chapter 14: personality

What are three ways in which Freud's theory has been criticized?

(1) not scientifically testable and offering after-the-fact explanations (2) focusing too much on sexual conflicts in childhood (3) being based on the idea of repression, which has not been supported by modern research.

What are three big ideas that have survived from Freud's psychoanalytic theory?

(1) the importance of childhood experiences (2) the existence of the unconscious mind (3) our self-protective defense mechanisms.

describe the anal stage

- 18-16 months of age - Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

- a test introduced by Murray - provides a valid and reliable map of people's implicit motives a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.

criticism of Freud's view of the importance of childhood experience.

- development is seen as lifelong, not fixed in childhood - he may have overestimated parental influence on children- gender identity does not depend on a same-sex parent as one can become strongly masculine or feminine do so even without a same-sex parent present. - Freud's questioning could have created false memories of sexual abuse and enhanced his ideas of childhood sexual wishes and conflicts

How did Murray use the projective test?

- had children engage in a frightening game called "murder" - later when shown images what the kids recalled seeing in the photos was malicious - this demonstrated that they projected their inner feelings into pictures

evidence that has supported Freud's reaction formation

- men who were more anti-gay experienced more blood flow to the penis while watching homosexual intercourse - people who unconsciously identify as homosexual—but who consciously identify as straight—report more negative attitudes toward gays

describe the oral stage

- occurs from 0-18 months - Pleasure centers on the mouth—sucking, biting, chewing

describe the phallic stage

- occurs from 3-6 years old - Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings - boys develop both unconscious sexual desires for their mother and jealousy and hatred for their father who they consider a rival

describe the latency stage

- occurs from 6 years up until puberty - A phase of dormant sexual feelings

describe the genital stage

- occurs from puberty an onward - Maturation of sexual interests

Freud's view of personality

- personality arises from conflict between pleasure seeking impulses and restraint brought upon by society's social controls - personality serves to strike a balance between expressing one's impulses in a way that brings satisfaction without bringing guilt or punishment - believed the personality was constructed into 3 parts: the id, ego, and superego

research has supported which of Freud's findings?

- reaction formation - projection - unconscious defense against anxiety

list the 6 types of defense mechanisms according to Freud

1- Regression 2- Reaction formation 3- Projection 4- Rationalization 5- Displacement 6- Denial

These are, Rogers believed, the water, sun, and nutrients that enable people to grow like vigorous oak trees:

1- acceptance 2- genuineness 3- empathy

What 3 things did Roger's growth-promoting social environment provide?

1- acceptance- valuing people despite failures (unconditioned positive regard). You can be yourself without the fear of losing other's esteem 2- genuineness- people are open with feelings and transparent and self-disclosing 3- empathy- to share and mirror the feelings of others. Listening and trying to understand others

two ways to analyze personality

1- use of questionnaire to analyze self concept- they are asked to describe their actual vs ideal self. The closer the actual and ideal self the more positive one's self-concept 2- another approach is to use the life story approach in which people describe their unique life story which can show more of a complete picture of one's identity

these two theorists focused on our potential for healthy personal growth. They studied people through their own self-reported experiences and feelings

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

who thought of the inferiority complex? He believed that much of our behavior is driven by efforts to conquer childhood inferiority feelings that trigger our strivings for superiority and power.

Alfred Alder

How did Neo-Freudians differ from Freud?

But they broke off from Freud in two important ways. First, they placed more emphasis on the conscious mind's role in interpreting experience and in coping with the environment. second, they doubted that sex and aggression were all-consuming motivations. Instead, they tended to emphasize loftier motives and social interactions.

who disagreed with Freud by saying the unconscious contains more than our repressed thoughts and feelings. He believed we also have a collective unconscious, a common reservoir of images, or archetypes, derived from our species' universal experiences.

Carl Jung

define collective unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history.

define projection

Disguising one's own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

define psycho-analysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions.

Who thought childhood anxiety triggers our desire for love and security? She also opposed Freud's assumptions that women have weak superegos and suffer "penis envy," and she attempted to balance his masculine bias.

Karen Horney

hierarchy of needs

Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active.

define rationalization

Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one's actions

in what stage did Freud believe the Oedipus complex could be observed?

Phallic stage

define denial

Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

What is not part of the contemporary view of the unconscious in regards to traumatic events.

Repressed memories of anxiety-provoking events

define regression

Retreating to an earlier psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

person-centered perspective

Roger's idea that people are basically good and are endowed with self-actualizing tendencies.

define displacement

Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person

who was the first person to focus clinical attention to the unconscious mind?

Sigmund Freud

define reaction formation

Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

a test in which people view ambiguous pictures and then make up stories about them.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

what is unconditioned positive regard?

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

define projective test

a personality test, such as the Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.

terror-management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death.

define the unconscious according to Freud and contemporary psychologists

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.

self-actualization

according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential.

self-trancendance

according to Maslow, the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self.

contemporary psychology and what we currently agree/disagree with in regards to Freud's theories

agree: - much of our mental life is unconscious. - we often struggle with inner conflicts among our wishes, fears, and values, and that childhood shapes our personality and ways of becoming attached to others. disagree: - do not believe sex is the basis of personality -"do not talk about ids and egos, and do not go around classifying their patients as oral, anal, or phallic characters." - developmental psychologists see our development as lifelong, not fixed in childhood.

define self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"

define personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Freud believed that defense mechanisms are unconscious attempts to distort or disguise reality, all in an effort to reduce our ________________.

anxiety

trait theories

characteristic patterns of behavior (traits)

a common reservoir in the unconscious mind of images, or archetypes, derived from our species' universal experiences.

collective unconscious

what are the three types of consciousness? Which was Freud most interested in and why?

conscious- the things we are aware of preconscious- unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories that can be brought to consciousness unconscious - the part of the mind that we are not aware of- where Freud believed we store unaccepted feelings- where we keep things repressed, or forcibly block them from our consciousness because they would be too unsettling to acknowledge. Freud believed that without our awareness, these troublesome feelings and ideas powerfully influence us, sometimes gaining expression in disguised forms—the work we choose, the beliefs we hold, our daily habits, our upsetting symptoms.

Oedipus complex

cording to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father. in women it is called Electra complex

A partner denies evidence of his loved one's affair.

denial

A little girl kicks the family dog after her mother puts her in a time-out.

displacement

satisfies id's impulses in realistic way to bring long-term pleasure. Contains our partly conscious perceptions, thoughts, judgments, and memories.

ego

this part of the personality according to Freud serves as the personality "executive," mediating among the impulsive demands of the id, the restraining demands of the superego,

ego

According to Freud's view of personality structure, the "executive" system, the _________________, seeks to gratify the impulses of the _________________ in more acceptable ways.

ego; id

According to Freud's ideas about the three-part personality structure, the ____________ operates on the reality principle and tries to balance demands in a way that produces long-term pleasure rather than pain; the _____________ operates on the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification; and the _____________ represents the voice of our internalized ideals (our conscience).

ego; id; superego.

social-cognitive theories

explore the interaction between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context.

evidence that has supported Freud's projection

false consensus effect—the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors. People who binge-drink or break speed limits tend to think many others do the same.

If a person continues to seek oral gratification by smoking or excessive eating, Freud would say that they psychosexual cycle would have been disrupted in the oral stage and has stuck with them in adult years. What is this an example of?

fixation

In the psychoanalytic view, conflicts unresolved during one of the psychosexual stages may lead to _____________ at that stage.

fixation

According to the psychoanalytic view of development, we all pass through a series of psychosexual stages, including the oral, anal, and phallic stages. Conflicts unresolved at any of these stages may lead to...

fixation at the stage

Freud believed ________ _________ would allow him to retrace that line, following a chain of thought leading into the patient's unconscious. There, painful unconscious memories, often from childhood, could be retrieved, reviewed, and released

free association

seeks immediate gratification. powered by drive to satisfy basic impulses like survival, reproduction, and aggression.

id

fixation

in personality theory, according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved. At any point in the oral, anal, or phallic stages, strong conflict could lock, or fixate, the person's pleasure-seeking energies in that stage.

what is free association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing. - often revealed unconscious memories from childhood

define repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. operates indirectly and unconsciously

manifest vs latent content in dreams according to Freud

manifest content- what the dream was about, what happened latent content- the censored expression of the dreamer's unconscious wishes (the meaning behind the manifest content)

criticism of Freud's idea of repression

more often, trauma increases memory retention- this is why highly emotional events can haunt people

biggest criticism of Freud's theories

not based on scientific evidence Freud's theory rests on few objective observations, and parts of it offer few testable hypotheses.

define the id

one of the 3 parts of personality described by Freud a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.

define the ego

one of the 3 parts of personality described by Freud mediates between the id and superego the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain. - satisfies id's impulses in realistic way to bring long-term pleasure.

define superego

one of the 3 parts of personality described by Freud the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. - moral compass - focuses on how one should behave - it strives for perfection to produce positive feelings as oppose to guilt

what are the 4 stages in Freud's psychosexual stages?

oral anal phallic latency genital

criticism of Freud's view of the importance of dreams as wish-fulfillment

other theories for dreaming like random impulses, memory consolidation, etc.

what is gender identity according to Freud?

our sense of being male, female, or some combination of the two. Freud presumed that our early childhood relations—especially with our parents and other caregivers—influence our developing identity, personality, and frailties. - children identify with their same-sex parent which contributes to their gender identity

"The thief thinks everyone else is a thief" (an El Salvadoran saying).

projection

________________ tests ask test-takers to respond to an ambiguous image by describing it or telling a story about it.

projective

aim to provide this "psychological X-ray" by asking test-takers to describe an ambiguous image or tell a story about it. The clinician may presume that any hopes, desires, and fears that people see in the ambiguous image are projections of their own inner feelings or conflicts.

projective test

this test provides a psychologist with information on one's implicit motives.

projective test such as TAT or Rorschach inkblot test

theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences.

psycho-dynamic theories

A habitual drinker says she drinks with her friends "just to be sociable."

rationalization

Repressing angry feelings, a person displays exaggerated friendliness.

reaction formation

A little boy reverts to the oral comfort of thumb sucking in the car on the way to his first day of school.

regression

Freud believed that we may block painful or unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, or memories from consciousness through an unconscious process called _______________.

repression

this underlies all other defense mechanisms. Because it is often incomplete, urges often appear as symbols in dreams or slips of the tongue in casual conversation

repression

In general, neo-Freudians such as Adler and Horney accepted many of Freud's views but placed more emphasis than he did on...

social interactions

Neo- Freudians believed that ______ not _____ tensions in childhood are crucial for personality formation

social, not sexual

Which elements of traditional psychoanalysis have modern-day psychodynamic theorists and therapists retained, and which elements have they mostly left behind?

still rely on the interviewing techniques that Freud used, and they still tend to focus on childhood experiences and attachments, unresolved conflicts, and unconscious influences. However, they are not likely to dwell on fixation at any psychosexual stage, or the idea that sexual issues are the basis of our personality

Freud proposed that the development of the "voice of our moral compass" is related to the ______________, which internalizes ideals and provides standards for judgments.

super ego

this is considered our moral compass which seeks perfection, not only considering the real but the ideal. It focuses on how we ought to behave in order to bring about positive feelings and avoid feelings of guilt

super-ego

evidence of Freud's idea that we unconsciously defend ourselves against anxiety

terror-menagement theory when thinking about how we are all going to die people become more religious and think about close relationships in order to calm anxiety someone may take up running or a healthy hobby upon the death of a loved one

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones.

what is the false consensus effect?

the idea that people are doing what you do. Refers to the tendency of people to overestimate the level to which other people share their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. it is a way to preserve your self image "Everyone speeds"

Rorschach inkblot test

the most widely used projective test; a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots. - not always effective

identification

the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos. - how kids cope with threatening feelings brought out in the phallic stage. Children decide if they can't beat their parent then they should join them and thus start to identify with the same sex parents and adopt their values

humanistic theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.

Freud believed that our defense mechanisms operate _____________ (consciously/unconsciously) and defend us against _____________.

unconsciously; anxiety

psychodynamic theories

view human behavior as a dynamic interaction between the conscious mind and unconscious mind, including associated motives and conflicts. These theories are descended from Freud's psychoanalysis

the unconscious mind is responsible for attending to stimuli we are not consciously aware of. Give some examples

• the schemas that automatically control our perceptions and interpretations (Chapter 6). • the priming by stimuli to which we have not consciously attended (Chapters 6 and 8). • the right-hemisphere activity that enables the split-brain patient's left hand to carry out an instruction the patient cannot verbalize (Chapter 2). • the implicit memories that operate without conscious recall, even among those with amnesia (Chapter 8). • the emotions that activate instantly, before conscious analysis (Chapter 12). • the stereotypes and implicit prejudice that automatically and unconsciously influence how we process information about others (Chapter 13).