Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. Theories of Personality Personality • Latin PERSONA meaning Mask. • Pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior. Theory • Set of related assumptions. Perspectives in Theories of Personality BS Psychology 103 Biological-Evolutionary Theories • Influence by differences in basic genetic, epigenetic, and neurological systems between individuals. • What we think, feel, and do is always an interaction between nature and nurture. Learning-Cognitive Theories • All behaviors are learned. • What personality we have is shaped by how we think and perceive the world. Psychodynamic Theories • • Focused on the importance of early childhood experience and on relationships with parents. • Generates Research • Falsifiable • Organizes Data • Guides Action • Internally Consistent People strive toward meaning, growth, well-being, happiness, and psychological health. • Parsimonious Personality is shaped by freedom of choice, response to anxiety, and awareness of death. 1. Determinism VS Free Choice Unconscious as more powerful than conscious. Humanistic-Existential Theories • • Dispositional Theories • What Makes a Theory Useful The essence of our personality are unique dispositions called traits. Dimensions for a Concept of Humanity 2. Pessimism VS Optimism 3. Causality VS Teleology 4. Conscious VS Unconscious 5. Biological VS Social Influences 6. Uniqueness VS Similarities Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. • Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud Cornerstones of psychoanalysis: sex and aggression. Freud’s understanding of human personality was based on: 1) his experiences with patients, 2) his analysis of his own dreams, 3) and his vast readings in the various sciences and humanities. Psychecalanalysis root word for Psychoanalysis Phylogenetic Endowment – inherited unconscious images. State of Consciousness/Levels of Awareness Conscious • • Hysteria (Jean-Martin Charcot) • Disorder typically characterized by paralysis or improper functioning of certain parts of the body. Wandering womb / uterus. • The process of removing hysterical symptoms through “talking them out.” Collaboration with Sigmund Freud o Studies of hysteria. o Anna O. / Bertha Pappenheim. Free Association • • This has replaced hypnosis as his principal therapeutic technique. The person is free to talk about topics. Elements that are not conscious but can readily be brought to mind when needed. Unconscious • • Catharsis (Josef Breuer) • Mental elements in awareness. Preconscious Some factors he encountered: • BS Psychology 103 To tap the unconscious mind. Drives, urges, and instincts that are beyond our awareness. Phylogenetic Endowment o Inherited unconscious images. Provinces of the Mind Id • • • “Das Es” Latin for “The It” Exists completely on the unconscious level. Operates by the ‘Pleasure Principle.’ Ego • • “Das Ich” Latin for “I” Only region of the mind in contact with reality. Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. • Governed by the ‘Reality Principle.’ • Executive branch of the personality. Superego • • • • • “Das Uber-Ich” Latin for “Over I” Guided by the moral and idealistic principles. No contact with the outside world and has unrealistic demands for perfection. Idealistic NOT realistic. Develops primarily from internalized patterns of reward and punishment. 2 Subsystems of the Superego 1. Conscience a. Results from experiences with punishments. b. Tells us what we should not do. 2. Ego-Ideal a. Develops from experiences with rewards. b. Tells us what we should do. The Ego should be governing the Id and the Superego. BS Psychology 103 Dynamics of Personality To Freud, people are motivated to seek pleasure and reduce tension and anxiety. Trieb • • A drive or stimulus within a person. Freud’s official translators rendered this term as “Instinct.” Drives operate as a constant motivational force. 2 Types of Instincts Eros/Sex • • • Life Instincts. Libido – energy associated with all the life instincts. Instincts for: o Sex o Nurturance o Affiliation o Etc. Thanatos/Aggression • • Death instincts. Instincts for: o Aggression toward self (self-criticism, depression) o Aggression toward others (anger, prejudice, etc.) Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. 4 Components of Instincts • Amount of energy used to satisfy the impulse. • Impetus • Source • Where the need arises, a deficiency of some kind. Aim • The aim is to seek pleasure and reduce the need or tension. Object • • • Experiences, objects, or actions that reduce body deficiency and allows satisfaction. BS Psychology 103 Secondary Narcissism o Moderate degree of self-love of commonly nearly everyone. Love o Develops people invest their libido on an object or person other than themselves. Sadism o Need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on another person. Masochism o Experience sexual pleasure from suffering pain and humiliation inflicted either by themselves or others. Source → Impetus → Object → Aim Aggression Sex The aim of destructive drive is to return the organism to an inorganic state → Death. The aim of the sexual drive is pleasure but is not limited to genital satisfaction → Erogenous Zones All pleasurable activity is traceable to sexual drive. Sex can take many forms: • Primary Narcissism o Infants are primarily selfcentered, with their libido invested almost exclusively on their own ego. Aggression can take into several forms such as: • • • Gossip Humiliation Enjoyment of people’s sufferings. Anxiety A felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns the person against impending danger. Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. Only the ego can produce or feel anxiety, but the id, superego, and external world each are involved in one of the three kinds. BS Psychology 103 Reaction Formation • Realistic • Unpleasant, nonspecific feeling involving a possible danger. Neurotic • • • • Fear that the id’s impulses will overwhelm the ego. Punished externally by others. Fear of doing something contrary to the superego. Punished internally by guilt. Ego’s purpose to avoid dealing with sexual and aggressive implosives and to defend itself against the anxiety that accompanies them. Repression Unconscious exclusion of distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings from the conscious mind. Suppression • Redirecting unacceptable urges onto a variety of people or objects so that the original impulse is disguised or concealed. Fixation Defense Mechanism • Displacement • Moral Unconsciously replacing an unwanted or anxietyprovoking impulse with its opposite, often expressed in an exaggerated or showy way. Conscious exclusion of distressing memories, thoughts, or feeling from the conscious mind. • Persistent focus of id’s pleasure-seeking energies at an early stage of psychosexual development. Regression • The libido may revert to earlier stage of development during times of stress and anxiety. Projection • Seeing in others unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in one’s own unconscious. Introjection • Incorporating positive qualities of another person into their own ego. Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. Sublimation • Repression of the genital aim of Eros by substituting a cultural or social aim. Denial • An individual refuses to recognize or acknowledge objective facts or experiences. BS Psychology 103 Oral Incorporative • • Oral Aggressive • • • • Rationalization • An individual refuses to recognize or acknowledge objective facts or experiences. Intellectualization • Involves a person using reason and logic to avoid uncomfortable or anxietyprovoking emotions. Psychosexual stages of development Gullible Good listener Nail biting Smoking Making biting remarks Sarcasm Anal stage Erogenous Zone: Anus, Sphincter Muscle Anal Expulsive Character • • Overly generous Messy Anal Retentive Character • • • Stinginess Orderliness Compulsively clean The first 4 or 5 years of life (Infantile Stage) are the most crucial for personality formation.Ge Erogenous Zone: Phallus/Genital Erogenous Zone Terms to Know: • Greatest source of pleasure and stimulation. Fixation • Over gratification and under gratification. ORAL STAGE Erogenous Zone: Mouth. Phallic Stage • • • Penis Envy Oedipus Complex Castration Anxiety Latency Stage Erogenous Zone: None Personality is generally completed by this stage. Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. BS Psychology 103 o Ego is a center of consciousness but not the core personality. Genital Stage Erogenous Zone: Genitals Final stage following puberty. Applications of Psychoanalytic Theory Personal Unconscious • Free Association Dream Analysis • Manifest Content vs Latent Content • Freudian Slips Humor Transference & countertransference • • Transference • Project irrational feelings and attitudes from the past onto people in the present. Countertransference • Unconscious attitudes that a therapist or a nurse develops towards a client in response to a client’s behavior. PSYCHOANALYSIS Carl Jung Levels of the Psyche Conscious • Sensed by the ego. • Embraces all repressed, forgotten, or subliminally perceived experiences of one particular individual. Contains repressed infantile memories and impulses, forgotten and experiences originally perceived below the threshold of our consciousness. Unique in each of us. Contents of the personal unconscious are called complexes. Complexes is an emotionally tones conglomeration of associated ideas. Collective Unconscious • • Contents are inherited and passed from one generation to the next as psychic potentials. Therefore, contents are more or less the same for people in all cultures. o Jung’s most controversial and perhaps his most distinctive concept. Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. Archetypes • Ancient or archaic messages that derive from the collective unconscious. Dreams are the main source of archetypal materials. • Persona • • • The side of personality that people show to the world. We should not confuse our public face with our complete self. To become psychologically healthy, we must balance the demands of the society and who we really are. Shadow • • • Archetype of darkness and repression. Qualities we do not wish to acknowledge but attempt to hide from ourselves and other. First test of courage. Anima • • • Female component in the male psyche. Influences the feeling side in man and is the explanation for certain irrational moods and feelings. Second test of courage. Animus • Masculine components of the female psyche. BS Psychology 103 The animus is symbolic of thinking and reasoning. It is capable of influencing the thinking of a woman, yet it does not actually belong to her. It belongs to the collective unconscious and originates from encounters of prehistoric women with men. Great Mother • Represents two opposing forces – infertility and nourishment on the one hand and power and destruction on the other. Wise Old Man • • Archetype of wisdom and meaning. Symbolizes humans preexisting knowledge of the mysteries of life. Hero • • Represented in mythology and legends as a powerful person, sometimes part god, who fights against greater odds to conquer or vanquish evil in the form of dragons, monsters, or demons. The hero archetype has a tragic flaw. Self • Archetype of archetypes. Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. • Inherited tendency to move forward growth, perfection, and completion. • It pulls together the other archetypes and unites them in the process of self-realization. PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES Basic Attitudes A predisposition to act or react in a characteristic direction. Introversion • Turning inward of psychic energy with an orientation toward the subjective. Extraversion • Turning outward of psychic energy so that a person in oriented toward the objective. BS Psychology 103 meaning they bring with them than by the objective facts themselves. Feeling Process of evaluating an idea or event. Extraverted Feeling • Introverted Feeling • Logical intellectual activity that produces a chain of ideas. Individual’s perception of sensory impulses. Extraverted Sensing • • Rely heavily on concrete thoughts. Ideas are previously known facts with no originality or creativity. Introverted Thinking • Interpretation of an event is colored by the internal Perceive external stimuli objectively, in the same way these stimuli exist in reality. Introverted Sensing • Extraverted Thinking • Value judgment primarily on subjective perceptions. Sensing 4 Separate Functions Thinking Use objective data to make evaluations. Influenced by subjective sensations of sight, sound, taste, touch, and so forth. Intuiting Perceptions beyond the workings of consciousness. Extraverted Intuiting • Oriented towards facts in the external world. Rather than fully sensing them, however, Theories of Personality Notes Arcenal, Nyah April J. they merely perceive them subliminally: guided by hunches and guesses contrary to sensory data. Introverted Intuiting • Guided by unconscious perception of facts that are basically subjective and have little to no resemblance to external reality. Development of Personality The period after age 35 or 40, when a person has to attain self-realization. 4 General Periods: Childhood, Youth, Middle Life, Old Age. Self-Realization Individuation. Process of becoming an individual or a whole person. Self-realization is the process of integrating the opposite poles. Self-realization is extremely rare. It is achieved only by people who are able to assimilate their unconscious into their total personality. Methods of Investigation 1. Word Association Test 2. Dream Analysis a. Big dreams, Typical dreams, Earliest dreams. 3. Active Imagination BS Psychology 103 a. This method requires a person to begin with any impression – a dream image, vision, picture, or fantasy – and to concentrate until the impression begins to “move.” Psychotherapy The ultimate purpose of Jungian therapy is to help neurotics become healthy and to encourage healthy people to work independently towards SELF REALIZATION.
