PSYC107 Theories of Personality

University of St. La Salle

Born in 1856 in Freiberg,
Moravia (now part of the Czech
Republic), but moved to Vienna
Austra in 1869 where he spent
most of his lofe

Attended medical school at the

University of Vienna
- Had two older half-brothers from his father’s
previous marriage

- He was his mother's first child and he had a warm

relationship with his young, indulgent mother,
which may have contributed to his life-long
confidence

- Being the eldest among (8) eight children, he was

filled with hostility towards his brother, next to
him, was born and wished his death. When his
brother died at 6-months old, he was full of guilt
(Feist, Feist, Roberts, 2018).
- He married Martha Bernays in 1886 and went to have
six children. His youngest, Anna Freud also became a
psychoanalyst and continued his father's work

- He won a research grant in Paris to observe Jean

Martin Charcot's work with hypnosis
- His work with another hypnotist Joseph Breur,
observation of his own patients & a great deal of
introspection led to his 1900 book “The Interpretation
of Dreams”
- Freud & his family fled from their home from Nazi
persecution when Germany invaded Austria in 1938.
They escaped to London, where Freud died of cancer
the following year.
- (Feist, Feist, Roberts, 2018) (Burger, 2019).
- Refers to the three PARTS of human
personality:

1. Conscious

2. Preconscious

3. Unconscious
 Conscious

Preconscious

Unconscious

id
– Part of the tip of the iceberg

– contains the thoughts we are CURRENTLY

aware of through perceptual conscious
system; the material constantly changes as
new thoughts enter our awareness.

– covers a tiny percentage (i.e., only the

current transitory and fleeting thoughts) of the
information that is ACTUALLY present in our
mind

- Includes distorted/disguised content that

have ‘escaped’ from the Unconscious;
- Consists of both:

a. the Unconscious Proper; and

b. the Preconscious
- Part of the tip of the iceberg

Two Sources of Preconscious content:

1. Conscious Perception
2. The Unconscious
1. Conscious Perception

- Includes all the retrievable information that

have happened in the past

- What is perceived stays in the conscious

for only a transitory period and passes into
the preconscious when the focus of
attention shifts

2. The Unconscious – those that successfully

pass through
- Contains majority of our thoughts

- Contains our “forbidden” desires, drives,

urges, instincts, aspirations, wishes, and
fears but are beyond our awareness

- Limited access to these thoughts

- Responsible for much of our behavior

(i.e., words, feelings & actions)
- Unconscious processes may enter into the
Conscious mind only after being disguised or
distorted to elude the primary censor and final
censor

- Unconscious material that reach the Conscious

mind present as relatively pleasant or non-
threatening, but have sexual aggressive themes,
which are usually punished and suppressed

The Unconscious constantly strive

to become Conscious!
Phylogenetic Endowment – unconscious images
inherited from our ancestors (Carl Jung’s
Collective Unconscious)

One’s Unconscious may communicate with

another person’s unconscious!

Dreams – serve as a rich source of the contents

of the unconscious; childhood experiences can
re-appear in adult dreams
 Conscious

Final Censor
Primary Censor
Preconscious

Unconscious

id
- Freud felt that the Topographic Model was
limited and so, he added the structural
model consisting of the following:

1. Id (“das Es” or “It”)

2. Ego (“das Ich” or “I”)

3. Superego (“das Uber-Ich” “over-I”)

 Conscious

Preconscious Superego

Ego
Unconscious

Id
- upon birth, the Id is the only personality structure; un-
restricted by the ego (what is possible- no contact with
reality), and the superego (what is proper)

- buried in the Unconscious

- Strives constantly to reduce tension by satisfying basic

desires; actions are governed by the “pleasure
principle” (e.g., sucking nipple/thumb/toy,
defecating/urinating)

- does not distinguish between good and bad; incapable

of value judgments; amoral

- ‘not-yet-owned’ component of personality

 “the Id is primitive, chaotic, inaccessible to
consciousness, unchangeable, amoral, illogical,
unorganized, and filled with energy received
from basic drives and discharged for
satisfaction”
- Starts to develop around 2nd year in life

- Mind’s source of communication with external

world; operates according to the “reality principle”

- Moves freely across the Unconscious, Preconscious

and the Conscious parts:

Decision-maker - The Ego satisfies the Id or the

Superego to reduce “tension”, but takes into account
the realities of the world (conscious), past
experiences (preconscious), and desires (unconscious)
 “The ego constantly tries to reconcile the blind,
irrational claims of both the Id and the Superego,
with the realistic demands of the external world”

Many times it uses defense mechanisms to defend

itself from anxiety that results from the hostile Id,
Superego and Reality

Healthy Mind/Maturity – is having a strong Ego that

does not allow the Id or Superego to have too much
control over the personality.
 Conscious

Final Censor
Primary Censor
Superego
Preconscious

Ego
Unconscious

Id
- Develops around the 5th year of life

- Represents the standards, ideals and values of the

of the society and the “elders” in particular;
operates in the “moralistic or idealistic
principle”, but has no contact with the real world

- Promotes behaviors worthy of praise, which can

increase our self-esteem

- Opposes the Id and the Ego, and uses guilt to

restrain
Two sub-systems of the Superego:

1. The Conscience – forms out the experiences with

punishments; prescribes what “should not be done”

2. The Ego-ideal – forms out of the experiences with

rewards; prescribes what “should be done”

Guilt – results when the ego acts contrary to the moral

standards of the conscience

Inferiority – results when the ego does not meet ego-

ideal’s demands for perfection

“Moral Anxiety” – refers to a continuous feeling of

shame and guilt
“The superego may become unrealistic, ignorant
of, and unconcerned with the practicability of
the its demands and it does not into account the
realities faced by the ego”

Exercise: Using three over-lapping circles, which

each represent the Id, Ego and Superego, draw
which among the circles would be biggest and
smallest

ID EGO SUPEREGO
“Brat, Selfish, Laki sa Layaw” Mood fluctuations:
Confidence/Inferiority

“Overly-conscientious, Prude”
Healthy

“Overly practical”
- strong internal forces (drives or instincts) that
motivate our behavior:

1. Libido (Sex): fuels life-giving, pleasure-seeking

behaviors

2. Thanatos (Death): fuels aggressive behaviors

- Are considered energy and so it is not destroyed

but merely transformed
- Refers to the Ego’s
techniques/strategies to deal with
unwanted thoughts and desires, which
cause neurotic anxiety (i.e., vague
feelings of anxiety caused by
unacceptable unconscious thoughts).

- Are useful when the experience is very

painful, but will be unhealthy if used
habitually.
1. Repression
2. Sublimation
3. Displacement
4. Denial
5. Reaction Formation
6. Intellectualization
7. Projection
Repression – refers to the active effort by the ego
to push threatening material out of consciousness,
or to keep that material from ever reaching
consciousness.

Sublimation – refers to the channeling of impulses

into socially acceptable behaviors, which may be
rewarded.

Displacement – refers to the channeling of impulses

to non-threatening objects; no social rewards
involved.
Denial – refers to the refusal to accept that
certain facts exist.

Reaction Formation – refers to attempts to hide

threatening unconscious ideas or urges by acting in
an opposite manner.

Intellectualization – refers to attempts to deal

with events in a strictly intellectual and
unemotional manner.

Projection – refers to attributing one’s unconscious

impulses to other people instead of accepting.
 Freud's was the first comprehensive theory of
human behavior and personality
 Most comtemporary psychoanalytic theorists
built their theories on the foundation laid by
Freud, borrowing or revising key concepts and
assumptions
 Applications on assessment (projective
techniques)
 He developed the first system of psychotherapy
(free association/dream interpretation
 He popularized & promoted many psychological
concepts we know today
 The concept of the unconscious was not his
original idea (1870-1880 7 books were published
by other authors)
 Many hypothesis derived from his theory are not
testable
 He relied heavily on case studies of his patients
who hardly represented typical adults
 Psychoanalysis was criticized for being highly
subjective to the interpretation of the analyst
 Determinism over Free Choice
 Unconscious over Conscious
 Causality over Teleology
 mix on Biology and Social Influences
 mix on Pessimism and Optimism
 mix on Uniqueness and Universality