Understanding Personality Development through Freud's Psychodynamic Theory

1. Personality Chapter 10

2. Personality • Unique Differences • Stable overtime

3. Psychodynamic Theory • Developed by Freud • Behavior results from psychological forces, often outside conscious awareness. • Mental life is unconscious – people don’t understand their behavior • Early experiences affect personality development

4. Sigmund Freud • Sexual instinct most critical factor in development of personality

5. Id • Present at birth • Completely unconscious • Pleasure principle – tries to obtain immediate pleasure and to avoid pain

6. Ego • Ego – Controls all thinking and reasoning activities – both consciously and unconsciously • Satisfies the id’s drives when possible • Reality principle: ego satisfies Id’s demands safely and effectively

7. Superego • Superego – social and parental standards an individual has internalized • Not present at birth • Guide’s ego • Conscious and unconscious • Ego ideal – standards of what one would like to be

8. Freud compared the id, superego, and ego to an iceberg

9. Perfection • Id, ego, and superego work together • Ego satisfies demands of the id in a moral manner approved by superego • Id is dominant – endanger ourselves and society • Superego dominant – judge ourselves too harshly. No fun!

10. Development of Personality • Satisfy the sexual instinct during development • Sensual pleasure • Libido: energy generated by the sexual instinct • Focused on different sensitive parts of body • Fixation : halt at some point of development

11. Oral Stage • Birth to 18 months • Relieve sexual tension by sucking, chewing, biting • Too much: optimistic & dependent • Too little: pessimistic & hostile • Fixation: lack of confidence, gullibility, sarcasm , argumentativeness • Oral fixation: e.g., smoking & overeating

12. Anal Stage • 18 months – 3 ½ • Toilet training – regulate new pleasure • Too strict: stingy, excessively orderly • Too lenient: messy, unorganized, and sloppy

13. Phallic stage • 3 years • Discover genitals • Attracted to parent of opposite sex • Oedipus complex • Electra complex • Resolve- attach to same sex parent • Fixation: vanity & egotism • Promiscuous • Treat women poorly

14. Latency Period • 5 or 6 years old - 12 or 13 years old • Lose interest in sexual behavior • Same sex play

15. Genital Stage • Puberty • Sexual impulses come back • Unfulfilled desires satisfied • No new conflicts • Women feel inferior

16. Neo-Freudians • Neo-freudians: unconscious + social factors • Karen Horney: coping with stress of social needs develops personality • Nonsexual roles more important in development • Need love – without enough we develop anxiety and fear • 1. Submission – moving toward people • 2. Aggression – moving against people • 3. Detachment: moving away from people

17. Carl Jung • Expanded role of unconscious (mystical & religious beliefs) = personal unconscious & collective unconscious • Archetypes: inherited universal human concepts (mothers & hero’s) • Collective unconscious = all archetypes • Persona: ‘mask’ we wear to hide what we really are or feel

18. Carl Jung • Introverts & Extraverts • Rational individuals: regulate actions by thinking and feeling • Deicides based on facts • Irrational individuals: base actions on perceptions – through senses or intuition • Sensitive to surrounds • One dominate in most individuals Turn to page 3 Write True/False next to each statement

19. Alfred Adler • Need to feel important and worthwhile • Insecurity – try to dominate (school bullies) • Compensation: person’s effort to overcome personal weaknesses • Inferiority complex: fixated on feeling of inferiority Turn to Page 5

20. Humanistic personality theory • people are by nature good – strive toward higher levels of functioning • Holds us responsible

21. Carl Rogers • Actualizing tendency – drive to fulfill your biological potential and become what you are inherently capable of becoming • Fully functioning person : self-concept matches inborn potential = unconditional positive regard • Conditional positive regard: value and accept only certain aspects of a child • Lose sight of inborn potentials = personality problems

22. Trait Theory • Focus on present- how personalities differ from one another – different personality traits • Extraversion • Agreeableness • Dependability • Emotional Stability • Openness to Experience

23. Cognitive-Social Learning Theories • Bandura • Behavior = interaction of cognitions, learning and past experiences, and the immediate environment • Locus of control – how people evaluate situations • Internal locus – you can control your own fate – through hard work, skill, and training – find reinforcements • External locus – do not believe you control your own fate – chance, luck, and the behavior of others determine your destiny – helpless to change

24. Personality Assessment • Trying to measure something invisible • Typical behavior • Possible bias

25. Objective Tests • Personality inventories – written tests administered and scored with a standard procedure • ‘yes’ ‘no’ responses or multiple choice • Most widely used • Rely entirely on self-report • Peers do better characterizing you than yourself • Familiarity if taken test before

26. Objective tests • Trait theorist • Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire: provides scores on 16 traits • NEO-PI-R: Assess Big Five personality traits • Scores each trait • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2): most widely used • Aid in diagnosing psychiatric disorders – detecting those faking a psychiatric disorders • “At times I feel like swearing”

27. Projective Tests • Unstructured material • “When I see myself in the mirror, I…” • Flexible – relaxed • Rorschach test – Inkblot test • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)