Thinking About Psychology

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Thinking About Psychology

The Science of Mind and Behavior 3e

Charles T. Blair-Broeker & Randal M. Ernst PowerPoint Presentation Slides

by Kent Korek

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Psychodynamic and Humanistic

Perspectives on Personality

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Module Overview

• The Psychodynamic Perspective on Personality

• The Humanistic Perspective on Personality

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The Psychodynamic

Perspective on Personality

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Personality

• An individual’s characteristic pattern

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Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

• Founder of psychoanalysis, a

controversial theory about the workings of the

unconscious mind.

• A person’s thoughts and

behaviors emerge from tension generated by unconscious

motives and unresolved childhood conflicts.

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Psychoanalysis

• Freud’s theory of personality;

• also a therapeutic technique that attempts

to provide insight into one’s thoughts and actions • by exposing and interpreting the underlying unconscious motives and conflicts.

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Psychodynamic Perspective

• A view of personality that retains some

aspects of Freudian theory

• (such as the importance of unconscious

thought processes)

• but is less likely to see unresolved

childhood conflicts as a source of personality development.

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The Psychodynamic

Perspective on

Personality:

Freud’s View of the Mind

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Free Association

• A method of exploring the

unconscious in which the person

relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or

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Conscious Mind

• The thoughts and feelings one is currently aware of

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Preconscious Mind

• According to Freud, a region of the

mind holding information that is not conscious but is retrievable into

conscious awareness.

• Holds thoughts and memories not in one’s current awareness but can easily be retrieved

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Unconscious Mind

• According to Freud, a region of the

mind that is a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes,

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The Psychodynamic

Perspective on

Personality:

The Id, Ego, and

Superego

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Freud’s Concept of the “Id”

• The part of personality that ,

according to Freud, consists of unconscious, psychic energy and

• strives to satisfy basic sexual and

aggressive drives;

• operates on the pleasure principle,

demanding immediate gratification. • Is present from birth

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Freud’s Concept of the “Superego”

• The part of personality that ,

according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the

consciences) and for future aspirations.

• One’s conscience; focuses on what the person “should” do

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Freud’s Concept of the “Ego”

• The largely conscious, “executive”

part of personality that, according to Freud, negotiates among the

demands of the id, superego, and reality;

• operates on the reality principle,

satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

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The Psychodynamic

Perspective on

Personality:

Defense Mechanisms

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Defense Mechanisms

• In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s

protective methods of reducing

anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

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Repression

• Puts anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories into the unconscious

mind

• The basis for all other defense mechanisms

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Regression

• Allows an anxious person to retreat to a more comfortable, infantile stage of life

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Denial

• Lets an anxious person refuse to admit that something unpleasant is happening

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Reaction Formation

• Reverses an unacceptable impulse, causing the person to express the opposite of the anxiety-provoking, unconscious feeling

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Projection

• Disguises threatening feelings of guilty anxiety by attributing the problems to others

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Rationalization

• Displaces real, anxiety-provoking explanations with more comforting justifications for one’s actions

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Displacement

• Shifts an unacceptable impulse toward a more acceptable or less threatening

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The Psychodynamic

Perspective on

Personality:

Freud’s Psychosexual

Stages

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Psychosexual Stages

• Childhood stages of development

• (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) • during which , according to Freud, the

id’s pleasure seeking energies focus on different parts of the body .

• A person can become “fixated” or stuck at a stage, leading to problems as an adult

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Oral Stage

• Pleasure comes from chewing, biting, and sucking.

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Anal Stage

• Gratification comes from bowel and bladder functions.

• Potty training can be a conflict at this stage.

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Phallic Stage

• The pleasure zone shifts to the genitals. • Boys cope with incestuous feelings

toward their mother and rival feelings toward their dad (Oedipus conflict).

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Latency Stage

• Sexual feelings are dormant.

• Child identifies with and tries to mimic the same sex parent to

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Genital Stage

• Begins at puberty with the maturation of sexual interests

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The Psychodynamic

Perspective on

Personality:

The Neo-Freudians

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Neo-Freudians

• Followers of Freud’s theories but

developed theories of their own in areas where they disagreed with Freud

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Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

• Neo-Freudian who thought

social tensions were more important than sexual

tensions in the development of personality.

• Believed psychological

problems were the result of feelings of inferiority

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Inferiority Complex

• According to Adler, a condition that

comes from being unable to

compensate for normal inferiority feelings.

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Carl Jung (Yoo-ng)(1875-1961)

• Neo-Freudian who believed that humans

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Collective Unconscious

• Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited

reservoir of memory traces from our ancestors.

• Information everyone knows from birth • Archetypes – universal symbols found

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Karen Horney (HORN-eye)(1885-1952)

• Neo-Freudian who found

psychoanalysis negatively biased toward women and

• believed cultural variables

are the foundation of

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The Psychodynamic

Perspective on

Personality:

Assessing Personality

From a Psychodynamic

Perspective

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Projective Tests

• A personality test,

• such as the Rorschach or TAT,

• that provides ambiguous stimuli to

trigger projection of one’s inner thoughts and feelings.

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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• A projective test in which

people express their inner feelings and interests

through the stories they

make up about ambiguous scenes.

• The person makes up a story of a picture they are shown

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Rorschach Inkblot Test

• The most widely

used personality test used projective test is a set of 10 inkblots designed to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.

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The Psychodynamic

Perspective on

Personality:

Evaluating the

Psychodynamic

Perspective

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Updating Freud’s Theory

• Most psychodynamic psychologists agree:

– Sex is not the basis of personality. – People do not “fixate” at various

stages of development.

– Much of a person’s mental life is unconscious.

– People struggle with inner conflicts, and childhood experiences shape us.

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The Humanistic

Perspective on Personality

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Humanistic Psychology

• A perspective that focuses on the study of

conscious experience, the individual’s freedom to choose, and capacity for personal growth.

• Emphasizes conscious experience

• Focuses on free will and creative abilities • Studies all factors relavent to the human

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The Humanistic

Perspective on

Personality:

Abraham Maslow and

Self-Actualization

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Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

• Humanistic psychologist who proposed

the hierarchy of needs, with

self-actualization as one of the ultimate psychological needs.

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Hierarchy of Needs

• Maslow’s pyramid of human needs,

beginning at the base with physiological needs, proceeding through safety needs and then to psychological needs

• Higher-level needs won’t become active until lower-level needs have been

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Self-Actualization

• According to Maslow, an ultimate

psychological need that

• arises after basic physical and

psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved;

• the motivation to realize out full and

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Self-Actualization

• Characteristics include:

– Self aware and self accepting

– Open, spontaneous, loving, and caring – Not paralyzed by other’s opinions

– Focused on a particular task

– Involved in few deep relationships

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Maslow’s

Hierarchy

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Maslow’s

Hierarchy

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Maslow’s

Hierarchy

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Maslow’s

Hierarchy

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Maslow’s

Hierarchy

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The Humanistic

Perspective on

Personality:

Carl Rogers and the

Person-Centered

Approach

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Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

• Humanistic psychologist who

developed client-centered therapy and

• stressed the importance of

acceptance, genuineness, and

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Unconditional Positive Regard

• According to Rogers, an attitude of

total acceptance toward another person.

• People can be more open with those that express unconditional positive regard

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Genuineness

• Freely expressing one’s feelings and not being afraid to disclose details about

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Empathy

• Sharing thoughts and understanding • Listening and reflecting the other

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The Humanistic

Perspective on

Personality:

Assessing Personality and

the Self From a

Humanistic Perspective

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Self-Concept

• All our thoughts and feelings about

ourselves in answer to the question “Who am I?”

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The Humanistic

Perspective on

Personality:

Evaluating the Humanistic

Perspective

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Evaluating Humanism

• Humanism has influenced therapy, child-rearing, and the workplace

• Laid the foundation for positive psychology