THEORIES OF PERSONALITY REVIEWER
II. What is a Theory?
Prepared by: Alethea Patricia L. Del Castillo, MA, RPm
A. Theory Defined
Reference: Feist, Feist & Roberts (2013). Theories of Personality
(Eight Edition) New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use
logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable
hypotheses
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PERSONALITY THEORY
- Set: A single assumption can never fill all the
requirements of a good theory
I. What Is Personality?
- Latin word: persona = the mask people wear or the role
they play in life. (But its more than just a façade)
- a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique
characteristics that give both consistency and
individuality to human behavior
- Traits: it may be unique, common to some group, or
shared by the entire species BUT the pattern is different
- Related: Isolated assumptions can neither generate
meaningful hypotheses nor possess internal
consistency
- Assumptions: not proven facts but accepted as if they
were true
- Logical Deductive Reasoning: to deduce a clearly
stated hypothesis
- Testable: must suggest the possibility that scientists
for each individual (consistency & stability of behavior over
time)
- Characteristics: unique qualities of an individual that
include such attributes as temperament, physique and
intelligence
B. Why Different Theories?
- Theories are built not on proven facts but on
assumptions (assumed to be true) that are subject to
individual interpretations
- Reflection of their personal background, their
philosophical orientation, and the data they chose to
o It must generate research that can either
observe
confirm or disconfirm its major tenets.
- Its usefulness depends on its ability to generate
o A negative result will contradict the theory and
research and to explain research data and other
force the theorist to either discard it or modify
observations
it
o A theory that can explain everything explains
C. What Makes a Theory Useful?
nothing
- It generates a number of hypotheses that can be
- Organizes Data:
investigated through research, thus yielding research
o It should be able to fit current research data
data
into an intelligible framework and to
- Organizes research data into a meaningful structure
integrate new information into its structure.
and provides explanation for the results
- Guides Action:
- Generates Research:
o practical tools that guide a road map for
o A useful theory will stimulate both
making day-to-day decisions.
descriptive research and hypothesis
o Example: what kind of psychotherapy
testing.
technique is going to be used to the client?
o Descriptive research provides a framewor k
- Is Internally consistent:
for an evolving theory whereas hypothesis
o includes operational definitions that define
testing expands our knowledge of a scientific
concepts in terms of specific operations to be
discipline.
carried out by the observer. (logically
- Is Falsifiable:
compatible)
- Is Parsimonious:
o Are they aware of what and why they are
o When two theories are equal on the first five
doing it? Or do unconscious forces impinge
criteria, the simpler one is preferred.
on them?
(straightforward theories)
- Biological versus Social Influences on personality
o Are people creatures of biology? Or are they
III. Dimensions for a Concept of Humanity
shaped largely by their social relationships?
- Determinism versus Free choice
- Uniqueness versus similarities among people
o Are people’s behaviors determined by forces
o Is the salient feature of people their
over which they have no control or can people
individuality or is it their common
choose to be what they wish to be?
characteristics?
- Pessimism versus Optimism
o Are people doomed to live miserable or can
they change and grow into psychologically
healthy and fully functioning individual?
- Causality versus Teleology
o Causality holds that behavior is a function of
the past experiences
o Teleology is the explanation of behavior in
terms of future goals or purposes
- Conscious versus Unconscious determinants of
behavior
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CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
- Early in his professional career, Freud believed that
(PSYCHOANALYSIS)
hysteria was a result of being seduced during childhood
by a sexually mature person, often a parent or other
I. Biography of Sigmund Freud
relative. But in 1897, he abandoned his seduction
- Sisigmund (Sigmund) Freud
theory and replaced it with his notion of the Oedipus
- Born in the Czech Republic in 1856 and died (of cancer)
complex.
in London in 1939, Freud spent nearly 80 years of his
- Some scholars have contended that Freud's decision to
life in Vienna.
abandon the seduction theory in favor of the Oedipus
- Freud was the first born of his father and mother,
complex was a major error and influenced a generation
although his father already had 2 grown sons
of psychotherapists to interpret patients' reports of early
- He was the favorite of his mother over the 7 other
sexual abuse as merely childhood fantasies.
siblings (he was not close to any of them)
- He fell in love with Martha Bernays and marry her in
- His relationship with his father appears to be cold if not
1886. They had 6 children. The youngest is Anna Freud
occasionally hostile
who held a special place in his heart
- When he was 1 ½ year old, his mother gave birth to
- He was mentored by Jean-Martin Charcot (hypnotic
Julius (who died at 6 months) Freud developed hostility to his
technique for treating hysteria) and Josef Breuer
brother and unconsciously wished him dead. He had carried into
(catharsis)
adulthood the guilt, he thought he was the cause of his death
- He then gradually discovered free association
- A physician who never intended to practice general
technique
medicine, Freud was intensely curious about human
- Studies of Hysteria: after its publication, Freud and
nature.
Breuer had a professional disagreement and became
estranged
- The unconscious mind of one person can communicate
- Interpretation of Dreams: contains many of Freud’s
with the unconscious of another without either person
own dreams. Soon after his publication his friendship
being aware of the process
with Fliess began to cool
- Unconscious forces constantly strive to become
- Freud and Jung interpreted each other’s dreams that
conscious
eventually led to the end of their relationship
B. Preconscious
- Contains images that are not in awareness but that can
II. Levels of Mental Life (Topographic Model)
become conscious either quite easily or with some level
A. Unconscious
of difficulty.
- The unconscious consists of drives and instincts that
- Experiences that are forgotten are in the preconscious.
are beyond awareness, yet they motivate many of our
- 2 sources:
behaviors.
o Conscious perception: when the focus of
- Unconscious drives can become conscious only in
attention shifts to another idea (usually free
disguised or distorted form, such as dream images,
from anxiety)
slips of the tongue, or neurotic symptoms.
o Unconscious: ideas can slip past the vigilant
- Unconscious processes originate from two sources: (1)
censor and enter into the preconscious in a
repression, or the blocking out of anxiety-filled
disguised form
experiences and (2) phylogenetic endowment, or
inherited experiences that lie beyond an individual's
C. Conscious
personal experience. (only as last resort in explaining
- Only level of mental life directly available to us, but it
behavior)
plays a relatively minor role in Freudian theory.
- Conscious ideas stem from either the perception of
mechanisms as protect itself
external stimuli; that is, our perceptual conscious
- It has no energy of its own but borrows from id
system, or from unconscious and preconscious images
- Psychologically healthy people have a well-developed
after they have evaded censorship.
ego.
C. The Superego (Uber Ich)
III. Provinces of the Mind (Structural Model)
- serves the idealistic principle, has two subsystems— the
A. The Id (das Es)
conscience and the ego-ideal
- completely unconscious
- The conscience results from punishment for improper
- serves the pleasure principle and seeks constant and
behavior (guilt),
immediate satisfaction of instinctual needs
- whereas the ego-ideal stems from rewards for socially
- not altered by the passage of time or by experiences of
acceptable behavior (inferiority feelings – when the ego fails to
the person.
meet the standards of perfection)
- It is illogical and entertain incompatible ideas
- Neither the id nor the superego is in contact with reality
- Primary process (basic drives)
- Development: Age 5 to 6
B. The Ego (das Ich)
- secondary process, is governed by the reality principle;
- partly conscious, preconscious and unconscious
- responsible for reconciling the unrealistic demands of
IV. Dynamics of Personality
The term dynamics of personality refers to those forces
both the id and the superego with the demands of the
that motivate people. The concept includes both instincts and
real world. (decision-making branch)
anxiety.
- It becomes anxious and would use defense
A. Drives (instinct or impulse) – a stimulus within an individual
- They cannot be avoided through flight response
adolescence and adulthood is not universal.
- Every basic drive is characterized by:
o Sadism, which is the reception of sexual
o Impetus – amt. of force it exerts
pleasure from inflicting pain on another, and
o Source – region of the body in tension
o Masochism, which is the reception of sexual
o Aim – seek pleasure by removing tension
pleasure from painful experiences, satisfies
o Object – person or thing where the aim is
both sexual and aggressive drives.
satisfied
o If carried to an extreme, sadism and
- 2 primary instincts—sex (Eros) and aggression
masochism is considered a sexual perversion
(Thanatos, or the destructive instinct).
but in moderation is a common need
- Sex (libido)
- Aggression
o Aim: to seek pleasure, through the erogenous
o The destructive instinct aims to return the
zones = mouth, anus, and genitals.
person to an inorganic state, but it is ordinarily
o Object: any person or thing that brings sexual
directed against other people and is called
pleasure.
aggression.
o For example, narcissism, love, sadism, and
o It can take a number of form like teasing,
masochism all possess large components of
gossip, sarcasm, humiliation, humor &
the sexual drive even though they may
enjoyment of other people’s suffering
appear to be nonsexual.
o Commandments such as “Love thy neighbor
o All infants possess primary narcissism, or
as thyself” is a way of inhibiting the strong
self-centeredness, but the secondary
drive to inflict pain to others. These are
narcissism (moderate degree of self-love) of
reaction formations
B. Anxiety
expression of its exact opposite.
- Only the ego feels anxiety, but the id, superego, and
C. Displacement
outside world can each be a source of anxiety.
- Redirecting of unacceptable urges and feelings onto
- Neurotic anxiety is apprehension about an unknown
people and objects in order to disguise or conceal their
danger and stems from the ego's relation with the id;
true nature.
- Moral anxiety is similar to guilt and results from the
- Unlike, reaction formation, it does not exaggerate or
ego's relation with the superego; and
overdo the disguised behavior
- Realistic anxiety is similar to fear and is produced by the
D. Fixation
ego's relation with the real world.
- When psychic energy is blocked at one stage of
development, making psychological change difficult.
V. Defense Mechanisms
- Permanent attachment of the libido to an earlier stage
A. Repression
of development
- Forcing unwanted, anxiety-loaded experiences into the
- They are universal
unconscious.
E. Regression
- It is the most basic of all defense mechanisms because
- When a person reverts to earlier, more infantile modes
it is an active process in each of the others.
of behavior
- Many repressed experiences remain unconscious for a
- Usually, temporary
lifetime but others become conscious in a disguised
F. Projection
form or in an unaltered form
- Seeing in others those unacceptable feelings or
B. Reaction Formation
behaviors that actually reside in one's own
- Repression of one impulse and the pretentious
unconscious.
- When carried to extreme, projection can become
into three subphases:
paranoia, which is characterized by delusions of
o oral phase: pleasure through sucking Weaning is
persecution.
the principal source of frustration during this stage.
G. Introjection
o Emergence of teeth as a defense against
- Incorporation of positive qualities of another person in
environment is called oral sadistic
order to reduce feelings of inadequacy.
o anal phase: satisfaction gained through aggressive
- Hero worship might be a good example.
behavior and excretory function (sadistic-anal)
H. Sublimation
o occurs at about the second year of life, when toilet
- Contribute to the welfare of society
training is the child's chief source of frustration.
- They involve elevating the aim of the sexual instinct to
o If parents use disciplinary training methods, a child
a higher level and are manifested in cultural
may develop the anal triad of orderliness, stinginess,
accomplishments, such as art, music, and other socially
and obstinacy, all of which mark the anal character.
beneficial activities.
o Phallic phase: boys and girls begin to have differing
psychosexual development, which occurs around
VI. Stages of Development
Freud saw psychosexual development as proceeding
ages 3 or 4 years.
o For both genders, suppression of masturbation is the
from birth to maturity through four overlapping stages—the
principle source of frustration.
infantile stage, the latency stage, the genital stage and the
o young children experience the Oedipus complex =
psychologically mature stage.
having sexual feelings for one parent and hostile
A. Infantile period
feelings for the other.
- Encompasses the first 4 to 5 years of life and is divided
o The male castration complex breaks up the male
Oedipus complex and results in a well-formed male
VII. Applications of Psychoanalytic Theory
superego.
A. Freud's Early Therapeutic Technique
o For girls, the castration complex, in the form of penis
- Freud used a very aggressive technique whereby he strongly
envy, precedes the female Oedipus complex, a
suggested to patients that they had been sexually seduced as
situation that leads to only a gradual and incomplete
children.
shattering of the female Oedipus complex and a
- He later abandoned this technique, with a belief that he may
weaker, more flexible female superego.
have elicited memories of seduction from his patients and that
B. Latency Period
he lacked clear evidence that these memories were real
- From about age 5 years until puberty—in which the
B. Freud's Later Therapeutic Technique
sexual instinct is partially suppressed.
- Goal: uncover repressed memories through the free
- It is believed that this may have roots in our
association and dream analysis = to strengthen the ego
phylogenetic endowment
- Transference: strong sexual or aggressive feelings, positive or
C. Genital Period
negative, that patients develop towards the analyst during the
- Begins with puberty when adolescents experience a
course of treatment
reawakening of the genital aim of Eros, and it continues
- Negative transference: form of hostility must be explained to
throughout adulthood.
the client to overcome resistance to treatment
D. Maturity
C. Dream Analysis
- Freud hinted at a stage of psychological maturity in
- manifest content (conscious description) from the
which the ego would be in control of the id and superego
- latent content (unconscious meaning of the dream that lies
and in which consciousness would play a more
hidden from the dreamer).
important role in behavior.
- Nearly all dreams are wish-fulfillments, although the wish is
usually unconscious and can be known only through dream
its openness to falsification as very low, and its ability to organize
interpretation.
data as average. We also rate psychoanalysis as average on its
- Dreams that are not wish-fulfillments follow the principle of
ability to guide action and to be parsimonious. Because it lacks
repetition compulsion and often occur after people have had a
operational definitions, we rate it low on internal consistency.
traumatic experience, now called a post-traumatic stress
disorder.
- To interpret dreams Freud used both dream symbols and the
IX. Concept of Humanity
Freud's view of humanity was deterministic and
dreamer's associations to the dream content.
pessimistic. He also emphasized causality over teleology ,
D. Freudian Slips
unconscious determinants over conscious processes, and biology
- slips of the tongue or pen, misreadings, incorrect hearings,
over culture, but he took a middle position on the dimension of
misplacing of objects, and temporary forgetting of names or
uniqueness versus similarities of people.
intentions are not chance accidents but reveal a person's
unconscious intentions.
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VIII. Critique of Freud
Freud regarded himself as a scientist, but many critics
consider his methods to be outdated, unscientific, and permeated
with gender bias. On the six criteria of a useful theory,
psychoanalysis, we rate its ability to generate research as high,
CHAPTER 3: INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
- His strengths were his energetic oral presentations and his
insightful ability to understand family dynamics.
I. Biography of Alfred Adler
- Adler married Raissa Epstein who was a feminist. They had
- Born in 1870 in a Viennese suburb, a second son of middle -
4 children
class Jewish parents.
- During the last few years of his life, Adler lived in the United
- As a young child he was weak and sickly (he nearly died of
States and earned a reputation as a gifted public speaker.
pneumonia at the age of 5), a condition that contrasted
He died in 1937 in Scotland while on a lecture tour.
sharply with his strong, healthy older brother, Sigmund.
- The death of his younger brother (infant) motivated him to
II. Introduction to Adlerian Theory
become a physician
- People are born with weak and inferior bodies 
- He was interested in social relationships – siblings and
feelings of inferiority and dependence to other people
peers
feelings of unity with others (social interest)
- Adler developed a strong rivalry with Sigmund—a rivalry
A. Striving for Success or Superiority: The sole dynamic
that was similar to his later relationship with Freud.
force behind all our actions
- Like Freud, Adler was a physician, and in 1902, he became
- Transformation of drive: aggression  masculine
a charter member of the Wednesday Psychological Society
protest  Striving for Superiority  Striving for
- However, personal and professional differences between
success (personal superiority/success)
Freud and Adler led to Adler's departure from the Vienna
- The Final Goal
Psychoanalytic Society in 1911.
o The final goal of success or superiority toward
- Adler soon founded his own group, the Society for
which all people strive unifies personality and
Individual Psychology.
makes all behavior meaningful.
o Its fictional and has no objective existence
their natural tendency to move toward completion.
o Product of creative power (age 4 or 5): people’s
o The goal may take many forms. It is not
ability to free shape their behavior and create their
necessarily a mirror image of the deficiency even
own personality
if it is a compensation for it
o Reduces the pain of inferiority feelings and leads
o The striving force can take one of two courses—
the person to either superiority or success
personal gain or community benefit.
o If children felt neglected or pampered their goals
- Striving for Personal Superiority
will remain unconscious
o Goals are personal ones (sometimes with little or
o If children experience love and security, they set
no concern for others)
goals that are largely conscious and clearly
o Largely motivated by exaggerated feelings of
understood
inferiority (inferiority complex)
o People are not always conscious of their final goal,
o Others, although they may appear to be interested
even though they may be aware of their immediate
in others, their basic motivation is personal benefit.
subgoals.
- Striving for Success
o When an individual’s final goal is known, all actions
o Psychologically healthy people strive for the
make sense and subgoals takes on new
success of all humanity, but they do so without
significance
losing their personal identity.
- The Striving Force as Compensation
B. Subjective Perceptions: People's subjective view of the
o the striving force is innate = feelings of inferiority
world—not reality—shapes their behavior.
 goal of superiority
- Fictionalism
o The goal is to overcome these feelings through
o People's beliefs and expectations of the future.
o Adler held that fictions guide behavior, because
o The part of our goal that is not clearly understood is
people act as if these fictions are true.
unconscious (thoughts that are not helpful)
o Example: a belief in an omnipotent God who
o to the extent that we comprehend our goal it is
rewards good and punishes evil
conscious (helpful in striving for success)
- Physical Inferiorities
D. Social Interest: Gemeinschaftsgefϋhl = a feeling of
o All humans are "blessed" with organ inferiorities
oneness with all of humanity
that stimulate subjective feelings of inferiority and
- Origins of Social Interest
move people toward perfection or completion
o both mothers and fathers have crucial roles in
o Deficiencies do not cause a particular style of life;
furthering the social interest of their children and
they are motivation for reaching goals
that the parent/child relationship is so strong that it
C. Unity of Personality: all behaviors are directed toward a
negates the effects of heredity. (until age 5)
single purpose and that the entire personality functions in a
- Importance of Social Interest
self-consistent manner.
o Without social interest, societies could not exist,
- Organ Dialect
because individuals could not protect themselv es
o People sometimes use a physical disorder to
from danger.
express style of life
o Thus, an infant's helplessness predisposes it toward
o A boy wetting his bed sends a message that he
a nurturing person.
does not wish to obey his parents
o social interest is "the sole criterion of human
- Conscious and Unconscious
values," and the "barometer of normality." The
o Conscious and unconscious processes are unified
worthiness of all one's actions must be viewed by
and operate to achieve a single goal.
these standards.
E. Style of Life: product of interaction of heredity,
A. External Factors in Maladjustment
environment and person’s creative power
- Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies
o healthy individuals are marked by flexible behavior
o Severe physical defects do not by themselves
and that they have some limited ability to change
cause abnormal development, but they may
their style of life.
contribute to it by generating subjective and
F. Creative Power: freedom of choice
exaggerated feelings of inferiority.
- Ultimately style of life is shaped by our creative power;
- Pampered Style of Life
that is, by our ability to freely choose which building
o develop low levels of social interest
materials to use and how to use them.
o continue to have an overriding drive to establish a
- People have considerable ability to freely choose their
permanent parasitic relationship with their mother or
actions and their personality.
a mother substitute.
o They believe they are entitled to be first in
III. Abnormal Development
everything
- Creative power is not limited to healthy people;
o They have not received too much love rather they
unhealthy individuals also create their own
feel unloved (parents doing too much for them)
personalities.
- Neglected Style of Life
- The most important factor in abnormal development is
o Children who feel neglected often use these
underdeveloped social interest.
feelings as building material for a useless style of
- In addition, people with a useless style of life tend to (1)
life—one characterized by distrust of other people.
set their goals too high, (2) live in their own private
B. Safeguarding Tendencies
world, and (3) have a rigid and inflexible style of life.
- means of protecting their fragile self-esteem. These
safeguarding tendencies maintain a neurotic status quo
desirability of being manly
and protect a person from public disgrace.
IV. Applications of Individual Psychology
- Excuses
A. Family Constellation
o Frequently take the form of "Yes, but" or "If only."
- First borns are likely to have strong feelings of power
By making excuses for their shortcomings, people
and superiority, to be overprotective, and to have more
can preserve their inflated sense of personal worth.
than their share of anxiety.
- Aggression
- Second borns (like Adler himself) are likely to have
o Behaving aggressively toward themselves or
strong social interest, provided they do not get trapped
others.
trying to overcome their older sibling.
o May take the form of depreciating others'
- Youngest children are likely to be pampered and to lack
accomplishments, accusing others of being
independence, whereas only children may have even
responsible for one's own failures, and accusing self
less social interest and tend to expect others to take
as a means of inflicting suffering on others.
care of them.
- Withdrawal
B. Early Recollections
o Try to escape from life's problems by running away
- Adler believed that ERs are not chance memories but
from them; maintaining distance.
templates on which people project their current style of
o People can withdraw psychologically by moving
life.
backward, standing still, hesitating, or constructing
- ERs need not be accurate accounts of early events;
obstacles.
they have psychological importance because they
C. Masculine Protest
reflect our current view of the world.
- Both men and women sometimes overemphasize the
C. Dreams
- provide clues to solving future problems.
- dreams are disguised to deceive the dreamer and
usually require interpretation by another person.
D. Psychotherapy
- create a relationship between therapist and patient that
fosters social interest. The therapist adopts both a
maternal and a paternal role.
V. Critique of Adler
- High in: generate research, organize data, and guide
the practitioner.
- Moderate in: parsimony,
- Low in: internal consistency & falsification
VI. Concept of Humanity
Adler saw people as forward moving, social animals
who are motivated by goals they set (both consciously and
unconsciously) for the future. People are ultimately responsible
for their own unique style of life. Thus, Adler's theory rates high
on free-choice, social influences, and uniqueness; very high on
optimism and teleology; and average on unconscious influences.
CHAPTER 4: ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY
- Not long after he traveled with Freud to the United
States, Jung became disenchanted with Freud's
I. Biography of Carl Jung
pansexual theories, broke with Freud, and began his
- born in Switzerland in 1875,
own approach to theory and therapy, which he called
- the oldest by about 9 years of two surviving children.
analytical psychology. (when they began interpreting
- A son before Carl only lived for 3 days
each other’s dreams)
- Jung's father was an idealistic Protestant minister and
- He had affairs with Sabina (former patient) and Antonia
his mother was a strict believer in mysticism and the
(another former patient – but had longer relationship
occult.
with her)
- Jung's early experience with parents—who were quite
- He said he was sexually abused when he was 18 yo by
opposite of each other—probably influenced his own
an older man whom he saw as a fatherly friend
theory of personality, including his fanciful No. 1 and
- From a critical midlife crisis during which he nearly lost
Number 2 personalities.
contact with reality, Jung emerged to become one of the
- He saw his mother as having 2 separate dispositions
leading thinkers of the 20th century.
- His no.2 personality = an old man long since dead
- He died in 1961 at age 85.
- He married Emma Rauschenbach and had 5 children
II. Levels of the Psyche
- Soon after receiving his medical degree Jung became
A. Conscious
acquainted with Freud's writings and eventually with
- Ego as the center of consciousness but not the core of
Freud himself.
personality
- During their first meeting, they talked for 13 straight
- In the psychologically mature individual, the ego is
hours
secondary to the self.
B. Personal Unconscious
- Shadow—the dark side of personality. In order for
- psychic images not sensed by the ego.
people to reach full psychological maturity, they must
- Some unconscious processes flow from our personal
first realize or accept their shadow.
experiences
- Anima - A second hurdle in achieving maturity is for
- contains the complexes (emotionally toned groups of
men to accept their anima—their feminine side—
related ideas) and the collective unconscious, which
irrational moods & feelings
includes various archetypes.
- Animus - and for women to embrace their animus—
C. Collective Unconscious
their masculine side. – irrational thinking & opinions
- beyond our personal experiences and that originate
- the great mother - the archetype of nourishment and
from the repeated experiences of our ancestors.
destruction
- not inherited ideas, but rather they refer to our innate
- the wise old man - the archetype of wisdom and
tendency to react in a particular way whenever our
meaning
personal experiences stimulate an inherited
- the hero - image we have of a conqueror who
predisposition toward action.
vanquishes evil but who has a single fatal flaw
- Love at first sight?
- Self - The most comprehensive archetype is the self;
D. Archetypes - Contents of the collective unconscious
that is, the image we have of fulfillment, completion, or
- originate through the repeated experiences of our
perfection.
ancestors and that they are expressed in certain types
- The ultimate in psychological maturity is self-realization,
of dreams, fantasies, delusions, and hallucinations.
which is symbolized by the mandala, or perfect
- Persona—the side of our personality that we show to
geometric figure.
others.
III. Development of Personality
- Jung's emphasis on the second half of life. Jung saw
A. Word Association Test
middle and old age as times when people may acquire
- to uncover complexes embedded in the personal
the ability to attain self-realization.
unconscious. The technique requires a patient to utter
A. Stages of Development
the first word that comes to mind after the examiner
- childhood, which lasts from birth until adolescence
reads a stimulus word.
- youth, the period from puberty until middle life: a time
B. Dream Analysis
for extraverted development & for being grounded to the
- dreams may have both a cause and a purpose and thus
real world of schooling, occupation, courtship, marriage,
can be useful in explaining past events and in making
and family;
decisions about the future. "Big dreams" and "typical
- middle life, from about 35 or 40 until old age and a time
dreams," both of which come from the collectiv e
when people should be adopting an introverted, or
unconscious
subjective attitude; and
C. Active Imagination
- old age, which is a time for psychological rebirth, self-
- used active imagination to arrive at collective images.
realization, and preparation for death.
- This technique requires the patient to concentrate on a
B. Self-Realization/Individuation
single image until that image begins to appear in a
- a psychological rebirth and an integration of various
different form. (archetypes)
parts of the psyche into a unified or whole individual.
D. Psychotherapy
Self-realization represents the highest level of human
- help neurotic patients become healthy and to move
development.
healthy people in the direction of self-realization. Jung
was eclectic in his choice of therapeutic techniques and
IV. Jung's Methods of Investigation
treated old people differently than the young.
V. Critique of Jung
- many of his writings have more of a philosophical than
a psychological flavor.
- As a scientific theory, it rates below average on its ability
to generate research, but very low on its ability to
withstand falsification. It is about average on its ability
to organize knowledge but low on each of the other
criteria of a useful theory.
VI. Concept of Humanity
Jung saw people as extremely complex beings who are
a product of both conscious and unconscious personal
experiences. However, people are also motivated by inherited
remnants that spring from the collective experiences of their early
ancestors. Because Jungian theory is a psychology of opposites,
it receives a moderate rating on the issues of free will versus
determinism, optimism versus pessimism, and causality versus
teleology. It rates very high on unconscious influences, low on
uniqueness, and low on social influences.
CHAPTER 5: OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY
o it places more emphasis on interpersonal
I. Biography of Melanie Klein
relationships,
- born in Vienna in 1892, the youngest of four children.
o it stresses the infant's relationship with the
- She felt rejected by her parents, especially her father
mother rather than the father, and
- She developed fondness to her older siblings, Sidonie
o it suggests that people are motivated primarily for
and Emmanuel who both died
human contact rather than for sexual pleasure.
- She married Arthur Klein, Emmanuel’s close friend, at
- The term “object” refers to any person or part of a
age 21
person that infants introject, or take into their psychic
- They had 3 children; she has an estranged relationship
structure and then later project onto other people
with her eldest child, Melitta
- Klein separated from her husband
III. Psychic Life of the Infant
- She had neither a PhD nor an MD degree but became
- infants begin life with an inherited predisposition to
an analyst
reduce the anxiety that they experience as a
- As an analyst, she specialized in working with young
consequence of the clash between the life instinct and
children.
the death instinct
- She believed that children develop superego much
A. Phantasies
earlier than Freud believed (4-6 months after birth)
- very young infants possess an active, unconscious
- She died in 1960.
phantasy life.
- Their most basic fantasies are images of the "good"
II. Introduction to Object Relations Theory
breast and the "bad" breast.
- differs from Freudian theory in three important ways:
B. Objects
- drives have an object (hunger: good breast; sex: sexual
schizoid position, which is a tendency to see the world
organ)
as having both destructive and omnipotent
- child's relationship with these objects (parents' face,
qualities.
hands, breast, penis, etc.), which she saw as having a
B. Depressive Position: the first 5-6 months of life
life of their own within the child's phantasy world.
- the anxiety that infants experience around 6 months of
age over losing their mother and yet, at the same
IV. Positions
time, wanting to destroy her.
- In their attempts to reduce the conflict produced by
- resolved when infants phantasize that they have made
good and bad images, infants organize their experience
up for their previous offenses against their mother and
into positions
also realize that their mother will not abandon them.
A. Paranoid-Schizoid Position: the first 3-4 months of life
- The struggles that infants experience with the good
V. Psychic Defense Mechanisms
breast and the bad breast lead to two separate and
- children adopt various psychic defense mechanisms to
opposing feelings—a desire to harbor the breast and a
protect their ego against anxiety aroused by their own
desire to bite or destroy it.
destructive fantasies.
- To tolerate these two feelings, the ego splits itself by
A. Introjection
retaining parts of its life and death instincts while
- phantasy of taking into one's own body the images
projecting other parts onto the breast.
that one has of an external object, especially the
- It then has a relationship with the ideal breast and the
mother's breast.
persecutory breast.
- Infants usually introject good objects as a protection
- To control this situation, infants adopt the paranoid-
against anxiety, but they also introject bad objects in
order to gain control of them.
A. Ego
B. Projection
- Internalizations are supported by the early ego's ability
- phantasy that one's own feelings and impulses reside
to feel anxiety, to use defense mechanisms, and to form
within another person
object relations in both phantasy and reality.
- Children project both good and bad images so that they
- a unified ego emerges only after first splitting itself into
ease the unbearable anxiety of being destroyed by the
the two parts—the life instinct and the death instinct.
dangerous internal forces
B. Superego
C. Splitting
- the superego preceded rather than followed the
- mentally keeping apart, incompatible images to tolerate
Oedipus complex. Klein also saw the superego as
good and bad aspects of themselves and of external
being quite harsh and cruel.
objects.
C. Oedipus Complex
- Splitting can be beneficial to both children and adults,
- begins during the first few months of life, then reaches
because it allows them to like themselves while still
its peak during the genital stage, at about 3 or 4 years
recognizing some unlikable qualities.
of age
D. Projective Identification
- based on children's fear that their parents will seek
- split off unacceptable parts of themselves, project them
revenge against them for their phantasy of emptying the
onto another object, and finally introject them in an
parent's body.
altered form.
- For healthy development, children should retain positiv e
VI. Internalizations
feelings for each parent.
- After introjecting external objects, infants organize them
- the little boy adopts a "feminine" position very early in
into a psychologically meaningful framework
life and has no fear of being castrated as punishment
for his sexual feelings toward his mother. Later, he
o normal symbiosis, when infants behave as if they
projects his destructive drive onto his father, whom he
and their mother were an all-powerful,
fears will bite or castrate him. It is resolved when the
interdependent unit.
boy establishes good relations with both parents.
- The little girl also adopts a "feminine" position toward
o separation-individuation (4 months until about 3
both parents quite early in life. She has a positiv e
years) a time when children are becoming
feeling for both her mother's breast and her father's
psychologically separated from their mothers and
penis, which she believes will feed her with babies.
achieving individuation, or a sense of personal
Sometimes the girl develops hostility toward her
identity.
mother, whom she fears will retaliate against her and
rob her of her babies, but in most cases, the female
B. Heinz Kohut's View
Oedipus complex is resolved without any jealousy
- emphasized the development of the self.
toward the mother.
- In caring for their physical and psychological needs,
VII. Later Views of Object Relations
adults treat infants as if they had a sense of self.
A. Margaret Mahler's View
- The parents' behaviors and attitudes eventually help
- From careful observations of infants as they bonded
children form a sense of self that gives unity and
with their mothers during their first 3 years of life.
consistency to their experiences.
- three major developmental stages.
o normal autism (first 3 to 4 weeks of life) a time when
C. John Bowlby's Attachment Theory
infants satisfy their needs within the all-powerful
- three stages of separation anxiety:
protective orbit of their mother's care.
o protest
o apathy and despair
inability to be either falsified or verified through empirical
o emotional detachment from people, including
research. Nevertheless, some clinicians regard the theory as
the primary caregiver. Children who reach
being a useful guide to action and as possessing substantial
the third stage lack warmth and emotion in
internal consistency. However, the theory must be rated low on
their later relationships.
parsimony and also low on its ability to organize knowledge and
to generate research.
D. Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
- developed a technique called the Strange Situation for
measuring one of three the types of attachment styles—
X. Concept of Humanity
Object relations theorists see personality as being a
secure attachment, anxious-resistant attachment, and
product of the early mother-child relationship, and thus they stress
anxious-avoidant attachment.
determinism over free choice. The powerful influence of early
childhood also gives these theories a low rating on uniqueness, a
VIII. Psychotherapy
The goal of Klein's therapy was to reduce depressive
anxieties and persecutory fears and to lessen the harshness of
internalized objects. To do this, Klein encouraged patients to
reexperience early fantasies and pointed out the differences
between conscious and unconscious wishes.
IX. Critique of Object Relations Theory
Object relations theory shares with Freudian theory an
very high rating on social influences, and high ratings on causality
and unconscious forces. Klein and other object relations theorists
rate average on optimism versus pessimism.
CHAPTER 6: PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIAL THEORY
I. Biography of Karen Horney
- born in Germany in 1885, only daughter of her parents
and she has an older brother
- Her mother is 18 years younger than her father (he had
other children from his previous marriage)
- She is mad at her father and idolized her mother
- She was not a happy child = superficially independent
but dependent to men inside
- She married Oskar Horney and had 3 daughters
- She had several love affairs (Erich Fromm)
- Horney was one of the first women in Germany admitted to
medical school, where she specialized in
- Neuroses are not instincts but a person’s attempt to find its
paths in the society
- Criticisms to Freudian theory:
o its rigidity toward new ideas
o its skewed view of feminine psychology
o its overemphasis on biology and the pleasure principle.
B. The Impact of Culture
- Feelings of isolation  needs for affection 
overvalue love  neuroses
- See love and affection as the solution to problems
- Both normal and neurotic personalities experience
intrapsychic conflicts through their desperate attempts
to find love
psychiatry.
C. The Importance of Childhood Experiences
- Horney died in 1952 at age 65.
- Lack of genuine love  neurotic needs(rigid behavioral
patterns  gain feeling of safety/love
II. Introduction to Psychoanalytic Social Theory
Her theories are also appropriate to normal development. She
agreed with Freud that early childhood traumas are important, but
she placed far more emphasis on social factors.
III. Basic Hostility and Basic Anxiety
A. Horney and Freud Compared
indicate neurosis):
- Protection from basic anxiety (does not necessarily
o Affection: not real love
o Submissiveness: in order to gain affection
- for ambition and personal achievement
o Power/prestige/possesion: dominate, humiliate, deprive
- for self-sufficiency and independence
others
- for perfection and unassailability.
o Withdrawal: emotionally detached from people
B. Neurotic Trends: applies to normal individual; neurotics
- Normal people have the flexibility to use any or all of
are limited to a single trend
these approaches, but neurotics are compelled to rely
- Moving Toward People
rigidly on only one.
o undue compliance to others' wishes to protect
against the feeling of helplessness
IV. Compulsive Drives
o strives for affection, seek a powerful partner
Neurotics frequently are trapped in a vicious circle in which
o they see themselves as loving, generous, humble,
their compulsive need to reduce basic anxiety leads to a variety
unselfish and sensitive to feelings
of self-defeating behaviors; these behaviors then produce
- Moving Against People
more basic anxiety, and the circle continues.
o assume that everyone is hostile, and, therefore,
A. Neurotic Needs: a single person may use more than one
should be aggressive people who exploits other for
- for affection and approval
their own benefit
- for a powerful partner
o they seldom admit their mistakes and need to
- to restrict one's life within narrow borders
appear perfect, powerful and superior
- for power
o They play to win than to enjoy
- to exploit others
- Moving Away From People
- for social recognition or prestige
o People who feel isolated from others insist on
- for personal admiration
privacy, independence, and self-sufficiency.
o Their greatest need is to need other people
of themselves.
V. Intrapsychic Conflicts
- 3. Neurotic Pride
- people experience inner tensions
o a false pride based not on reality but on a distorted
- become part of people's belief system and take on a life
and idealized view of self.
of their own, separate from the interpersonal conflicts
B. Self-Hatred: because reality always falls short of their
that created them.
idealized view of self.
A. The Idealized Self-Image
- relentless demands on self
- No love and affection during childhood  blocked self-
- merciless self-accusation
realization and stable sense of identity
- self-contempt
- extravagantly positive picture of themselves that exists
- self-frustration
only in their mind. Horney recognized three aspects of
- self-torment or self-torture
the idealized self-image.
- self-destructive actions and impulses
- 1. The Neurotic Search for Glory
VI. Critique of Horney
o Comprehensive drive to actualize the idealized
Although Horney's theory has not generated much
self-image
research, it has provided an interesting way of looking at
o tyranny of the should, neurotic ambition, and the
humanity. The strength of her theory was her vivid portrayal of the
drive toward a vindictive triumph
neurotic personality. As scientific theory, however, it rates very
- 2. Neurotic Claims
low in generating research, low on its ability to be falsified, to
o They believe that they are entitled to special
organize knowledge, and to serve as a guide to action. The theory
privileges and make neurotic claims on other
receives a moderate rating on internal consistency and
people that are consistent with their idealized view
parsimony.
VII. Concept of Humanity
Horney's concept of humanity was based mostly on her
clinical experiences with neurotic patients, but it can easily be
extended to normal people. In summary, Horney's view of
humanity is rated high on free choice, optimism, unconscious
influences, and social factors; average on causality vs. teleology ;
and low on uniqueness.
CHAPTER 7: HUMANISTIC PSYCHOANALYSIS
of history.
I. Biography of Erich Fromm
- humans have been torn away from their prehistoric
- born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1900, the only child of
union with nature and left with no powerful instincts to
orthodox Jewish parents.
adapt to a changing world.
- His humanistic philosophy grew out of an early reading
- they have acquired the ability to reason, which means
of the biblical prophets and an association with several
they can think about their isolated condition.
Talmudic scholars.
- Fromm called this situation the human dilemma
- Fromm's first wife was Frieda Fromm-Reichmann but
- Existential Dichotomies
divorced
o Life & Death
- Fromm moved to the United States and began a
o Goal of complete self-realization & shortness of life
psychoanalytic practice in New York, where he
to reach the goal
o Alone & cannot tolerate isolation
resumed his friendship with Karen Horney and
became lovers and then separated
- He then married Henny Gurland, two years younger
than him but died
- He met Annis Freeman and got married again
- He died in Switzerland in 1980.
III. Human Needs (existential needs)
Our human dilemma cannot be solved by satisfying our animal
needs, but it can only be addressed by fulfilling our human needs,
which
would move us toward a reunification with the natural world.
A. Relatedness: desire for union with another person/s
II. Fromm's Basic Assumptions
- human personality can only be understood in the light
- Submission: transcends separateness of his existence by
becoming part of something bigger than oneself
- Power: welcome submissive partners: symbiotic relationship
our mother or a mother substitute.
- Love: solve our basic human dilemma. It is the ability to unite
D. Sense of Identity: awareness of ourselves as a separate
with another while retaining one's own individuality and
person.
integrity.
- The drive for a sense of identity is expressed
B. Transcendence: urge to rise above a passive and
nonproductively as conformity to a group and
accidental existence
productively as individuality.
- to transcend their nature by destroying or creating
E. Frame of Orientation: a road map which we find our way
people or things.
through the world
- Humans can destroy through malignant aggression
- Expressed nonproductively as a striving for irrational
(killing for reasons other than survival; not common to all
goals
humans) but they can also create and care about their
- Express productively as movement toward rational
creations
goals.
C. Rootedness: establish roots and to feel at home again in
F. Summary of Human Needs
the world
People are highly motivated to satisfy the five
- Like the other existential needs, rootedness can take
existential, or human, needs because if they are unsatisfied in
either a productive or a nonproductive mode.
these needs, they are driven to insanity. Each of the needs has
- With the productive strategy, we grow beyond the
both a positive and a negative component, but only the
security of our mother and establish ties with the outside
satisfaction of positive needs leads to psychological health.
world.
- With the nonproductive strategy, we become fixated
IV. The Burden of Freedom
and afraid to move beyond the security and safety of
- humans are the freaks of the universe
- High freedom = High isolation from others
- It is the successful solution to the human dilemma of
- Freedom  basic anxiety (a burden of being alone)
being part of the natural world and yet separate from it.
A. Mechanisms of Escape: To reduce the frightening sense
of isolation and aloneness
V. Character Orientations
- Authoritarianism
People relate to the world by acquiring and using things
(assimilation)
o The tendency to give up one's independence and
to unite with a powerful partner
o Take the form of either masochism or sadism.
o Masochism stems from feelings of powerlessness
and can be disguised as love or loyalty.
o Sadism involves attempts to achieve unity
through dominating, exploiting, or hurting
others.
- Destructiveness
o Feelings of isolation; an escape mechanism that is
aimed at doing away with other people or things.
o To restore feeling of power
- Conformity
o surrendering of one's individuality in order to meet
the wishes of others.
B. Positive Freedom
and by relating to self and others (socialization), and they can do
so either
nonproductively or productively.
A. Nonproductive Orientations: those that fail to move
people closer to positive freedom and self-realization.
- Receptive
o only way they can relate to the world is to receive
things, including love, knowledge, and material
objects.
o Positive qualities include loyalty and trust;
o negative ones are passivity and submissiveness.
- Exploitative
o aggressively take what they want rather than
passively receiving it.
o Positive qualities of exploitative people include
pride and self-confidence;
- Productive love necessitates a passionate love of all life
o negative ones are arrogance and conceit.
and is called biophilia.
- Hoarding
o try to save what they have already obtained,
VI. Personality Disorders: failures to work, think, and
including their opinions, feelings, and material
especially to love productively.
possessions.
A. Necrophilia
o Positive qualities include loyalty,
- the love of death and the hatred of all humanity.
o negative ones are obsessiveness and
- their destructiveness is a reflection of a basic character.
possessiveness.
B. Malignant Narcissism
- Marketing
- Convinced that everything belonging to them is of great
o see themselves as commodities and value
value and anything belonging to others is worthless.
themselves against the criterion of their ability to
- Narcissistic people often suffer from moral
sell themselves.
hypochondrias, or preoccupation with excessive guilt.
o They have fewer positive qualities than the other
C. Incestuous Symbiosis
orientations, because they are essentially empty.
- Extreme dependence on one's mother or mother
o They can be open-minded and adaptable, as well
surrogate to the extent that one's personality is blended
as opportunistic and wasteful.
with that of the host person
- Hitler, possessed all three of these disorders, a
B. The Productive Orientation:
condition he termed the syndrome of decay.
- work toward positive freedom through productive work,
**Syndrome of growth: love, biophilia and positive freedom
love, and thoughts.
VII. Critique of Fromm
Fromm evolved a theory that provide insightful ways of
looking at humanity. The strength of his theory is his lucid writings
on a broad range of human issues. As a scientific theory,
however, Fromm's assumptions rate very low on their ability to
generate research and to lend themselves to falsification; Fromm
rates low on usefulness to the practitioner, internal consistency
,
and parsimony. Because it is quite broad in scope, Fromm's
theory rates high on organizing existing knowledge.
VIII. Concept of Humanity
Fromm's concept of humanity came from a rich variety
of sources—history, anthropology, economics, and clinical work.
Because humans have the ability to reason but few strong
instincts, they are the freaks of nature. To achieve selfactualization, they must satisfy their human, or existential, needs
through productive love and work. In summary, we rated Fromm's
theory as average on free choice, optimism, unconscious
influences, and uniqueness; low on causality; and very high on
social influences.
CHAPTER 8: POST-FREUDIAN THEORY
- Ego is the person’s ability to unify experiences and
actions in an adoptive manner
I. Biography of Erik Erikson
- Childhood: weak and fragile
- born in Germany in 1902: Erik Salomonsen.
- Adult: formation and strengthening
- After his mother married Theodor Homberger, Erik
- It consists of three interrelated facets:
eventually took his stepfather's name.
o body ego – seeing our physical self as different from
- At age 18 he left home to pursue the life of a wandering
other people
artist and to search for self-identity.
o ego ideal – image of ourselves vs an established ideal
- Married Joan Serson and they had 4 children; one had
o ego identity – image of ourselves in the social roles we
a down syndrome whom they sent to a facility
play
- In mid-life, Erik Homberger moved to the United States,
changed his name to Erikson, and took a position at the
A. Society's Influence
Harvard Medical School.
- Society (cultural environment) shapes the ego
- Later, he taught at Yale, the University of California at
- influenced by child-rearing practices and other cultural
Berkeley, and several other universities. He died in
customs.
1994, a month short of his 92nd birthday.
- Pseudospecies = fictional notion that they are superior
to other cultures.
II. The Ego in Post-Freudian Psychology
-
- emphasis on ego rather than id functions
B. Epigenetic Principle
- ego is the center of personality and is responsible for a
- it grows according to a genetically established rate and
unified sense of self.
in a fixed sequence.
- A step-by-step growth
- basic strength: hope
- It does not replace the earlier stage
- core pathology: withdrawal
III. Stages of Psychosocial Development
B. Early Childhood: Autonomy versus Shame & Doubt
- marked by an interaction of opposites -- a syntonic
- (2nd to 3rd year) a period that compares to Freud's anal
(harmonious) element and a dystonic (disruptive)
stage
element, which produces a basic strength or ego
- includes mastery of other body functions such as
quality (must have both experiences)
walking, urinating, and holding.
- Also, from adolescence on, each stage is characterized
- psychosexual mode: anal-urethral-muscular, children
by an identity crisis or turning point, which may
behave both impulsively and compulsively
produce either adaptive or maladaptive adjustment
- Autonomy: faith in themselves
- Too little basic strength will result to a core pathology
- Shame & Doubt: self-consciousness, uncertainty
for that stage
- basic strength: will
A. Infancy: Trust versus Mistrust
- core pathology: compulsion.
- (the 1st year) was similar to Freud's concept of the oral
C. Play Age: Initiative versus Guilt
stage
- (3rd to the 5th year) a period that parallels Freud's
- include sense organs such as the eyes and ears.
phallic phase.
- psychosexual mode: oral-sensory, which is
- Oedipus complex as an early model of lifelong
characterized by both receiving and accepting.
playfulness and a drama played out in children's minds
- Trust: the mother provides food (or relates) regularly
as they attempt to understand the basic facts of life
- Mistrust: if no correspondence between their needs and
- psychosexual mode: genital-locomotor, children have
their environment
both an interest in genital activity and an increasing
ability to move around.
b) historical and social context
- Initiative: to act with purpose and set goals
- Identity: having a sense of who they are
- Guilt: too little purpose
- Identity confusion: divided self-image
- Basic strength: Purpose
- Basic strength: fidelity
- Core pathology: inhibition
- Core pathology: role denial
F. Young Adulthood: Intimacy versus Isolation
D. School Age: Industry versus Inferiority
- (18 - 30 years)
- (6 to about 13 years) a time of psychosexual latency ,
- psychosexual mode: genitality, expressed as mutual
but it is also a time of psychosocial growth beyond the
trust between partners in a stable sexual relationship.
family.
- Intimacy: ability to fuse one's identity with that of
- learn the customs of their culture, including both formal
another person without fear of losing it
and informal education.
- Isolation: fear of losing one's identity in an intimate
- Industry: work hard & finish the job
relationship.
- Inferiority: work is not sufficient to achieve goals
- Basic strength: capacity to love
- Basic strength: competence
- Core pathology: exclusivity
- Core pathology: inertia
G. Adulthood: Generativity versus Stagnation
E. Adolescence: Identity versus identity confusion
- (31 to 60 years) a time when people make significant
- (puberty) a time of psychosexual growth & psychosocial
contributions to society
latency.
- psychosexual mode: procreativity, or the caring for
- psychosexual mode: genital maturation
one's children, the children of others, and the material
- Identity emerges from a) childhood identifications and
products of one's society.
- Generativity: guiding the next generation
psychoanalysis, it offers a new way of looking at human
- Stagnation: too self-indulgent, too much self-absorption
development. As a useful theory, it rates high on its ability to
- Basic Strength: Care
generate research, about average on its ability to be falsified, to
- Core pathology: rejectivity (of certain individuals)
H. Old Age: Integrity versus Despair
organize knowledge, and to guide the practitioner. It rates high
- (age 60 until death)
on internal consistency and about average on parsimony.
- psychosexual mode: generalized sensuality; taking
pleasure in a variety of sensations and an appreciation
V. Concept of Humanity
of the traditional life style of people of the other gender.
Erikson saw humans as basically social animals who have limited
- Integrity: the maintenance of ego-identity (social roles)
free choice and who are motivated by past experiences, which
- Despair: the surrender of hope (originated from infancy)
may be either conscious or unconscious. In addition, Erikson is
- Basic strength: wisdom
rated high on both optimism and uniqueness of individuals.
- Core pathology: Disdain = feelings of being finished or
helpless
As Erikson himself aged, he and his wife began to describe a ninth
stage—a period of very old age when physical and mental
infirmities rob people of their generative abilities and reduce them
to waiting for death.
IV. Critique of Erikson
Although Erikson's work is a logical extension of Freud's
CHAPTER 9: HOLISTIC-DYNAMIC THEORY
II. Maslow's View of Motivation
1. the whole organism is motivated at any one time;
I. Biography of Abraham H. Maslow
2. motivation is complex, and unconscious motives often
- born in New York City in 1908, the oldest of seven
underlie behavior;
children of Russian Jewish immigrants.
3. people are continually motivated by one need or
- Had the most lonely and miserable childhood (shy,
another;
inferior, depressed)
4. people in different cultures are motivated by the same
- Oldest of the seven children
basic needs; and
- He never overcame the intense hatred he had towards
5. needs can be arranged on a hierarchy
his mother. He refused to attend her funeral.
- After 2 or 3 mediocre years as a college student,
A. Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's academic work improved at about the time he
- lower level needs have prepotency over higher level
was married.
needs; that is, lower needs must be satisfied before
- He married his first cousin, Bertha Goodman
higher needs become motivators.
- He received both a bachelor's degree and a PhD from
- Called CONATIVE needs: have a striving or
the University of Wisconsin, where he worked with
motivational character
Harry Harlow conducting animal studies (monkeys).
- As long as the need is not yet satisfied, the person will
- Poor health forced him to move to California, where he
continue to strive to satisfy it (almost doing anything to
died in 1970 at age 62.
obtain it)
- physiological needs
o oxygen, food, water
- safety needs
o they become independent of the lower needs
o physical security, stability, dependency,
o should embrace the B-values as truth, beauty,
protection, and freedom from danger
oneness, justice, etc
o Children: threats, animals, strangers, punishments
*Other categories of needs include aesthetic needs, cognitive
- love and belongingness needs
needs, and neurotic needs.
o desire for friendship, the wish for a mate and
B. Aesthetic Needs
children, and the need to belong
- desire for beauty and order, and some people have
o 1st group: need fully satisfied; feels accepted and
much stronger aesthetic needs than do others.
will not feel devastated if rejected
- Will get sick if not met
o 2nd group: never experienced love; thus, incapable
- people with strong aesthetic needs do not automatical ly
of giving love
reach self-actualization
o 3rd group: received the need in small doses;
- Not universal
strongest motivation to seek love
C. Cognitive Needs
o Children: straightforward and direct
- desire to know, to understand, and to be curious.
o Adults: disguise; self-defeating behaviors
- Knowledge is a prerequisite for each of the five conativ e
- esteem needs
needs. (only for those who have this need)
o satisfaction of love needs and which include self-
- people who are denied knowledge and kept in
esteem and the recognition that we have a positive
ignorance become sick, paranoid, and depressed.
reputation
- people who have satisfied cognitive needs do not
- self-actualization needs
necessarily become self-actualized.
o self-fulfillment, realization of one’s own potential
D. Neurotic Needs
- desire to dominate, to inflict pain, or to subject oneself
o deal with a person's attempt to cope with the
to the will of another person.
environment
- lead to pathology whether or not they are satisfied
- Deprivation of Needs
E. General Discussion of Needs
o leads to pathology of some sort
- Reversed Order Needs
- Instinctoid Nature of Needs
o Maslow insisted that much of our surface
o Innately determined needs that can be modified by
behaviors are actually motivated by more basic
learning
and often unconscious needs.
o Thwarting of instinctoid needs produces pathology
o For example, a starving mother may be motivated
whereas the frustration of noninstinctoid needs
by love needs to give up food in order to feed her
does not
starving children. However, if we understand the
o Specie-specific
unconscious motivation behind many apparent
- Comparison of Higher and Lower Needs
reversals, we might see that they are not genuine
reversals at all.
- Unmotivated Behavior
o Some behaviors are not motivated even though all
behaviors have a cause
o Conditioned reflexes, maturation, or drugs
- Expressive and Coping Behavior
o higher level needs (love, esteem, and selfactualization) are later on the evolutionary scale
than lower level needs and that they produce more
genuine happiness and more peak experiences.
o Seems like these needs follow a development
course
o have no aim or goal but are merely a person's
mode of expression
III. Self-Actualization
- an ultimate level of psychological health called self-
- (4) problem-centered; they view age-old problems from
actualization.
a solid philosophical position;
- (1) absence of psychopathology,
- (5) the need for privacy, or a detachment that allows
- (2) satisfaction of each of the four lower level needs,
them to be alone without being lonely;
- (3) full realization of one's potentials for growth, and (4)
- (6) autonomy; they have grown beyond dependency on
acceptance of the B-values.
other people for their self-esteem;
A. Values of Self-Actualizers
- (7) continued freshness of appreciation and the ability
- Self-actualizing people are metamotivated by such B-
to view everyday things with a fresh vision and
values as truth, goodness, beauty, justice, and
appreciation;
simplicity.
- (8) frequent reports of peak experiences, or those
- If people’s metaneeds are not met they experience
mystical experiences that give a person a sense of
existential illness
transcendence and feelings of awe, wonder, ecstasy,
B. Characteristics of Self-Actualizing People
reverence, and humility;
- not all self-actualizers possess each of these
- (9) Gemeinschaftsgefühl, that is, social interest or a
characteristics to the same extent.
deep feeling of oneness with all humanity;
- (1) more efficient perception of reality; they often have
- (10) profound interpersonal relations but with no
an almost uncanny ability to detect phoniness in others,
desperate need to have a multitude of friends;
and they are not fooled by sham;
- (11) the democratic character structure; or the ability to
- (2) acceptance of self, others, and nature;
disregard superficial differences between people;
- (3) spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness; they have
- (12) discrimination between means and ends, meaning
no need to appear complex or sophisticated;
that self-actualizing people have a clear sense of right
and wrong, and they experience little conflict about
actualization facets.
basic values;
V. The Jonah Complex
- (13) a philosophical sense of humor; or humor that is
- fear of being or doing one's best, a condition that all of
spontaneous, unplanned, and intrinsic to the situation;
us have to some extent.
- (14) creativeness; they possess a keen perception of
- False humility that stifle creativity and that fall short of
truth, beauty, and reality;
self-actualization
- (15) resistance to enculturation; they have the ability to
set personal standards and to resist the mold set by the
dominate culture.
VI. Critique of Maslow
Maslow's theory has been popular in psychology and
C. Love, Sex, and Self-Actualization
other disciplines, such as marketing, management, nursing, and
- Maslow compared D-love (deficiency love) to B-love
education. The hierarchy of needs concept seems both
(love for the being or essence of another person).
elementary and logical, which gives Maslow's theory the illusion
- Self-actualizing people are capable of B-love; that is,
of simplicity. However, the theory is somewhat complex, with four
they have the ability to love without expecting
dimensions of needs and the possibility of unconsciously
something in return.
motivated behavior. As a scientific theory, Maslow's model rates
- B-love is mutually felt and shared and not based on
high in generating research but low in falsifiability. On its ability
deficiencies within the lovers.
to organize knowledge and guide action, the theory rates quite
IV. Measuring Self-Actualization
high; on its simplicity and internal consistency, it rates only
- The most widely used of these is Everett Shostrom's
average.
Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a 150-forcedchoice inventory that assesses a variety of self-
VII. Concept of Humanity
Maslow believed that people are structured in such a
way that their activated needs are exactly what they want most.
Hungry people desire food, frightened people look for safety, and
so forth. Although he was generally optimistic and hopeful,
Maslow saw that people are capable of great evil and destruction.
He believed that, as a species, humans are becoming more and
more fully human and motivated by higher level needs. In
summary, Maslow's view of humanity rates high on free choice,
optimism, teleology, and uniqueness and about average on social
influences.
CHAPTER 10: PERSON-CENTERED THEORY
- He died in 1987 at age 85.
II. Person-Centered Theory
l. Biography of Carl Rogers
A. Basic Assumptions
- born into a devoutly religious family in a Chicago suburb
- the formative tendency that states that all matter, both
in 1902.
organic and inorganic, tends to evolve from simpler to
- Carl became interested in scientific farming and learned
more complex forms and
to appreciate the scientific method.
- an actualizing tendency, which suggests that all living
- When he graduated from the University of Wisconsin,
things, including humans, tend to move toward
Rogers intended to become a minister, but he gave up
completion, or fulfillment of potentials.
that notion and completed a PhD in psychology from
o Maintenance = of needs
Columbia University in 1931.
o Enhancement = willingness to face pain because
- In 1940, after nearly a dozen years working as a
of the biological tendency to fulfill basic nature wc
clinician, he took a position at Ohio State University.
is actualization
Later, he held positions at the University of Chicago and
- relationship with another person who is genuine, or
the University of Wisconsin.
congruent, and who demonstrates complete
- In 1964, he moved to California where he helped found
acceptance and empathy for that person. Lead people
the Center for Studies of the Person.
to become actualized
- His personal life was marked by change and openness
to experience
B. The Self and Self-Actualization
- He was shy and social inept but he got married to Helen
- A sense of self during infancy, once established, allows
Elliott and had 2 children
a person to strive toward self-actualization
- The self has two subsystems:
allowed into the self-concept;
o self-concept: aspects of one's identity that are
o (2) those that are distorted or reshaped to fit it into
perceived in awareness, and
an existing self-concept; and
o ideal self: view of our self as we would like it to be
o (3) those that are consistent with the self-concept
or what we would aspire to be.
and thus are accurately symbolized and freely
Once formed, the self-concept tends to resist change, and gaps
between
admitted to the self-structure.
it and the ideal self result in incongruence and various levels
of
psychopathology.
C. Awareness
- People are aware of both their self-concept and their
ideal self, although awareness need not be accurate.
- Any experience not consistent with the self-concept—
even positive experiences—will be distorted or denied.
o Person distrusts the giver
o Recipient does not feel deserving of them
o Compliment carries an implied threat
- three levels of awareness:
o (1) those that are symbolized below the threshold
of awareness and are ignored, denied, or not
D. Needs
- As awareness of self emerges, an infant begins to
receive positive regard from another person, that is, to
be loved or accepted.
- Incongruence: experienced when basic organismic
needs are denied or distorted in favor of needs to be
loved or accepted.
- Self-regard: people acquire only after they perceive that
someone else cares for them and values them
- Once established, however, self-regard becomes
autonomous and no longer dependent on another
person's continuous positive evaluation.
- Contact (with another person)  Positive regard (from
others)  positive self-regard
E. Barriers to Psychological Health
- Conditions of Worth
into awareness
o not unconditionally accepted
o When people's defenses fail to operate properly,
o they feel that they are loved and accepted only
their behavior becomes disorganized or psychotic
when and if they meet the conditions set by others.
- Disorganization
o External evaluations: our perceptions of other
o people sometimes behave consistently with their
people’s view of us that do not foster psychological
organismic experience and sometimes in
health
accordance with their shattered self-concept.
- Incongruence
o Organismic experience versus self-experiences
o The greater the incongruence between self-
III. Psychotherapy
For client-centered psychotherapy to be effective, six
concept and the organismic experience, the more
conditions are necessary:
vulnerable that person becomes.
(1) A vulnerable or anxious client must
o Anxiety exists whenever the person becomes
(2) have contact of some duration
dimly aware of the discrepancy
(3) with a congruent counselor
o threat is experienced whenever the person
(4) who demonstrates unconditional positive regard
becomes more clearly aware of this incongruence
(5) and who listens with empathy to a client
- Defensiveness
(6) who perceives the congruence, unconditional positive regard,
o To prevent incongruence
and empathy.
o With distortion, people misinterpret an experience
If these conditions are present, then the process of
so that it fits into their self-concept
therapy will take place and certain predictable outcomes will
o with denial, people refuse to allow the experience
result.
A. Conditions
object;
- counselor congruence, or a therapist whose
- (4) they discuss strong emotions that they have felt in
organismic experiences are matched by awareness and
the past;
by the ability and willingness to openly express these
- (5) they begin to express present feelings;
feelings.
- (6) they freely allow into awareness those experiences
- Unconditional positive regard exists when the
that were previously denied or distorted; and
therapist accepts and prizes the client without
- (7) they experience irreversible change and growth.
conditions or qualifications.
C. Outcomes
- Empathic listening is the ability of the therapist to
- (1) become more congruent, less defensive, more open
sense the feeling of a client and also to communicate
to experience, and more realistic;
these perceptions so that the client knows that another
- (2) experience a narrowing of the gap between ideal
person has entered into his or her world of feelings
self and true self;
without prejudice, projection, or evaluation.
- (3) experience less physiological and psychological
tension;
B. Process
- (4) improve their interpersonal relationships: and
- Rogers saw the process of therapeutic change as
- (5) become more accepting of self and others.
taking place in seven stages:
- (1) clients are unwilling to communicate anything about
IV. The Person of Tomorrow
themselves;
- (2) they discuss only external events and other people;
- these people would be more adaptable and more
- (3) they begin to talk about themselves, but still as an
flexible in their thinking.
- they would be open to their experiences, accurately
experience anger, frustration, depression, and other
symbolizing them in awareness rather than denying or
negative emotions, but they would be able to express
distorting them. would listen to themselves and hear
rather than repress these feelings.
their joy, anger, discouragement, fear, and tenderness.
- open to all their experiences, they would enjoy a greater
- a tendency to live fully in the moment, experiencing a
richness in life than do other people. They would live in
constant state of fluidity and change. They would see
the present and thus participate more richly in the
each experience with a new freshness and appreciate
ongoing moment.
it fully in the present moment; tendency to live in the
moment as existential living.
- remain confident of their own ability to experience
harmonious relations with others. They would feel no
need to be liked or loved by everyone, because they
would know that they are unconditionally prized and
accepted by someone.
- they would be more integrated, more whole, with no
artificial boundary between conscious processes and
V. Critique of Rogers
Rogers' person-centered theory is one of the most
carefully constructed of all personality theories, and it meets
quite
well each of the six criteria of a useful theory. It rates very high
on internal consistency and parsimony, high on its ability to be
falsified and to generate research, and high average on its ability
to organize knowledge and to serve as a guide to the practitioner.
unconscious ones. Because they would be able to
accurately symbolize all their experiences in
awareness, they would see clearly the difference
between what is and what should be.
- have a basic trust of human nature. They would
VI. Concept of Humanity
Rogers believed that humans have the capacity to
change and grow—provided that certain necessary and sufficient
conditions are present. Therefore, his theory rates very high on
optimism. In addition, it rates high on free choice, teleology ,
conscious motivation, social influences, and the uniqueness of the
individual.
CHAPTER 11: EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY
modern existentialism.
- he emphasized a balance between freedom and
l. Biography of Rollo May
responsibility.
- born in Ohio in 1909, but grew up in Michigan
- People acquire freedom of action by expanding their
- he spent 3 years as an itinerant artist roaming
self-awareness and by assuming responsibility for their
throughout eastern and southern Europe.
actions.
- he entered the Union Theological Seminary, from which
- However, this acquisition of freedom and responsibility
he received a Master of Divinity degree.
is achieved at the expense of anxiety and dread.
- He then served for 2 years as a pastor, but quit in order
A. What Is Existentialism?
to pursue a career in psychology.
- existence takes precedence over essence, meaning
- He received a PhD in clinical psychology from Columbia
that process and growth are more important than
in 1949 at the relatively advanced age of 40.
product and stagnation.
- During his professional career, he served as lecturer or
- existentialists oppose the artificial split between subject
visiting professor at a number of universities, conducted
and object.
a private practice as a psychotherapist, and wrote a
- stress people's search for meaning in their lives.
number of popular books on the human condition.
- insist that each of us is responsible for who we are and
- May died in 1994 at age 85.
what we will become.
- take an antitheoretical position, believing that theories
II. Background of Existentialism
- Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and
theologian, is usually considered to be the founder of
tend to objectify people.
B. Basic Concepts
- Being-in-the-world (Dasein)
III. Anxiety
People experience anxiety when they become aware
o a basic unity exists between people and their
that their existence or something identified with it might be
environments
destroyed. The acquisition of freedom inevitably leads to anxiety,
o a phenomenological approach that intends to
which can be either pleasurable and constructive or painful and
understand people from their own perspective
destructive.
o Three simultaneous modes of the world
A. Normal Anxiety
characterize us in our Dasein:
- proportionate to the threat, does not involve
 Umwelt, or the environment around us;
repression, and can be handled on a conscious level.
 Mitwelt, or our world with other people; and
B. Neurotic Anxiety
 Eigenwelt, or our relationship with our self.
- a reaction that is disproportionate to the threat and
- Nonbeing
that leads to repression and defensive behaviors.
o People are both aware of themselves as living
- It is felt whenever one's values are transformed into
beings and also aware of the possibility of
dogma. Neurotic anxiety blocks growth and productive
nonbeing or nothingness.
action.
o Death is the most obvious form of nonbeing, which
IV. Guilt
can also be experienced as retreat from life's
Guilt arises whenever people deny their potentialities,
experiences.
fail to accurately perceive the needs of others, or remain blind to
o Other forms: addictions, promiscuous sexual
their dependence on the natural world. Both anxiety and guilt are
activity, other compulsive behaviors, blind
ontological; that is, they refer to the nature of being and not
to
conformity to society’s expectations
feelings arising from specific situations.
action, and responsibility.
V. Intentionality
B. Forms of Love
- The structure that gives meaning to experience and
- Sex: A biological function through sexual intercourse
allows people to make decisions about the future
- Eros is a psychological desire that seeks an enduring
- permits people to overcome the dichotomy between
union with a loved one. It may include sex, but it is built
subject and object because it enables them to see that
on care and tenderness.
their intentions are a function of both themselves and
- Philia, an intimate nonsexual friendship between two
their environment.
people, takes time to develop and does not depend on
VI. Care, Love, and Will
the actions of the other person.
- Care is an active process that suggests that things
- Agape is an altruistic or spiritual love that carries with it
matter.
the risk of playing God. Agape is undeserved and
- Love means to care, to delight in the presence of
unconditional.
another person, and to affirm that person's value as
VII. Freedom and Destiny
much as one's own.
Psychologically healthy individuals are comfortable with
- Care is also an important ingredient in will, defined as a
freedom, able to assume responsibility for their choices, and
conscious commitment to action.
willing to face their destiny.
A. Union of Love and Will
May believed that our modern society has lost sight of
A. Freedom Defined
Freedom comes from an understanding of our destiny .
the true nature of love and will, equating love with sex and will with
We are free when we recognize that death is a possibility at any
will power. He further held that psychologically healthy people are
moment and when we are willing to experience changes even in
able to combine love and will because both imply care, choice,
the face of not knowing what those changes will bring.
B. Forms of Freedom
May recognized two forms of freedom: (1) freedom of
doing, or freedom of action, which he called existential freedom,
and (2) freedom of being, or an inner freedom, which he called
essential freedom.
C. Destiny Defined
May defined destiny as "the design of the universe
IX. Psychotherapy
The goal of May's psychotherapy was not to cure
patients of any specific disorder, but rather to make them
more
fully human. May said that the purpose of psychotherapy is to set
people free, that is to allow them to make choices and to assume
responsibility for those choices.
speaking through the design of each one of us." In other words,
our destiny includes the limitations of our environment and our
personal qualities, including our mortality, gender, and genetic
predispositions. Freedom and destiny constitute a paradox
because freedom gains vitality from destiny, and destiny gains
significance from freedom.
X. Critique of May
May's psychology has been legitimately criticized as
being antitheoretical and unjustly criticized as being antiintellectual. May's antitheoretical approach calls for a new kind of
science—one that considers uniqueness and personal freedom
as crucial concepts. However, according to the criteria of present
VIII. Psychopathology
May saw apathy and emptiness—not anxiety or
depression—as the chief existential disorders of our time. People
have become alienated from the natural world (Umwelt), from
science, May's theory rates low on most standards. More
specifically, we give it a very low rating on its ability to generate
research, to be falsified, and to guide action; low on internal
consistency (because it lacks operationally defined terms),
other people (Mitwelt) and from themselves (Eigenwelt).
Psychopathology is a lack of connectedness and an inability to
fulfill one's destiny.
average on parsimony, and high on its organizational powers, due
to its consideration of a broad scope of the human condition.
XI. Concept of Humanity
May viewed people as complex beings, capable of both
tremendous good and immense evil. People have become
alienated from the world, from other people, and, most of all,
from
themselves. On the dimensions of a concept of humanity, May
rates high on free choice, teleology, social influences, and
uniqueness. On the issue of conscious or unconscious forces, his
theory takes a middle position.
CHAPTER 12: PSYCHOLOGY OF THE INDIVIDUAL
physical aspects of personality
- Determine: not merely the mask we wear but the person
1. Biography of Gordon Allport
behind that
- born in Indiana in 1897, the son of a physician and
- Characteristics: uniqueness of the individual
former school teacher.
- Behavior and thinking: anything the person does
- He received an undergraduate degree in philosophy
(external or internal)
and economics and a PhD from Harvard,
B. What is the Role of Conscious Motivation?
- spent 2 years studying under some of the great German
- began with his short-lived discussion with Freud, when
psychologists, but he returned from Europe to teach at
Allport had not yet selected a career in psychology.
Harvard.
- Whereas Freud would attribute an unconscious desire
- Two years later he took a position at Dartmouth, but
in the story of the young boy on the tram car, Allport saw
after 4 years at Dartmouth, he returned to Harvard,
the story as an expression of a conscious motive.
where he remained until his death in 1967.
- He was inclined to accept self-reports at face value
C. What Are the Characteristics of a Healthy Person?
2. Allport's Approach to Personality Theory
- Proactive behavior: not only reacting to external stimuli
A. What Is Personality?
but causing their environment to react to them
- "the dynamic organization within the individual of those
- Motivated by conscious process: flexible and
psychophysical systems that determine [the person's]
autonomous
behavior and thought.
- Relatively trauma-free childhood
- Dynamic organization: patterned yet subject to change
- Extension of the sense of self: not self-centered; social
- Psychophysical: importance of both psychological and
interest are important to them
- Warm relating of self to others: intimate and
- Interpersonal comparisons are inappropriate to
compassionate; love other unselfishy
personal dispositions and any attempt of comparison
- Emotional security or self-acceptance: not overly upset
transforms it to a common trait
when things do not go as planned
- Levels (continuum) of personal dispositions:
- Realistic perception: problem oriented
o Cardinal dispositions: characteristics that are so
- Insight & humor: no need to attribute their own mistakes
obvious and dominating that they cannot be
and weakness to others; can laugh at themselves; see
hidden from other people. Not everyone have this
themselves objectively
o Central dispositions: all people have 5 to 10
- Unifying philosophy of life: have a clear view of the
central dispositions, or characteristics around
purpose of life (not necessarily religious)
which their lives revolve
o Secondary dispositions: are less reliable and less
3. Structure of Personality
conspicuous than central traits. Occur with some
- most important structures of personality are those that
regularity
permit description of the individual in terms of
B. Motivational and Stylistic Dispositions
individual characteristics, and he called these
- Allport further divided personal dispositions into
individual structures personal dispositions.
o motivational dispositions - strong enough to initiate
A. Personal Dispositions
action
- “common traits” which permit inter-individual
o stylistic dispositions - the manner in which an
comparisons
individual behaves and which guide action (does
- “personal dispositions” which are unusual to the
not really have an exact drive or instinct that causes the
individual.
behavior)
C. Proprium
- two levels of functional autonomy:
- all those behaviors and characteristics that people
o perseverative functional autonomy: tendency of
regard as warm and central in their lives.
certain basic behaviors (such as addictiv e
- self/ego could imply an object or thing within a person
behaviors) to perseverate or continue in the
that controls behavior,
absence of reinforcement
- whereas proprium suggests the core of one's
o propriate functional autonomy: self-sustaining
personhood (values/conscience)
motives (such as interests) that are related to the
4. Motivation
proprium.
- motives change as people mature and also that people
- a behavior is functionally autonomous to the extent that
are motivated by present drives and wants.
it seeks new goals, as when a need (eating) turns into
A. Theory of Motivation
an interest (cooking).
- people not only react to their environment, but they also
- Not all behaviors are functionally autonomous:
shape their environment and cause it to react to them.
o biological drives = eating, breathing, and sleeping
- His proactive approach emphasized the idea that
o reflex actions such as an eye blink
people often seek additional tension and that they
o physique, intelligence, and temperament
purposefully act on their environment in a way that
o habits in the process of being formed;
fosters growth toward psychological health.
o patterns of behavior that require primary reinforcement
B. Functional Autonomy
o sublimations that can be tied to childhood sexual
- some (but not all) human motives are functionally
desires
independent from the original motive responsible for a
o some neurotic or pathological symptoms.
particular behavior.
5. Critique of Allport
His views are based more on philosophical speculation
and common sense than on scientific studies. His theory rates low
on its ability to organize psychological data and to be falsified. It
rates high on parsimony and internal consistency and about
average on its ability to generate research and to help the
practitioner.
6. Concept of Humanity
Allport saw people as thinking, proactive, purposeful
beings who are generally aware of what they are doing and why.
On the six dimensions for a concept of humanity, Allport rates
higher than any other theorist on conscious influences and on the
uniqueness of the individual. He rates high on free choice,
optimism, and teleology and about average on social influences.
CHAPTER 13: FIVE-FACTOR TRAIT THEORY
introversion and extraversion).
- For factors to have psychological meaning, the analyst
1. The Pioneering Work of Raymond B. Cattell
must rotate the axes on which the scores are plotted.
- Raymond Cattell used factor analysis to identify a large
- Eysenck used an orthogonal rotation whereas Cattell
number of traits, including personality traits.
favored an obiique rotation. The oblique rotation
- Included in personality traits were temperament traits,
procedure ordinarily results in more traits than the
which are concerned with how a person behaves.
orthogonal method.
- Temperament traits include both normal and abnormal
traits. Of the 23 normal traits, 16 are measured by
Cattell's famous 16 PF scale.
3. The Big Five: Taxonomy or Theory?
A large number of researchers, including Robert
- Whereas, McRae and Costa’s work yielded scores on
McCrae and Paul Costa, Jr., have insisted that all personality
only 5 personality traits (NEO-PI Inventory)
structure can be narrowed down to five, and only five, and no
fewer than five dominant traits to emerge from factor analytic
2. Basics of Factor Analysis
techniques.
- a mathematical procedure for reducing a large number
of scores to a few general variables or factors.
- Correlations of the original, specific scores with the
4. In Search of the Big Five
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Costa and McCrae
factors are called factor loadings.
quickly discovered the traits of extraversion (E), neuroticism (N),
- Traits generated through factor analysis may be either
and openness to experience (O).
unipolar (scaled from zero to some large amount) or
A. Five Factors Found
bipolar (having two opposing poles, such as
- the five factors have been found across a variety of
cultures and languages. In addition, the five factors
- Agreeableness: People who score high on A tend to
show some permanence with age; that is, adults tend
be trusting, generous, yielding, acceptant, and good
to maintain a consistent personality structure as
natured. Low A scorers are generally suspicious,
they grow older.
stingy, unfriendly, irritable, and critical of other people.
- Conscientiousness: people high on the C scale tend
B. Description of the Five Factors
to be ordered, controlled, organized, ambitious,
- McCrae and Costa agreed with Eysenck that
achievement-focused, and self-disciplined.
personality traits are basically bipolar, with some people
scoring high on one factor and low on its counterpart.
5. Evolution of the Five-Factor Theory
- Neuroticism: people who score high on N tend to be
- their Five-Factor taxonomy was being transformed into
anxious, temperamental, self-pitying, self-conscious,
a Five-Factor Theory (FFT)
emotional, and vulnerable to stress-related disorders,
A. Units of the Five-Factor Theory
whereas people with low scores on N tend to have
- The three core components include:
opposite characteristics.
o basic tendencies - the universal raw material of
- Extraversion: People who score high on E tend to be
personality; define the individual’s potential &
affectionate, jovial, talkative, a joiner, and fun-loving,
direction; basis in biology and their stability over
whereas low E scorers tend to have opposing traits.
time and situation
- Openness (to experience): High O scorers prefer
o characteristic adaptations - are acquired
variety in their life and are contrasted to low O scorers
personality structures that develop as people
who have a need for closure and who gain comfort in
adapt to their environment (flexibility); what we
their association with familiar people and things.
learn
o self-concept – an important characteristic
o structure - traits are organized hierarchically from
adaptation which are the knowledge and attitudes
narrow and specific to broad and general.
about oneself
- Peripheral components include:
o biological bases - which are the sole cause of basic
6. Critique of Trait and Factor Theories
The factor theories of Eysenck and of McCrae and
tendencies (genes, hormones, brain structures)
Costa rate high on parsimony, on their ability to generate
o objective biography - everything a person does or
research, and on their usefulness in organizing data; they are
thinks over a lifetime (objectively = not how they
about average on falsifiability, usefulness to the practitioner, and
view experiences)
internal consistency.
o external influence - or knowledge, views, and
evaluations of the self; “how we respond” to the
opportunities and demands
7. Concept of Humanity
Factor theories generally assume that human
B. Basic Postulates
personality is largely the product of genetics and not the
- Basic tendencies: four postulate:
environment. Thus, we rate these two theories very high on
o individuality - every adult has a unique pattern of
biological influences and very low on social factors. In addition,
traits
we rate both about average on conscious versus unconscious
o origin - all personality traits originate solely from
influences and high on the uniqueness of individuals. The
biological factors, such as genetics, hormones,
concepts of free choice, optimism versus pessimism, and
and brain structures
causality versus teleology are not clearly addressed by these
o development - traits develop and change through
theories.
childhood, adolescence, and mid-adulthood
CHAPTER 14: COGNITIVE SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
- it assumes that humans interact with their meaningful
environments: that is, human behavior stems from the
1. Overview of Cognitive Social Learning Theory
Both Julian Rotter and Walter Mischel believe that
cognitive factors, more than immediate reinforcements,
determine
how people will react to environmental forces. Both theorists
suggest that our expectations of future events are major
determinants of performance.
2. Biography of Julian Rotter
Julian Rotter was born in Brooklyn, New York n in 1916.
As a high school student, he became familiar with some of the
writings of Freud and Adler, but he majored in chemistry rather
than psychology while at Brooklyn College. In 1941, he received
a PhD in clinical psychology from Indiana University. After World
War II, he took a position at Ohio State, where one of his students
was Walter Mischel. In 1963, he moved to the University of
Connecticut and has remained there since retirement.
3. Introduction to Rotter's Social Learning Theory
interaction of environmental and personal factors.
- human personality is learned, which suggests that it can
be changed or modified as long as people are capable
of learning.
- personality has a basic unity, suggesting that
personality has some basic stability.
CHAPTER 15: PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS
A. Person as Scientist
1. Overview of Kelly's Personal Construct Theory
People generally attempt to solve everyday problems
Kelly's theory of personal constructs can be seen as a
in much the same fashion as do scientists; that is, they observe,
metatheory, or a theory about theories. It holds that people
ask questions, formulate hypotheses, infer conclusions, and
anticipate events by the meanings or interpretations that
predict future events.
they place on those events. Kelly called these interpretations
B. Scientist as Person
personal constructs. His philosophical position, called
Because scientists are people, their pronouncements
constructive alternativism, assumes that alternative
should be regarded with the same skepticism as any other data.
interpretations are always available to people.
Every scientific theory can be viewed from an alternate angle,
2. Biography of George Kelly
and every competent scientist should be open to changing his or
George Kelly was born on a farm in Kansas in 1905.
her theory.
During his school years and his early professional career, he
C. Constructive Alternativism
dabbled in a wide variety of jobs, but he eventually received a
Kelly believed that our interpretations of the world are
PhD in psychology from the University of Iowa. He began his
subject to revision or replacement, an assumption he called
academic career at Fort Hays State College in Kansas, then
constructive alternativism. He further stressed that, because
after World War II, he took a position at Ohio State. He
people can construe their world from different angles,
remained there until 1965 when he joined the faculty at
observations that are valid at one time may be false at a later
Brandeis. He died 2 years later at age 61.
time.
3. Kelly's Philosophical Position
4. Personal Constructs
Kelly believed that people construe events according to
Kelly believed that people look at their world through
their personal constructs, rather than reality.
templates that they create and then attempt to fit over the
realities of the world. He called these templates personal
extending the range of their future choices. (6) The range
constructs, which he believed shape behavior.
corollary states that constructs are limited to a particular range
A. Basic Postulate
of convenience; that is, they are not relevant to all situations. (7)
Kelly expressed his theory in one basic postulate and
Kelly's experience corollary suggests that people continually
11 supporting corollaries. The basic postulate assumes that
revise their personal constructs as the result of their
human behavior is shaped by the way people anticipate the
experiences. (8) The modulation corollary assumes that only
future.
permeable constructs lead to change; concrete constructs resist
B. Supporting Corollaries
modification through experience. (9) The fragmentation
The 11 supporting corollaries can all be inferred from
corollary states that people's behavior can be inconsistent
this basic postulate. (1) Although no two events are exactly alike,
because their construct systems can readily admit incompatible
we construe similar events as if they were the same, and this is
elements. (10) the commonality corollary suggests that our
Kelly's construction corollary. (2) The individuality corollary
personal constructs tend to be similar to the construction
states that because people have different experiences, they can
systems of other people to the extent that we share experiences
interpret the same event in different ways. (3) The
with them. (11) The sociality corollary states that people are
organizational corollary assumes that people organize their
able to communicate with other people because they can
personal constructs in a hierarchical system, with some
construe those people's constructions. With the sociality
constructs in a superordinate position and other subordinate to
corollary, Kelly introduced the concept of role, which refers to a
them. (4) The dichotomy corollary assumes that people
pattern of behavior that stems from people's understanding of
construe events in an either/or manner, e.g., good or bad. (5)
the constructs of others. Each of us has a core role and
Kelly's choice corollary assumes that people tend to choose
numerous peripheral roles. A core role gives us a sense of
the alternative in a dichotomized construct that they see as
identity whereas peripheral roles are less central to our self-
concept.
5. Critique of Kelly
Kelly's theory probably is most applicable to relatively
normal, intelligent people. Unfortunately, it pays scant attention
to problems of motivation, development, and cultural influences.
On the six criteria of a useful theory, it rates very high on
parsimony and internal consistency and about average on its
ability to generate research. However it rates low on its ability to
be falsified, to guide the practitioner, and to organize knowledge.
6. Concept of Humanity
Kelly saw people as anticipating the future and living
their lives in accordance with those anticipations. His concept of
elaborative choice suggests that people increase their range of
future choices by the present choices they freely make. Thus,
Kelly's theory rates very high in teleology and high in choice and
optimism. In addition, it receives high ratings for conscious
influences and for its emphasis on the uniqueness of the
individual. Finally, personal construct theory is about average on
social influences