What Is Personality? Psychologists differ among themselves as to the meaning of personality. Most agree that the word “personality” originated from the Latin persona, which referred to a theatrical mask worn by Roman actors in Greek dramas. These ancient Roman actors wore a mask (persona) to project a role or false appearance. This surface view of personality, of course, is not an acceptable definition. When psychologists use the term “personality,” they are referring to something more than the role people play. Personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior. Traits contribute to individual differences in behavior, consistency of behavior over time, and stability of behavior across situations. Traits may be unique, common to some group, or shared by the entire species, but their pattern is different for each individual. Thus each person, though like others in some ways, has a unique personality. Characteristics are unique qualities of an individual that include such attributes as temperament, physique, and intelligence. What Is a Theory? In science, theories are tools used to generate research and organize observations, but neither “truth” nor “fact” has a place in a scientific terminology. A scientific theory is a set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypotheses. - A single assumption can never fill all the requirements of an adequate theory. A single assumption, for example, could not serve to integrate several observations, something a useful theory should do - Isolated assumptions can neither generate meaningful hypotheses nor possess internal consistency—two criteria of a useful theory. - The components of a theory are not proven facts in the sense that their validity has been absolutely established. They are, however, accepted as if they were true. - The tenets of a theory must be stated with sufficient precision and logical consistency to permit scientists to deduce clearly stated hypotheses. The hypotheses are no components of the theory, but flow from it. - The hypothesis need not be tested immediately, but it must suggest the possibility that scientists in the future might develop the necessary means to test it. Theory and Its Relatives Philosophy - - - means love of wisdom, and philosophers are people who pursue wisdom through thinking and reasoning. Theory relates most closely to epistemology - or the nature of knowledge, because it is a tool used by scientists in their pursuit of knowledge. Theory deals with broad sets of if-then statements, but the goodness or badness of the outcomes of these statements is beyond the realm of theory. Speculation - - theories rely on speculation Theories are useful tools employed by scientists to give meaning and organization to observations. In addition, theories provide fertile ground for producing testable hypotheses. Without some kind of theory to hold observations together and to point to directions of possible research, science would be greatly handicapped. Speculation and empirical observation are the two essential cornerstones of theory building, but speculation must not run rampantly in advance of controlled observation. Hypothesis - - - an educated guess or prediction specific enough for its validity to be tested through the use of the scientific method. Using Deductive reasoning (going from the general to the specific), a scientific investigator can derive testable hypotheses from a useful theory and then test these hypotheses.The results of these tests—whether they support or contradict the hypotheses—feed back into the theory. Using inductive reasoning (going from the specific to the general), the investigator then alters the theory to reflect these results. As the theory grows and changes, other hypotheses can be drawn from it, and when tested they in turn reshape the theory. Taxonomy - - classification of things according to their natural relationships. can evolve into theories when they begin to generate testable hypotheses and to explain research findings. receives its impetus from the dynamic, expanding theory. - hypothesis testing, leads to an indirect verification of the usefulness of the theory. Why Different Theories? - - - Alternate theories exist because the very nature of a theory allows the theorist to make speculations from a particular point of view. Theorists must be as objective as possible when gathering data, but their decisions as to what data are collected and how these data are interpreted are personal ones. The usefulness of a theory does not depend on its commonsense value or on its agreement with other theories; rather, it depends on its ability to generate research and to explain research data and other observations. What Makes Useful? a - - ability to stimulate and guide further research. A useful theory will generate two different kinds of research: - Descriptive research, which can expand an existing theory, is concerned with the measurement, labeling, and categorization of the units employed in theory building. it provides the building blocks for the theory, and on the other, it must be precise enough to suggest research that may either support or fail to support its major tenets. Organizes Data - - A useful theory should also be able to organize those research data that are not incompatible with each other. It must be able to shape as many bits of information as possible into a meaningful arrangement. Guides Action - Theory Generates Research - Is Falsifiable ability to guide the practitioner over the rough course of day-to-day problems. Is Internally Consistent - - An internally consistent theory is one whose components are logically compatible. Its limitations of scope are carefully defined and it does not offer explanations that lie beyond that scope. uses language in a consistent manner; that is, it does not use the same term to mean two different things, nor does it use two separate terms to refer to the same concept. - good theory = operationally defined - one that defines units in terms of observable events or behaviors that can be measured. - Is Parsimonious - Law of Parsimony : simple, straightforward theories are more useful than ones that bog down under the weight of complicated concepts and esoteric language. Dimensions for a Concept of Humanity Personality theories differ on basic issues concerning the nature of humanity. Each personality theory reflects its author’s assumptions about humanity. ● Determinism versus Free choice. - - - is more philosophical than scientific, the position theorists take on this issue shapes their way of looking at people and colors their concept of humanity. Are people’s behaviors determined by forces over which they have no control, or can people choose to be what they want to be ● Pessimism Optimism. versus personality theorists who believe in determinism tend to be pessimistic, whereas those who believe in free choice are usually optimistic. Are people doomed to live miserable, conflicted, and troubled lives, or can they change and grow into psychologically healthy, happy, fully functioning human beings? ● Causality Teleology. - - causality holds that behavior is a function of past experiences, whereas teleology is an explanation of behavior in terms of future goals or purposes. Do people act as they do because of what has happened to them in the past, or do they act as they do because they have certain expectations of what will happen in the future? ● Conscious Unconscious Determinants Behavior - versus versus of Are people ordinarily aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it, or do unconscious forces impinge on them and drive them to act without awareness of these underlying forces? ● Biological versus Social influences on personality. - - Are people mostly creatures of biology, or are their personalities shaped largely by their social relationships? are personal characteristics more the result of heredity, or are they environmentally determined? ● Uniqueness Similarities - versus Is the most noticeable feature of people their individuality, or is it their common characteristics? SIGMUND FREUD PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY ● Sigismund (Sigmund) Freud ● born either on March 6 or May 6, 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia, Czech Republic ● firstborn child of Jacob and Amalie Nathanson Freud Paris ● Learned the hypnotic technique in treating hysteria – a disorder typically characterized by paralysis or the improper functioning of certain parts of the body with Jean-Martin Charcot (French neurologist) ● Josef Breuer (Viennese physician) – taught Freud about catharsis, the process of removing hysterical symptoms through “talking them out.” ● Freud gradually and laboriously discovered the free association technique ● Wilhelm Fliess (Berlin physician) – constitutes a firsthand account of the beginnings of psychoanalysis and reveals the embryonic stage of Freudian theory. Studies on Hysteria (Breuer & Freud, 1895/1955) - Freud introduced the term “psychical analysis,” and during the following year, he began calling his approach “psycho-analysis.” “the chief patient I am preoccupied with is myself. . . . The analysis s more difficult than any other. It is, in fact what paralyzes my psychic strength” - Freud ● In any event, at midlife Freud was suffering from “creative illness,” – a condition characterized by depression, neurosis, psychosomatic ailments, and an intense preoccupation with some form of creative activity. He suffers from self-doubts, depression, and an obsession with his own death. Vienna Society Psycho-analytic (former : Wednesday Psychological Society) - Freud, Alfred Adler, Wilhelm Stekel, Max Kahane, and Rudolf Reitler Levels of Mental Life ● mental life is divided into two levels, the unconscious and the conscious. ● Unconscious has two levels : unconscious proper and the preconscious. Unconscious ● The unconscious contains all those drives, urges, or instincts that are beyond our awareness but that nevertheless motivate most of our words, feelings, and actions. ● To Freud, unconsciousness is the explanation for the meaning behind dreams, slips of the tongue, and certain kinds of forgetting, called repression. ● Dreams serve as a particularly rich source of unconscious material ex. Freud believed that childhood experiences can appear in adult dreams even though the dreamer has no conscious recollection of these experiences. ● Unconscious processes often enter into consciousness but only after being disguised or distorted enough to elude censorship. ● To enter the conscious level of the mind, these unconscious images first must be sufficiently disguised to slip past the primary censor, and then they mustelude a final censor that watches the passageway between the preconscious and the conscious. ● These images have strong sexual or aggressive motifs, because childhood sexual and aggressive behaviors are frequently punished or suppressed Punishment and suppression often create feelings of anxiety, and the anxiety in turn stimulates repression, that is, the forcing of unwanted, anxiety-ridden experiences into the unconscious as a defense against the pain of that anxiety. ● Freud believed that a portion of our unconscious originates from the experiences of our early ancestors that have been passed on to us through hundreds of generations of repetition Phylogenetic Endowment Preconscious ● contains all those elements that are not conscious but can become conscious either quite readily or with some difficulty ● Two sources of Preconscious : (1) Conscious Perception, What a person perceives is conscious for only a transitory period; it quickly passes into the preconscious when the focus of attention shifts to another idea. (2) Unconscious, Other images from the unconscious do gain admission to consciousness, but only because their true nature is cleverly disguised through the dream process, a slip of the tongue, or an elaborate defensive measure. Conscious ● mental elements in awareness at any given point in time. ● Ideas can reach consciousness from two different directions : (1) Perceptual Conscious System, what we perceive through our sense organs, if not too threatening, enters into consciousness. (2) within the mental structure, includes nonthreatening ideas from the preconscious as well as menacing but well-disguised images from the unconscious. Provinces of the Mind ● most primitive part of the mind was das Es, or the “it” = ID ● a second division was das Ich, or the “I” = EGO ● final province was das Uber-Ich, or the “over-I” = SUPEREGO The Id (Pleasure Principle) ● has no contact with reality, yet it strives constantly to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires. ● Its sole function is to seek pleasure ● Childhood wish impulses remain unchanged in the id for decades ● Unrealistic, illogical and can simultaneously entertain incompatible ideas. ● Primitive, chaotic, inaccessible to consciousness, unchangeable, amoral, illogical, unorganized, and filled with energy received from basic drives and discharged for the satisfaction of the pleasure principle. The Ego (Reality Principle) ● the only region of the mind in contact with reality. ● the decision-making or executive branch of personality ● must take into consideration the incompatible but equally unrealistic demands of the id and the superego. ● the ego becomes differentiated from the id when infants learn to distinguish themselves from the outer world. ● develop strategies for handling the id’s unrealistic and unrelenting demands for pleasure. The Superego (Moralistic/Idealistic Principle) ● differs from the ego in one important respect—it has no contact with the outside world and therefore is unrealistic in its demands for perfection ● Has two subsystems : (1) conscience, results from experiences with punishments for improper behavior and tells us what we should not do. (2) Ego-Ideal, develops from experiences with rewards for proper behavior and tells us what we should do. ● A well-developed superego acts to control sexual and aggressive impulses through the process of repression. ● It strives blindly and unrealistically toward perfection. ● Just like the Id, Superego is completely ignorant of, and unconcerned with, the practicability of its requirements. Dynamics of Personality Freud postulated a dynamic, or motivational principle, to explain the driving forces behind people’s actions. To Freud, people are motivated to seek pleasure and to reduce tension and anxiety. This motivation is derived from physchical and physical energy that springs from their basic drives. Drives Freud used the German word Trieb to refer to a drive or a stimulus within the person. Freud’s official translators rendered this term as instinct, but more accurately the word should be “drive” or “impulse.” Drives operate as a constant motivational force. As an internal stimulus, drives differ from external stimuli in that they cannot be avoided through flight. The various drives can all be grouped under two major headings: sex or Eros and aggression, distraction, or Thanatos. These drives originate in the id, but they come under the control of the ego. Every basic drive is characterized by an impetus, a source, an aim, and an object. A drive’s impetus is the amount of force it exerts; its source is the region of the body in a state of excitation or tension; its aim is to seek pleasure by removing that excitation or reducing the tension; and its object is the person or thing that serves as the means through which the aim is satisfied (Freud, 1915/1957a). Sex. The aim of the sexual drive is pleasure, limited to believed invested but this pleasure is not genital satisfaction. Freud that the entire body is with libido. Besides the genitals, the mouth and anus are especially capable of producing sexual pleasure and are called erogenous zones. Sex can take many forms, including narcissism, love, sadism, and masochism. The latter two also possess generous components of the aggressive drive. Narcissism involves love of self, whereas love is often accompanied by narcissistic tendencies, as when people love someone who serves as an ideal or model of what they would like to be. Masochism, like sadism, is a common need, but it becomes a perversion when Eros becomes subservient to the destructive drive. Aggression The aim of the destructive drive, according to Freud, is to return the organism to an inorganic state. Because the ultimate inorganic condition is death, the final aim of the aggressive drive is self-destruction. E.g. teasing, gossip, sarcasm, humiliation. humor, and the enjoyment of other people’s suffering. Primary Narcissism - Infants are primarily self-centered, with their libido invested almost exclusively on their own ego. Secondary Narcissism - is not universal, but a moderate degree of self-love is common to nearly everyone; During puberty, adolescents often redirect their libido back to the ego and become preoccupied with personal appearance and other self-interests. Sadism is the need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on another person. Carried to an extreme, it is considered a sexual perversion, but in moderation, sadism is a common need and exists to some extent in all sexual relationships. Anxiety Sex and aggression share the center of Freudian dynamic theory with the concept of anxiety. In defining anxiety, Freud (1933/1964) emphasized that it is a felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns the person against impending danger. Neurotic anxiety is defined as apprehension about an unknown danger. The feeling itself exists in the ego, but it originates from id impulses. A second type of anxiety, moral anxiety, stems from the conflict between the ego and the superego. to the strategy of remaining at the present, more comfortable psychological stage. Fixation is the permanent attachment of the libido onto an earlier, more primitive stage of development A third category of anxiety, realistic anxiety, is closely related to fear. It is defined as an unpleasant, nonspecific feeling involving a possible danger. Introjection : placing an unwanted impulse onto an external object. Whereby people incorporate positive qualities of another person into their own ego. Defense Mechanisms Freud believed these three parts of the mind are in constant conflict because each part has a different primary goal. Sometimes, when the conflict is too much for a person to handle, his or her ego may engage in one or many defense mechanisms to protect the individual. These defense mechanisms include: Repression: The ego pushes disturbing or threatening thoughts out of one’s consciousness; it protects itself by repressing those impulses; that is, it forces threatening feelings into the unconscious Reaction Formation : One of the ways in which a repressed impulse may become conscious is through adopting a disguise that is directly opposite its original form. Fixation : When the prospect of taking the next step becomes too anxiety provoking, the ego may resort Denial: The ego blocks upsetting or overwhelming experiences from awareness, causing the individual to refuse to acknowledge or believe what is happening; Projection: The ego attempts to solve discomfort by attributing the individual’s unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and motives to another person; Displacement: The individual satisfies an impulse by acting on a substitute object or person in a socially unacceptable way (e.g., releasing frustration directed toward your boss on your spouse instead); Regression: As a defense mechanism, the individual moves backward in development in order to cope with stress (e.g., an overwhelmed adult acting like a child); Sublimation: Similar to displacement, this defense mechanism involves satisfying an impulse by acting on a substitute but in a socially acceptable way (e.g., channeling energy into work or a constructive hobby) (McLeod, 2013). The 5 Psychosexual Stages of Development Finally, one of the most enduring concepts associated with Freud is his psychosexual stages. Freud proposed that children develop in five distinct stages, each focused on a different source of pleasure: 1. First Stage: Oral—the child seeks pleasure from the MOUTH (e.g., sucking); BIRTH - 2 YEARS OLD 2. Second Stage: Anal—the child seeks pleasure from the ANUS (e.g., withholding and expelling feces); 2 - 3 YEARS OLD 3. Third Stage: Phallic—the child seeks pleasure from the GENITALS (penis or clitoris) (e.g., masturbation); 3 - 5 YEARS OLD 4. Fourth Stage: Latency—the child has little or no sexual motivation, DORMANT ; 5 PUBERTY 5. Fifth Stage: Genital—the child seeks pleasure from the GENITALS (penis or vagina) (e.g., sexual intercourse; McLeod, 2013). PUBERTY Freud hypothesized that an individual must successfully complete each stage to become a psychologically healthy adult with a fully formed ego and superego. Otherwise, individuals may become stuck or “fixated” in a particular stage, causing emotional and behavioral problems in adulthood (McLeod, 2013). Male Oedipus Complex Freud (1925/1961) believed that preceding the phallic stage an infant boy forms an identification with his father; that is, he wants to be his father. Later he develops a sexual desire for his mother; that is, he wants to have his mother. This condition of rivalry toward the father and incestuous feelings toward the mother is known as the simple male Oedipus complex. The term is taken from the Greek tragedy by Sophocles in which Oedipus, King of Thebes, is destined by fate to kill his father and marry his mother. Freud believed that these feelings of ambivalence in a boy play a role in the evolution of the castration complex, which for boys takes the form of castration anxiety or the fear of losing the penis. Female Oedipus Complex The phallic phase takes a more complicated path for girls than for boys, and these differences are due to anatomical differences between the sexes (Freud, 1925/1961). Like boys, pre-Oedipal girls assume that all other children have genitals similar to their own. Soon they discover that boys not only possess different genital equipment, but apparently something extra. Girls then become envious of this appendage, feel cheated, and desire to have a penis. STRENGTHS penis envy is a powerful force in the formation of girls’ personality. Unlike castration anxiety in boys, which is quickly repressed, penis envy may last for years in one form or another. Freud (1933/1964) believed that penis envy is often expressed as a wish to be a boy or a desire to have a man. Almost universally, it is carried over into a wish to have a baby, and eventually it may find expression in the act of giving birth to a baby, especially a boy. CRITICISMS ● Did ● Psychoanalysis theory possessed internal consistency. Freud wrote over a period of more than 40 years and gradually altered the meaning of some concepts during that time. ● It is a very comprehensive theory ● It remains valid as a treatment for patients and topic/ focus for institutes or conferences. ● This theory motivated a lot of rising professionals in the field of Psychology Freud Understand Women? Freud’s perspective on women stirred controversy during his lifetime as he acknowledged that he lacked a complete understanding of the female psyche. His theory was centralized to men because of his earlier life where society is dominated by men and women belonged in the second class level of society with little to no rights or privileges including having a professional degree or being a part of any professional organizations. Freud believed that women are the “tender sex” who are only made for the household and children. Even when some women showed interest in Freud’s Psychoanalysis, his views on women being not equal to men did not change. He called them the “Dark Continent of Psychology” a subject he never understands. Their sexuality baffled him.Even at the end, he asked, "What does a woman want?" and he never found a satisfactory answer. ● Was Freud a Scientist? Freud considers himself as a scientist as well as Psychoanalysis as science although his definition of what science is, is quite questionable as it was more subjective-based rather than experimental. Researches about him being a scientist or just self-proclaimed risen and his “scientific theories” did not meet the criteria for being a useful theory because (1) it is impossible to falsify (2) it has a moderate capability in organizing knowledge (3) modern day practitioners relies on other theoretical orientations and (4) his theories are not a simple or parsimonious theory. CONCEPT HUMANITY OF ● Determinism versus Free Choice - Freud’s perspective will fall on determinism as he believes that a person’s personality and behavior is dictated by our past life experiences. He disapproves of the idea of a person having control of his/her own life. ● Pessimism versus Optimism Psychoanalysis is essentially pessimistic because he believed that the struggles of human beings resulted from their lack of capability to control and face conflicts like how the innate death wish drives us incessantly toward self-destruction or aggression, while the sexual drive causes us to seek blindly after pleasure. He believed that humans are savage beasts ready to use others for their sexual and destructive satisfaction. ● Causality versus Teleology Freud’s theory is more on causality as he believed that our personality is highly influenced by our early life experiences rather than our future goals. Humans are consistently caught up between life and death that forces them to repeat patterns and behavior uncontrollably which they are familiar and comfortable with. ● Conscious versus Unconscious Freud believed that we are slaves for our unconsciousness, from sexual urges, slips of tongue or aggressive drives, the motivations behind these behaviors are deeply-rooted from our unconscious. ● Social versus Biological Influences Despite Freud’s years of training and studying, he still lacked a biological perspective for his theory but he believed that early childhood fantasies and anxieties are rooted from biology. ● Uniqueness versus Similarities Psychoanalytic theory showed both similarities and uniqueness. People’s gradual development is similar for a lot of people while, early life experiences, effects of these experiences on people and personalities are individually distinct for everyone. APPLICATIONS THEORY OF THE Freud’s Early Therapeutic Technique ● Freud relied on a much reliable and active procedure in extracting repressed childhood memories where he uses pressure with both dream interpretation and hypnosis on his patients inside a consulting room Freud’s LaterTherapeutic Technique ● together with free association and dream analysis, Freud formed his later technique to uncover repressed memories by turning what is unconscious to conscious Free Association ● a practice where you express whatever comes into your mind – thoughts, memories, images or words, relevant or not. In order for analytic treatment to be successful, libido must go through a two-phase procedure – transference and the struggle being waged around this new object and the libido is liberated from it ● Transference : strong sexual or aggressive feelings, positive or negative which is being analyzed throughout the treatment process by the patients’ transferring of their earlier life experiences, usually came from their parents to the therapist. ● Resistance : the disclosure of unconscious material, in which the patient maintains silence or attempts to act out feelings of love or hate transferred from past relationships to the analyst. Psychoanalytic Treatment has its limitations : - not all old memories can or should be brought into consciousness. - it is not as effective with psychoses or with constitutional illnesses as it is with phobias, hysterias, and obsessions. - a patient, once cured, may later develop another psychic problem Dream Analysis ● “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.” Sigmund Freud ● The primary purpose of dreams was to provide individuals with wish fulfillment, allowing them to work through some of their repressed issues in a situation free from consciousness and the constraints of reality. ● The purpose of dreams is to translate forbidden wishes and taboo desires into a non-threatening form through condensation (the joining of two or more ideas), displacement (transformation of the person or object we are concerned about into something or someone else), and secondary elaboration (the unconscious process of turning the wish-fulfillment images or events into a logical narrative) (McLeod, 2013). Freudian Slips (parapraxes) ● unconscious slips are so common that we usually pay little attention to them and deny that they have any underlying significance. ● Freud believed these slips of the tongue were not mere accidents, there are other alternative explanations for slips of the tongue other than repressed and suppressed intentions ALFRED ADLER INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY ● Alfred Adler was born in Vienna, Austria, on February 7, 1870. ● Son of Pauline and Leopold and has 6 other siblings. ● He was a weak boy, having rickets during his childhood, before being struck by a near-fatal bout of pneumonia at age 5. ● This near death experience alongside the death of his younger brother encouraged him to be a physician. ● His feelings of inferiority rose when the rivalry between him and his older brother started. ● Adler graduated from the University of Vienna Medical School and received his degree in 1895. ● Adler began his medical career in the field of ophthalmology before switching into general practice and psychiatry. ● Sigmund Freud invited him to join a psychoanalytic discussion group called Vienna Psychoanalytic Society where they met every Wednesday in Freud's home. ● Although being in the same circle, Freud and Adler’s relationship hasn't been warm ever since as their theoretical ideologies keep on clashing with each other. ● Alfred Adler founded the Society of Individual Psychology, which seemed like an announcement that he already abandoned Psychoanalysis and started his own approach. ● In his last years, he became a US resident and taught Individual Psychology in several universities and medical schools. ● Adler married a Russian woman, Raissa Epstein and had four children ; Alexandra and Kurt (both became psychiatrists), Valentine and Nali. ● His interests include music, art and literature. Alfred Adler is optimistic, believes in gender equality and supports women’s rights To Adler, people are born with weak, inferior bodies—a condition that leads to feelings of inferiority and a consequent dependence on other people. 1. The one dynamic force behind people’s behavior is the striving for success or superiority. 2. People’s subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality. 3. Personality is unified and self-consistent. 4. The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest. 5. The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of life. 6. Style of life is molded by people’s creative power. Striving for Success or Superiority The first tenet of Adlerian theory is: The one dynamic force behind people’s behavior is the striving for success or superiority. ● Individual psychology holds that everyone begins life with physical deficiencies that activate feelings of inferiority— feelings that motivate a person to strive for either superiority or success. ● Adler called the single dynamic force striving for superiority. In his final theory, however, he limited striving for superiority to those people who strive for personal superiority over others ● Psychologically unhealthy individuals strive for personal superiority, whereas Psychologically healthy people seek success for all humanity. ● Adler believed that aggression was the dynamic power behind all motivation. ● Adler used the term masculine protest, which implied will to power or a domination of others. However, he soon abandoned masculine protest as a universal drive while continuing to give it a limited role in his theory of abnormal development ● introduced the term striving for success to describe actions of people who are motivated by highly developed social interest The Final Goal ● According to Adler (1956), people strive toward a final goal of either personal superiority or the goal of success for all humankind. In either case, the final goal is fictional and has no objective existence. ● the final goal has great significance because it unifies personality and renders all behavior comprehensible. ● Rather, it is the product of the creative power – that is, people’s ability to freely shape their behavior and create their own personality. ● Even infants have an innate drive toward growth, completion, or success. Because infants are small, incomplete, and weak, they feel inferior and powerless. To compensate for this deficiency, they set a fictional goal to be big, complete, and strong. The Striving Force as Compensation ● People strive for superiority or success as a means of compensation for feelings of inferiority or weakness. ● People are continually pushed by the need to overcome inferiority feelings and pulled by the desire for completion ● Without the innate movement toward perfection, children would never feel inferior; but without feelings of inferiority, they would never set a goal of superiority or success. ● Adler (1930) believed that all humans are “blessed” at birth with small, weak, and inferior bodies. ● It is not necessarily a mirror image of the deficiency, even though it is a compensation for it. For example, a person with a weak body will not necessarily become a robust athlete but instead may become an artist, an actor, or a writer. ● Heredity establishes the potentiality, whereas the environment contributes to the development of social interest and courage. ● Adler identified two general avenues of striving. (1) the socially nonproductive attempt to gain personal superiority; (2) social interest and is aimed at success or perfection for everyone. Striving for Personal Superiority ● Some people strive for superiority with little or no concern for others. Their goals are personal ones, and their strivings are motivated largely by exaggerated feelings of personal inferiority, or the presence of an inferiority complex. ● the idea that human beings are motivated by an innate, sovereign drive for realizing their full potential. Striving for Success ● Their own success is not gained at the expense of others but is a natural tendency to move toward completion or perfection. ● psychologically healthy people who are motivated by social interest and the success of all humankind. ● Social progress is more important to them than personal credit ● People who strive for success rather than personal superiority maintain a sense of self, of course, but they see daily problems from the view of society’s development rather than from a strictly personal vantage point. Subjective Perceptions Adler’s second tenet is: People’s subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality. ● People strive for superiority or success to compensate for feelings of inferiority, but the manner in which they strive is not shaped by reality but by their subjective perceptions of reality, that is, by their fictions, or expectations of the future. Fictionalism ● goal of superiority or success ● Fictions are ideas that have no real existence, yet they influence people as if they really existed. ● Teleology is an explanation of behavior in terms of its final purpose or aim. It is opposed to causality, which considers behavior as springing from a specific cause. Physical Inferiorities ● Before overcoming these physical deficiencies, they may act as if they are still small, weak, and inferior. ● insisted that the whole human race is “blessed” with organ inferiorities. ● emphasized that physical deficiencies alone do not cause a particular style of life; they simply provide present motivation for reaching future goals. Such motivation, like all aspects of personality, is unified and self-consistent. Unity and Self-Consistency of Personality The third tenet of Adlerian theory is: Personality is unified and self-consistent. ● Thoughts, feelings, and actions are all directed toward a single goal and serve a single purpose. Organ Dialect ● The disturbance of one part of the body cannot be viewed in isolation; it affects the entire person. In fact, the deficient organ expresses the direction of the individual’s goal, a condition known as organ dialect. ● The jargon of one may be: "I can't stand on my own two feet," expressing a conviction that he or she must depend on the help of others to meet life's challenges, while the jargon of the other may be: “I can't stand it!" declaring an inability to endure a particular pressure or difficult situation. Conscious and Unconscious ● We cannot oppose “consciousness” to “unconsciousness” as if they were antagonistic halves of an individual’s existence. The conscious life becomes unconscious as soon as we fail to understand it—and as soon as we understand an unconscious tendency it has already become conscious. – Adler ● He saw it as two cooperating parts of the same unified system. (1) Conscious thoughts are those that are understood and regarded by the individual as helpful in striving for success, (2) unconscious thoughts are those that are not helpful. Social Interest The fourth of Adler’s tenets is: The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest. Origins of Social Interest ● originates from the mother-child relationship during the early months of infancy. ● The father is a second important person in a child’s social environment. He must demonstrate a caring attitude toward his wife as well as to other people. Importance of Social Interest ● Social interest was Adler’s yardstick for measuring psychological health and is thus “the sole criterion of human values” Immature people lack Gemeinschaftsgefühl, are self-centered, and strive for personal power and superiority over others. Style of Life ● German term, Gemeinschaftsgefühl – social feeling or community feeling. Adler’s fifth tenet is: The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of life. ● It manifests itself as cooperation with others for social advancement rather than for personal gain. ● Social interest is the natural condition of the human species and the adhesive that binds society together ● Style of life is the term Adler used to refer to the flavor of a person’s life. (person’s goal, self-concept, feelings for others, and attitude toward the world.) ● product of the interaction of heredity, environment, and a person’s creative power. ● Established at the age of 4-5 ● People with a healthy, socially useful style of life express their social interest through action. Creative Power The final tenet of Adlerian theory is: Style of life is molded by people’s creative power. ● creative power places them in control of their own lives, is responsible for their final goal, determines their method of striving for that goal, and contributes to the development of social interest. creative power makes each person a free individual. ● Adler (1956) acknowledged the importance of heredity and environment in forming personality. Except for identical twins, every child is born with a unique genetic makeup and soon comes to have social experiences different from those of any other human. ● Neurotics often choose to bump their head on the realities of life. Abnormal Development Adler believed that people are what they make of themselves. The creative power endows humans, within certain limits, with the freedom to be either psychologically healthy or unhealthy and to follow either a useful or useless style of life. According to Adler (1956), the one factor underlying all types of maladjustments is underdeveloped social interest. Besides lacking social interest, neurotics tend to (1) set their goals too high, (2) live in their own private world, and (3) have a rigid and dogmatic style of life. ● Maladjusted people set extravagant goals as an overcompensation for exaggerated feelings of inferiority. External Factors in Maladjustment ● People, however, are much more than a product of heredity and environment. They are creative beings who not only react to their environment but also act on it and cause it to react to them. (1) exaggerated physical deficiencies – Each person comes into the world “blessed” with physical deficiencies, and these deficiencies lead to feelings of inferiority. People with exaggerated physical deficiencies sometimes develop exaggerated feelings of inferiority because they overcompensate for their inadequacy. (2) a pampered style of life – They are characterized by extreme discouragement, indecisiveness, oversensitivity, impatience, and exaggerated emotion, especially anxiety. They see the world with private vision and believe that they are entitled to be first in everything. (3) a neglected style of life – Children who feel unloved and unwanted are likely to borrow heavily from these feelings in creating a neglected style of life. Neglect is a relative concept. No one feels totally neglected or completely unwanted. The fact that a child survived infancy is proof that some- one cared for that child and that the seed of social interest has been planted. Safeguarding Tendencies ● enable people to hide their inflated self-image and to maintain their current style of life. Excuses – “Yes, but” or “If only” format. - “Yes, I would like to go to college, but my children demand too much of my attention.” - “If only I did not have this physical deficiency, I could compete successfully for a job.” Aggression – any behavior, including verbal events, which involves attacking another person, animal, or object with the intent of harming the target. Depreciation – the tendency to undervalue other people’s achievements and to overvalue one’s own. Ie. “The only reason Kenneth got the job I applied for is because he is an African American.” Accusation – the tendency to blame others for one’s failures and to seek revenge, thereby safeguarding one’s own tenuous self-esteem. Ie. “I wanted to be an artist, but my parents forced me to go to medical school. Now I have a job that makes me miserable.” Self-accusation – is marked by selftorture and guilt. Some people use self-torture, including masochism, depression, and suicide, as means of hurting people who are close to them. Guilt is often aggressive, self-accusatory behavior. Ie. “I feel distressed because I wasn’t nicer to my grandmother while she was still living. Now, it’s too late.” Withdrawal – Personality development can be halted when people run away from difficulties. ● moving backward – tendency to safeguard one’s fictional goal of superiority by psychologically reverting to a more secure period of life. ● standing still – A person who never applies to graduate school can never be denied entrance; a child who shies away from other children will not be rejected by them. ● Hesitating Their procrastinations eventually give them the excuse “It’s too late now.” ● constructing obstacles – Some people build a straw house to show that they can knock it down. By overcoming the obstacle, they protect their self-esteem and their prestige. If they fail to hurdle the barrier, they can always resort to an excuse. passive and to accept an inferior position in society. Masculine Protest ● cultural and social practices—not anatomy — influence many men and women to overemphasize the importance of being manly Family Constellation – In therapy, Adler almost always asked patients about their family constellation, that is, their birth order, the gender of their siblings, and the age spread between them. ● first born children – power and superiority, high anxiety, and overprotective tendencies. ● second born children – begin life in a better situation for developing cooperation and social interest. To some extent, the personalities of secondborn children are shaped by their perception of Origins of the Masculine Protest – both men and women place an inferior value on being a woman. Boys are frequently taught early that being masculine means being courageous, strong, and dominant. The epitome of success for boys is to win, to be powerful, to be on top. In contrast, girls often learn to be During the early years of their marriage, Raissa and Alfred Adler had somewhat compatible political views, but in time, these views diverged. Alfred became more of a capitalist, advocating personal responsibility, while Raissa became involved in the dangerous Communist politics of her native Russia. Such independence pleased Adler, who was as much a feminist as his strong-willed wife. Applications Psychology of Individual (1) family constellation, (2) early recollections, (3) dreams, and (4) psychotherapy. the older child’s attitude toward them. ● youngest children – are often the most pampered and, consequently, run a high risk of being problem children. They are likely to have strong feelings of inferiority and to lack a sense of independence. Nevertheless, they possess many advantages. They are often highly motivated to exceed older siblings and to become the fastest runner, the best musician, the most skilled athlete, or the most ambitious student. ● only child – unique position of competing, not against brothers and sisters, but against father and mother. Living in an adult world, they often develop an exaggerated sense of superiority and an inflated self-concept. Adler (1931) stated that only children may lack well-developed feelings of cooperation and social interest, possess a parasitic attitude, and expect other people to pamper and protect them. Early Recollections – To gain an understanding of patients’ personality, Adler would ask them to reveal their early recollections (ERs). ● insisted that early recollections are always consistent with people’s present style of life and that their subjective account of these experiences yields clues to understanding both their final goal and their present style of life. Note that Adler did not believe that the early childhood experiences caused the man’s current distrust of women, but rather that his current distrustful style of life shapes and colors his early recollections. Dream – Although dreams cannot foretell the future, they can provide clues for solving future problems. – he had a vivid and anxious dream that related directly to his desire to spread his individual psychology to a new world and to free himself from the constraints of Freud and Vienna. Psychotherapy – Adler innovated a unique method of therapy with problem children by treating them in front of an audience of parents, teachers, and health professionals. When children receive therapy in public, they more readily understand that their problems are community problems. STRENGTHS ● It is a holistic approach meaning people can have a perspective of themselves as a whole and their attitudes towards the social world. ● It avoids viewing someone as “psychologically abnormal” but instead, it reiterates that conflicts in life often have a contribution to psychological difficulties. ● Adler’s theory highlights the importance of social interest, the sense of belongingness and individual growth. CRITICISMS ● Many of Adler’s concept is difficult to falsify or verify although most of it can be explained through related researches ● It has a high rating on the ability to generate research as it sparked many social interest scales based on his theory. ● His practical views of life gives sense to what we perceive about human behavior so his theory is rated high on its ability to organize knowledge ● Adlerian theory is also high on its ability to guide action as therapists, teachers, parents and practitioners had a better understanding about a person’s style of life in different setting due to the guidelines created with this theory ● His theory is not internally consistent because the terms in this theory lack precise and scientific definition. It is also moderate in being parsimonious CONCEPT OF HUMANITY ● Adler believed that people are self-determined through their creative power. They are responsible for their own lifestyle. ● People’s perceptions on each of the situations they are in/have been to are more important as it determines oneself. ● He believed that people are forward moving and are motivated by the goals they set. ● a person's choices and way of life can always be changed if he/she wants to because not all choices are conscious ● People have the freedom to change their goals and life at any point. ● Individual Psychology rates high on free-choice, social influences, and uniqueness; very high on optimism and teleology; and average on unconscious influences. CARL JUNG ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY ● Carl Gustav Jung ● Jung had been an early admirer and friend of Sigmund Freud, but when theoretical differences arose, their personal relationship broke up, leaving Jung with bitter feelings and a deep sense of loss. ● born on July 26, 1875, in Kesswil, a town on Lake Constance in Switzerland. ● elder Carl Gustav Jung – paternal grandfather, physician ● Johann Paul Jung – father, a minister who is a sentimental idealist with strong doubts about his religious faith. ● Emilie Preiswerk Jung – mother, daughter of a theologian. She was realistic/practical//warmhearted ,but unstable/ mystical/ clairvoyant/archaic/ ruthless. ● Religion and medicine were usual in his family. ● Had 3 siblings (older brother, younger sister) – Jung is the middle child ● At age 3 years, Jung was separated from his mother that troubled him ● His family moved to a suburb of Basel ● No. 1 and No. 2 personalities –aspects of himself discovered during school years. ● No. 1 was the child of his parents and times. Extraverted and in tune to the objective world. ● No. 2, though, was a timeless individual, "having no definable character at all – born, living, dead, everything in one, a total vision of life". Introverted and directed inward toward his subjective world. ● Jung’s first choice of a profession was archeology. ● Jung had limited financial resources that forced him to attend a school near home – Basel University (Archeology Medicine - Psychiatry) ● While Jung was in his first year of medical school, his father died. ● Completed his medical degree from Basel University in 1900. ● Became a Psychiatric assistant to Eugene Bleuler at Burghöltzli Mental Hospital in Zürich ● 1902–1903, he studied for 6 months in Paris with Pierre Janet (successor to Charcot) ● In 1903, he married Emma Rauschenbach, a young sophisticated woman from a wealthy Swiss family. ● He became a teacher at the University of Zürich. ● As Freud invited Jung to Vienna, they developed a strong mutual respect and affection for one another, talking during their first meeting for 13 straight hours ● Freud believed that Jung was the ideal person to be his successor. ● Freud had warm personal feelings for Jung and regarded him as a man of great intellect. ● Jung became the first president of the International Psychoanalytic Association. ● Freud is betrayed by Jung going his own way and fashioning his own ideas, including the collective unconscious, a near relative of spirituality. ● Their bond ultimately faded away due to the clashes between their theoretical differences. The main differences can be seen in the idea of the unconscious, dream analysis and sexuality. ● In the dream, Jung sees two half-disintegrated human skulls and scattered bones in the thick dust of the grave, together with the remains of broken pottery. Interpretation ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● : Jung did indeed wish for the death of his wife. Antonia (Toni) Wolff – more in touch with his no.2 They had a 3 way relationship but Wolff’s name isn’t included on Jung’s autobiography By using dream interpretation and active imagination to force himself through his underground journey, he eventually was able to create his unique theory of personality. Jung was a Christian. His hobbies included wood carving, stone cutting, and sailing his boat on Lake Constance. He also maintained an active interest in alchemy, archeology, gnosticism, Eastern philosophies, history, religion, mythology, and ethnology. He became a professor of medical psychology at University of Basel He died June 6, 1961, in Zürich, a few weeks short of his 86th birthday. His reputation extend beyond psychology to include philosophy, religion, and popular culture Analytical Psychology ● occult phenomena can and do influence the lives of everyone. ● Jung believed that each of us is motivated not only by repressed experiences but also by certain emotionally toned experiences inherited from our ancestors or collective unconscious Levels of the Psyche Conscious ● images are those that are sensed by the ego, whereas unconscious elements have no relationship with the ego. ● Ego – center of consciousness, but not the core of personality. ● takes a secondary position to the unconscious self ● plays a relatively minor role in analytical psychology, ● Healthy individuals are in contact with their conscious world, but they also allow themselves to experience their unconscious self to achieve individuation Personal Unconscious ● embraces all repressed, forgotten, or subliminally perceived experiences of one particular individual. ● is formed by our individual experiences and is therefore unique to each of us. ● Complexes – contents of personal unconscious, a collection of emotionally toned - associated ideas. (1) May also be partly derived from humanity’s collective experience. (2) May stem from both the personal and the collective unconscious Collective Unconscious ● From the ancestral past of the entire species. ● are inherited and pass from one generation to the next as psychic potential. ● more or less the same for people in all cultures ● responsible for people’s many myths, legends, and religious beliefs. ● produces “big dreams,” – dreams with meaning beyond the individual dreamer and that are filled with significance for people of every time and place ● humans’ innate tendency to react in a particular way whenever their experiences stimulate a biologically inherited response tendency. Archetypes ● Ancient images from the collective unconscious. ● are emotionally toned collection of associated images – generalized ● Instinct – unconscious physical impulse toward action ● psychic counterpart to an instinct. ● Instinct and Archetype are unconsciously determined, and both can help shape personality. ● have a biological basis but originate through the repeated experiences of humans’ early ancestors. ● expresses itself through several modes, primarily dreams, fantasies, and delusions. ● Dreams are the main source/proof of archetypal material ● Jung believed that hallucinations of patients are a proof of archetypes Persona ● The side of personality that people show to the world – public face ● refers to the mask worn by actors in the early theater. ● represents all of the different social masks that we wear among various groups and situations. ● allows people to adapt to the world around them and fit in with the society in which they live ● from experiences with of his no.1 personality ● Too much persona = (1) unconscious of our individuality and are blocked from attaining self-realization (2) we lose touch with our inner self and remain dependent on society’s expectations of us. (3) can lead people to lose sight of their true selves. Shadow ● archetype of darkness and repression ● qualities we do not wish to acknowledge but attempt to hide from ourselves and others. ● first test of courage ● composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, and shortcomings. ● People who never realize their shadow = tragic lives/bad luck/defeat&discouragement Anima ● is a feminine image in the male ● ● ● ● ● psyche Animus – masculine image in the female psyche originated from early men’s experiences with women—mothers, sisters, and lovers "true self" rather than the image we present to others anima represents irrational moods and feelings, Jung : “all people are psychologically bisexual” Animus ● masculine image in the female psyche ● symbolic of thinking and reasoning. Great Mother ● represents two opposing forces— (1) fertility and nourishment – capable of producing and sustaining life and (2) power and destruction – devour or neglect her offspring ● symbolized by a tree, garden, plowed field, sea, heaven, home, country, church, and hollow objects such as ovens and cooking utensils. ● Mother of God, Mother Nature, Mother Earth, a stepmother, or a witch. Wise Old Man ● archetype of wisdom and meaning, symbolizes humans’ preexisting knowledge of the mysteries of life. ● Personified as king, father, grandfather, teacher, philosopher, guru, doctor and priest Hero ● represented in mythology and legends as a powerful person ● acts to redeem society by overcoming great odds in service to successfully completing extraordinary acts of strength, courage and goodness Self ● tendency to move toward growth, perfection, and completion, ● archetype of archetypes ● it pulls together the other archetypes and unites them in the process of self-realization. ● Mandala – strivings of the collective unconscious for unity, balance, and wholeness ● includes both the conscious and unconscious mind ● unites the opposing elements of psyche—male and female, good and evil, light and dark forces. DYNAMICS OF PERSONALITY Causality and Teleology ● According to Jung, motivation came from both Causality and Teleology. ● Causality holds that present events have their origin in previous experiences. ● Teleology holds that present events are motivated by goals and aspirations for the future that direct a person’s destiny. ● human behavior is shaped by both causal and teleological forces Progression and Regression ● Progression – (1) adaptation to the outside world involves the forward flow of psychic energy (2) inclines a person to react consistently to a given set of environmental conditions ● Adaptation – (1) adaptation to the inner world relies on a backward flow of psychic energy (2) necessary backward step in the successful attainment of a goal. ● essential if people are to achieve individual growth or self-realization ● If working together, can activate the process of healthy personality development Psychological Types Attitudes ● a predisposition to act or react in a characteristic direction. ● introversion and extraversion serve in a compensatory relationship to one another and can be illustrated by the yang and yin motif Introversion ● the turning inward of psychic energy with an orientation toward the subjective. ● Introverts are tuned in to their inner world with all its biases, fantasies, dreams, and individualized perceptions. ● Jung’s No.2 personality Extraversion ● attitude distinguished by the turning outward of psychic energy so that a person is oriented toward the objective ● Extraverts are more influenced by their surroundings than by their inner world. ● Jung’s No.1 personality ● Psychologically healthy people attain a balance of the two attitudes, feeling equally comfortable their internal and external worlds with their Functions ● Sensing tells people that something exists; thinking enables them to recognize its meaning; feeling tells them its value or worth; and intuition allows them to know about it without knowing how they know. Thinking ● can be either extraverted or introverted ● Extraverted thinking – people rely heavily on concrete thoughts, but they may also use abstract ideas ● Without individual interpretation, ideas are merely previously known facts with no originality or creativity ● Introverted thinking – people react to external stimuli, but their interpretation of an event is colored more by their internal meaning Feeling ● process of evaluating an idea or event. ● evaluation of every conscious activity, even those valued as indifferent. ● no emotional content, unless their intensity increases to the point of stimulating physiological changes within the person. ● Extraverted feeling – (1) use objective data to make evaluations. (2) likely to be at ease in social situations (3) well liked because of their sociability, but may appear shallow and unreliable ● Introverted feeling – (1) base their value judgments primarily on subjective perceptions rather than objective facts (2) These people have an individualized conscience, a taciturn demeanor, and an unfathomable psyche.(3) often causes persons around them to feel uncomfortable and to cool their attitude toward them Sensing ● receives physical stimuli and transmits them to perceptual consciousness ● individual’s perception of sensory impulses. ● dependent on logical thinking or feeling but exist as absolute, elementary facts within each person. ● Extraverted sensing – perceive external stimuli objectively, in much the same way that these stimuli exist in reality. ● Introverted sensing – (1) largely influenced by their subjective sensations ● of sight, sound, taste, touch, and so forth. (2) guided by their interpretation of sense stimuli rather than the stimuli themselves. (3) too much = may result in hallucinations or esoteric and incomprehensible speech Intuiting ● perception beyond the workings of consciousness. ● more creative, often adding or subtracting elements from conscious sensation. ● Extraverted intuitive – (1) people are oriented toward facts in the external world. (2) intuitive people suppress many of their sensations and are guided by hunches and guesses contrary to sensory data. ● Introverted intuitive – people are guided by unconscious perception of facts that are basically subjective and have little or no resemblance to external reality. ● Jung believed that introverted intuitive people may not clearly understand ● their own motivations, yet they are deeply moved by them. Development of Personality ● he emphasized the second half of life, the period after age 35 or 40, when a person has the opportunity to bring together the various aspects of personality and to attain self-realization. Stages of Development Childhood ● anarchic phase – is characterized by chaotic and sporadic consciousness. “Islands of consciousness” may exist, but there is little or no connection among these islands. ● Experiences of the anarchic phase sometimes enter consciousness as primitive images, incapable of being accurately verbalized. ● monarchic phase – characterized by the development of the ego and by the beginning of logical and verbal thinking. During this time children see themselves objectively and often refer to themselves in the third person. ● dualistic phase – when the ego is divided into the objective and subjective. Children now refer to themselves in the first person and are aware of their existence as separate individuals. Youth ● The period from puberty until middle life is called youth. Young people strive to gain psychic and physical independence from their parents, find a mate, raise a family, and make a place in the world. ● a period of increased activity, maturing sexuality, growing consciousness, and recognition that the problem-free era of childhood is gone forever. Middle Life ● middle life begins at approximately age 35 or 40, by which time the sun has passed its zenith and begins its downward descent. ● Although this decline can present middle-aged people with increasing anxieties, middle life is also a period of tremendous potential. Old Age ● As the evening of life approaches, people experience a diminution of consciousness just as the light and warmth of the sun diminish at dusk. If people fear life during the early years, then they will almost certainly fear death during the later ones. ● Fear of death is often taken as normal, but Jung believed that death is the goal of life and that life can be fulfilling only when death is seen in this light. Self-Realization ● Psychological rebirth, also called self-realization or individuation, is the process of becoming an individual or whole person ● Self-realization is extremely rare and is achieved only by people who are able to assimilate their unconscious into their total personality. ● The self-realized person must allow the unconscious self to become the core of personality. ● The self-realized person is dominated neither by unconscious processes nor by the conscious ego but achieves a balance between all aspects of personality. APPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY Word Association Test – Jung used this technique in the early 1903 while on a trip with Freud to the United States. He used this test to reveal feeling-toned complexes. It is based on the idea of the capability of the unconscious to control our consciousness. In this test, a person is presented with a 100 stimulus words to which they must respond with the first term that comes to mind. Experts claim that the stimulant concepts tend to awaken a specific emotional response from an individual. Critical responses include restricted breathing, delayed reactions, multiple responses, disregard of instructions,inability to pronounce a common word, failure to respond, and inconsistency on test-retest. Other significant responses include blushing, stammering, laughing, cough-ing, sighing, clearing the throat, crying, excessive body movement, and repetition of the stimulus word. Dream Analysis – Dreams are our unconscious and spontaneous attempt to know the unknowable, to comprehend a reality that can only be expressed symbolically. This dream analysis is directed towards self-realization through the coordination of the unconscious (personal and collective) with our consciousness. Jung believed that dreams – big dreams, typical dreams and early dreams are the main source/proof of the collective unconscious. Active Imagination – a method of assimilating unconscious contents (dreams, fantasies, etc.) through some form of self-expression. The purpose of active imagination is to reveal archetypal images emerging from the unconscious and is useful for the people who want to be familiar with their unconscious. Unlike in dream analysis, images occurring in active imagination are clearer and with great participation with consciousness. Psychotherapy – consists of four basic approaches to therapy, (1) confession of a pathogenic secret – a cathartic method by Josef Breuer used for people who have the need to share their secret. (2) interpretation, explanation, and elucidation – gives the patients insight into the causes of their illnesses,but may still leave them incapable of solving social problems. (3) education of patients as social beings – made patients well-adjusted socially. (4) transformation – therapists must be a healthy human being first before guiding patients toward self-realization and wholeness. This therapy is focused on people in their second half of life who are directed toward inner self discovery or self-realization These techniques are all directed towards guiding people towards their self-realization by balancing the conscious and the unconscious. STRENGTHS ● Development of self-understanding and increased awareness of the unconscious states of your life. ● Awareness of experiences from your ancestral past and how they affect your current way of life. ● Promotes balance among psychological concepts of an individual's life to achieve individuation. ● Consider both introverted, extraverted, subjective and objective perceptions of life. ● Personal experiences as a motivational drive CRITICISMS ● It can’t be verified or falsified as this theory is difficult to test based on observation because most of the concepts were from Jung’s early experiences. ● Jung’s theory generated a moderate amount of research and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator proved it. ● This theory doesn’t have that many operational terms unlike other theories so it has a low rating in internal consistency. ● Some of his concepts were from him first hand, and not studied by other theorists yet but concepts like collective unconscious isn’t the only explanation for a specific occurrence so it has a moderate rating in its ability to organize knowledge. ● ● The complexity of the concepts in this theory is unnecessary for explaining human personality so it got a low rating on being parsimonious. CONCEPT OF HUMANITY ● For Carl Jung, people are motivated from the parts of their conscious state, personal unconscious and collective unconscious. This motivation both has a cause and a purpose. ● According to him, a simple explanation can describe humans, they possess both the same and opposite forces just like all people are composed of all the archetypes within themselves. These archetypes can have an impact on an individual but can't completely dominate a person’s life through courage. Collective unconscious can still affect a person who already achieved self-realization. ● This theory falls under biological theory because the collective unconscious is biologically inherited. ● It is also high in similarities due to the experiences of people based on this theory.
