UTS

Psychological Perspective of the Self

Module 4.1
Psychological Perspective of the Self

 Cognitive
 Trait
 Existential

Cognitive Perspective

 School of thought that focuses on how people think – how we take in, process, store, and
retrieve information
o Behavior is explained by how a person interprets the situation
o Focus is on THINKING and THOUGHT PROCESSES

KEY ASSUMPTIONS OF THE COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE

 Individuals who suffer from mental disorders have distorted and irrational thinking – which may
cause maladaptive behavior
 It is the way you think about the problem rather than the problem itself which causes the
mental disorder

Aaron Becker

 Father of cognitive and cognitive-behavioral therapy

 American Psychiatrist
 Developed self-report measures of depression and anxiety (BDI, BSS, BAI)

Three Mechanisms

1. The cognitive triad (of negative automatic thinking

2. Negative self schemas
3. Errors in Logic (i.e. faulty information processing)
Cognitive Triad

Negative Self-Schemas

A set of beliefs and expectations about themselves that are essentially negative and pessimistic.

Beck claimed that negative schemas may be acquired in childhood as a result of a traumatic event.
Experiences that might contribute to negative schemas include:

 Death of a parent or sibling.

 Parental rejection, criticism, overprotection, neglect or abuse.
 Bullying at school or exclusion from peer group.

Cognitive Distortions

 Arbitrary Interference – drawing conclusions based on insufficient or irrelevant evidence

 Selective Abstraction – focusing on a single aspect of a situation and ignoring others
 Magnification – exaggerating the importance of undesirable events
 Minimization – underplaying the significance of an event
 Overgeneralization – drawing broad negative conclusions because of a single insignificant event
 Personalization – attributing the negative feelings of others to yourself
Cognitive – Behavioral Therapy

Trait Perspective

 TRAIT – a relatively stable, enduring predisposition to behave in a certain way

 focuses on identifying, describing, and measuring individual differences in behavioral
predispositions
 How many traits do you have? What are they?

The Big Five

 Also known as the Five-Factor Model, is the most widely accepted personality theory held by
psychologists today.
 The theory states that personality can be boiled down to five core factors, known by the
acronym OCEAN
 

Existential psychotherapy is based on several premises….

 understanding that a "whole" person is more than the sum of his or her parts
 understanding people by examining their interpersonal relationships
 understanding that people have many levels of self-awareness that can be neither ignored nor
put into an abstract context,
 understanding that people have free will and are participants rather than observers in their own
lives, and understanding that people's lives have purpose, values, and meaning

Viktor Frankl (1905-1997)

 Psychiatrist and neurologist

 Wrote about his ordeal as a concentration camp inmate during WWII (Man’s Search for
Meaning)
 Frankl’s message is ultimately one of hope
 founded the school of logotherapy

Frankl’s Discovery

 That life in the concentration camp taught Frankl that our main drive or motivation in life is
neither pleasure (Freud) nor power (Adler), but meaning!
 Even in the most absurd, painful, and dispiriting of circumstances, life can be given a meaning,
and so too can suffering.
Logotherapy

 Aim is to carry out an existential analysis of the person, and, in so doing, to help him uncover or
discover meaning for his life.
 Frankl believed that humans are motivated by something called a "will to meaning," which
equates to a desire to find meaning in life.

Core Properties

 Each person has a healthy core.

 One's primary focus is to enlighten others to their own internal resources and provide them
tools to use their inner core.
 Life offers purpose and meaning but does not promise fulfillment or happiness.

Methods in Finding Meaning

 Each person has a healthy core.

 One's primary focus is to enlighten others to their own internal resources and provide them
tools to use their inner core.
 Life offers purpose and meaning but does not promise fulfillment or happiness.

Basic Assumptions of Logotherapy

 Body, Mind, and Spirit

 Life has meaning in all circumstances
 Humans have a will to meaning
 Freedom to find meaning
 Meaning of the moment
 Individuals are unique

Body, Mind and Spirit

 The human being is an entity that consists of a body (soma), mind (psyche), and spirit (noos).
 Frankl argued that we have a body and mind, but the spirit is what we are, or our essence.

Life has meaning in all circumstances

 This means that even when situations seem objectively terrible, there is a higher level of order
that involves meaning.

Humans have a will to meaning

 meaning is our primary motivation for living and acting, and allows us to endure pain and
suffering

Freedom to find meaning

 Frankl argues that in all circumstances, individuals have the freedom to access that will to find
meaning.
Meaning of the moment

 decisions to be meaningful, individuals must respond to the demands of daily life in ways that
match the values of society or their own conscience.

Individuals are unique

 Frankl believed that every individual is unique and irreplaceable.

How can the principles of logotherapy be applied to everyday life?

 Develop relationships
 Find purpose in pain
 Understand that life is not fair
 Freedom to find meaning
 Focus on others
 Accept the worst

Extroversion

 the personality trait of seeking fulfilment from sources outside the self or in community
 High scorers tend to be very social
 Low scorers prefer to work on their projects alone

AGREEABLENESS

 Reflects how much individuals adjust their behavior to suit others

 High scorers are typically polite and like people.
 Low scorers tend to “tell it like it is”

CONSCIENTIOUS

 Is the personality trait of being honest and hardworking

 High scorers tend to follow rules and prefer clean homes
 Low scorers may be messy and cheat others

NEUROTICISM

 Is the personality trait of being emotional

OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE

 Is the personality trait of seeking new experience and intellectual pursuits.

 High scores may daydream a lot
 Low scores may be very down to earth