THEORIES OF PERSONALITY REVIEWER
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Prepared by: Alethea Patricia L. Del Castillo, MA, RPm
Reference: Feist, Feist & Roberts (2013). Theories of Personality (Eight
Edition) New York: McGraw-Hill.
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO PERSONALITY THEORY
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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
for each individual (consistency & stability of behavior over
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time)
- Characteristics: unique qualities of an individual that
include such attributes as temperament, physique and
intelligence
II.
What is a Theory?
A. Theory Defined
Set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use
logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable
hypotheses
Set: A single assumption can never fill all the
requirements of a good theory
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
B.
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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
observe
Its usefulness depends on its ability to generate
research and to explain research data and other
observations
C. What Makes a Theory Useful?
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It generates a number of hypotheses that can be
investigated through research, thus yielding research
data
Organizes research data into a meaningful structure
and provides explanation for the results
Generates Research:
o A useful theory will stimulate both
descriptive research and hypothesis
testing.
o Descriptive research provides a framewor k
for an evolving theory whereas hypothesis
testing expands our knowledge of a scientific
discipline.
Is Falsifiable:
o It must generate research that can either
confirm or disconfirm its major tenets.
o A negative result will contradict the theory and
force the theorist to either discard it or modify
it
o A theory that can explain everything explains
nothing
Organizes Data:
o It should be able to fit current research data
into an intelligible framework and to
integrate new information into its structure.
Guides Action:
o practical tools that guide a road map for
making day-to-day decisions.
o Example: what kind of psychotherapy
technique is going to be used to the client?
Is Internally consistent:
o includes operational definitions that define
concepts in terms of specific operations to be
carried out by the observer. (logically
compatible)
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Is Parsimonious:
o When two theories are equal on the first five
criteria, the simpler one is preferred.
(straightforward theories)
III. Dimensions for a Concept of Humanity
Determinism versus Free choice
o Are people’s behaviors determined by forces
over which they have no control or can people
choose to be what they wish to be?
Pessimism versus Optimism
o Are people doomed to live miserable or can
they change and grow into psychologically
healthy and fully functioning individual?
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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
o Are they aware of what and why they are
doing it? Or do unconscious forces impinge
on them?
Biological versus Social Influences on personality
o Are people creatures of biology? Or are they
shaped largely by their social relationships?
Uniqueness versus similarities among people
o Is the salient feature of people their
individuality or is it their common
characteristics?
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CHAPTER 2: PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
(PSYCHOANALYSIS)
I.
Biography of Sigmund Freud
Sisigmund (Sigmund) Freud
Born in the Czech Republic in 1856 and died (of cancer)
in London in 1939, Freud spent nearly 80 years of his
life in Vienna.
Freud was the first born of his father and mother ,
although his father already had 2 grown sons
He was the favorite of his mother over the 7 other
siblings (he was not close to any of them)
His relationship with his father appears to be cold if not
occasionally hostile
When he was 1 ½ year old, his mother gave birth to
Julius (who died at 6 months) Freud developed hostility to his
brother and unconsciously wished him dead. He had carried into
adulthood the guilt, he thought he was the cause of his death
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A physician who never intended to practice general
medicine, Freud was intensely curious about human
nature.
Early in his professional career, Freud believed that
hysteria was a result of being seduced during childhood
by a sexually mature person, often a parent or other
relative. But in 1897, he abandoned his seduction
theory and replaced it with his notion of the Oedipus
complex.
Some scholars have contended that Freud's decision to
abandon the seduction theory in favor of the Oedipus
II.
complex was a major error and influenced a generation
of psychotherapists to interpret patients' reports of early
sexual abuse as merely childhood fantasies.
He fell in love with Martha Bernays and marry her in
1886. They had 6 children. The youngest is Anna Freud
who held a special place in his heart
He was mentored by Jean-Martin Charcot (hypnotic
technique for treating hysteria) and Josef Breuer
(catharsis)
He then gradually discovered free association
technique
Studies of Hysteria: after its publication, Freud and
Breuer had a professional disagreement and became
estranged
Interpretation of Dreams: contains many of Freud’s
own dreams. Soon after his publication his friendship
with Fliess began to cool
Freud and Jung interpreted each other’s dreams that
eventually led to the end of their relationship
Levels of Mental Life (Topographic Model)
A. Unconscious
The unconscious consists of drives and instincts that
are beyond awareness, yet they motivate many of our
behaviors.
Unconscious drives can become conscious only in
disguised or distorted form, such as dream images,
slips of the tongue, or neurotic symptoms.
Unconscious processes originate from two sources: (1)
repression, or the blocking out of anxiety -filled
experiences and (2) phylogenetic endowment, or
inherited experiences that lie beyond an individual's
personal experience. (only as last resort in explaining
behavior)
B.
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The unconscious mind of one person can communicate
with the unconscious of another without either person
being aware of the process
Unconscious forces constantly strive to become
conscious
Preconscious
Contains images that are not in awareness but that can
become conscious either quite easily or with some level
of difficulty.
Experiences that are forgotten are in the preconscious.
2 sources:
o Conscious perception: when the focus of
attention shifts to another idea (usually free
from anxiety)
o
C.
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Unconscious: ideas can slip past the vigilant
censor and enter into the preconscious in a
disguised form
Conscious
Only level of mental life directly available to us, but it
plays a relatively minor role in Freudian theory.
Conscious ideas stem from either the perception of
external stimuli; that is, our perceptual conscious
system, or from unconscious and preconscious images
after they have evaded censorship.
III. Provinces of the Mind (Structural Model)
A. The Id (das Es)
completely unconscious
serves the pleasure principle and seeks constant and
immediate satisfaction of instinctual needs
not altered by the passage of time or by experiences of
the person.
It is illogical and entertain incompatible ideas
Primary process (basic drives)
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
both the id and the superego with the demands of the
real world. (decision-making branch)
It becomes anxious and would use defense
mechanisms as protect itself
It has no energy of its own but borrows from id
Psychologically healthy people have a well-developed
ego.
C. The Superego (Uber Ich)
serves the idealistic principle, has two subsystems— the
conscience and the ego-ideal
The conscience results from punishment for improper
behavior (guilt),
whereas the ego-ideal stems from rewards for socially
acceptable behavior (inferiority feelings – when the ego fails to
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meet the standards of perfection)
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Neither the id nor the superego is in contact with reality
Development: Age 5 to 6
IV. Dynamics of Personality
The term dynamics of personality refers to those forces
that motivate people. The concept includes both instincts and
anxiety.
A. Drives (instinct or impulse) – a stimulus within an individual
B.
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They cannot be avoided through flight response
Every basic drive is characterized by:
o Impetus – amt. of force it exerts
o Source – region of the body in tension
o Aim – seek pleasure by removing tension
o Object – person or thing where the aim is
satisfied
2 primary instincts—sex (Eros) and aggression
(Thanatos, or the destructive instinct).
Sex (libido)
o Aim: to seek pleasure, through the erogenous
zones = mouth, anus, and genitals.
o Object: any person or thing that brings sexual
pleasure.
o For example, narcissism, love, sadism, and
masochism all possess large components of
the sexual drive even though they may
appear to be nonsexual.
o All infants possess primary narcissism, or
self-centeredness,
but the secondary
narcissism (moderate degree of self-love) of
adolescence and adulthood is not universal.
o Sadism, which is the reception of sexual
pleasure from inflicting pain on another, and
o Masochism, which is the reception of sexual
pleasure from painful experiences, satisfies
both sexual and aggressive drives.
o If carried to an extreme, sadism and
masochism is considered a sexual perversion
but in moderation is a common need
Aggression
o The destructive instinct aims to return the
person to an inorganic state, but it is ordinarily
directed against other people and is called
aggression.
o It can take a number of form like teasing,
gossip, sarcasm, humiliation, humor &
enjoyment of other people’s suffering
o Commandments such as “Love thy neighbor
as thyself” is a way of inhibiting the strong
drive to inflict pain to others. These are
reaction formations
Anxiety
Only the ego feels anxiety, but the id, superego, and
outside world can each be a source of anxiety.
Neurotic anxiety is apprehension about an unknown
danger and stems from the ego's relation with the id;
Moral anxiety is similar to guilt and results from the
ego's relation with the superego; and
V.
Realistic anxiety is similar to fear and is produced by the
ego's relation with the real world.
Defense Mechanisms
A. Repression
Forcing unwanted, anxiety-loaded experiences into the
unconscious.
It is the most basic of all defense mechanisms because
it is an active process in each of the others.
Many repressed experiences remain unconscious for a
lifetime but others become conscious in a disguised
form or in an unaltered form
B. Reaction Formation
Repression of one impulse and the pretentious
expression of its exact opposite.
C. Displacement
Redirecting of unacceptable urges and feelings onto
people and objects in order to disguise or conceal their
true nature.
Unlike, reaction formation, it does not exaggerate or
overdo the disguised behavior
D. Fixation
When psychic energy is blocked at one stage of
development, making psychological change difficult.
Permanent attachment of the libido to an earlier stage
of development
They are universal
E. Regression
When a person reverts to earlier, more infantile modes
of behavior
Usually, temporary
F. Projection
Seeing in others those unacceptable feelings or
behaviors that actually reside in one's own
unconscious.
When carried to extreme, projection can become
paranoia, which is characterized by delusions of
persecution.
G. Introjection
Incorporation of positive qualities of another person in
order to reduce feelings of inadequacy.
Hero worship might be a good example.
H. Sublimation
Contribute to the welfare of society
They involve elevating the aim of the sexual instinct to
a higher level and are manifested in cultural
accomplishments, such as art, music, and other socially
beneficial activities.
VI. Stages of Development
Freud saw psychosexual development as proceeding
from birth to maturity through four overlapping stages—the
infantile stage, the latency stage, the genital stage and the
psychologically mature stage.
A. Infantile period
- Encompasses the first 4 to 5 years of life and is divided
into three subphases:
o oral phase: pleasure through sucking Weaning is
the principal source of frustration during this stage.
o Emergence of teeth as a defense against
environment is called oral sadistic
o anal phase: satisfaction gained through aggressive
behavior and excretory function (sadistic-anal)
o occurs at about the second year of life, when toilet
training is the child's chief source of frustration.
o If parents use disciplinary training methods, a child
may develop the anal triad of orderliness, stinginess,
and obstinacy, all of which mark the anal character.
o Phallic phase: boys and girls begin to have differing
psychosexual development, which occurs around
ages 3 or 4 years.
o For both genders, suppression of masturbation is the
principle source of frustration.
o young children experience the Oedipus complex =
having sexual feelings for one parent and hostile
feelings for the other.
o The male castration complex breaks up the male
Oedipus complex and results in a well-formed male
superego.
o For girls, the castration complex, in the form of penis
envy, precedes the female Oedipus complex, a
situation that leads to only a gradual and incomplete
shattering of the female Oedipus complex and a
weaker, more flexible female superego.
B. Latency Period
From about age 5 years until puberty—in which the
sexual instinct is partially suppressed.
It is believed that this may have roots in our
phylogenetic endowment
C. Genital Period
Begins with puberty when adolescents experience a
reawakening of the genital aim of Eros, and it continues
throughout adulthood.
D. Maturity
Freud hinted at a stage of psychological maturity in
which the ego would be in control of the id and superego
and in which consciousness would play a more
important role in behavior.
VII. Applications of Psychoanalytic Theory
A. Freud's Early Therapeutic Technique
- Freud used a very aggressive technique whereby he strongly
suggested to patients that they had been sexually seduced as
children.
- He later abandoned this technique, with a belief that he may
have elicited memories of seduction from his patients and that
he lacked clear evidence that these memories were real
B. Freud's Later Therapeutic Technique
- Goal: uncover repressed memories through the free
association and dream analysis = to strengthen the ego
- Transference: strong sexual or aggressive feelings, positive or
negative, that patients develop towards the analyst during the
course of treatment
- Negative transference: form of hostility must be explained to
the client to overcome resistance to treatment
C. Dream Analysis
- manifest content (conscious description) from the
- latent content (unconscious meaning of the dream that lies
hidden from the dreamer).
- Nearly all dreams are wish-fulfillments, although the wish is
usually unconscious and can be known only through dream
interpretation.
- Dreams that are not wish-fulfillments follow the principle of
repetition compulsion and often occur after people have had a
traumatic experience, now called a post-traumatic stress
disorder.
- To interpret dreams Freud used both dream symbols and the
dreamer's associations to the dream content.
D. Freudian Slips
- slips of the tongue or pen, misreadings, incorrect hearings,
misplacing of objects, and temporary forgetting of names or
intentions are not chance accidents but reveal a person's
unconscious intentions.
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,
its openness to falsification as very low, and its ability to organize
data as average. We also rate psychoanalysis as average on its
ability to guide action and to be parsimonious. Because it lacks
operational definitions, we rate it low on internal consistency.
IX.
Concept of Humanity
Freud's view of humanity was deterministic and
pessimistic.
He also emphasized causality over teleology ,
unconscious determinants over conscious processes, and biology
over culture, but he took a middle position on the dimension of
uniqueness versus similarities of people.
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He was interested in social relationships – siblings and
peers
Adler developed a strong rivalry with Sigmund—a rivalry
that was similar to his later relationship with Freud.
Like Freud, Adler was a physician, and in 1902, he became
a charter member of the Wednesday Psychological Society
However, personal and professional differences between
Freud and Adler led to Adler's departure from the Vienna
Psychoanalytic Society in 1911.
Adler soon founded his own group, the Society for
Individual Psychology.
His strengths were his energetic oral presentations and his
insightful ability to understand family dynamics.
Adler married Raissa Epstein who was a feminist. They had
4 children
During the last few years of his life, Adler lived in the United
States and earned a reputation as a gifted public speaker.
He died in 1937 in Scotland while on a lecture tour.
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II.
Introduction to Adlerian Theory
People are born with weak and inferior bodies 
feelings of inferiority and dependence to other people
feelings of unity with others (social interest)
A. Striving for Success or Superiority: The sole dynamic
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B.
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force behind all our actions
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CHAPTER 3: INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
I.
Biography of Alfred Adler
Born in 1870 in a Viennese suburb, a second son of middle class Jewish parents.
- As a young child he was weak and sickly (he nearly died of
pneumonia at the age of 5), a condition that contrasted
sharply with his strong, healthy older brother, Sigmund.
- The death of his younger brother (infant) motivated him to
become a physician
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Transformation of drive: aggression  masculine
protest  Striving for Superiority  Striving for
success (personal superiority/success)
The Final Goal
o The final goal of success or superiority toward
which all people strive unifies personality and
makes all behavior meaningful.
o Its fictional and has no objective existence
o Product of creative power (age 4 or 5): people’s
ability to free shape their behavior and create their
own personality
o Reduces the pain of inferiority feelings and leads
the person to either superiority or success
o If children felt neglected or pampered their goals
will remain unconscious
o If children experience love and security, they set
goals that are largely conscious and clearly
understood
o People are not always conscious of their final goal,
even though they may be aware of their immediate
subgoals.
o When an individual’s final goal is known, all actions
make sense and subgoals takes on new
significance
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C.
The Striving Force as Compensation
o the striving force is innate = feelings of inferiority
 goal of superiority
o The goal is to overcome these feelings through
their natural tendency to move toward completion.
o The goal may take many forms. It is not
necessarily a mirror image of the deficiency even
if it is a compensation for it
o The striving force can take one of two courses—
personal gain or community benefit.
Striving for Personal Superiority
o Goals are personal ones (sometimes with little or
no concern for others)
o Largely motivated by exaggerated feelings of
inferiority (inferiority complex)
o Others, although they may appear to be interested
in others, their basic motivation is personal benefit.
Striving for Success
o Psychologically healthy people strive for the
success of all humanity, but they do so without
losing their personal identity.
Subjective Perceptions: People's subjective view of the
world—not reality—shapes their behavior.
Fictionalism
o People's beliefs and expectations of the future.
o Adler held that fictions guide behavior, because
people act as if these fictions are true.
o Example: a belief in an omnipotent God who
rewards good and punishes evil
Physical Inferiorities
o All humans are "blessed" with organ inferiorities
that stimulate subjective feelings of inferiority and
move people toward perfection or completion
o Deficiencies do not cause a particular style of life;
they are motivation for reaching goals
Unity of Personality: all behaviors are directed toward a
single purpose and that the entire personality functions in a
self-consistent manner.
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Organ Dialect
o People sometimes use a physical disorder to
express style of life
o A boy wetting his bed sends a message that he
does not wish to obey his parents
Conscious and Unconscious
o Conscious and unconscious processes are unified
and operate to achieve a single goal.
o The part of our goal that is not clearly understood is
unconscious (thoughts that are not helpful)
o to the extent that we comprehend our goal it is
conscious (helpful in striving for success)
D. Social Interest: Gemeinschaftsgefϋhl = a feeling of
oneness with all of humanity
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E.
F.
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Origins of Social Interest
o both mothers and fathers have crucial roles in
furthering the social interest of their children and
that the parent/child relationship is so strong that it
negates the effects of heredity. (until age 5)
Importance of Social Interest
o Without social interest, societies could not exist,
because individuals could not protect themselv es
from danger.
o Thus, an infant's helplessness predisposes it toward
a nurturing person.
o social interest is "the sole criterion of human
values," and the "barometer of normality." The
worthiness of all one's actions must be viewed by
these standards.
Style of Life: product of interaction of heredity,
environment and person’s creative power
o healthy individuals are marked by flexible behavior
and that they have some limited ability to change
their style of life.
Creative Power: freedom of choice
Ultimately style of life is shaped by our creative power;
that is, by our ability to freely choose which building
materials to use and how to use them.
People have considerable ability to freely choose their
actions and their personality.
III. Abnormal Development
Creative power is not limited to healthy people;
unhealthy individuals also create their own
personalities.
The most important factor in abnormal development is
underdeveloped social interest.
In addition, people with a useless style of life tend to (1)
set their goals too high, (2) live in their own private
world, and (3) have a rigid and inflexible style of life.
A. External Factors in Maladjustment
Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies
o Severe physical defects do not by themselv es
cause abnormal development, but they may
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B.
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contribute to it by generating subjective and
exaggerated feelings of inferiority.
Pampered Style of Life
o develop low levels of social interest
o continue to have an overriding drive to establish a
permanent parasitic relationship with their mother or
a mother substitute.
o They believe they are entitled to be first in
everything
o They have not received too much love rather they
feel unloved (parents doing too much for them)
Neglected Style of Life
o Children who feel neglected often use these
feelings as building material for a useless style of
life—one characterized by distrust of other people.
Safeguarding Tendencies
means of protecting their fragile self-esteem. These
safeguarding tendencies maintain a neurotic status quo
and protect a person from public disgrace.
Excuses
o Frequently take the form of "Yes, but" or "If only."
By making excuses for their shortcomings, people
can preserve their inflated sense of personal worth.
Aggression
o Behaving aggressively toward themselves or
others.
o May take the form of depreciating others'
accomplishments, accusing others of being
responsible for one's own failures, and accusing self
as a means of inflicting suffering on others.
Withdrawal
o Try to escape from life's problems by running away
from them; maintaining distance.
o People can withdraw psychologically by moving
backward, standing still, hesitating, or constructing
obstacles.
C. Masculine Protest
Both men and women sometimes overemphasize the
desirability of being manly
IV. Applications of Individual Psychology
A. Family Constellation
First borns are likely to have strong feelings of power
and superiority, to be overprotective, and to have more
than their share of anxiety.
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Second borns (like Adler himself) are likely to have
strong social interest, provided they do not get trapped
trying to overcome their older sibling.
Youngest children are likely to be pampered and to lack
independence, whereas only children may have even
less social interest and tend to expect others to take
care of them.
B. Early Recollections
Adler believed that ERs are not chance memories but
templates on which people project their current style of
life.
ERs need not be accurate accounts of early events;
they have psychological importance because they
reflect our current view of the world.
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.
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CHAPTER 4: ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY
I.
Biography of Carl Jung
born in Switzerland in 1875,
the oldest by about 9 years of two surviving children.
A son before Carl only lived for 3 days
Jung's father was an idealistic Protestant minister and
his mother was a strict believer in mysticism and the
occult.
Jung's early experience with parents—who were quite
opposite of each other—probably influenced his own
theory of personality, including his fanciful No. 1 and
Number 2 personalities.
He saw his mother as having 2 separate dispositions
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II.
His no.2 personality = an old man long since dead
He married Emma Rauschenbach and had 5 children
Soon after receiving his medical degree Jung became
acquainted with Freud's writings and eventually with
Freud himself.
During their first meeting, they talked for 13 straight
hours
Not long after he traveled with Freud to the United
States, Jung became disenchanted with Freud's
pansexual theories, broke with Freud, and began his
own approach to theory and therapy, which he called
analytical psychology. (when they began interpreting
each other’s dreams)
He had affairs with Sabina (former patient) and Antonia
(another former patient – but had longer relationship
with her)
He said he was sexually abused when he was 18 yo by
an older man whom he saw as a fatherly friend
From a critical midlife crisis during which he nearly lost
contact with reality, Jung emerged to become one of the
leading thinkers of the 20th century.
He died in 1961 at age 85.
Levels of the Psyche
A. Conscious
Ego as the center of consciousness but not the core of
personality
In the psychologically mature individual, the ego is
secondary to the self.
B. Personal Unconscious
psychic images not sensed by the ego.
Some unconscious processes flow from our personal
experiences
contains the complexes (emotionally toned groups of
related ideas) and the collective unconscious, which
includes various archetypes.
C. Collective Unconscious
beyond our personal experiences and that originate
from the repeated experiences of our ancestors.
not inherited ideas, but rather they refer to our innate
tendency to react in a particular way whenever our
personal experiences stimulate
an inherited
predisposition toward action.
Love at first sight?
D. Archetypes - Contents of the collective unconscious
originate through the repeated experiences of our
ancestors and that they are expressed in certain types
of dreams, fantasies, delusions, and hallucinations.
Persona—the side of our personality that we show to
others.
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Shadow—the dark side of personality. In order for
people to reach full psychological maturity, they must
first realize or accept their shadow.
Anima - A second hurdle in achieving maturity is for
men to accept their anima—their feminine side—
irrational moods & feelings
Animus - and for women to embrace their animus—
their masculine side. – irrational thinking & opinions
the great mother - the archetype of nourishment and
destruction
the wise old man - the archetype of wisdom and
meaning
the hero - image we have of a conqueror who
vanquishes evil but who has a single fatal flaw
Self - The most comprehensive archetype is the self;
that is, the image we have of fulfillment, completion, or
perfection.
The ultimate in psychological maturity is self-realization,
which is symbolized by the mandala, or perfect
geometric figure.
III. Development of Personality
Jung's emphasis on the second half of life. Jung saw
middle and old age as times when people may acquire
the ability to attain self-realization.
A. Stages of Development
childhood, which lasts from birth until adolescence
youth, the period from puberty until middle life: a time
for extraverted development & for being grounded to the
real world of schooling, occupation, courtship, marriage,
and family;
middle life, from about 35 or 40 until old age and a time
when people should be adopting an introverted, or
subjective attitude; and
old age, which is a time for psychological rebirth, selfrealization, and preparation for death.
B. Self-Realization/Individuation
a psychological rebirth and an integration of various
parts of the psyche into a unified or whole individual.
Self-realization represents the highest level of human
development.
IV. Jung's Methods of Investigation
A. Word Association Test
to uncover complexes embedded in the personal
unconscious. The technique requires a patient to utter
the first word that comes to mind after the examiner
reads a stimulus word.
B. Dream Analysis
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dreams may have both a cause and a purpose and thus
can be useful in explaining past events and in making
decisions about the future. "Big dreams" and "typical
dreams," both of which come from the collectiv e
unconscious
C. Active Imagination
used active imagination to arrive at collective images.
This technique requires the patient to concentrate on a
single image until that image begins to appear in a
different form. (archetypes)
D. Psychotherapy
help neurotic patients become healthy and to move
healthy people in the direction of self-realization. Jung
was eclectic in his choice of therapeutic techniques and
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
I.
Biography of Melanie Klein
born in Vienna in 1892, the youngest of four children.
She felt rejected by her parents, especially her father
She developed fondness to her older siblings, Sidonie
and Emmanuel who both died
She married Arthur Klein, Emmanuel’s close friend, at
age 21
They had 3 children; she has an estranged relationship
with her eldest child, Melitta
Klein separated from her husband
II.
She had neither a PhD nor an MD degree but became
an analyst
As an analyst, she specialized in working with young
children.
She believed that children develop superego much
earlier than Freud believed (4-6 months after birth)
She died in 1960.
Introduction to Object Relations Theory
differs from Freudian theory in three important ways:
o it places more emphasis on interpersonal
relationships,
o it stresses the infant's relationship with the
mother rather than the father, and
o it suggests that people are motivated primarily for
human contact rather than for sexual pleasure.
The term “object” refers to any person or part of a
person that infants introject, or take into their psychic
structure and then later project onto other people
III. Psychic Life of the Infant
infants begin life with an inherited predisposition to
reduce the anxiety that they experience as a
consequence of the clash between the life instinct and
the death instinct
A. Phantasies
very young infants possess an active, unconscious
phantasy life.
Their most basic fantasies are images of the "good"
breast and the "bad" breast.
B. Objects
drives have an object (hunger: good breast; sex: sexual
organ)
child's relationship with these objects (parents' face,
hands, breast, penis, etc.), which she saw as having a
life of their own within the child's phantasy world.
IV. Positions
In their attempts to reduce the conflict produced by
good and bad images, infants organize their experience
into positions
A. Paranoid-Schizoid Position: the first 3-4 months of life
The struggles that infants experience with the good
breast and the bad breast lead to two separate and
opposing feelings—a desire to harbor the breast and a
desire to bite or destroy it.
To tolerate these two feelings, the ego splits itself by
retaining parts of its life and death instincts while
projecting other parts onto the breast.
-
B.
-
V.
It then has a relationship with the ideal breast and the
persecutory breast.
To control this situation, infants adopt the paranoidschizoid position, which is a tendency to see the world
as having both destructive and omnipotent
qualities.
Depressive Position: the first 5-6 months of life
the anxiety that infants experience around 6 months of
age over losing their mother and yet, at the same
time, wanting to destroy her.
resolved when infants phantasize that they have made
up for their previous offenses against their mother and
also realize that their mother will not abandon them.
Psychic Defense Mechanisms
children adopt various psychic defense mechanisms to
protect their ego against anxiety aroused by their own
destructive fantasies.
A. Introjection
phantasy of taking into one's own body the images
that one has of an external object, especially the
mother's breast.
Infants usually introject good objects as a protection
against anxiety, but they also introject bad objects in
order to gain control of them.
B. Projection
phantasy that one's own feelings and impulses reside
within another person
Children project both good and bad images so that they
ease the unbearable anxiety of being destroyed by the
dangerous internal forces
C.
D.
-
Splitting
mentally keeping apart, incompatible images to tolerate
good and bad aspects of themselves and of external
objects.
Splitting can be beneficial to both children and adults,
because it allows them to like themselves while still
recognizing some unlikable qualities.
Projective Identification
split off unacceptable parts of themselves, project them
onto another object, and finally introject them in an
altered form.
VI. Internalizations
After introjecting external objects, infants organize them
into a psychologically meaningful framework
A. Ego
Internalizations are supported by the early ego's ability
to feel anxiety, to use defense mechanisms, and to for m
object relations in both phantasy and reality.
a unified ego emerges only after first splitting itself into
the two parts—the life instinct and the death instinct.
B. Superego
the superego preceded rather than followed the
Oedipus complex. Klein also saw the superego as
being quite harsh and cruel.
C. Oedipus Complex
begins during the first few months of life, then reaches
its peak during the genital stage, at about 3 or 4 years
of age
based on children's fear that their parents will seek
revenge against them for their phantasy of emptying the
parent's body.
For healthy development, children should retain positiv e
feelings for each parent.
the little boy adopts a "feminine" position very early in
life and has no fear of being castrated as punishment
for his sexual feelings toward his mother. Later, he
projects his destructive drive onto his father, whom he
fears will bite or castrate him. It is resolved when the
boy establishes good relations with both parents.
The little girl also adopts a "feminine" position toward
both parents quite early in life. She has a positiv e
feeling for both her mother's breast and her father's
penis, which she believes will feed her with babies.
Sometimes the girl develops hostility toward her
mother, whom she fears will retaliate against her and
rob her of her babies, but in most cases, the female
Oedipus complex is resolved without any jealousy
toward the mother.
VII. Later Views of Object Relations
A. Margaret Mahler's View
From careful observations of infants as they bonded
with their mothers during their first 3 years of life.
three major developmental stages.
o normal autism (first 3 to 4 weeks of life) a time when
infants satisfy their needs within the all-powerful
protective orbit of their mother's care.
o normal symbiosis, when infants behave as if they
and their mother were an all-powerful,
interdependent unit.
o
separation-individuation (4 months until about 3
years) a time when children are becoming
psychologically separated from their mothers and
achieving individuation, or a sense of personal
identity.
B. Heinz Kohut's View
emphasized the development of the self.
In caring for their physical and psychological needs,
adults treat infants as if they had a sense of self.
The parents' behaviors and attitudes eventually help
children form a sense of self that gives unity and
consistency to their experiences.
Object relations theorists see personality as being a
product of the early mother-child relationship, and thus they stress
determinism over free choice. The powerful influence of early
childhood also gives these theories a low rating on uniqueness, a
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.
C. John Bowlby's Attachment Theory
three stages of separation anxiety:
o protest
o apathy and despair
o emotional detachment from people, including
the primary caregiver. Children who reach
the third stage lack warmth and emotion in
their later relationships.
D. Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
developed a technique called the Strange Situation for
measuring one of three the types of attachment styles —
secure attachment, anxious-resistant attachment, and
anxious-avoidant attachment.
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.
CHAPTER 6: PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIAL THEORY
IX. Critique of Object Relations Theory
Object relations theory shares with Freudian theory an
inability to be either falsified or verified through empirical
research. Nevertheless, some clinicians regard the theory as
being a useful guide to action and as possessing substantial
internal consistency. However, the theory must be rated low on
parsimony and also low on its ability to organize knowledge and
to generate research.
X.
Concept of Humanity
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
psychiatry.
Horney died in 1952 at age 65.
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.
A. Horney and Freud Compared
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.
Neurotics frequently are trapped in a vicious circle in which
their compulsive need to reduce basic anxiety leads to a variety
of self-defeating behaviors; these behaviors then produce
more basic anxiety, and the circle continues.
A. Neurotic Needs: a single person may use more than one
for affection and approval
for a powerful partner
to restrict one's life within narrow borders
for power
to exploit others
for social recognition or prestige
for personal admiration
for ambition and personal achievement
for self-sufficiency and independence
for perfection and unassailability.
B. Neurotic Trends: applies to normal individual; neurotics
are limited to a single trend
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
C. The Importance of Childhood Experiences
Lack of genuine love  neurotic needs(rigid behavioral
patterns  gain feeling of safety/love
-
-
III. Basic Hostility and Basic Anxiety
-
-
Protection from basic anxiety (does not necessarily
indicate neurosis):
o Affection: not real love
o Submissiveness: in order to gain affection
o Power/prestige/possesion: dominate, humiliate, deprive
others
o Withdrawal: emotionally detached from people
-
Moving Toward People
o undue compliance to others' wishes to protect
against the feeling of helplessness
o strives for affection, seek a powerful partner
o they see themselves as loving, generous, humble,
unselfish and sensitive to feelings
Moving Against People
o assume that everyone is hostile, and, therefore,
should be aggressive people who exploits other for
their own benefit
o they seldom admit their mistakes and need to
appear perfect, powerful and superior
o They play to win than to enjoy
Moving Away From People
o People who feel isolated from others insist on
privacy, independence, and self-sufficiency.
o Their greatest need is to need other people
Normal people have the flexibility to use any or all of
these approaches, but neurotics are compelled to rely
rigidly on only one.
IV. Compulsive Drives
V.
Intrapsychic Conflicts
people experience inner tensions
become part of people's belief system and take on a life
of their own, separate from the interpersonal conflicts
that created them.
A. The Idealized Self-Image
No love and affection during childhood  blocked selfrealization and stable sense of identity
extravagantly positive picture of themselves that exists
only in their mind. Horney recognized three aspects of
the idealized self-image.
1. The Neurotic Search for Glory
Comprehensive drive to actualize the idealized
self-image
o tyranny of the should, neurotic ambition, and the
drive toward a vindictive triumph
2. Neurotic Claims
o They believe that they are entitled to special
privileges and make neurotic claims on other
people that are consistent with their idealized view
of themselves.
3. Neurotic Pride
o a false pride based not on reality but on a distorted
and idealized view of self.
Self-Hatred: because reality always falls short of their
o
-
B.
idealized view of self.
relentless demands on self
merciless self-accusation
self-contempt
self-frustration
self-torment or self-torture
self-destructive actions and impulses
VI. Critique of Horney
Although Horney's theory has not generated much
research, it has provided an interesting way of looking at
humanity. The strength of her theory was her vivid portrayal of the
neurotic personality. As scientific theory, however, it rates very
low in generating research, low on its ability to be falsified, to
organize knowledge, and to serve as a guide to action. The theory
receives a moderate rating on internal consistency and
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
I.
Biography of Erich Fromm
born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1900, the only child of
orthodox Jewish parents.
His humanistic philosophy grew out of an early reading
of the biblical prophets and an association with several
Talmudic scholars.
Fromm's first wife was Frieda Fromm-Reichmann but
divorced
Fromm moved to the United States and began a
psychoanalytic practice in New York, where he
-
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.
D.
II.
Fromm's Basic Assumptions
human personality can only be understood in the light
of history.
humans have been torn away from their prehistoric
union with nature and left with no powerful instincts to
adapt to a changing world.
they have acquired the ability to reason, which means
they can think about their isolated condition.
Fromm called this situation the human dilemma
Existential Dichotomies
o Life & Death
o Goal of complete self-realization & shortness of life
to reach the goal
o Alone & cannot tolerate isolation
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
Submission: transcends separateness of his existence by
becoming part of something bigger than oneself
Power: welcome submissive partners: symbiotic relationship
Love: solve our basic human dilemma. It is the ability to unite
with another while retaining one's own individuality and
integrity.
E.
-
Like the other existential needs, rootedness can take
either a productive or a nonproductive mode.
-
-
-
-
of isolation and aloneness
-
-
-
the world
-
through the world
IV. The Burden of Freedom
humans are the freaks of the universe
High freedom = High isolation from others
Freedom  basic anxiety (a burden of being alone)
A. Mechanisms of Escape: To reduce the frightening sense
(killing for reasons other than survival; not common to all
humans) but they can also create and care about their
creations
C. Rootedness: establish roots and to feel at home again in
V.
B.
-
Authoritarianism
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.
Positive Freedom
It is the successful solution to the human dilemma of
being part of the natural world and yet separate from it.
Character Orientations
People relate to the world by acquiring and using things (assimilation)
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.
The drive for a sense of identity is expressed
nonproductively as conformity to a group and
productively as individuality.
Frame of Orientation: a road map which we find our way
Expressed nonproductively as a striving for irrational
goals
Express productively as movement toward rational
goals.
F. Summary of Human Needs
People are highly motivated to satisfy the five
existential, or human, needs because if they are unsatisfied in
these needs, they are driven to insanity. Each of the needs has
both a positive and a negative component, but only the
satisfaction of positive needs leads to psychological health.
accidental existence
to transcend their nature by destroying or creating
people or things.
Humans can destroy through malignant aggression
person.
-
B. Transcendence: urge to rise above a passive and
-
With the productive strategy, we grow beyond the
security of our mother and establish ties with the outside
world.
With the nonproductive strategy, we become fixated
and afraid to move beyond the security and safety of
our mother or a mother substitute.
Sense of Identity: awareness of ourselves as a separate
B.
-
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;
o negative ones are arrogance and conceit.
Hoarding
o try to save what they have already obtained,
including their opinions, feelings, and material
possessions.
o Positive qualities include loyalty,
o negative ones are obsessiveness
and
possessiveness.
Marketing
o see themselves as commodities and value
themselves against the criterion of their ability to
sell themselves.
o They have fewer positive qualities than the other
orientations, because they are essentially empty.
o They can be open-minded and adaptable, as well
as opportunistic and wasteful.
The Productive Orientation:
work toward positive freedom through productive work,
love, and thoughts.
Productive love necessitates a passionate love of all life
and is called biophilia.
VI. Personality Disorders: failures to work, think, and
especially to love productively.
A. Necrophilia
the love of death and the hatred of all humanity.
their destructiveness is a reflection of a basic character .
B. Malignant Narcissism
Convinced that everything belonging to them is of great
value and anything belonging to others is worthless.
-
Narcissistic
people often suffer from moral
hypochondrias, or preoccupation with excessive guilt.
C. Incestuous Symbiosis
Extreme dependence on one's mother or mother
surrogate to the extent that one's personality is blended
with that of the host person
Hitler, possessed all three of these disorders, a
condition he termed the syndrome of decay.
**Syndrome of growth: love, biophilia and positive freedom
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
I.
Biography of Erik Erikson
born in Germany in 1902: Erik Salomonsen.
After his mother married Theodor Homberger, Erik
eventually took his stepfather's name.
At age 18 he left home to pursue the life of a wandering
artist and to search for self-identity.
Married Joan Serson and they had 4 children; one had
a down syndrome whom they sent to a facility
In mid-life, Erik Homberger moved to the United States,
changed his name to Erikson, and took a position at the
Harvard Medical School.
Later, he taught at Yale, the University of California at
Berkeley, and several other universities. He died in
1994, a month short of his 92nd birthday.
II.
The Ego in Post-Freudian Psychology
emphasis on ego rather than id functions
ego is the center of personality and is responsible for a
unified sense of self.
Ego is the person’s ability to unify experiences and
actions in an adoptive manner
Childhood: weak and fragile
Adult: formation and strengthening
It consists of three interrelated facets:
-
body ego – seeing our physical self as different from
other people
ego ideal – image of ourselves vs an established ideal
ego identity – image of ourselves in the social roles we
play
-
o
o
o
A.
-
Society's Influence
Society (cultural environment) shapes the ego
influenced by child-rearing practices and other cultural
customs.
Pseudospecies = fictional notion that they are superior
to other cultures.
B. Epigenetic Principle
it grows according to a genetically established rate and
in a fixed sequence.
A step-by-step growth
It does not replace the earlier stage
B.
-
C.
D.
-
III. Stages of Psychosocial Development
marked by an interaction of opposites -- a syntonic
(harmonious) element and a dystonic (disruptive)
element, which produces a basic strength or ego
quality (must have both experiences)
Also, from adolescence on, each stage is characterized
by an identity crisis or turning point, which may
produce either adaptive or maladaptive adjustment
Too little basic strength will result to a core pathology
for that stage
A. Infancy: Trust versus Mistrust
(the 1st year) was similar to Freud's concept of the oral
stage
include sense organs such as the eyes and ears.
psychosexual mode: oral-sensory, which is
characterized by both receiving and accepting.
Trust: the mother provides food (or relates) regularly
E.
-
Mistrust: if no correspondence between their needs and
their environment
basic strength: hope
core pathology: withdrawal
Early Childhood: Autonomy versus Shame & Doubt
(2nd to 3rd year) a period that compares to Freud's anal
stage
includes mastery of other body functions such as
walking, urinating, and holding.
psychosexual mode: anal-urethral-muscular, children
behave both impulsively and compulsively
Autonomy: faith in themselves
Shame & Doubt: self-consciousness, uncertainty
basic strength: will
core pathology: compulsion.
Play Age: Initiative versus Guilt
(3rd to the 5th year) a period that parallels Freud's
phallic phase.
Oedipus complex as an early model of lifelong
playfulness and a drama played out in children's minds
as they attempt to understand the basic facts of life
psychosexual mode: genital-locomotor, children have
both an interest in genital activity and an increasing
ability to move around.
Initiative: to act with purpose and set goals
Guilt: too little purpose
Basic strength: Purpose
Core pathology: inhibition
School Age: Industry versus Inferiority
(6 to about 13 years) a time of psychosexual latency ,
but it is also a time of psychosocial growth beyond the
family.
learn the customs of their culture, including both formal
and informal education.
Industry: work hard & finish the job
Inferiority: work is not sufficient to achieve goals
Basic strength: competence
Core pathology: inertia
Adolescence: Identity versus identity confusion
(puberty) a time of psychosexual growth & psychosocial
latency.
psychosexual mode: genital maturation
Identity emerges from a) childhood identifications and
b) historical and social context
Identity: having a sense of who they are
Identity confusion: divided self-image
Basic strength: fidelity
F.
G.
-
Core pathology: role denial
Young Adulthood: Intimacy versus Isolation
(18 - 30 years)
psychosexual mode: genitality, expressed as mutual
trust between partners in a stable sexual relationship.
Intimacy: ability to fuse one's identity with that of
another person without fear of losing it
Isolation: fear of losing one's identity in an intimate
relationship.
Basic strength: capacity to love
Core pathology: exclusivity
Adulthood: Generativity versus Stagnation
(31 to 60 years) a time when people make significant
contributions to society
psychosexual mode: procreativity, or the caring for
one's children, the children of others, and the material
products of one's society.
Generativity: guiding the next generation
Stagnation: too self-indulgent, too much self-absorption
Basic Strength: Care
Core pathology: rejectivity (of certain individuals)
H.
-
Old Age: Integrity versus Despair
(age 60 until death)
psychosexual mode: generalized sensuality; taking
pleasure in a variety of sensations and an appreciation
of the traditional life style of people of the other gender.
Integrity: the maintenance of ego-identity (social roles)
Despair: the surrender of hope (originated from infancy)
Basic strength: wisdom
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
psychoanalysis, it offers a new way of looking at human
development. As a useful theory, it rates high on its ability to
generate research, about average on its ability to be falsified, to
organize knowledge, and to guide the practitioner. It rates high
on internal consistency and about average on parsimony.
2.
3.
V.
Concept of Humanity
Erikson saw humans as basically social animals who have limited
free choice and who are motivated by past experiences, which
may be either conscious or unconscious. In addition, Erikson is
rated high on both optimism and uniqueness of individuals.
4.
5.
A.
-
motivation is complex, and unconscious motives often
underlie behavior;
people are continually motivated by one need or
another;
people in different cultures are motivated by the same
basic needs; and
needs can be arranged on a hierarchy
Hierarchy of Needs
lower level needs have prepotency over higher level
needs; that is, lower needs must be satisfied before
higher needs become motivators.
Called CONATIVE needs: have a striving or
motivational character
As long as the need is not yet satisfied, the person will
continue to strive to satisfy it (almost doing anything to
obtain it)
physiological needs
o oxygen, food, water
safety needs
o physical
security,
stability,
dependency,
protection, and freedom from danger
o Children: threats, animals, strangers, punishments
C.
D.
E.
-
-
CHAPTER 9: HOLISTIC-DYNAMIC THEORY
I.
II.
Biography of Abraham H. Maslow
born in New York City in 1908, the oldest of seven
children of Russian Jewish immigrants.
Had the most lonely and miserable childhood (shy,
inferior, depressed)
Oldest of the seven children
He never overcame the intense hatred he had towards
his mother. He refused to attend her funeral.
After 2 or 3 mediocre years as a college student,
Maslow's academic work improved at about the time he
was married.
He married his first cousin, Bertha Goodman
He received both a bachelor's degree and a PhD from
the University of Wisconsin, where he worked with
Harry Harlow conducting animal studies (monkeys).
Poor health forced him to move to California, where he
died in 1970 at age 62.
Maslow's View of Motivation
1. the whole organism is motivated at any one time;
love and belongingness needs
o desire for friendship, the wish for a mate and
children, and the need to belong
o 1st group: need fully satisfied; feels accepted and
will not feel devastated if rejected
o 2nd group: never experienced love; thus, incapable
of giving love
o 3rd group: received the need in small doses;
strongest motivation to seek love
o Children: straightforward and direct
o Adults: disguise; self-defeating behaviors
esteem needs
o satisfaction of love needs and which include selfesteem and the recognition that we have a positiv e
reputation
self-actualization needs
o self-fulfillment, realization of one’s own potential
o they become independent of the lower needs
o should embrace the B-values as truth, beauty,
oneness, justice, etc
*Other categories of needs include aesthetic needs, cognitive
needs, and neurotic needs.
B. Aesthetic Needs
-
-
-
-
-
desire for beauty and order, and some people have
much stronger aesthetic needs than do others.
Will get sick if not met
people with strong aesthetic needs do not automatical ly
reach self-actualization
Not universal
Cognitive Needs
desire to know, to understand, and to be curious.
Knowledge is a prerequisite for each of the five conativ e
needs. (only for those who have this need)
people who are denied knowledge and kept in
ignorance become sick, paranoid, and depressed.
people who have satisfied cognitive needs do not
necessarily become self-actualized.
Neurotic Needs
desire to dominate, to inflict pain, or to subject oneself
to the will of another person.
lead to pathology whether or not they are satisfied
General Discussion of Needs
Reversed Order Needs
o Maslow insisted that much of our surface
behaviors are actually motivated by more basic
and often unconscious needs.
o For example, a starving mother may be motivated
by love needs to give up food in order to feed her
starving children. However, if we understand the
unconscious motivation behind many apparent
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 have no aim or goal but are merely a person's
mode of expression
o deal with a person's attempt to cope with the
environment
Deprivation of Needs
o leads to pathology of some sort
Instinctoid Nature of Needs
o Innately determined needs that can be modified by
learning
o Thwarting of instinctoid needs produces pathology
whereas the frustration of noninstinctoid needs
does not
o Specie-specific
Comparison of Higher and Lower Needs
o
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.
Seems like these needs follow a development
course
III. Self-Actualization
an ultimate level of psychological health called selfactualization.
(1) absence of psychopathology,
(2) satisfaction of each of the four lower level needs,
(3) full realization of one's potentials for growth, and (4)
acceptance of the B-values.
A. Values of Self-Actualizers
Self-actualizing people are metamotivated by such Bvalues as truth, goodness, beauty, justice, and
simplicity.
If people’s metaneeds are not met they experience
existential illness
B. Characteristics of Self-Actualizing People
not all self-actualizers possess each of these
characteristics to the same extent.
(1) more efficient perception of reality; they often have
an almost uncanny ability to detect phoniness in others,
and they are not fooled by sham;
(2) acceptance of self, others, and nature;
(3) spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness; they have
no need to appear complex or sophisticated;
(4) problem-centered; they view age-old problems from
a solid philosophical position;
(5) the need for privacy, or a detachment that allows
them to be alone without being lonely;
(6) autonomy; they have grown beyond dependency on
other people for their self-esteem;
(7) continued freshness of appreciation and the ability
to view everyday things with a fresh vision and
appreciation;
(8) frequent reports of peak experiences, or those
mystical experiences that give a person a sense of
transcendence and feelings of awe, wonder, ecstasy ,
reverence, and humility;
(9) Gemeinschaftsgefühl, that is, social interest or a
deep feeling of oneness with all humanity;
(10) profound interpersonal relations but with no
desperate need to have a multitude of friends;
(11) the democratic character structure; or the ability to
disregard superficial differences between people;
-
(12) discrimination between means and ends, meaning
that self-actualizing people have a clear sense of right
and wrong, and they experience little conflict about
basic values;
(13) a philosophical sense of humor; or humor that is
spontaneous, unplanned, and intrinsic to the situation;
(14) creativeness; they possess a keen perception of
truth, beauty, and reality;
(15) resistance to enculturation; they have the ability to
set personal standards and to resist the mold set by the
dominate culture.
C. Love, Sex, and Self-Actualization
Maslow compared D-love (deficiency love) to B-love
(love for the being or essence of another person).
Self-actualizing people are capable of B-love; that is,
they have the ability to love without expecting
something in return.
B-love is mutually felt and shared and not based on
deficiencies within the lovers.
IV. Measuring Self-Actualization
The most widely used of these is Everett Shostrom's
Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a 150-forcedchoice inventory that assesses a variety of selfactualization facets.
V.
The Jonah Complex
fear of being or doing one's best, a condition that all of
us have to some extent.
False humility that stifle creativity and that fall short of
self-actualization
VI. Critique of Maslow
Maslow's theory has been popular in psychology and
other disciplines, such as marketing, management, nursing, and
education.
The hierarchy of needs concept seems both
elementary and logical, which gives Maslow's theory the illusion
of simplicity. However, the theory is somewhat complex, with four
dimensions of needs and the possibility of unconsciously
motivated behavior. As a scientific theory, Maslow's model rates
high in generating research but low in falsifiability. On its ability
to organize knowledge and guide action, the theory rates quite
high; on its simplicity and internal consistency, it rates only
average.
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
l.
Biography of Carl Rogers
born into a devoutly religious family in a Chicago suburb
in 1902.
Carl became interested in scientific farming and learned
to appreciate the scientific method.
When he graduated from the University of Wisconsin,
Rogers intended to become a minister, but he gave up
that notion and completed a PhD in psychology from
Columbia University in 1931.
In 1940, after nearly a dozen years working as a
clinician, he took a position at Ohio State University.
Later, he held positions at the University of Chicago and
the University of Wisconsin.
In 1964, he moved to California where he helped found
the Center for Studies of the Person.
His personal life was marked by change and openness
to experience
He was shy and social inept but he got married to Helen
Elliott and had 2 children
He died in 1987 at age 85.
II.
Person-Centered Theory
A. Basic Assumptions
the formative tendency that states that all matter, both
organic and inorganic, tends to evolve from simpler to
more complex forms and
an actualizing tendency, which suggests that all living
things, including humans, tend to move toward
completion, or fulfillment of potentials.
o Maintenance = of needs
o Enhancement = willingness to face pain because
of the biological tendency to fulfill basic nature wc
is actualization
relationship with another person who is genuine, or
congruent, and who demonstrates
complete
acceptance and empathy for that person. Lead people
to become actualized
B. The Self and Self-Actualization
A sense of self during infancy, once established, allows
a person to strive toward self-actualization
The self has two subsystems:
o self-concept: aspects of one's identity that are
perceived in awareness, and
o ideal self: view of our self as we would like it to be
or what we would aspire to be.
Once formed, the self-concept tends to resist change, and gaps between
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
allowed into the self-concept;
o (2) those that are distorted or reshaped to fit it into
an existing self-concept; and
o (3) those that are consistent with the self-concept
and thus are accurately symbolized and freely
admitted to the self-structure.
D. Needs
As awareness of self emerges, an infant begins to
receive positive regard from another person, that is, to
be loved or accepted.
E.
-
-
-
-
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
Barriers to Psychological Health
Conditions of Worth
o not unconditionally accepted
o they feel that they are loved and accepted only
when and if they meet the conditions set by others.
o External evaluations: our perceptions of other
people’s view of us that do not foster psychological
health
Incongruence
o Organismic experience versus self-experiences
o The greater the incongruence between selfconcept and the organismic experience, the more
vulnerable that person becomes.
o Anxiety exists whenever the person becomes
dimly aware of the discrepancy
o threat is experienced whenever the person
becomes more clearly aware of this incongruence
Defensiveness
o To prevent incongruence
o With distortion, people misinterpret an experience
so that it fits into their self-concept
o with denial, people refuse to allow the experience
into awareness
o When people's defenses fail to operate properly,
their behavior becomes disorganized or psychotic
Disorganization
o people sometimes behave consistently with their
organismic experience and sometimes in
accordance with their shattered self-concept.
III. Psychotherapy
For client-centered psychotherapy to be effective, six
conditions are necessary:
(1) A vulnerable or anxious client must
(2) have contact of some duration
(3) with a congruent counselor
(4) who demonstrates unconditional positive regard
(5) and who listens with empathy to a client
(6) who perceives the congruence, unconditional positive regard,
and empathy.
If these conditions are present, then the process of
therapy will take place and certain predictable outcomes will
result.
A. Conditions
counselor congruence, or a therapist whose
organismic experiences are matched by awareness and
by the ability and willingness to openly express these
feelings.
Unconditional positive regard exists when the
therapist accepts and prizes the client without
conditions or qualifications.
Empathic listening is the ability of the therapist to
sense the feeling of a client and also to communicate
these perceptions so that the client knows that another
person has entered into his or her world of feelings
without prejudice, projection, or evaluation.
B.
C.
-
Process
Rogers saw the process of therapeutic change as
taking place in seven stages:
(1) clients are unwilling to communicate anything about
themselves;
(2) they discuss only external events and other people;
(3) they begin to talk about themselves, but still as an
object;
(4) they discuss strong emotions that they have felt in
the past;
(5) they begin to express present feelings;
(6) they freely allow into awareness those experiences
that were previously denied or distorted; and
(7) they experience irreversible change and growth.
Outcomes
(1) become more congruent, less defensive, more open
to experience, and more realistic;
(2) experience a narrowing of the gap between ideal
self and true self;
(3) experience less physiological and psychological
tension;
(4) improve their interpersonal relationships: and
(5) become more accepting of self and others.
IV. The Person of Tomorrow
-
-
-
-
-
-
these people would be more adaptable and more
flexible in their thinking.
they would be open to their experiences, accurately
symbolizing them in awareness rather than denying or
distorting them. would listen to themselves and hear
their joy, anger, discouragement, fear, and tenderness.
a tendency to live fully in the moment, experiencing a
constant state of fluidity and change. They would see
each experience with a new freshness and appreciate
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
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
experience anger, frustration, depression, and other
negative emotions, but they would be able to express
rather than repress these feelings.
open to all their experiences, they would enjoy a greater
richness in life than do other people. They would live in
the present and thus participate more richly in the
ongoing moment.
CHAPTER 11: EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY
l.
Biography of Rollo May
born in Ohio in 1909, but grew up in Michigan
he spent 3 years as an itinerant artist roaming
throughout eastern and southern Europe.
he entered the Union Theological Seminary, from which
he received a Master of Divinity degree.
He then served for 2 years as a pastor, but quit in order
to pursue a career in psychology.
He received a PhD in clinical psychology from Columbia
in 1949 at the relatively advanced age of 40.
During his professional career, he served as lecturer or
visiting professor at a number of universities, conducted
a private practice as a psychotherapist, and wrote a
number of popular books on the human condition.
May died in 1994 at age 85.
II.
Background of Existentialism
Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and
theologian, is usually considered to be the founder of
modern existentialism.
he emphasized a balance between freedom and
responsibility.
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 .
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.
A.
-
People acquire freedom of action by expanding their
self-awareness and by assuming responsibility for their
actions.
However, this acquisition of freedom and responsibility
is achieved at the expense of anxiety and dread.
What Is Existentialism?
existence takes precedence over essence, meaning
that process and growth are more important than
product and stagnation.
existentialists oppose the artificial split between subject
and object.
stress people's search for meaning in their lives.
insist that each of us is responsible for who we are and
what we will become.
take an antitheoretical position, believing that theories
tend to objectify people.
B. Basic Concepts
Being-in-the-world (Dasein)
o a basic unity exists between people and their
environments
o a phenomenological approach that intends to
understand people from their own perspective
o Three simultaneous modes of the world
characterize us in our Dasein:



-
Umwelt, or the environment around us;
Mitwelt, or our world with other people; and
Eigenwelt, or our relationship with our self.
Nonbeing
o People are both aware of themselves as living
beings and also aware of the possibility of
nonbeing or nothingness.
o Death is the most obvious form of nonbeing, which
can also be experienced as retreat from life's
experiences.
o Other forms: addictions, promiscuous sexual
activity, other compulsive behaviors, blind
conformity to society’s expectations
III. Anxiety
People experience anxiety when they become aware
that their existence or something identified with it might be
destroyed. The acquisition of freedom inevitably leads to anxiety,
which can be either pleasurable and constructive or painful and
destructive.
A. Normal Anxiety
proportionate to the threat, does not involve
repression, and can be handled on a conscious level.
B. Neurotic Anxiety
a reaction that is disproportionate to the threat and
that leads to repression and defensive behaviors.
It is felt whenever one's values are transformed into
dogma. Neurotic anxiety blocks growth and productive
action.
IV. Guilt
Guilt arises whenever people deny their potentialities,
fail to accurately perceive the needs of others, or remain blind to
their dependence on the natural world. Both anxiety and guilt are
ontological; that is, they refer to the nature of being and not to
feelings arising from specific situations.
V. Intentionality
The structure that gives meaning to experience and
allows people to make decisions about the future
permits people to overcome the dichotomy between
subject and object because it enables them to see that
their intentions are a function of both themselves and
their environment.
VI. Care, Love, and Will
Care is an active process that suggests that things
matter.
Love means to care, to delight in the presence of
another person, and to affirm that person's value as
much as one's own.
Care is also an important ingredient in will, defined as a
conscious commitment to action.
A. Union of Love and Will
May believed that our modern society has lost sight of
the true nature of love and will, equating love with sex and will with
will power. He further held that psychologically healthy people are
able to combine love and will because both imply care, choice,
action, and responsibility.
B. Forms of Love
Sex: A biological function through sexual intercourse
Eros is a psychological desire that seeks an enduring
union with a loved one. It may include sex, but it is built
on care and tenderness.
Philia, an intimate nonsexual friendship between two
people, takes time to develop and does not depend on
the actions of the other person.
Agape is an altruistic or spiritual love that carries with it
the risk of playing God. Agape is undeserved and
unconditional.
VII. Freedom and Destiny
Psychologically healthy individuals are comfortable with
freedom, able to assume responsibility for their choices, and
willing to face their destiny.
A.
Freedom Defined
Freedom comes from an understanding of our destiny .
We are free when we recognize that death is a possibility at any
moment and when we are willing to experience changes even in
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
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.
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
other people (Mitwelt) and from themselves (Eigenwelt) .
Psychopathology is a lack of connectedness and an inability to
fulfill one's destiny.
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.
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
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) ,
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
1.
Biography of Gordon Allport
born in Indiana in 1897, the son of a physician and
former school teacher.
He received an undergraduate degree in philosophy
and economics and a PhD from Harvard,
spent 2 years studying under some of the great German
psychologists, but he returned from Europe to teach at
Harvard.
Two years later he took a position at Dartmouth, but
after 4 years at Dartmouth, he returned to Harvard,
where he remained until his death in 1967.
2.
Allport's Approach to Personality Theory
A. What Is Personality?
"the dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine [the person's]
behavior and thought.
Dynamic organization: patterned yet subject to change
Psychophysical: importance of both psychological and
physical aspects of personality
Determine: not merely the mask we wear but the person
behind that
Characteristics: uniqueness of the individual
-
Behavior and thinking: anything the person does
(external or internal)
B. What is the Role of Conscious Motivation?
began with his short-lived discussion with Freud, when
Allport had not yet selected a career in psychology.
Whereas Freud would attribute an unconscious desire
in the story of the young boy on the tram car, Allport saw
the story as an expression of a conscious motive.
He was inclined to accept self-reports at face value
C. What Are the Characteristics of a Healthy Person?
Proactive behavior: not only reacting to external stimuli
but causing their environment to react to them
Motivated by conscious process: flexible and
autonomous
Relatively trauma-free childhood
Extension of the sense of self: not self-centered; social
interest are important to them
Warm relating of self to others: intimate and
compassionate; love other unselfishy
Emotional security or self-acceptance: not overly upset
when things do not go as planned
Realistic perception: problem oriented
Insight & humor: no need to attribute their own mistakes
and weakness to others; can laugh at themselves; see
themselves objectively
Unifying philosophy of life: have a clear view of the
purpose of life (not necessarily religious)
3.
Structure of Personality
most important structures of personality are those that
permit description of the individual in terms of
individual characteristics, and he called these
individual structures personal dispositions.
A. Personal Dispositions
“common traits” which permit inter-individual
comparisons
“personal dispositions” which are unusual to the
individual.
Interpersonal comparisons are inappropriate to
personal dispositions and any attempt of comparison
transforms it to a common trait
Levels (continuum) of personal dispositions:
o Cardinal dispositions: characteristics that are so
obvious and dominating that they cannot be
hidden from other people. Not everyone have this
o Central dispositions: all people have 5 to 10
central dispositions, or characteristics around
which their lives revolve
Secondary dispositions: are less reliable and less
conspicuous than central traits. Occur with some
regularity
B. Motivational and Stylistic Dispositions
Allport further divided personal dispositions into
o motivational dispositions - strong enough to initiate
action
o stylistic dispositions - the manner in which an
individual behaves and which guide action (does
o
not really have an exact drive or instinct that causes the
behavior)
C. Proprium
all those behaviors and characteristics that people
regard as warm and central in their lives.
self/ego could imply an object or thing within a person
that controls behavior,
whereas proprium suggests the core of one's
personhood (values/conscience)
-
4.
Motivation
motives change as people mature and also that people
are motivated by present drives and wants.
A.
-
B.
-
-
Theory of Motivation
people not only react to their environment, but they also
shape their environment and cause it to react to them.
His proactive approach emphasized the idea that
people often seek additional tension and that they
purposefully act on their environment in a way that
fosters growth toward psychological health.
Functional Autonomy
some (but not all) human motives are functionally
independent from the original motive responsible for a
particular behavior.
two levels of functional autonomy:
o perseverative functional autonomy: tendency of
certain basic behaviors (such as addictiv e
behaviors) to perseverate or continue in the
absence of reinforcement
o propriate functional autonomy: self-sustaining
motives (such as interests) that are related to the
proprium.
a behavior is functionally autonomous to the extent that
it seeks new goals, as when a need (eating) turns into
an interest (cooking).
Not all behaviors are functionally autonomous:
o biological drives = eating, breathing, and sleeping
o reflex actions such as an eye blink
o physique, intelligence, and temperament
habits in the process of being formed;
patterns of behavior that require primary
reinforcement
o sublimations that can be tied to childhood sexual
desires
o some neurotic or pathological symptoms.
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.
o
o
CHAPTER 13: FIVE-FACTOR TRAIT THEORY
1.
The Pioneering Work of Raymond B. Cattell
Raymond Cattell used factor analysis to identify a large
number of traits, including personality traits.
Included in personality traits were temperament traits,
which are concerned with how a person behaves.
Temperament traits include both normal and abnormal
traits. Of the 23 normal traits, 16 are measured by
Cattell's famous 16 PF scale.
Whereas, McRae and Costa’s work yielded scores on
only 5 personality traits (NEO-PI Inventory)
2.
Basics of Factor Analysis
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
factors are called factor loadings.
Traits generated through factor analysis may be either
unipolar (scaled from zero to some large amount) or
bipolar (having two opposing poles, such as
introversion and extraversion).
For factors to have psychological meaning, the analyst
must rotate the axes on which the scores are plotted.
Eysenck used an orthogonal rotation whereas Cattell
favored an obiique rotation. The oblique rotation
procedure ordinarily results in more traits than the
orthogonal method.
3.
The Big Five: Taxonomy or Theory?
A large number of researchers, including Robert
McCrae and Paul Costa, Jr., have insisted that all personality
structure can be narrowed down to five, and only five, and no
fewer than five dominant traits to emerge from factor analytic
techniques.
In Search of the Big Five
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Costa and McCrae
quickly discovered the traits of extraversion (E), neuroticism (N),
and openness to experience (O).
A. Five Factors Found
the five factors have been found across a variety of
cultures and languages. In addition, the five factor s
show some permanence with age; that is, adults tend
to maintain a consistent personality structure as
they grow older.
A.
-
4.
B. Description of the Five Factors
McCrae and Costa agreed with Eysenck that
personality traits are basically bipolar, with some people
scoring high on one factor and low on its counterpart.
Neuroticism: people who score high on N tend to be
anxious, temperamental, self-pitying, self-conscious,
emotional, and vulnerable to stress-related disorders,
whereas people with low scores on N tend to have
opposite characteristics.
Extraversion: People who score high on E tend to be
affectionate, jovial, talkative, a joiner, and fun-loving,
whereas low E scorers tend to have opposing traits.
Openness (to experience): High O scorers prefer
variety in their life and are contrasted to low O scorers
who have a need for closure and who gain comfort in
their association with familiar people and things.
Agreeableness: People who score high on A tend to
be trusting, generous, yielding, acceptant, and good
natured. Low A scorers are generally suspicious,
stingy, unfriendly, irritable, and critical of other people.
Conscientiousness: people high on the C scale tend
to be ordered, controlled, organized, ambitious,
achievement-focused, and self-disciplined.
5.
Evolution of the Five-Factor Theory
-
B.
-
their Five-Factor taxonomy was being transformed into
a Five-Factor Theory (FFT)
Units of the Five-Factor Theory
The three core components include:
o basic tendencies - the universal raw material of
personality; define the individual’s potential &
direction; basis in biology and their stability over
time and situation
o characteristic adaptations - are acquired
personality structures that develop as people
adapt to their environment (flexibility); what we
learn
o self-concept – an important characteristic
adaptation which are the knowledge and attitudes
about oneself
Peripheral components include:
o biological bases - which are the sole cause of basic
tendencies (genes, hormones, brain structures)
o objective biography - everything a person does or
thinks over a lifetime (objectively = not how they
view experiences)
o external influence - or knowledge, views, and
evaluations of the self; “how we respond” to the
opportunities and demands
Basic Postulates
Basic tendencies: four postulate:
o individuality - every adult has a unique pattern of
traits
o origin - all personality traits originate solely from
biological factors, such as genetics, hormones,
and brain structures
o development - traits develop and change through
childhood, adolescence, and mid-adulthood
o structure - traits are organized hierarchically from
narrow and specific to broad and general.
6.
Critique of Trait and Factor Theories
The factor theories of Eysenck and of McCrae and
Costa rate high on parsimony, on their ability to generate
research, and on their usefulness in organizing data; they are
about average on falsifiability, usefulness to the practitioner, and
internal consistency.
7.
Concept of Humanity
Factor theories generally assume that human
personality is largely the product of genetics and not the
environment. Thus, we rate these two theories very high on
biological influences and very low on social factors. In addition,
we rate both about average on conscious versus unconscious
influences and high on the uniqueness of individuals. The
concepts of free choice, optimism versus pessimism, and
causality versus teleology are not clearly addressed by these
theories.
CHAPTER 14: COGNITIVE SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
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
it assumes that humans interact with their meaningful
environments: that is, human behavior stems from the
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.
-
4.
motivation is goal directed.
people are capable of anticipating events, and thus they
are capable of changing their environment and their
personality.
Predicting Specific Behaviors - must be analyzed in order
to make accurate predictions in any specific situation.
A. Behavior Potential - possibility that a particular
response will occur at a given time and place in relation
to its likely reinforcement.
B. Expectancy - their confidence that a particular
reinforcement will follow a specific behavior in a specific
situation or situations. Expectancies can be either
general or specific, and the overall likelihood of success
is a function of both generalized and specific
expectancies.
C. Reinforcement Value - person's preference for any
particular reinforcement over other reinforcements if all
are equally likely to occur. Internal reinforcement is the
individual's perception of an event, whereas external
reinforcement refers to society's evaluation of an event.
Reinforcement-reinforcement sequences suggest that
the value of an event is a function of one's expectation
that a particular reinforcement will lead to futur e
reinforcements.
D. Psychological Situation - part of the external and
internal world to which a person is responding.
Behavior is a function of the interaction of people with
their meaningful environment.
E. Basic Prediction Formula - Hypothetically, in any
specific situation, behavior can be predicted by the
basic prediction formula, which states that the potential
for a behavior to occur in a particular situation in relation
to a given reinforcement is a function of people's
expectancy that their behavior will be followed by that
reinforcement in that situation.
need being related to behaviors that lead to the same or similar
reinforcements: (1) recognition-status refers to the need to excel,
to achieve, and to have others recognize one's worth; (2)
dominance is the need to control the behavior of others, to be in
charge, or to gain power over others; (3) independence is the
need to be free from the domination of others; (4) protectiondependence is the need to have others take care of us and to
protect us from harm; (5) love and affection are needs to be
warmly accepted by others and to be held in friendly regard; and
(6) physical comfort includes those behaviors aimed at securing
food, good health, and physical security. Three need components
are: (1) need potential, or the possible occurrences of a set of
functionally related behaviors directed toward the satisfaction of
similar goals; (2) freedom of movement, or a
person's
overall expectation of being reinforced for performing those
behaviors that are directed toward satisfying some general need;
and (3) need value, or the extent to which people prefer one set
of reinforcements to another. Need components are analogous
to the more specific concepts of behavior potential, expectancy,
and reinforcement value.
C. General Prediction Formula
The general prediction formula states that need
potential is a function of freedom of movement and need value.
Rotter's two most famous scales for measuring generalized
expectancies are the Internal-External Control Scale and the
Interpersonal Trust Scale.
D. Internal and External Control of Reinforcement
The Internal-External Control Scale (popularly called
"locus of control scale") attempts to measure the degree to which
people perceive a causal relationship between their own effor ts
and environmental consequences.
E. Interpersonal Trust Scale
The Interpersonal Trust Scale measures the extent to
which a person expects the word or promise of another person to
be true.
6.
5.
Predicting General Behaviors
The basic prediction is too specific to give clues about
how a person will generally behave.
A. Generalized Expectancies
To make more general predictions of behavior, one
must know people's generalized expectancies, or their
expectations based on similar past experiences that a given
behavior will be reinforced. Generalized expectancies include
people's needs, that is, behaviors that mov e them toward a goal.
B. Needs
Needs refer to functionally related categories of
behaviors. Rotter listed six broad categories of needs, with each
Introduction to Mischel's Personality System
Like Bandura and Rotter, Mischel believes that
cognitive factors, such as expectancies, subjective perceptions,
values, goals, and personal standards are important in shaping
personality. In his early theory, Mischel seriously questioned the
consistency of personality, but more recently, he and Yuichi
Shoda have advanced the notion that behavior is also a
function of relatively stable cognitive-affective units.
7.
Biography of Walter Mischel
Walter Mischel was born in Vienna in 1930, the second
son of upper-middle-class parents. When the Nazis invaded
Austria in 1938, his family moved to the United States and
eventually settled in Brooklyn. Mischel received an MA from City
College of New York and a PhD from Ohio State, where he was
influenced by Julian Rotter. He is currently a professor at
Columbia University.
8.
Background of the Cognitive-Affective Personality
System
Mischel originally believed that human behavior was
mostly a function of the situation, but more lately he has
recognized the importance of relatively permanent cognitive affective units. Nevertheless, Mischel's theory continues to
recognize the apparent inconsistency of some behaviors.
A. The Consistency Paradox
The consistency paradox refers to the observation that,
although both lay people and professionals tend to believe that
behavior is quite consistent, research suggests that it is not.
Mischel recognizes that, indeed, some traits are consistent over
time, but he contends that there is little evidence to suggest that
they are consistent from one situation to another.
B. Person-Situation Interaction
Mischel believes that behavior is best predicted from an
understanding of the person, the situation, and the interaction
between person and situation. Thus, behavior is not the result of
some global personality trait, but rather of people's perceptions of
themselves in a particular situation.
9.
Cognitive-Affective Personality System
However, Mischel does not believe that inconsistencies
in behavior are due solely to the situation; he recognizes that
inconsistent behaviors reflect stable patterns of variation within a
person. He and Shoda see these stable variations in behavior in
the following framework: If A, then X; but if B, then Y. People's
pattern of variability is their behavioral signature, or their unique
and stable pattern of behaving differently in different situations.
A. Behavior Prediction
Mischel's basic theoretical position for predicting and
explaining behavior is as follows: If personality is a stable system
that processes information about the situation, then as people
encounter different situations, they should behave differently as
those situations vary. Therefore, Mischel believes that, even
though people's behavior may reflect some stability over time, it
tends to vary as situations vary.
B. Situation Variables
Situation variables include all those stimuli that people
attend to in a given situation.
C. Cognitive-Affective Units
Cognitive-affective units include all those psychological,
social, and physiological aspects of people that permit them to
interact with their environment with some stability in their
behavior. Mischel identified five such units. First are encoding
strategies, or people's individualized manner of categorizing
information they receive from external stimuli. Second are the
competencies and self-regulatory strategies. One of the most
important of these competencies is intelligence, which Mischel
argues is responsible for the apparent consistency of other traits.
In addition, people use self-regulatory strategies to control their
own behavior through self-formulated goals and self-produced
consequences.
The third cognitive-affective units are
expectancies and beliefs, or people's guesses about the
consequences of each of the different behavioral possibilities.
The fourth cognitive-affective unit includes people's subjectiv e
goals and values, which tend to render behavior fairly consistent.
Mischel's fifth cognitive-affective unit includes affectiv e
responses, including emotions, feelings, and the affect that
accompanies physiological reactions.
CHAPTER 15: PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS
10. Critique of Cognitive Social Learning Theory
Cognitive social learning theory combines the rigors of
learning theory with the speculative assumption that people are
forward-looking beings. It rates high on generating research and
on being internally consistent; it rates about average on its ability
to be falsified, to organize data, and to guide action.
11. Concept of Humanity
Rotter and Mischel see people as goal-directed,
cognitive animals whose perceptions of events are more crucial
than the events themselves. Cognitive social learning theory
rates very high on social influences, and high on uniqueness of
the individual, free choice, teleology, and conscious processes.
On the dimension of optimism versus pessimism, Rotter's view is
slightly more optimistic, whereas Mischel's is about in the middle.
1.
Overview of Kelly's Personal Construct Theory
Kelly's theory of personal constructs can be seen as a
metatheory, or a theory about theories. It holds that people
anticipate events by the meanings or interpretations that
they place on those events. Kelly called these interpretations
personal constructs. His philosophical position, called
constructive
alternativism,
assumes
that alternative
interpretations are always available to people.
2.
Biography of George Kelly
George Kelly was born on a farm in Kansas in 1905.
During his school years and his early professional career, he
dabbled in a wide variety of jobs, but he eventually received a PhD
in psychology from the University of Iowa. He began his academic
career at Fort Hays State College in Kansas, then after World War
II, he took a position at Ohio State. He remained there until 1965
when he joined the faculty at Brandeis. He died 2 years later at
age 61.
3.
Kelly's Philosophical Position
Kelly believed that people construe events according to
their personal constructs, rather than reality.
A.
Person as Scientist
People generally attempt to solve everyday problems in
much the same fashion as do scientists; that is, they observe, ask
questions, formulate hypotheses, infer conclusions, and predict
future events.
B.
Scientist as Person
Because scientists are people, their pronouncements
should be regarded with the same skepticism as any other data.
Every scientific theory can be viewed from an alternate angle, and
every competent scientist should be open to changing his or her
theory.
C.
Constructive Alternativism
Kelly believed that our interpretations of the world are
subject to revision or replacement, an assumption he called
constructive alternativism. He further stressed that, because
people can construe their world from different angles,
observations that are valid at one time may be false at a later time.
suggests that our personal constructs tend to be similar to the
construction systems of other people to the extent that we share
experiences with them. (11) The sociality corollary states that
people are able to communicate with other people because they
can construe those people's constructions. With the sociality
corollary, Kelly introduced the concept of role, which refers to a
pattern of behavior that stems from people's understanding of the
constructs of others. Each of us has a core role and numerous
peripheral roles. A core role gives us a sense of identity whereas
peripheral roles are less central to our self-concept.
5.
4.
Personal Constructs
Kelly believed that people look at their world through
templates that they create and then attempt to fit over the realities
of the world. He called these templates personal constructs,
which he believed shape behavior.
A.
Basic Postulate
Kelly expressed his theory in one basic postulate and
11 supporting corollaries. The basic postulate assumes that
human behavior is shaped by the way people anticipate the
future.
B.
Supporting Corollaries
The 11 supporting corollaries can all be inferred from
this basic postulate. (1) Although no two events are exactly alike,
we construe similar events as if they were the same, and this is
Kelly's construction corollary. (2) The individuality corollary
states that because people have different experiences, they can
interpret the same event in different ways. (3) The organizational
corollary assumes that people organize their personal constructs
in a hierarchical system, with some constructs in a superordinate
position and other subordinate to them. (4) The dichotomy
corollary assumes that people construe events in an either/or
manner, e.g., good or bad. (5) Kelly's choice corollary assumes
that people tend to choose the alternative in a dichotomized
construct that they see as extending the range of their futur e
choices. (6) The range corollary states that constructs are
limited to a particular range of convenience; that is, they are not
relevant to all situations. (7) Kelly's experience corollary
suggests that people continually revise their personal constructs
as the result of their experiences. (8) The modulation corollary
assumes that only permeable constructs lead to change; concrete
constructs resist modification through experience. (9) The
fragmentation corollary states that people's behavior can be
inconsistent because their construct systems can readily admit
incompatible elements.
(10) the commonality corollary
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.