Mrs. Perl AP Psychology: Unit 10 The Freudian model of Personality Personality is the organization of enduring behavior patterns that often serve to distinguish us from one another. Freud maintained that inner forces shape our personality and motivate or drive our behavior. Our actions and behavior are a response to the interplay between these various inner forces. I. How is personality developed? 1. Freud suggested that behavioral patterns are determined by 3 basic drives that motivate our behavior: a. Self-preservation is the drive to meet basic needs such as hunger and thirst. b. Eros or Life force represents our drive to live, prosper, and produce offspring and causes man to seek pleasure. c. Aggression, also called Thanatos or our Death force, represents our need to stay alive and stave off threats to our existence, our power, and our prosperity but can be a negative force that drives people to aggressive and destructive behavior. Create a scenario whereby a person is motivated by each of the drives: 2. Psychic determinism-According to Freud each person goes through a series of psychosexual stages. Early conflicts when passing through these psychosexual stages help determine later behaviors. At each stage of development, too much gratification of the eros force or too much frustration of the thanatos force may lead to a fixation and an inability to progress to the next stage of development. 3. Psychosexual Stages that affect personality development Stage Age Erogenous Zone Oral 0-1 Mouth, lips, tongue Developmental Task and potential source of conflict Weaning or fixation Anal 2-3 Anus Toilet training or fixation Phallic 4-5 Genitals Oedipus complex or identification with opposite gender Latency 6-12 X Development of defense mechanisms to combat potential anxiety Genital 13-18 Genitals Mature sexual intimacy II. How is personality organized and structured? A. Id: According to Freud, we are born with our Id. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child is hungry, the id wants food, and therefore the child cries. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries. When the child is uncomfortable, in pain, too hot, too cold, or just wants attention, the id speaks up until his or her needs are met. The id doesn't care about reality, about the needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction. If you think about it, babies are not real considerate of their parents' wishes. They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. When the id wants something, nothing else is important. What happens when you are no longer a child but you still have an "id"? B. Ego: Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego. The ego is based on the reality principle. The ego understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. It’s the ego's job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. What is the role of the ego when a ten year old wants a candy bar in the store and her mother says no? C. Superego: By the age of five, or the end of the phallic stage of development, the Superego develops. The Superego is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers. Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong. In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. Not an easy job by any means, but if the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person's life. If the superego becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgmental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world. What role does the superego play in religious development? D. Unconscious: Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most of what drives us is buried in our unconscious. While buried there, however, they continue to impact us dramatically. E. Conscious: The role of the unconscious is only one part of the model. Freud also believed that everything we are aware of is stored in our conscious. Our conscious makes up a very small part of who we are. In other words, at any given time, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are is buried and inaccessible. F. Preconscious: The final part is the preconscious or subconscious. This is the part of us that we can access if prompted, but is not in our active conscious. Since it’s right below the surface it is still somewhat “buried” and therefore needs to be uncovered or searched for in order to access it. Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of your best childhood friend is stored in the preconscious. Because the unconscious is so large, and because we are only aware of the very small conscious at any given time, this theory has been likened to an iceberg, where the vast majority is buried beneath the water's surface. The water, by the way, would represent everything that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been integrated into our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious. G. The interaction of these various components 1. Unconscious- There is information unavailable to conscious awareness but which drives the id and the superego to “act” 2. Actions have manifest content (what you say, do, or perceive) about which you are aware as well as a latent content that you are not aware of and which may be the result of your unconscious. 3. The impulses within you that you may find unacceptable still strive for expression. 4. Think of the id as the 'devil on your shoulder' and the superego as the 'angel of your shoulder.' We don't want either one to get too strong so we talk to both of them, hear their perspective and then make a decision. This decision is the ego talking, the one looking for that healthy balance. H. Ego defense Mechanisms that affect personality a. Personality differences arise from the way in which people deal with the potential conflict or fundamental drives i. Sometimes the ego can’t find a compromise between the id and the superego and has to repress the desires of the id. Extreme desires are pushed out of conscious awareness into the privacy of the unconscious. Repression prevents an individual from experiencing extreme anxiety or guilt. ii. Ego defense mechanisms help in the conflict between the id and superego. Person uses them and maintains a favorable self-image. (see below) iii. Anxiety is an intense emotional response triggered when a repressed conflict is about to come into consciousness. iv. If ego defense mechanisms are overused, they create more problems than they can solve. Mental illness may emerge out of excessive use of defense mechanisms to avoid anxiety. Ego-Defense Mechanisms DEFENSE DESCRIPTION EXAMPLE 1 Denial A person will argue against an anxiety provoking stimuli by stating it doesn't exist Denying that your physician's diagnosis of cancer is correct and seeking a second opinion Displacement A person will take out impulses on a less threatening target Slamming a door instead of hitting as person or yelling at your spouse after an argument with your boss Intellectualization A person avoids “unacceptable emotions” by focusing on the intellectual aspects of a situation Focusing on the details of a funeral as opposed to the sadness and grief Projection A person places his own “unacceptable impulses” onto someone else A person who fears they are stupid will state "You're just Stupid" when talking to someone else. Example 2 Rationalization A person supplies a logical or rational reason for something as opposed to the real reason which they consider unacceptable. Stating that you were fired because you didn't kiss up the the boss when the real reason was your poor performance Reaction Formation A person embraces the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety Having a bias against a particular race or culture and then embracing that race or culture to the extreme Regression A person returns to a previous stage of development Sitting in a corner and crying after hearing bad news or throwing a temper tantrum when you don't get your way Repression A person doesn’t remember a traumatic event Forgetting sexual abuse from your childhood due to the trauma and anxiety Sublimation A person acts out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way Sublimating your aggressive impulses toward a career as a boxer; becoming a surgeon because of your desire to cut; lifting weights to release 'pent up' energy Suppression A person consciously pushes a thought into the unconscious Trying to forget something that causes you anxiety III. Evaluation of Freudian theory: a. Terms in theory are not operationally defined and thus it is difficult to evaluate it scientifically or to prove/disprove the theories. b. Applied retrospectively and does not predict what will happen in the future. c. Developmental study that didn’t observe children. d. Minimizes childhood abuse-thinks it is a fantasy because of desire for sexual contact with a parent. e. Male-based: Uses a male as the norm without trying to determine whether things might be different for females.