Understanding Personality Theories: From Freud to Modern Perspectives

1. Module 40 Personality Module 40 & 41

2. Clinical Psychology Branch of Psychology concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness, abnormal behavior and psychiatric problems. Module 40 & 41

3. Personality A person’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. Module 40 & 41

4. Personality Theories Frameworks that address the following: What is the nature of human beings? What motivates our behavior? What factors are important for the development of personality? Can we change our personality, and if so how? Module 40 & 41

5. Psychodynamic Approach (Sigmund Freud) - conflicting forces • unconscious influences Module 40 & 41

6. Turn of the Century Culture Strict social rules Male dominated Sexually Repressed! Module 40 & 41

7. Hysteria - physical symptoms without underlying physical causes. Free Association Hypnosis Module 40 & 41

8. Psychoanalysis Talk Therapy focuses on bringing repressed anxiety provoking material to conscious awareness Catharsis Seduction Theory - mental problems due to actual sexual abuse. Module 40 & 41

9. Three Aspects of the Mind • Conscious: current • awareness • 2) Preconscious: things we can become aware of. • 3) Unconscious: blocked from awareness • - anxiety provoking • - sexual and/or aggressive Module 40 & 41

10. Structure of the Personality Id - pleasure principle - libido drives (psychosexual energy) - totally unconscious Superego - moral issues (right and wrong) - part conscious/ part unconscious - opposes id - main weapon is anxiety Module 40 & 41

11. Ego - logical, rational - part conscious/part unconscious - compromises between Id and Superego - reality principle Defense Mechanisms: Ego’s tools for reducing anxiety. Module 40 & 41

12. 1) Repression - blocking of Id Impulses - motivated forgetting 2) Denial 3) Rationalization 4) Displacement - “kicking the dog” 5) Projection Module 40 & 41

13. 6) Reaction Formation - present themselves as the opposite of what they really are. 7) Sublimation - displacement to a socially acceptable activity Module 40 & 41

14. Freud’s Developmental Theory of Personality Overview Erogenous zones (e-zone) Goal: to experience optimal gratification at each stage. Fixation Module 40 & 41

15. At Birth Infant is all Id Ego and Superego develop through interaction with parents. - determines personality for life. Personality fully formed by 5 yrs of age Module 40 & 41

16. 1) Oral Stage (birth to 18 months) e-zone - mouth Conflicts: weaning Fixation: Too much: overly dependant on others Too little: hostile, outspoken Module 40 & 41

17. 2) Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years) e-zone: Anus Conflict: Toilet Training Fixation: Too permissive: generous, messy and creative Too strict: Stingy, excessively neat, rigid Module 40 & 41

18. 3) Phallic Stage (3 to 5 years) e-zone: Penis (or lack of it) Conflict: Resolving issues of Sexual Identity Males Oedipal Crisis - fantasizing sexually about mothers - aggressive toward fathers - resolved by identifying with father Fixation: - lifetime of trying to prove manhood - repression of gentler side Module 40 & 41

19. Females Electra Complex - penis envy - blame mothers (aggressive feelings) - sexual attraction to fathers - resolved by identifying with mother, symbolically possessing father. Fixation: Inferiority - seductive behaviors - tendency to dominate males Module 40 & 41

20. By This Stage the Personality is fully formed. 4) Latency period (5 to Puberty) - repressed libido - displacement to other activities 5) Genital Stage (remainder of life) - sexual urges directed towards others - drive toward love and generation (marriage, parenting etc.) Module 40 & 41

21. Freudian Symbols Phallic (Penis) symbols - anything elongated Module 40 & 41

22. Methods for accessing the Unconscious Free Association Dream Analysis Manifest content - what it appears to be. Latent Content - symbolic meaning Freudian Slips Module 40 & 41

23. Projective Tests Ambiguous pictures (TAT) or inkblots (Rorschach). require a lot of training to interpret. - validity is not high Module 40 & 41

24. Module 40 & 41

25. How did Freud's psychoanalytic theory allow him to explain why his patients reported recovering memories of childhood sexual abuse? Freud claimed the memories were of fantasies that were left over from the Phallic stage. Module 40 & 41

26. Criticisms of Freud’s Theory 1) Not Scientific - did not study children. - if adults had problems, he inferred that fixation had occurred. 2) Terms to vague and untestable - theory is not falsifiable Module 40 & 41

27. 3) Culturally Bound - Assumes Victorian European Standards What Have We Kept? Unconscious processes Importance of childhood experiences Defense mechanisms Symbolic meaning Talk Therapy Module 40 & 41

28. 1950’s - Behaviorism - behavior due to consequences - no theory of personality (mental concept). “ a person does not act upon the world, the world acts upon him” (Skinner, 1971) Module 40 & 41

29. Module 41Humanistic Theories (1960’s) - optimistic view • innate drive for growth (self-actualization) Focus on: 1) personal responsibility 2) present 3) people can change Module 40 & 41

30. Hierarchy of Needs Module 40 & 41

31. Self-actualizers and Peak Experiences (Maslow, 1970) • Studied healthy, creative people. • Self Aware, Self-accepting. • Interests problem-centered rather than self-centered • Commitment to the tasks they take on • Few deep relationships rather than several shallow. • Peak Experiences Module 40 & 41

32. Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Perspective Self-concept – our beliefs about who we are. Ideal Self Concept – our beliefs about what we “should be” like. Need to maintain a consistent self concept. Psychological problems arise when our self – concept does not match up to our ideal self-concept. Module 40 & 41

33. Positive Regard – sense of being loved and value. Conditions of Worth Messages we get from people around us about our worth. Conditional Positive Regard – you are only loved and accepted if you . . . . . . . Unconditional Positive regard – you have value and are loved despite how you behave. Module 40 & 41

34. e.g., Sally has a brother who is bothering her. Eventually she hits him to get him to stop. Parent could respond in one of two way to correct her behavior. Module 40 & 41

35. Conditional Positive Regard Tell sally she is “bad” for hitting her brother. Sally may hear, “getting angry is bad”. Later in life she may feel uncomfortable when ever she is angry. May use Defense Mechanisms Distortion - misinterpret situations. Denial - refuse to admit she is angry. Works in short run, but in long run person becomes maladjusted. Module 40 & 41

36. Unconditional Positive Regard. Sally, we know that you are a good girl and that You hit your brother because you were angry. It is okay to get angry, but you need to find a better way to deal with your anger. • Worthy person regardless of what you say or do. • - separates actions from worth Module 40 & 41

37. Aspects Humanism that are Currently Influential 1) self-concept 2) positive view 3) need to understand our own feelings 4) responsibility for ourselves 5) ability to change. Problems: • difficult to scientifically study • Too optimistic Module 40 & 41

38. Module 42 Social-Cognitive Theories & Trait Theories Module 42

39. Social Cognitive Theories (1980’s ) • Albert Bandura • - stresses influences of the interaction between individual and their situation • emphases learning in a social context. • we learn mental concepts (schema, heuristics) Module 42

40. Reciprocal Determinism (Causes) Module 42

41. People choose their environments. Our personalities effect how we interpret and react to events. Our personalities help to create situations to which we react. Module 42

42. Personal Constructs – beliefs about ourselves and interactions with our environment. Beliefs about Personal Control Internal vs. External Locus (location) of control Internals generally happier, healthier and more successful than externals. Module 42

43. Learned Helplessness vs. Personal Control Seligman (1975) Dogs were classically conditioned to expect an electrical shock after light cue. Learned they could not escape the shock. Module 42

44. Later the dogs were placed in a shuttlebox that contained two chambers separated by a low barrier. The floor electrified on one side, not on the other. The dogs previously subjected to the conditioning made no attempts to escape, even though avoiding the shock simply involved jumping over a low barrier. Module 42

45. Module 42

46. Rodin, 1986 Nursing Home Study. They selected two floors of a nursing home. One group was told the staff was there to help them. Despite the care, 71% got worse in only 3 weeks. In the other floor where they were encouraged to make decisions for themselves, the residents actually improved. They were more active and happier. They were more mentally alert and more active in activities.  Module 42

47. Sometimes too many choices can be negative. The Tyranny of Choice Module 42

48. Optimism vs. Pessimism Research shows that people with an optimistic life-view tend to outperform pessimists in all respects. Pessimists are up to 8 times more likely to become depressed when bad events occur; they do worse at school, sports, and perform worse at jobs than their talents would predict; they have worse physical health and shorter lives; they have rockier relationships. Module 42

49. Can Optimism backfire?? Yes, Excessive optimism may keep us from being motivated to realistically prepare for future events (e.g., studying for an exam). Holding distorted beliefs about the likelihood of a particular future event is distinct from possessing a personality trait known as optimism. Module 42

50. Cognitive Social Approach 1) learning is important 2) People have control over their response to the environment. 3) people have the capacity to change Module 42