Intro to Psych

10/30/19
What is Personality?
 Your characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
 Thought to be relatively unique and stable
 Temperament is biologically based way we react to certain situations
 Is the way we are born
 It forms your personality
What is Psychoanalytic Theory?

 Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

 A.K.A. Psychodynamic theory
 1st theory of personality
 Basis for theories on anxiety
 Premise: Childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality
What are some component of personality in Freud’s theory?

 The id: the pleasure principle

 Sex Drive –pleasure drive
 Primarily resides in subconscious
 The ego: the reality principle
 Primarily resides in the preconscious and conscious
 The super ego: the moral principle
 Contains the “conscience”
 Primarily resides in subconscious, preconscious, conscious
What are the stages of development of personality in Freud’s theory?
 Freud believed that personality develops in a predictable way
 Stage 1
 Oral (0-18months):Id gratifies itself through biting, sucking
 Stage 2 - Anal (18-36 months)
 Gratification through elimination; coping demands for control (toilet training)
 Stage 3 - Phallic (3-6)
 Id focuses on genitals; Sexual curiosity; Oedipus Complex/Electra Complex
 Oedipus complex focuses on young males and their supposed desire by
the id to be with the mother and kills the father
o Boy overcomes this by starting to identify with the father
o If he doesn’t overcome, it then it will be repressed he might
develop anxiety
 Electra complex is female version
 Stage 4 - Latency (6-puberty)
  Id is dormant
 Stage 5-Genital (puberty on)
 “Mature” sexuality
 Satisfies id through sexual relations
What if you get “stuck” at a certain stage?
 Freud calls this fixation: when the ego or superego cannot sufficiently regulate the id’s
energy
 Results in an unresolved conflict
 Between id and superego
 Fixation at the oral stage
 Sarcastic, harsh personality
 Fixation at anal stage
 Anal Retentive
o excessive cleanliness
 Anal Expulsive
o excessive dirtiness
 Fixation at the Phallic or genital stage
 Excessive sexual gratification
What are defense mechanisms?
 According to Freud, we attempt to defend our fragile ego from the anxiety caused by
these unresolved conflicts
 These strategies are called defense mechanisms
 1) Repression
 Banish the painful thought down into the unconscious
 2) Regression
 Retreat to an earlier stage of development
 3) Reaction formation
 Form the opposite reaction to an anxiety provoking stimulus
 4) Projection
 People attribute their thoughts to other people
 5) Rationalize
 intellectualize a solution to the anxiety
 6) Displacement
 disguise your impulse by directing it at a more acceptable target
What are Projective Tests?

 Rorschach test
 Ink blots where you can’t tell what the picture really us
 What image you see is a reflection of you subconscious
 Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Dream important for analyzing subconscious but according to current times it is also important
for consolidation
Objections against Freud

 Most contemporary psychologists

 DO NOT consider sex as the basis of personality!
 DO consider unconscious to be important
 Perhaps unfair to compare Freud's theories to current thoughts
 Repression may not exist (in fact, re-experience)
 Freud offered after-the-fact explanations and no real testable predictions
 Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”
What is Humanistic Theory?
 Psychology should focus on what makes people uniquely humans, such as subjective
emotions and freedom to choose one’s own destiny
 Personal growth and Self-actualization
 Self-concept (image of oneself)
 Develops based on interactions with significant people in life
 Develops from what other people say about you and how you see yourself
 Real vs. Ideal Self
 Humanistic psychologist was Carl Rogers
 Believed personal growth is the result of nurturance Positive Regard
 Warmth, affection, love and respect that come from the significant others
regardless is unconditional positive regard
 Conditional positive regard is when you will be accepted regardless of
your actions
 Criticisms
 Positive Regard theory has very unclearly defined concepts
 Overly-optimistic (yikes). Can it predict sociopathic personalities?
 Humanistic based therapies are not particularly effective.
What is Trait perspective?

 Traits are a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel, think, and act
 Stable, heritable, exist across cultures
 Gordon Allport responsible for a lot of this theory
 How many traits are there?
 18,000?
 More like 2 -7 basic traits
 5 Central Traits (The Big Five)
 Openness to Experience
 High on openness
o Imaginative, intellectual, curious, creative, unconventional
  Low on openness
o Simple, conventional, down-to-earth, narrow interests, closed to new ideas
 Conscientiousness
 High on conscientiousness
o Cautious, serious, responsible, thorough, efficient, organized, disciplined
 Low on conscientiousness
o Irresponsible, careless, lazy, disorganized, impulsive, easygoing
 Extroversion
 High on extroversion
o Sociable, assertive, energetic, adventurous, enthusiastic, outgoing
 Low on extroversion
o Timid, submissive, silent, prefers being alone
 Agreeableness
 High on agreeableness
o Good-natured, courteous, sympathetic, accommodating
 Low in agreeableness
o Irritable, rude, cold, unkind, demanding, stubborn, show-off
 Neuroticism
 Low on neuroticism
o Calm, composed, relaxed, happy, stable, flexible
 High on neuroticism
o Nervous, anxious, excitable, high-strung, moody, irritable
 Trait-Situation Interaction
 Idea that the situation may govern if and how certain personality traits are
expressed.
 Trait-Trait Interactions
 The big 5 has been found in 11 different cultures
 Measured using NEO-PI
 Empirically sound measure of “Big 5”personality traits
 Valid
 Reliable