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| Personality is the unique pattern of enduring thoughts, feelings, and actions that characterize a person. |
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Term
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The psychodynamic approach, developed by Sigmund Freud, assumes that our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are determined by the interaction of various unconscious psychological processes. Freud believed that people have certain basic impulses and urges. Personality develops as we struggle to satisfy these urges and it is reflected in the ways we
go about doing so. |
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Term
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The id operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate satisfaction of life
instincts, regardless of society’s
rules or the rights or feelings of others. |
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The ego, which develops from the id, operates on the reality principle,
attempting to satisfy id impulses while obeying society’s rules. |
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As we internalize parents’ and society’s rules, the superego develops to tell us
what we should and should not do. It becomes our moral guide and is just as
unreasonable as the id in its demand to be obeyed. |
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Term
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Definition
unconscious strategies that protect against anxiety and guilt by either
preventing threatening material from surfacing from the unconscious or disguising it when it does. Defense mechanisms deflect anxiety or guilt in the short run, but they sap energy. Further, using them to avoid dealing with the source of problems can make those problems worse in the long run. |
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In repression, unacceptable thoughts, urges, or memories are pushed into the
unconscious. For example, a person who was at fault in a fatal auto accident may not remember the incident. |
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Definition
In rationalization, the individual makes socially acceptable reasons or excuses
for unacceptable motives or behaviors. For example, someone who failed a test
and instead of admitting he/she did not study sufficiently, explains the failing
grade away by saying, ““Its what you learn that’’s important--not your grades.”” |
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Definition
| In projection, feelings that are unacceptable to oneself are transferred to someone else. For example, a child angry at his mom for not driving him to the ball game. |
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Definition
In reaction formation, an individual acts exactly the opposite of the anxiety
producing real feelings. For example, an elementary school boy who really likes
a girl may pull her hair, and treat her badly to cover his true feelings. |
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Definition
In sublimation, the individual converts unacceptable urges into socially
acceptable behaviors. For example, aggressive urges might be satisfied by
becoming a surgeon. |
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Definition
| In displacement, emotions are transferred from an unacceptable or threatening object onto a safer, less threatening object. For example, a child who is angry at his father yells at his little sister instead. |
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In denial, the person refuses to acknowledge some aspect of reality that is apparent to others. A woman might deny that her daughter is promiscuous
because she cannot deal with her feelings of failure as a mother. |
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In compensation, the person tries to make up for unconscious impulses or fears of a real or imaginary deficiency. For example, a person who feels physically
inferior may put his efforts into schoolwork to become the best student he can. |
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Term
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Definition
| The oral stage occurs during the first year of life because the mouth is the center of pleasure. |
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Term
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Definition
The anal stage occurs during the second year when the child’s ego develops to
cope with parental demands for socially appropriate behavior. In Western culture, this is often when toilet training begins. The child vacillates between id impulses (defecation at will) and parental demands (only on the toilet). |
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Term
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Definition
The phallic stage between the ages of three and five is when the child’s focus of
pleasure shifts to the genital area. |
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Term
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Definition
The boy experiences the Oedipus complex. He sexually desires his mother and wants to eliminate his competition, his father. The boy unconsciously
fears that his father will castrate him. Consequently, to reduce this fear, he
represses his incestuous desires and “identifies” with his father, trying to be like him. It is during this period that the male superego begins to develop. |
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Term
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Definition
The girl develops penis envy and begins to hate her mother for not providing a penis. The girl transfers her love to her father, but to avoid her
mother’s disapproval, identifies with and imitates her. This has been called
the Electra complex, but Freud himself never used that label. |
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Term
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Definition
After age five, the latency period begins, during which sexual impulses lie
dormant and the child focuses on education and social skills. |
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Term
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Definition
During the genital stage, which begins at adolescence and lasts until death,
sexual desires reappear at a conscious level. |
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Term
| Jung's Neo-Freudian Theory |
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Definition
Jung viewed the libido as a general life force that included a productive blending of basic impulses and real-world demands, of creativity, and growth-oriented resolution of conflicts.
a) Personality develops as the person tends toward introversion (reflection on one’s own experiences) or extraversion (focus on the social world) and toward reliance
on specific psychological functions (such as thinking versus feeling or vice
versa).
b) He claimed that there is a collective unconscious, which contains the memories
we have inherited from our ancestors. We are not aware of these memories but
they are responsible for our innate tendencies to react in certain ways to certain things. |
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Term
| Alfred Adler's Neo-Freudian Theory of Personality |
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Definition
| Alfred Adler proposed that personality development is influenced by striving for superiority, an innate desire to overcome infantile feelings of helplessness and to gain some control over the environment. It is a drive for fulfillment as a person. |
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| Karen Horney's Neo-Freudian Theory of Personality |
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Definition
Karen Horney believed that cultural factors, rather than instincts play a
major role in personality development. She proposed that the inferiority that
women may feel is caused by restrictions imposed by men, not penis envy, and
that it is actually men who feel inferior when they experience womb envy. |
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Term
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Definition
| Object relations are how people’s perceptions of themselves and others influence their view of, and reactions to the world. |
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| Criticisms of Freud's theory |
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Definition
a) Freud’s theory is criticized for being based on an unrepresentative sample: His own patients, who were predominantly upper-class Viennese women with mental
problems, were raised in a sexually repressive culture.
b) Freud’s theories reflect Western European and North American values, which may or may not be helpful in understanding people in other cultures.
c) Freudian scholars acknowledge that Freud may have modified reports of therapy to fit his theory and that he may have asked leading questions during therapy.
d) Freud’s emphasis on male psychosocial development and his notions that females
envy male anatomy have caused some to reject all of his ideas.
e) Freud’s theory is not very scientific. His notions of various unconscious personality components are imprecise and unable to be scientifically tested. |
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Term
| Personality trait vs. personality type |
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Definition
Traits are the inclinations or tendencies that help to direct how a person usually thinks and behaves.
Types involve qualitative differences, such as whether someone possesses a
certain characteristic, or not. However, many say that personalities are much too
varied to fit into a few discrete types. |
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Term
| Eysenck’s Biological Trait Theory introversion-extraversion |
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Definition
a) Introversion-extraversion. Introverts tend to be quiet, thoughtful, and reserved.
Extraverts are sociable, outgoing and love excitement and change. |
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| Eysenck’s Biological Trait Theory |
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Definition
| Emotionality-stability. At one end, the characteristics are moodiness, restlessness, anxiety and other negative emotions. At the other extreme .characteristics include calm, even-tempered, relaxed and emotionally stable |
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Term
| Gray’s Approach-Inhibition Theory behavioral approach system |
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Definition
The behavioral approach system (BAS) is made up of brain regions that affect
sensitivity to rewards and motivation to seek rewards. Extraverts would have a
sensitive BAS. Those with an active BAS tend to experience positive emotions. |
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| Gray’s Approach-Inhibition Theory behavioral inhibition system |
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Definition
The behavioral inhibition system (BIS) involves brain regions that affect
sensitivity to potential punishment and the motivation to avoid punishment.
Introverts would have a sensitive BIS system. Those with an active BIS tend to experience negative emotions. |
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