Lesson-2-Personality-Theories.ppt

Personality  Personality An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. Each dwarf has a distinct personality.  Psychodynamic Perspective In his clinical practice, Freud encountered patients suffering from nervous disorders. Their complaints...

Personality  Personality An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. Each dwarf has a distinct personality.  Psychodynamic Perspective In his clinical practice, Freud encountered patients suffering from nervous disorders. Their complaints could not be explained in terms of purely Culver Pictures physical causes. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)  Psychodynamic Perspective Freud’s clinical experience led him to develop the first comprehensive theory of personality, which included the unconscious mind, Culver Pictures psychosexual stages, and defense mechanisms. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)  Exploring the Unconscious A reservoir (unconscious mind) of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. Freud asked patients to say whatever came to their minds (free association) in order to tap the unconscious. http://www.english.upenn.edu  Dream Analysis Another method to analyze the unconscious mind is through interpreting manifest and latent contents of dreams. The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli (1791)  Psychoanalysis The process of free association (chain of thoughts) leads to painful, embarrassing unconscious memories. Once these memories are retrieved and released (treatment: psychoanalysis) the patient feels better.  Model of Mind The mind is like an iceberg. It is mostly hidden, and below the surface lies the unconscious mind. The preconscious stores temporary memories.  Personality Structure Personality develops as a result of our efforts to resolve conflicts between our biological impulses (id) and social restraints (superego).  Id, Ego and Superego The Id unconsciously strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, operating on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification. The ego functions as the “executive” and mediates the demands of the id and superego. The superego provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.  Personality Development Freud believed that personality formed during the first few years of life divided into psychosexual stages. During these stages the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on pleasure sensitive body areas called erogenous zones.  Psychosexual Stages Freud divided the development of personality into five psychosexual stages.  Oedipus Complex A boy’s sexual desire for his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father. Electra Complex A girl’s desire for her father is called the  Identification Children cope with threatening feelings by repressing them and From the K. Vandervelde private collection by identifying with the rival parent. Through this process of identification, their superego gains strength that incorporates their parents’ values. Defense Mechanisms Definition: A mental maneuver that one consciously or unconsciously chooses to use to distort or falsify the truth of one’s experience in order to protect oneself from feeling painful emotions like shame, guilt, or anxiety. The ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. LYING One doesn’t tell the truth for either self-gain or to spare feeling ridicule, rejection, or punishment. Phrases like “I swear I didn’t do it,” or “It doesn’t mean anything” are often used when we know we haven’t lived up to our higher selves. In what circumstances do you think people lie the most? RATIONALIZATION Occurs when we tell an element of the truth, but deny the larger truth of the matter. For example, “I could have won the race but the track was wet.” The larger truth was that someone was faster. “I got fired, but the boss was a jerk.” Failures are a threat to the ego rationalization doesn’t hurt as bad. REGRESSION When adult defense mechanisms stop working for us, we regress to a personality we had at childhood. For example, when an adult doesn’t take responsibility, he says, “It’s not my fault, it’s her fault.” Immature patterns of behavior emerge such as bragging. REPRESSION  The person forces the unacceptable or threatening feeling out of awareness to a point where he/she becomes unaware of it.  Examples could be a simple reprimand or as serious as a rape.  A person is asked, “how do you get along with your mother” and he responds, “just fine” as he turns pale. Negative feelings about the mother are so unacceptable that they block his awareness. DENIAL The person doesn’t acknowledge the validity of the matter but acknowledges its presence. They oppose force with force. For example, the alcoholic expresses, “I may like to drink, but I’m not an alcoholic.” Or a smoker concludes that the evidence linking cigarette use to health problems is bogus. SUPPRESSION  The person is aware of the unacceptable desire and validates it but intentionally tries to keep it from expressing itself.  For example, “I know I’m an alcoholic so I’m going on the wagon.”  A homosexual who intentionally doesn’t date members of the same sex so that the unacceptable does not express itself.  An introvert is conditioned to be an extrovert.  He often suppress anger. PROJECTION The person attributes one’s own perceived negative attributes onto someone else. For example, Bill blames the instructor for a bad grade when he didn’t study. Sara says, “You envy me,” when Sara really envies the other person. Sam cheats on his spouse and blames the spouse for cheating.  Remove Defense Mechanisms by……… Reading about them Writing about your feelings and actions Talking to a close friend or therapist Meditating Praying EFT  Name the Defense Mechanism Joe is mad at Sue as he grits his teeth. Sue asks, are you mad at me, and he replies, “No, I’m not mad at all as he puts a smile on his face.  Name the Defense Mechanism The person who doesn’t study says, “the ‘F’ grade I got on the test was totally unfair.”  Name the Defense Mechanism Karl, a tax accountant teacher instructs his students to follow the rules of tax law but later Karl cheats on his taxes.  Name the Defense Mechanism Bill Gates tells you your reply is illogical and you reply, “you’re the illogical one!” I’m smarter than you anyway.  Name the Defense Mechanism “Cheating on my taxes is no big deal. Everybody does it”  Other Defense Mechanisms 1. Reaction Formation causes the ego to unconsciously switch unacceptable impulses into their opposites. 2. Projection leads people to disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others. 3. Displacement shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable object  Do Now: 1. Bryce often acts so daring and overly confident that few people realize he is actually riddled with unconscious insecurity and self-doubt. Bryce best illustrates the use of a defense mechanism known as: a. regression. b. projection. c. displacement. d. reaction formation. 2. Jaydon doesn’t realize that his alcohol abuse and neglect of his family is leading to the destruction of both family and career. A psychoanalyst would suggest that Jaydon shows signs of a: a. strong ego. b. weak id. c. strong superego. d. weak ego 3. Bonnie is afraid to express anger at her overbearing and irritating supervisor at work, so she is critical of her children instead. A psychoanalyst would suggest that Bonnie’s reaction to her children illustrates: a. identification. b. reaction formation. c. displacement. d. projection. Freud’s Theory of Personality Id, Ego, Superego Psychosexual Stages Defense Mechanisms  Why were Freud’s Theories so heavily criticized? Little empirical evidence to support Not predictive Gender Bias Too much emphasis on Sex  Why was Freud revolutionary? Impact on pop culture inferiority complex penis envy Freudian slip: unconscious is manifested through an error in speech "A Freudian slip is when you mean one thing, but you say your mother." Inspired future psychologists in the Neo- Freudian movement AIM: How has Freud impacted contemporary psychology?  Neo-Freudians agree with Freud: id, ego, superego anxiety, defense mechanisms shaping of personality in childhood Neo-Freudians disagree with Freud: Importance of consciousness Sex and Aggression  Carl Jung: Neofreudian Unconscious consists of: Archive of the History of American Psychology/ University of Akron 1) Personal unconscious a 2) Collective unconscious based on our species’ universal experiences Example: myths, maternal images, fear of dark Carl Jung (1875-1961)  Alfred Adler ego psychologist (downplayed unconscious) childhood is formative period Inferiority-complex National Library of Medicine people are motivated by fear of failure (inferiority) and desire to achieve (superiority) Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Birth order  Karen Horney -Womb envy -Personality based on need for security The Bettmann Archive/ Corbis - Relationship with parent influences personality Karen Horney (1885-1952)  Assessing Unconscious Processes Projective tests- reveal the hidden unconscious mind  Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Developed by Henry Murray, the TAT is a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes. Lew Merrim/ Photo Researcher, Inc.  Rorschach Inkblot Test http:// www.rorschachinkblottest.com/ inktest.php The most widely used projective test Herman Rorschach 10 inkblots Lew Merrim/ Photo Researcher, Inc.  Projective Tests: Criticisms Critics argue that projective tests lack both reliability (consistency of results) and validity (predicting what it is supposed to). 1. When evaluating the same patient, even trained raters come up with different interpretations (reliability). 2. Projective tests may misdiagnose a normal individual as pathological (validity).  Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective Modern Research 1. Personality develops throughout life and is not fixed in childhood. 2. Freud underemphasized peer influence on the individual 3. Gender identity may develop before 5-6 years of age.  Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective Modern Research 4. There may be other reasons for dreams besides wish fulfillment. 5. Verbal slips can be explained on the basis of cognitive processing of verbal choices. 6. Suppressed sexuality leads to psychological disorders. Sexual inhibition has decreased, but psychological disorders have not.  Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective Freud's psychoanalytic theory rests on the repression of painful experiences into the unconscious mind. The majority of children, death camp survivors, and battle-scarred veterans are unable to repress painful experiences into their unconscious mind. Which NeoFreudian emphasized..? Collective unconscious Birth order Relationship with parent Ego Universal myths