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 * || ** Psychoanalytic Theories of Personality ** ||  ||
 * ** Sigmund Freud: **


 * The first to demonstrate how personality developed in the person. ** || ** Theory **

Life Instinct: Survival

Death Instinct: Drive toward aggression and destruction.


 * Id: ** The part of the unconscious personality that contains our needs, drives, instincts, and repressed material.


 * Ego: ** The part of the personality that is in touch with reality and strives to meet the demands of the id and the superego in socially acceptable ways.


 * Superego: ** The part of the personality that is the source of conscience and counteracts the socially undesirable impulses of the id.


 * Defense Mechanisms: ** Certain specific means by which the ego unconsciously protects itself against unpleasant impulses or circumstances.


 * Rationalization: ** Making up acceptable excuses for behaviors that cause us to feel anxious.


 * Repression: ** When a person has painful or unacceptable thoughts or memories that cause the ego too much anxiety, they push them out of the consciousness into the unconscious.


 * Denial: ** Refusal to accept the reality of something that makes you anxious.


 * Projection: ** The belief that impulses from within are coming from an outside source – inner feelings are projected outside the self and assigned to others.

Reaction Formation: Replacing an unacceptable feeling or urge with an opposite one.

Regression: Going back to an earlier and less mature pattern of behavior when experiencing frustration or not getting your way.

Displacement: Occurs when you cannot take your anger out on the source of your frustrations, so you displace it and take it out on an unrelated person.

Sublimation: Redirecting a forbidden desire into a socially acceptable desire.

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages:

Oral: During the oral stage, the child if focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality, which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities. This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to smoke, drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Personality wise, these individuals may become overly dependent upon others, gullible, and perpetual followers. On the other hand, they may also fight these urges and develop pessimism and aggression toward others.

Anal: The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is on eliminating and retaining feces. Through society’s pressure, mainly via parents, the child has to learn to control anal stimulation. In terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during this stage can result in an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive). On the opposite end of the spectrum, they may become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive).

Phallic: The pleasure zone switches to the genitals. Freud believed that during this stage boy develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother. Because of this, he becomes rivals with his father and sees him as competition for the mother’s affection. During this time, boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by castrating them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus Complex ( after the Greek Mythology figure who accidentally killed his father and married his mother). Later it was added that girls go through a similar situation, developing unconscious sexual attraction to their father. Although Freud Strongly disagreed with this, it has been termed the Electra Complex by more recent psychoanalysts. According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of his father, boys eventually decide to identify with him rather than fight him. By identifying with his father, the boy develops masculine characteristics and identifies himself as a male, and represses his sexual feelings toward his mother. A fixation at this stage could result in sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual identity according to psychoanalysts.

Latent: It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed and children interact and play mostly with same sex peers.

Genital: The final stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened. Through the lessons learned during the previous stages, adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex peers, with the primary focus of pleasure is the genitals. || ** Examples **

. . . . . Ex. Inborn instinctive urges for food, water – Eat everything now Cookie Monster – “Me Want Cookie” – Pleasure Principle

Ex. Reality principle – rational – Conserve some food for later and seek more food. Spock, Sheldon Cooper

Ex. Moral principle – conscience and high ideals. Guilt.

. .  .  .  .  .  Ex. I failed the test because the questions were bad – they didn’t make sense.

Ex. A woman who feels hatred for her father will replace that feeling with apathy, but the anger and hostility remain and resurface in cutting remarks, sarcastic jokes, slips of the tongue, etc.

Ex. A person is in denial and does not heed the warnings of the media regarding a tornado. He is severely injured as a result.

Ex. A boy is jealous of his girlfriend but does not want to admit to himself that he is threatened by her independence – he accuses her of being jealous

Ex. A divorced father resents having his child for the weekend, feels guilty, and then showers the child with gifts, love, etc.

Ex. Temper tantrum, loud crying, pouting, revert to eating and sleeping all the time, etc.

Ex. You want to hit your father, but you hit your little brother instead because he reminds you of your father.

Ex. You are frustrated with your friend’s arrogant attitude, so you channel that frustration into your soccer practice, pushing yourself to your physical limits. ||
 * ** Carl Jung ** || Collective Unconscious: Different from the personal unconscious – A storehouse of instincts, urges, and memories of the entire human species throughout history.

Archetypes: Inherited universal ideas present in every person. Influence our thoughts, feelings and help to build the foundation of our personalities. || Ex. Something that happens over and over again in human history – is stored in the unconscious of every human being.

. .  Ex. Jack & the Beanstalk / David & Goliath; Creation Mythology / Flood Story; ||
 * ** Alfred Adler ** || Inferiority Complex: a pattern of avoiding feelings of inadequacy rather than trying to overcome their source. Continually tries to compensate for weakness – avoids feelings of inadequacy.

Superiority Complex: characterized by an exaggerated opinion of one's abilities and accomplishments.

Lifestyles: Patterns that persist throughout our lives

The term **style of life** was used by psychiatrist Alfred Adler as one of several constructs describing the dynamics of the personality. It reflects the individual's unique, unconscious, and repetitive way of responding to (or avoiding) the main tasks of living: friendship, love, and work. This style, rooted in a childhood prototype, remains consistent throughout life, unless it is changed through depth psychotherapy. The style of life is reflected in the unity of an individual's way of thinking, feeling, and acting. Often, bending an individual away from the needs of others or common sense, movements are made to relieve inferiority feelings or to compensate for those feelings with an unconscious fictional final goal.

Social Interest: innate potential to cooperate with others and serve society.

Nurture over Nature || Ex. Children – dependency on adults;

Ex. Overpampering parents = self-centeredness; Neglect = Hostility

. . ..

Ex: Adler felt he could distinguish four primary types of style. Three of them he said to be "mistaken styles." These include the //ruling type//: aggressive, dominating people who don't have much social interest or cultural perception; the //getting type//: dependent people who take rather than give; and the //avoiding type//: people who try to escape life's problems and take part in not much socially constructive activity. The fourth life style by Adler is the //socially useful// type: people with a great deal of social interest and activity. ||
 * ** Karen Horney ** || Stressed the importance of basic anxiety, which a child feels because she is helpless, and basic hostility, a resentment of one’s parents that generally accompanies anxiety.

Believed that if a child is raised in an atmosphere of love and security, that child could avoid Freud’s psychosexual parent –child conflict.

Neurosis: Neurosis is how people cope and have control over interpersonal issues that happen day to day

Neurosis is a "psychic disturbance brought by fears and defenses against these fears, and by attempts to find compromise solutions for conflicting tendencies" (The Neurotic Personality Of Our Time, 28-29). This describes an individual having trouble with coping and handling certain psychosocial environmental stressors resulting in problems within their selves. Also, neurotic can not be diagnosed without looking at their culture background. Neurotic feelings and attitudes are determined by the way they live
 * Feelings and attitudes determined by culture
 * Deal with Problems
 * Driven by Emotional Forces
 * Compulsive Drives but are Neurotic

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Psychoanalysis:
 * Seeking Self- Realization
 * Help from analyst to cope with life

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inner Conflicts: 1.) The neurotic has a desperate need for acceptance and affection. Anxiety will occur without these. Neurotics see life as if everything is reasonable and suitable to fit their needs but in reality it is impossible.
 * Abilities to be a decent person
 * Man can change || Ex. ** Neurotic Needs **

2.) The neurotic has a need for love when in an intimate relationship and expect their partners to take over their lives by solving their problems.

3.) The neurotic need to make things more simpler by having no routine or rules. Also, when at the point of stress, they want to be unnoticeable and avoid confrontation that may add to their frustration.

4.) The neurotic needs to have control and power over others.

5.) The neurotic has a need to manipulate others. They have this need because of their concern of being used or looking stupid. Practical jokes that may be funny to others are often not funny to the neurotic.

6.) The neurotic has a need to be recognized socially. They are extremely concerned with appearance and popularity. So, they strive to be outgoing.

7.) The neurotic has a need for others to admire their inner qualities. They are desperate perfectionists, fearing being unimportant or meaningless to others.

8.) Neurotics need personal accomplishment. They are obsessed with it. They want to be leader of everyone, being top of the world and number one at everything.

9.) Neurotics need independence. They refuse help from others, thinking they can accomplish things by themselves. Also, if they did receive assistance than it would not be just themselves recognized but the other person as well. They rather have all the attention focused on them individually.

10.) Neurotics need perfection, hoping that everything in life is just going to get better and better. They fear failure and people finding out that they make mistakes. They feel it is important to be in charge of the all situations.

A neurotic person will go to the extremes for their devices because "an impairment of his capacities for achievement and enjoyment" (The Neurotic Personality of Our Time, 26). A suffering neurotic is unaware and tries to solve it by these certain solutions or needs which are unrealistic.


 * Psychoanalysis: ** Her theoretical approach to this is describing it towards people's personalities. The personality she gave is an example of children and how parents as well as other socializing factors influence their personality. For instance, a normal child goes through life having certain characteristics of themselves when relating experiences with school, hobbies, and home. However, when looking at a child that is neurotic the environmental factors isolates their true self. Also, older people can be described as neurotic, characterized by no self-worth, loss of decision making or interest, afraid or obsessive-compulsive, anxiety, and depressed. The goal of this analysis is to basically change the person's opinions and perception of life by seeking a person's potential of self-realization. This emphasizes that the neurotic should be aware of their environmental factors that surround them and their inner-self, knowing who they are. This means "striving toward a clearer and deeper experiencing" (Neurosis And Human Growth, 364) with the direction of their lives. This analysis "cannot solve the ills of the world" (Self-Analysis, 10) but it can explain the neurotic's problems and try to help them. Psychoanalysis therapy is "helping people toward their best possible further development" (Self-Analysis, 37).

Horney believed that each of us has the capability and potential to become a decent person. This comes from the relationship with ourselves as well as with others which is disturbed with problems. However, "man can change and go on changing as long as he lives" ||
 * || Learning Theories ||  ||
 * ** John B. Watson ** || Behaviorism: The belief that the proper subject matter of psychology is objectively observable behavior – and nothing else ||  ||
 * ** B.F. Skinner ** || Behaviorism: The belief that the proper subject matter of psychology is objectively observable behavior – and nothing else

Contingencies of Reinforcement: The occurrence of a reward or punishment following a specific behavior. || Ex. Interested in what causes a person to act in a specific way and how aspects of a personality are learned

Ruben is depressed and stays in his room because there are rewards for doing so ||
 * ** Albert Bandura ** || Social Cognitive Theory: Personality is not only caused by direct reinforcement of behavior but also by observational learning or imitation. Behavior is directed by choice of models.

Reciprocal Determinism: observing the behavior of an individual and the environment in which the behavior occurs

Personality Development:
 * Cognitive Personal Factors – beliefs, expectations, values, intentions, social roles, as well as our emotional make up and biological and genetic influences.
 * Behaviors – our personal actions
 * Environmental Factors – Social, political, and cultural influences and our personal learning experiences || Ex. Demonstrate the proper way to perform a task and reward the child each time it is done correctly ||
 * || Humanistic and Cognitive Theories ||  ||
 * ** Abraham Maslow ** || Humanistic Psychology: an approach that stresses the uniqueness of the individual

Self-Actualization: Realizing one’s unique potential

Deficiency Needs / Physiological Needs

Safety Needs

Belongingness, Esteem & Love Needs

Peak Experience – Transcendence: a moment of complete ecstasy when the self is transcended.


 * Jonah Complex ** -- our doubts about our own abilities and our fears that we are not up to the task of becoming self-actualized. || Ex. Openness to a wide range of experiences, awareness of and respect for our own and another’s uniqueness, accepting responsibilities of freedom and commitment, a desire to become more authentic or true to one’s self, the ability to grow, etc.

Self-actualized People: Client v. Patient – Patient implies that something is wrong – illness – negative label
 * Problem – Centered not Self – Centered
 * Base decisions on ethical principles not on cost – benefit analysis
 * Strong sense of identity
 * Strong sense of humor
 * Exceptionally spontaneous
 * Maintain integrity
 * Autonomous
 * Value Privacy and Seek Solitude
 * Focus on deep. Loving relationships with the few people with whom they are truly close
 * Ability to appreciate even the simplest things
 * Approach life with a sense of discovery
 * Creative & Original ||
 * ** Carl Rogers ** || Self Theory:

Many people suffer from a conflict between what they value in themselves and what they believe other people value in them.

There are two sides or parts to every person. Each person is constantly struggling to become more and more complete and perfect. Anything that furthers this end is good – the person wants to become everything he or she can possibly be. Different people have different potentialities, but every person wants to realize these potentialities, to make them real, whatever they are

Self: one’s experience or image of oneself, developed through interaction with others. Essential to who you are and what you value in yourself, in other people, and in general. The self is something that you gradually acquire over time by observing how other people react to you.

Positive Regard: Viewing oneself in a positive light due to positive feedback received from interaction with others

Conditions of Worth: the conditions a person must meet in order to regard himself or herself positively.

. . . . Unconditional Positive Regard: the perception that individuals’ significant others value them for what they are, which leads the individuals to grant themselves the same regard.

Incongruence: Discrepancy between one's self-concept and experience or behavior.

Fully Functioning: Self-Actualized person; A person whose person and self coincide. Free to develop all potentialities. || Ex. Whatever you can do, you want to do as well as possible

. .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  Ex. She loves me / he likes me / They like what I am and what I do

.

Ex. If you do what I want, I will love you.

If mom becomes cold and distant when you become angry, you learn to deny yourself the right to express or feel anger.

Ex. I love you just the way you are

You never need to limit yourself and will be able to accept the person you are and become open to all of your feelings, thoughts, experiences and, to other people. ||
 * ** George Kelly ** || Cognitive Theory: Based on an analysis of our own perceptions, thoughts, and feelings.

Personality consists of our thoughts about ourselves.

Personal Construct Theory: Processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which each of us anticipates events.

There is organization to how we behave, governed by a network of potential but limited responses. The emphasis is on the individual and his or her plans – including biases, errors, mistakes, and false conclusions.

The primary feature of these personally constructed ideas about the world and how to behave in it is the individual’s anticipations – or predictions - about his or her world.

Our personal constructs are basically our schemas – our mental representations of people, events, and concepts. Schemas influence what we pay attention to, how we interpret events and people, and how we respond to events and people. Concepts may bias our thoughts and distort our perceptions.

Personal constructs are relatively stable but can be changed in light of new evidence. || Ex. Ideas of ourselves, of others, and of our world shape our behavior and our personalities.

We are masters of our own destiny. ||
 * || Trait Theories ||  ||
 * ** Gordon Allport ** || Trait Theory: Makes two basic assumptions:
 * Every trait applies to all people
 * These descriptions can be quantified

Every trait can be used to describe people – we understand people by specifying traits and we use traits to predict peoples’ future behavior.

A few basic traits are central for all people.

Ask: Is it a trait? Is it a sign of a more basic trait? What behaviors go together?

A trait makes a variety of situations functionally equivalent. Traits will be consistent in different situations.

Common traits apply to everyone. Individual traits apply more to a specific person.

Cardinal Trait: An Individual trait that is so pervasive that the person is almost identified with the trait.

Secondary Trait: Describe transient or less consistent traits

Central Trait: a trait that best describes a person || Ex. Everyone can be classified as more or less dependent / Measured on a scale of 1 - 10

. .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  Ex. Scrooge = Stingy and Cold Hearted

Ex. Food or Music Preferences

Ex. Shy, loyal, friendly, generous ||
 * ** Raymond Cattell ** || Sixteen Trait Theory:

Factor Analysis: Describes the extent to which different personality variables are related – complex statistical technique used to identify the underlying reasons variables are correlated

Surface Traits: A characteristic that can be observed in certain situations.

Source Traits: A characteristic that can be considered to be at the core of personality || Ex. Reserved – Outgoing, Intelligence, Emotional Stability, Submissive – Dominance, etc. || Two basic dimensions of personality:
 * ** Hans Eysenck: ** || Dimensions of Personality:

Stability v. Instability – the degree to which people have control over their feelings

Extroversion v. Introversion:

Extroverts: An outgoing, active person who directs his or her energies and interests toward other people and things

Introverts: reserved, withdrawn person who is preoccupied with his or her inner thoughts and feelings

Psychoticism: id vs. superego (third dimension added later) ||. . .  .  .  .  .  .  Ex. Enjoy parties, seek excitement

Ex. Thoughtful, reserved, passive, unsociable ||
 * || The Robust 5:
 * Extroversion
 * Agreeableness
 * Conscientiousness
 * Openness to Experience
 * Emotional Stability

Think of each of the 5 traits as a continuum. Each trait has many related traits. ||  ||