (3–6 years): Focus on genitals, children become aware of anatomical differences result in the Oedipus complex.

• Boys view their father as competition for mom and fear their father believes they will be castrated as punishment for wanting to replace their father

• Females experience conflicts referred to as Electra complex daughter has desire for her father and wishes to remove mother

• Freud theorized females would experience penis envy which would cause resentment toward mother and other women

• According to Freud is only in the male that have true love for the mother and hate for father as rival

• Fixation in the phallic stage tends to result in traits like exhibitionism and vanity.

• A successful phallic stage is where identify occurs with the same sex parent and can result in romance with opposite sex into adulthood

• Freud rooted the desire in the instinctive primitive

• Latency Stage (6/7 years to puberty): sexual urges are dormant the focus is on same sex relationship.

• Anna Freud proposed fixation can occur with delayed resolution of Oedipus complex Children often struggle with parents

• Genital Stage (puberty onwards): focus is on genitals and is directed at intimacy with opposite sex.

Evaluation of theory

• Despite being often misunderstood and controversial, Freud's theory is a key part of most psychology programs and gives knowledge to psychodynamic theory

Evaluation of Freud's theory

• Psychodynamic theory influences psychological science and finds application in various disciplines like developmental psychology, sociology, and neuroscience
• Psychoanalysis provides the foundation for psychotherapy and talking-based treatments in mental health care.
• Neo-Freudians agree with the impact of the unconscious shaping personality but focus on socio-cultural rather than sexual drives
• Freud's theory is difficult to test empirically due to the subjective nature of his theory.
• Freud mostly based his theory on case studies which doesn't provide reliability in the data and may be flawed

Evaluation of Freud

• While case studies provide unique information about the human condition, the subjective nature of his work makes it impossible to generalize outcomes
• Freud's theory is biologically determined, which ignores the value of social factors
• Psychodynamic has been historically tested based on scientific rigor but empirical evidence is needed to show evidence
• Research has become more central with cognitive and social psychology, and are going together than in any point in history

Explore the psychodynamic theory of personality, focusing on unconscious processes. Learn about Sigmund Freud's approach to psychoanalysis. Understand the impact of childhood experiences on personality development.