Introduction to Personality and Psychodynamic Theories

Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Introduction to Personality and Psychodynamic Theories  Personality  Is individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Introduction to Personality and Psychodynamic Theories Psychodyna...

Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Introduction to Personality and Psychodynamic Theories  Personality  Is individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Introduction to Personality and Psychodynamic Theories Psychodynamic theories Humanistic approach • Posit that behavior is dynamic interaction between conscious and unconscious mind • Focus on inner capacities for growth and self-fulfillment Trait theories • Examine characteristic patterns of behavior Social-cognitive theories • Explore interaction between traits and social context Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective: Perspective Exploring the Unconscious  Observed patients whose disorders had no clear physical explanations  Concluded their Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) problems reflected unacceptable thoughts and feelings, hidden away in the unconscious mind Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Terms to Learn  Psychoanalysis  Conscious, preconscious, unconscious mind  Free association  Ego, superego, id  Pleasure principle  Reality principle Let’s take a few minutes to review each of these. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images FREUD’S IDEA OF THE MIND’S STRUCTURE  Psychologists have used an iceberg image to illustrate Freud’s idea that the mind is mostly hidden beneath the conscious surface.  Note that the id is totally unconscious, but ego and superego operate both consciously and unconsciously.  Unlike the parts of a frozen iceberg; however, the id, ego, and superego interact. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Freud’s Personality Structure  Freud believed that personality results from the mind’s three systems.  Id: Operates on pleasure principle; unconsciously strives to satisfy basic drives to survive, reproduce, and aggress  Ego: Operates on reality principle; seeks to realistically gratify id’s impulses to bring long-term pleasure; contains perceptions, thoughts, judgments and memories  Superego: Focuses on ideal behavior; strives for perfections; acts as moral conscious Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Defense Mechanisms  Ego protects itself with tactics that reduce and redirect anxiety by reality distortion (defense mechanisms).  Defense mechanisms function indirectly and unconsciously.  Repression underlies all other defense mechanisms. It is sometimes incomplete and may be manifested as symbols in dreams or slips of the tongue. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images REGRESSION  Faced with a mild stressor, children and young orangutans seek from their caregivers.  Freud might have interpreted these behaviors as regression, a retreat to an earlier developmental stage. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Defense Mechanism Regression Reaction formation Projection Rationalization Displacement Denial Unconscious Process Employed to Avoid Anxiety-Arousing Thoughts or Feelings Example A little boy reverts to the oral Retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage, comfort of thumb sucking in the where some psychic energy remains fixated. car on the way to his first day of school. Repressing angry feelings, a Switching unacceptable impulses into their person displays exaggerated opposites. friendliness. Disguising one’s own threatening impulses by “The thief thinks everyone else is a attributing them to others. thief” (an El Salvadoran saying). Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the A habitual drinker says she drinks real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one’s with her friends “just to be actions. sociable.” Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a A little girl kicks the family dog after more acceptable or less threatening object or her mother sends her to her room. person. A partner denies evidence of his Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities. loved one’s affair. SIX WELL-KNOWN DEFENSE MECHANISMS  Freud believed that repression, the basic mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing impulses, enables other defense mechanisms, six of which are listed above. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Trait Theories: Describing Personality  Trait theorists  See personality as a stable and enduring pattern of behavior  Describe differences rather than trying to explain them  Use factor analysis to identify clusters of behavior tendencies that occur together  Suggest genetic predispositions influence many traits Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Exploring Traits  Factor analysis  Statistical procedure used to identify clusters of test items to tap basic components of intelligence  Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-extraversion and emotionality factors inevitably emerged as basic personality dimensions Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Exploring Traits  Biology and personality  Brain-activity scans of extraverts indicate they seek stimulation because normal brain arousal is relatively low.  Dopamine and dopamine-related neural activity tend to be higher in extraverts.  Stigma of introversion  Introversion is often misunderstood as shyness, but introverted people often simply seek low levels of stimulation from their environment. Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Assessing Traits  Personality inventory  Questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits  Test items empirically derived, and tests objectively scored  Example  Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI/Hathaway)  Translated into 100+ languages Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images The Big Five Factors  The Big Five personality factors (Costa and colleagues, 2011) currently offer the most widely accepted picture of personality  Conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion (CANOE) Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images Big Five Research Questions  How stable are these traits?  How heritable are they?  Do traits reflect differing brain structure?  Have these traits changed over time?  How well do these traits apply to various cultures?  Do the Big Five traits predict our actual behaviors? Macduff Everton/The Image Bank/Getty Images THE “BIG FIVE” PERSONALITY FACTORS Researchers use self-report inventories and peer reports to assess and score the Big Five personality factors.