Psychology
Reviewer
Theories:
Your

Simplified
Chapter 2: Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic
Theory
Freud's theory is a cornerstone of psychology,
focusing on the unconscious mind and early
childhood experiences.
o
Key Ideas:

Cornerstones: Sex and aggression are
fundamental human drives.

Levels of Mental Life:

o
Conscious: What we're directly
aware of (minor role).
o
Preconscious: Not currently aware,
but can be easily recalled.
o
Unconscious: Beyond awareness;
includes
drives,
urges,
and
instincts. This is the most important
level, shaped by repression and
inherited experiences (phylogenetic
endowment).
Provinces of the Mind (The Structure of
Personality):
o
o
o

Id: Operates on the pleasure
principle
(seeks
immediate
gratification) using primary process
thinking. It's the impulsive, primitive
part.
Ego: Operates on the reality
principle (mediates between id,
superego, and reality) using
secondary process thinking. It's the
rational part.
Superego: Operates on the
idealistic principle. It's our moral
compass, developed through:

Conscience: Punishments
for wrongdoings.

Ego-Ideal: Rewards
positive role models.
and
Dynamics of Personality:
o

Libido (Sex Drive): Aim is
pleasure, not just limited to
genitals.
Anxiety: Unpleasant state
warns the ego of danger.
that

Neurotic
Anxiety:
Apprehension about an
unknown danger, often from
unconscious experiences
with hostile parents.

Moral Anxiety: Similar to
guilt, from conflict between
ego and superego.

Realistic Anxiety: Fear from
the ego's relationship with
the real world.
Defense
Mechanisms:
Unconscious
strategies used by the ego to protect itself
from anxiety.
o
Denial: Blocking external events
from awareness.
o
Repression: Most basic; pushing
unacceptable thoughts/memories
into the unconscious (motivated
forgetting).
o
Fixation: Remaining stuck at an
earlier psychosexual stage.
o
Projection: Attributing one's own
unacceptable desires to others.
o
Displacement:
Redirecting
emotions from original object to a
substitute.
o
Reaction Formation: Expressing
the opposite of true feelings.
o
Introjection:
Taking
on
characteristics of someone else.
o
Regression: Returning to an earlier
developmental stage.
o
Rationalization:
Making
acceptable
excuses
unacceptable behavior.
o
Sublimation:
Transforming
unacceptable
impulses
into
productive, socially acceptable
ways.
Drives (Trieb): Impetus to action.

Thanatos
(Aggression/Destructive
Drive): Unconscious wish to
inflict injury on others and
self, linked to a wish to die.
up
for

Psychosexual Stages of Development:
Freud believed personality develops
through stages, each focusing on a
different erogenous zone. Unresolved
conflicts (fixations) at a stage can impact
adult personality.
o
Oral Stage (Birth to 1 year): Libido
focused on the mouth.


o

o
o
Oral
Aggressive:
Argumentative, exploitative.
Anal Stage (1-3 years): Libido
focused on the anus; pleasure from
defecating.

o
Oral Receptive: Seeks
attention,
affection,
attachment.
Anal
Retentive:
Hates
mess, obsessively tidy,
punctual,
respectful
of
authority.
Anal Expulsive: Liberal toilet
training, less controlled.
Phallic Stage (3-6 years): Libido on
genitals.

Oedipus Complex (Boys):
Boy develops desires for his
mother, hostility toward
father.

Electra Complex (Girls): Girl
develops attraction to her
father.

Dream Analysis: Interpreting dreams to
probe the unconscious (manifest content what happened; latent content - hidden
meaning).

Freudian Slips (Parapraxes): Unconscious
thoughts revealing themselves through
mistakes in speech or action.
Concept of Humanity:

Deterministic and pessimistic.

Emphasizes causality (past events) over
teleology (future goals).

Unconscious over conscious influences.

Biology over culture.

Equal emphasis
similarity.
Chapter
3:
Psychology

Transference:
Patient
develops
undeserved feelings toward the analyst.

Resistance: Patient
certain information.
avoids
disclosing
Individual

Overview: More optimistic than Freud;
emphasized social influences, striving for
superiority/success,
personal
responsibility, future orientation, and
consciousness.

Striving for Success or Superiority: The
primary motivation behind all behavior.
Starts from innate physical deficiencies.

o
Inferiority Complex: Feelings of
weakness or inadequacy.
o
Superiority Complex: Exaggerated
feelings of self-importance.
Subjective Perceptions: Our behavior is
shaped by our subjective view of reality, not
just objective facts.
o
Free Association: Patients say whatever
comes to mind to uncover unconscious
thoughts.
Adler's
and
Key Ideas:
Applications of Psychoanalytic Theory:

uniqueness
Adler, an early follower of Freud, broke away to
form his own optimistic theory emphasizing social
interest and striving for superiority.
Latency Stage (6 years to puberty):
Libido is dormant; no further
psychosexual development.
Genital Stage (Puberty onward):
Maturation of sexual interests.
Unresolved issues can lead to
difficulties expressing emotions or
forming healthy relationships.
Alfred
on

Fictionalism: Expectations of the
future that guide our behavior (our
"final goal," even if it's a fiction).
This goal unifies personality and
makes behavior purposeful.
Unity and Self-Consistency of Personality:
o
Organ Dialect: The idea that
different parts of the body express
o





Accusation: Shifting blame
to others, seeking revenge.
Conscious and Unconscious: Are
not separate entities, but two
cooperating parts of a unified
person.

Self-Accusation: Using guilt
to make others suffer and
protect one's inflated self.
o
Social Interest: A "force that binds society
together". It's an innate potential found in
everyone, fostered by the mother-infant
relationship and social environment. It's the
"sole criterion of human values" and the
"barometer of normality".
Style of Life: The unique flavor of a
person's life, including their personal goal,
self-concept, empathy, and attitude toward
the world. It's a product of heredity,
environment, and creative power. Healthy
individuals express it through action and
solving life's problems (neighborly love,
sexual love, occupation).
Creative Power: The inner freedom to
create one's own style of life. It puts you in
control of your goal, striving methods, and
social interest. The importance is not what
you're born with, but how you use this
power.
Abnormal Development (Maladjustment):
o
o
o

the person's style of life; no part can
be viewed in isolation.
Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies:
Can contribute to exaggerated
feelings of inferiority, leading to
abnormal development.
Pampered Style of Life: Children
develop low social interest and
seek
permanent
parasitic
relationships.
o
Excuses: "Yes, but" or "If only"
statements.
o
Aggression:
To
superiority complex.

Moving
Backward:
Returning to an earlier stage
to avoid responsibility.

Standing Still: Avoiding
responsibility by ensuring
against failure.

Hesitating:
Compulsive
behaviors to delay.

Constructing
Obstacles:
Building barriers to protect
self-esteem.

Very high on free choice and optimism.

High on social factors and uniqueness.

Average on unconscious influences.

Very low on causality (emphasizes future
goals).
Chapter 4: Carl Jung's Analytical Psychology
Jung's theory delves into the collective
unconscious and archetypes, moving beyond
Freud's personal unconscious.
Key Ideas:

Overview: Assumes occult phenomena
influence lives, and we inherit experiences
from ancestors in the form of a collective
unconscious, which includes archetypes.
Aim is to achieve balance between
opposing forces.

Levels of the Psyche:
o
Conscious: Psychic images sensed
by the ego.
o
Personal Unconscious: Repressed,
forgotten, or subliminally perceived
experiences unique to an individual.
o
Collective Unconscious: Ideas and
images
inherited
from
our
ancestors; universal patterns.
safeguard
Depreciation: Putting down
others to feel superior.

Concept of Humanity:
Neglected Style of Life: Children
use feelings of neglect to build a
useless style of life characterized
by distrust.
Safeguarding Tendencies: Ways neurotics
protect their inflated self-esteem against
threats.
Withdrawal: Creating distance from
problems.
o
Archetypes: Highly developed,
symbolic images derived from the
collective unconscious. They are
universal patterns of thought or
behavior.

Persona: Our public self, the
mask we show the world.

Shadow: The archetype of
darkness and repression,
representing
our
unacknowledged aspects.

Anima: The feminine side of
men.

Animus: The masculine side
of women.

Great Mother: Represents
opposing forces of nurture
and destruction.




o

o
Wise Old Man: Archetype of
wisdom and meaning.
The
Self:
The
most
comprehensive archetype,
pulling together and uniting
all other archetypes in the
process of Self-realization
(achieving wholeness).
Causality and Teleology: Behavior
is shaped by both past causes and
future goals (teleology).
o
Progression: Forward flow of
psychic energy, necessary for
adapting to the outside world.
Regression: Backward flow of
psychic energy, necessary for
adapting to the inner world.
Psychological Types: Combinations of
attitudes and functions.
Introversion:
Turning
psychic energy inward,
oriented toward subjective
experiences.
Thinking:
Logical,
intellectual
activity
to
produce ideas.

Feeling: Evaluating ideas or
events (valuing).

Sensation:
Receiving
physical
stimuli
and
transmitting
them
to
consciousness (perceiving
through senses).

Intuition: Perception beyond
conscious
workings
(hunches, insights).

Anarchic: Chaotic, sporadic
consciousness.

Monarchic: Development of
logical, verbal thinking.

Dualistic: Ego divided into
objective and subjective.
o
Youth (Puberty to Middle Life):
Difficulty in
overcoming the
"conservative principle" (clinging to
childhood).
o
Middle Life (approx. 35-40 years):
Period of anxiety and potential; shift
from external achievements to
internal self-realization.
o
Old
Age:
Diminution
of
consciousness; death is seen as
the goal of life. Self-realization
(individuation) requires assimilating
the unconscious into the total self.
Critique of Jung:

Moderate on generating research and
organizing observations.

Low on practicality, internal consistency,
and parsimony.

Very low on falsifiability.
Attitudes:


Childhood:
Hero: Serves as a model for
the ideal personality.
o
o
Functions:
Development of Personality (Stages):
Dynamics of Personality:
o

oriented toward objective
experiences.
Concept of Humanity:

Extraversion:
psychic energy
Turning
outward,

Not strictly deterministic or purposeful,
optimistic or pessimistic.

People are both causal and teleological.

Motivated by both
unconscious thoughts.

Biology over social influences.

Similarity over individual differences.
conscious
o
and

Chapter 5: Melanie Klein's Object Relations
Theory
Klein's theory is an extension of Freud's, focusing
on early infancy and the infant's relationship with
"objects" (primarily the mother).
Psychic Defense
Infancy):


Overview: Tried to validate Freud's ideas,
extending developmental stages to the first
4-6 months after birth.
(Early
Introjection: Taking in external
objects (good or bad) into the self to
gain control or protection.
o
Projection: Projecting unacceptable
parts of the self onto others (e.g.,
parents).
o
Splitting: Mentally keeping apart
incompatible images of self and
objects (e.g., "all good" mother vs.
"all bad" mother).
o
Projective Identification: Splitting off
unacceptable parts of oneself,
projecting them into another, and
then re-introjecting them in a
changed or distorted way.
Differences from Freud:
o
More emphasis on interpersonal
relationships.
o
Stresses the infant's relationship
with the mother rather than the
father.

Internalizations: Aspects of the external
world that are organized internally into a
psychological framework.
o
Motivation is primarily for human
contact rather than sexual pleasure.

Oedipus Complex: Klein viewed this
differently, seeing it as starting earlier
(during the depressive position) and being
less focused on sexual desire, more on
resolving good/bad object relations.

Later Views on Object Relations:
Psychic Life of the Infant:
o
o

Mechanisms
o
Key Ideas:

Depressive Position: (Around 5-6
months) Infant experiences anxiety
over potentially losing a loved
object and guilt for wanting to
destroy it. This is a more mature
phase where the infant can see
objects as whole (both good and
bad).
Fantasies: Infants have an active
fantasy life, with basic fantasies
about "good" and "bad" objects
(e.g., good breast, bad breast).
Objects: Refers to any person or
part of a person (like a breast) that
infants introject (take into their
psychic structure) and then later
project onto others.
Positions: Ways infants organize their
experiences to deal with anxiety.
o
Paranoid-Schizoid Position: (First
3-4 months) Characterized by
persecutory feelings and splitting
objects into "good" and "bad" to
manage anxiety.
o
Margaret Mahler's SeparationIndividuation: Observed motherinfant interaction.

Normal Autism (first 3-4
weeks):
Infants
satisfy
needs within the mother's
protective care.

Normal Symbiosis (until 4
months): Infant and mother
behave as an omnipotent,
symbiotic unit.

Separation-Individuation (4
months to 3 years): Children
psychologically
separate
from mothers and develop
personal
(individuation).
o
o
identity
Heinz Kohut's Psychology of the
Self: Emphasized the development
of the self. Adults treat infants as if
they have a self. Early self has two
narcissistic needs: to exhibit the
grandiose self and to acquire an
idealized image of parents.
John Bowlby's Attachment Theory:
Observed stages of separation
anxiety: protest, apathy/despair,
and
emotional
detachment.
Children who reach the third stage
may lack warmth and emotion in
later relationships. Mary Ainsworth
developed the "Strange Situation"
to measure attachment styles.
Key Ideas:

Overview: Personality is largely shaped by
social and cultural conditions. When
childhood needs are not met, basic hostility
and anxiety arise. People combat basic
anxiety by moving toward, against, or away
from people.

Criticisms of Freud:
Klein believed all children should be
psychoanalyzed.

Used play therapy instead of dream work.

Goal: Reduce depressive anxieties and
persecutory fears, and lessen the
harshness of internalized objects.
Critique of Object Relations Theory:

High on practicality, internal consistency,
and falsifiability.

Moderate on generating research.

Low on parsimony (simplicity) (especially
Kleinian theory) and organizing knowledge.
Orthodoxy leads to stagnation.
o
Inaccurate views
psychology.
o
Psychology should move beyond
instinct and examine culture.
Determinism over free choice.

Equal emphasis
pessimism.

Causality over teleology.

Unconscious over conscious.

Social determinants over biology.

Similarity over uniqueness.
on
optimism

Basic Hostility: Arises when parents do not
satisfy a child's needs for safety and
satisfaction.

Basic Anxiety: Feelings of insecurity and
apprehension that result from repressed
hostility. This is the foundation of neurosis.

Compulsive
Drives
(Neurotic
Needs/Trends):
Neurotics
repeat
unproductive strategies to reduce basic
anxiety. These are categorized into 10
neurotic needs, which are organized into 3
neurotic trends.
o
Moving Toward People (Compliant
Solution): Neurotic need to protect
oneself
against
helplessness.
Characterized by needs for
affiliation and approval, and a
powerful partner (extreme fear of
abandonment).
o
Moving Against People (Aggressive
Solution): Submissiveness and
dependence are not the focus.
Characterized by needs for power
(dominating others), exploiting
others, social recognition and
prestige, personal admiration, and
ambition for personal achievement.
o
Moving
Away From
People
(Detached Solution): Characterized
by
needs
for
privacy,
independence, self-sufficiency, and
and
Chapter 6: Karen Horney's Psychoanalytic
Social Theory
Horney critiqued Freud's biological emphasis and
focused on social and cultural conditions in
shaping personality, particularly the role of basic
anxiety.
feminine
Impact
of
Culture
&
Childhood
Experiences: Culture significantly impacts
personality development. Unmet childhood
needs (especially for safety and
satisfaction) are crucial.
Concept of Humanity:

of

Psychotherapy (Kleinian):

o
perfection (searching for others'
flaws). This includes tendencies to
restrict one's life to narrow borders.

Intrapsychic Conflicts:
o
Idealized Self-Image: Neurotics
create a glorified image of
themselves.

Neurotic Search for Glory:
Incorporating goals, selfconcept, and relationships
into this idealized image.

Neurotic Claims: Building a
fantasy world based on
exaggerated demands.

o

Chapter 7: Erich
Psychoanalysis
Key Ideas:

Overview: People have lost connection
with nature and each other, leading to basic
anxiety,
loneliness,
and
isolation.
Freedom's cost has exceeded its benefits.
Fromm's theory is culturally oriented,
influenced by Freud and Horney.

Basic
Assumption:
Personality
is
understood through history. Humans are
"torn away" from their prehistoric union with
nature. This creates a "Human Dilemma" –
the ability to reason about their isolated
condition.
Self-Hatred: Neurotic individuals
dislike themselves because their
real self doesn't match the idealized
self's demands.
o
Feminine Psychology:
Psychological differences between
men and women are due to culture
and social expectations, not
anatomy.
o
Viewed the Oedipus complex as a
result of learning, not biology.
o
Found "penis envy" untenable; if it
existed, "womb envy" should also.

Moderate on internal consistency and
parsimony.

Low on falsifiability, generating research,
and guiding action.

Very low on organizing knowledge.
Concept of Humanity:

Free choice over determinism.

Optimism over pessimism.

Social influence over biology.

Causality and teleology play equal roles, as
do conscious and unconscious thoughts.

Similarities over uniqueness.
Fundamental Dichotomies: Life vs.
death, and complete self-realization
vs. the inability to reach it due to
life's brevity.
Human or Existential Needs: These needs
arise from human existence and aim for
reunification with the natural world. Lack of
satisfaction can lead to insanity.
o
Relatedness: Drive for union with
others. Can be achieved through
submission, power, or love (love is
the healthy way).
o
Transcendence: Urge to rise above
passive
existence
to
purposefulness
and
freedom.
Humans can use "malignant
aggression" (killing for reasons
other than survival) but can also
create and care.
o
Rootedness: Need to establish
roots and feel at home in the world.
Critique of Horney:

Humanistic
Fromm integrated psychology, history, and
anthropology, emphasizing the human need to
overcome loneliness and isolation caused by
separation from nature and others.
Neurotic Pride: Pride based
on this spurious idealized
self.
o
Fromm's

Productive
Rootedness:
Growing
beyond
the
security of the mother.

Non-productive
Rootedness:
Becoming
fixated and afraid to move
beyond the safety of the
mother.

o
Sense of Identity: Capacity to be
aware of oneself as a separate
entity.
o
Malignant Narcissism: Belief that
one's own possessions are
valuable, others' are worthless.
o
Frame of Orientation: Need for a
"road map" or philosophy to make
sense of the world.
o
Incestuous Symbiosis: Extreme
dependence on the mother,
blending one's personality with the
host.
Mechanisms of Escape (from Freedom's
Burden):
o
o
o

Authoritarianism:
Giving
up
independence to fuse with another
(e.g., submission to power or power
over others).
Destructiveness: Rooted in feelings
of isolation; aims to destroy others
or objects to feel powerful.

High on organizing knowledge.

Low
on
guiding
action,
consistency, and parsimony.

Very low on generating research and
falsifiability.
internal
Concept of Humanity:
Automaton Conformity: Giving up
individuality to become what others
desire.

Equal weight given to unconscious and
conscious, free choice and determinism,
and pessimism and optimism.
Character Orientations (How people relate
to the world):

Uniqueness emphasized over similarities.

Teleology (future goals) over causality
(past events).

Social influences over biology.
o
Nonproductive Orientations:

o
Receptive: Source of good
lies outside; only way to
relate is to receive (love,
knowledge, materials).
Exploitative: Aggressively
taking what they want rather
than passively receiving.
Sullivan's theory is unique in its emphasis on
interpersonal relationships as the foundation of
personality. He believed personality is never
isolated but exists within interactions.

Hoarding: Saving what's
already obtained (opinions,
feelings, possessions).
Key Ideas:
Marketing: See themselves
as
commodities,
value
based on ability to "sell"
themselves.
Productive
Orientation:
Psychologically healthy people
work toward positive freedom
through productive work, love, and
reasoning.


Overview: Emphasizes developmental
stages, with healthy development being a
function of establishing intimacy with
others. Anxiety can interfere with this.

Tensions: Potential for action, may or may
not be experienced consciously.
o
Needs: Tensions from biological
imbalance between person and
environment. Tenderness is the
most basic interpersonal need. Can
be general or zonal, physiological
or interpersonal.
o
Anxiety: Disjunctive, diffuse, vague
tension. Learned through empathic
relationship with parents. Complete
absence of anxiety is euphoria.
Productive Love (Biophilia):
A passionate love of all life.
Personality Disorders:
o
Chapter 8: Harry Stack Sullivan's Interpersonal
Theory



Critique of Fromm:
Necrophilia: Focus on death, hatred
of humanity.
o

Energy Transformations: Tensions
become overt or covert actions.
o
Infancy
(Birth-2):
relationship with mother.
Dynamisms: Typical behavior patterns that
characterize a person throughout life.
o
Childhood (2-6): Mother remains
primary,
imaginary
friends
common.
o
Juvenile Era (6-8.5): Need for
peers/playmates, ends with finding
a "chum" (close same-sex friend).
Learn crucial social skills.
o
Preadolescence (8.5-13): Intimacy
with one (usually same-sex)
person; genesis of the capacity to
love.
o
Early Adolescence (13-15): Genital
interest
emerges,
lustful
relationships appear; intimacy and
lust exist separately.
o
Late Adolescence (15+): Intimacy
and lust are experienced with the
same person.
o
Adulthood: Culmination of late
adolescence; marked by a stable
love relationship.
o

Malevolence: Feeling
among enemies.
Intimacy: Need for tenderness,
involves close personal relationship
between two people of equal status.
o
Lust: Isolating tendency, solely for
sexual gratification, requires no
other person.
o
Self-System: Consistent patterns of
behavior protecting against anxiety
and
maintaining
interpersonal
security.
Personifications: Images people acquire of
themselves and others.
o
Bad-Mother, Good-Mother: Early
images based on experiences.
Me Personifications:

o
Bad me: Associated with
punishment/disapproval.

Good me: Associated with
rewards/approval.

Not me: Associated with
intense anxiety, disowned
parts of self.
Eidetic Personifications: Imaginary
traits projected onto others.
Levels
of
Cognition
Experiencing):
o

living
o
o

of
(Ways

Psychological Disorders: All disorders have
an interpersonal origin and must be
understood in relation to the social
environment. Deficiencies in patients are
present in everyone to a lesser degree.
Psychological difficulties stem from
common interpersonal struggles.
Critique of Sullivan:

Moderate on organizing knowledge,
guiding action, and internal consistency.

Low on generating
parsimony.

Very low on falsifiability.
of
Prototaxic
Level:
Earliest,
undifferentiated
experiences;
impossible
to
verbalize
or
communicate.
Primary
research
and
Concept of Humanity:
o
Parataxic Level: Experiences that
are pre-logical, assuming illusory
correlations (e.g., superstitions).

Equal emphasis on optimism and
pessimism, determinism and free will, and
teleology and causality.
o
Syntaxic Level: Experiences that
are consensually validated (agreed
upon by others) and can be
accurately communicated.

Unconscious over conscious.

Social influence over biology.

Similarity over uniqueness.
Stages
of
Development
(Epochs):
Interpersonal relationships evolve through
distinct stages.
Chapter 9: Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Theory
Erikson expanded Freud's work by emphasizing
the ego and the impact of social and historical
influences across the entire lifespan.
independence
shame/doubt.

Overview: Extended Freud's assumptions,
focusing on lifespan development and the
ego. Stages are characterized by
psychosocial struggles.
Play Age (3-6 years): Initiative vs.
Guilt. Virtue: Purpose. Taking
initiative vs. guilt over unsuccessful
actions
or
overstepping
boundaries.
o
School Age (7-11 years): Industry
vs. Inferiority. Virtue: Competence.
Developing
self-confidence
in
abilities vs. feeling inferior.
o
Adolescence (12-18 years): Identity
vs. Confusion. Virtue: Fidelity.
Experimenting with and developing
a sense of identity and roles
(identity crisis).
o
Early Adulthood (19-29 years):
Intimacy vs. Isolation. Virtue: Love.
Establishing intimate relationships
vs. feeling isolated.
o
Middle
Age
(30-64
years):
Generativity vs. Stagnation. Virtue:
Care. Contributing to society and
family vs. feeling unproductive.
o
Old Age (65+): Integrity vs. Despair.
Virtue: Wisdom. Assessing life and
finding meaning vs. feeling despair.
The Ego in Post-Freudian Psychology:
o

Erikson's chief contribution was
emphasizing ego functions over id
functions.
o
The ego is the center of personality,
responsible for a unified sense of
self.
o
Three Interrelated Aspects of the
Ego:

Body Ego: Experiences with
our physical body.

Ego Ideal: Image of
ourselves compared to an
ideal.

Ego Identity: Image of
ourselves in various social
roles.
o
Society's Influence: The ego is
largely shaped by culture.
o
Epigenetic Principle: The ego
grows sequentially, with later
developments building on earlier
structures, and specific changes
arising at particular times (like
organ development).
Stages of Psychosocial Development:
Each stage involves a "psychosocial crisis"
(interaction of opposites) leading to an ego
strength (virtue) if successfully resolved.
Too little strength at one stage can lead to
"core psychopathology" later. Earlier
stages don't cause later development, but
influence it.
o
o
Infancy (0-1 year): Trust vs.
Mistrust. Virtue: Hope. Basic needs
met vs. not met.
Early Childhood
Autonomy
vs.
Virtue:
Will.
(1-3 years):
Shame/Doubt.
Developing
feeling
o
Key Ideas:

vs.
Critique of Erikson:

High on generating research and internal
consistency.

Moderate on organizing knowledge,
falsifiability, guiding action, and parsimony.
Concept of Humanity:

Determinism over free choice.

Optimism over pessimism.

Causality over teleology.

Unconscious and conscious influences
vary by stage (unconscious dominates
early, conscious later).

Culture over biology.

Uniqueness over similarity.
Chapter 11: Carl Rogers' Person-Centered
Theory
Rogers' humanistic theory emphasizes the
inherent capacity for growth and self-actualization,
o
focusing on conscious experience and the
importance of unconditional positive regard in
therapy.
Key Ideas:

Overview:
Developed
from
his
psychotherapy experiences. Called for
empirical research. Not a rigid "theory," but
a framework.

Two Basic Assumptions:
o
o



Empathic Listening: The therapist
deeply understands the client's
world of feelings without prejudice
or evaluation.
The Person of Tomorrow (Fully Functioning
Person): An ideal individual who is: open to
experience, lives existentially, trusts their
organismic feelings, has a sense of
freedom, and is creative.
Critique of Rogers:
Formative Tendency: All matter
(organic and inorganic) evolves
from simpler to more complex
forms.
Actualizing Tendency: All living
things (including humans) tend to
move toward completion or
fulfillment of their potentials. This is
the inherent drive to grow.
The Self and Self-Actualization:

Very high on practicality and internal
consistency.

High on falsifiability,
organizing knowledge.

Moderate on generating research.
parsimony,
and
Concept of Humanity:

Free choice over determinism.

Optimism over pessimism.
o
Self-Concept: All aspects of one's
identity perceived in awareness.

Teleology (future goals) over causality
(past events).
o
Ideal Self: Our view of ourselves as
we would like to be or aspire to be.

Uniqueness over similarity.

Conscious over unconscious.
o
Incongruence: Gaps between the
self-concept and the ideal self lead
to psychopathology. The selfconcept tends to resist change.

Social influence over biology.
Conditions of Worth: Most people are not
unconditionally accepted. Instead, they
receive "conditions of worth," feeling loved
and accepted only if they meet conditions
set by others. This hinders actualization.
Chapter 12: Rollo May's Existential Psychology
May's existential psychology focuses on the
human condition, emphasizing responsibility,
freedom, anxiety, and the search for meaning in a
world where existence precedes essence.
Key Ideas:

Psychological Stagnation: The greater the
incongruence between self-concept and
organismic
experience
(true
feelings/sensations), the more vulnerable a
person becomes. Anxiety arises from
awareness of this discrepancy.

Overview: Based on clinical experience.
People live in the present and are
responsible for their experiences. People
often lack courage to face destiny and flee
from freedom. Healthy people challenge
destiny and live authentically.

Psychotherapy
Therapy):

Background of Existentialism:
(Person-Centered
o
Counselor
Congruence
(Genuineness):
The
therapist
openly expresses feelings and is
transparent.
o
Unconditional Positive Regard:
Genuine acceptance of the client,
without judgment.
o
Existence takes precedence over
essence: We define ourselves
through our choices and actions,
rather than being born with a fixed
nature.
o
No split between subject and
object.
o
People search for meaning in their
lives.
Sex: Natural
function.
o
Antitheoretical:
Theories
dehumanize people.

Eros: Enduring union with a
loved one, drive to create.
o
Being-in-the-World (Dasein): A
basic unity between people and
their environments.

Philia: Intimate, non-sexual
friendship.

Agape: Altruistic, spiritual,
selfless love.
can
Umwelt: Our relationship
with
the
environment
around us (nature).

Mitwelt: Our world with other
people
(social
relationships).

Eigenwelt: Our relationship
with our authentic self (inner
world).

Normal Anxiety: Proportionate to
the threat, does not involve
repression, and can be confronted
constructively.
Neurotic Anxiety: Disproportionate
to the threat, involves repression
and intrapsychic conflict, managed
by blocking activity and awareness.
Guilt: Also ontological. Arises when people:
biological
Freedom: The possibility for changing.
o
Existential Freedom: Freedom of
action ("freedom of doing").
o
Essential Freedom: Freedom of
being, inner freedom.

Psychopathology: Characterized by apathy
and emptiness. People are alienated from
Umwelt (nature), Mitwelt (others), and
Eigenwelt (self). Symptoms can be
temporary or permanent. It is a lack of
communication.

Psychotherapy: Goal is to make people
more fully human and expand their
consciousness. The purpose is to set
people free.
Nonbeing: The awareness of our
own mortality and the possibility of
not existing.
Anxiety: An ontological (referring to the
nature of being) experience, not just a
feeling from specific situations.
o

Forms of Love:

o

o
Each person is responsible for who
they are and what they become.
o

Love and Will: Are intertwined.
o


o
Concept of Humanity:

Free choice over determinism.

Optimism over pessimism.

Teleology over causality.

Equal emphasis on conscious and
unconscious, and social influence and
biology.

Uniqueness over similarity.
o
Deny their potentialities.
o
Fail to accurately perceive the
needs of others.
o
Remain
oblivious
to
their
dependence on the natural world.
Chapter 13: Gordon Allport's Psychology of
the Individual
Intentionality: The structure that gives
meaning to experience and allows
decisions about the future. It bridges the
gap between subject and object and can be
unconscious.
What Is Personality?
• Personality is both physical and psychological
• Includes both overt and covert thoughts
Care, Love, and Will:
o
Care: The source of love.
What Is the Role of Conscious Motivation?
• Healthy adults are aware of what and why they
are acting
• Accepted self-report at face value
What Are the Characteristics of a Healthy Person?
• Six criteria for maturity:
⚬ Extension of the sense of self
⚬ Warm relating of self to others
⚬ Emotional security or self-acceptance
⚬ Realistic perception of their environment
⚬ Insight and humor
⚬ Unifying philosophy of life
Structure of Personality
Levels of Personal Dispositions
• Cardinal dispositions: obvious characteristics that
can not be hidden, ex chauvinistic, narcissistic,
sadistic
• Central dispositions: include 5 to 10 most
outstanding characteristics around which a
person’s life focuses
• Secondary dispositions: less conspicuous but far
greater in number than central dispositions
Motivational and Stylistic Dispositions
• Motivational dispositions: which are strong
enough to initiate action and
• Stylistic dispositions: refer to how an individual
behaves and which guides rather than initiates
action.
Proprium: those behaviors and characteristics that
people regard as warm, central, and important in
their lives.
MOTIVATION
• Functional Autonomy
⚬ Allport's most distinctive and controversial
concept
⚬ Which holds that some (but not all) human
motives are functionally independent of the original
motive responsible for a particular behavior.
• Perseverative functional autonomy refers to
habits and behaviors that no longer serve a
purpose, but yet still continue.
• Propriate functional autonomy is more self
directed than habits, usually in the form of values
Chapter 14: Eysenck, McCrae, and Costa's
Trait and Factor Theories