Psychological Theories of
Personality
Cooley
Jung
Freud
Erikson
Horney
Merton
Charles Cooley - Looking Glass Self
• Our sense of self or identity is developed
during a process very close to socialization.
Our identity is derived from others.
• The reactions of others act like mirrors
that show us who we are. We look to see
the reflections of our psychological selves
as we see the reflection of our physical selves.
• As a result, develop a set of beliefs about our
selves: we say we are smart, funny or clumsy.
• Our parents, friends, teachers and
acquaintances all help to shape our selfconcept.
Erikson’s Stages of Social
Development
• Psychosocial Theory: a
theory of development that
says that children develop
through a series of stages
largely through accomplishing
tasks that involve them in
interaction with their social
environment.
• Erickson believed that the development of self
does not end with the child or adolescent
stage.
• Each stage has different tasks or challenges
that are key to forming social relationships.
• Failure to meet the requirements of one stage
can prevent an individual from succeeding in
the next stage.
Age Period
( Years)
0-1
Stage of Development
Infancy
ask: To develop basic trust in oneself and others.
Risk: Mistrust of others and lack of self-confidence.
1-3
Early Childhood
3-6
Play Age
6-12
Task: To learn self-control and establish autonomy.
Risk: Shame and doubt about one’s own capabilities.
Task: To develop initiative in mastering environment.
Risk: Feelings of guilt over aggressiveness and daring.
School Age
Task: To develop industry.
Risk: Feelings of inferiority over real or imagined failure to master tasks.
12-20
Adolescence
20-30
Young Adulthood
30-65
Adulthood
65+
Mature Age
Task: To achieve sense of identity.
Risk: Role confusion over who and what the individual wants to be.
Task: To achieve intimacy with others.
Risk: Shaky identity may lead to avoidance of others and isolation.
Task: To express oneself through generativity.
Risk: Inability to create children, ideas, or products may lead to stagnation.
Task: To achieve sense of integrity.
Risk: Doubts and unfulfilled desires may lead to despair.
Sigmund Freud
• Founder of psychoanalytic theory
• Believed our early childhood
experiences, usually involving our
relationships with parents and family,
are stored in our unconscious mind
• Those that live with a general sense of
frustration, our behaviour may
become neurotic and connected with
anxiety or obsessiveness which can be
treated using dream analysis, hypnosis
and individual counseling
The Unconscious Mind
The Unconscious mind is divided
into three parts:
1. Id – which encourages us to seek
physical satisfaction
2. Superego – prompts us to do the
moral thing, not the one that feels
best
3. Ego – the referee between the
two and deals with external
reality, this is our most conscious
self
Id
Ego
Super Ego
The Id
• Resides in the unconscious mind
• Includes our biological instinctual drives E.g. hunger, pleasure
The Ego
• Part of the ego is unconscious (tied to the id) and part of the ego is
conscious and preconscious (tied to the external world)
• Limits the actions of the id
• Starts developing during the first year or so of life to find realistic and
socially-acceptable outlets for the id’s needs
The Superego
• Represents one’s conscience and idealized standards of behavior in their
culture
• Operates on a morality principle, threatening to overwhelm us with guilt
and shame
• The demands of the superego and the id will come into conflict and the ego
will have to resolve this turmoil within the constraints of reality
Freud
• Why do you think babies are considered to be
a “pure ID”?
• Believed that through interacting with others,
the child
– develops a balanced personality that satisfies
needs and wants,
– judges and acts on what is right
– make decisions appropriate to both the self and
the society
Freud - Psychoanalysis
• Psychoanalysis utilizes several techniques, and
relies on them in order to determine an
individual's unconscious thoughts, and free
them through patient insight.
• One of these techniques is called free
association, and is regarded as an essential
part of the psychoanalytic therapy process.
Freud – Free Association
• http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/free
_associations.html
• Some psychoanalysis/free association ‘tests’
Carl Jung
• Responsible for the identification of
the Extroverted (outward-looking;
outgoing; rely on others for sense of
well being) and Introverted (inwardlooking; emotionally self sufficient;
well being comes from within)
personality types.
• Worked closely with Freud but split
later in their careers
• The other aspect of Jung's work
which has been very influential is his
approach to the analysis of dreams.
• Jung believed the human mind was made up of two
parts – personal unconscious and the collective
unconscious
• personal unconscious – unique to the individual
• collective unconscious – common to all people,
contained memories from our ancestors
– Carl Jung's theory of personal unconscious includes
anything, which is not presently conscious but can be.
This includes memories that are easily brought to
mind, and memories that have been ignored in our
mind
– Collective unconscious is the knowledge that we are
born with, but we can never be directly conscious of.
The feelings of love at first site, and déjà vu are
examples of collective unconscious
• Discover Your Personality –
• Jung Typology Test
• This is a personality type test to find out what
you want to do in the future; what you are
good at and what your best skills are. Please
go to the following website and take the
Personality Test based on Jung’s Theory.
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgiwin/JTypes1.htm
Four Artisan Types
• The Promoter (ESTP)
– Persuasive, winning, witty, clever, fun
– 10 % of population
– Make routine events exciting
– Enjoy the finer things in life
– Socially sophisticated
– Not interested in long term commitments
– Jobs: entrepreneurs
• The Crafter (ISTP)
– Masterful operation of tools, equipment,
machines, and instruments
– Spontaneous, insubordinate, escape routine,
fearless, risk takers, soft spoken,
– Not easy to get to know or get close to
– Jobs: tradespeople, carpenters, mechanics,
jewelry smiths, etc.
• The Performer (ESFP)
- High spirited, charming, joy of living, center of
attention
- Impulsive, optimistic, individuals, generous,
kind, communal, expressive, affectionate
- Love working with people
- Jobs: on stage, business, real estate
• The Composer (ISFP)
- Fine arts, ability to work with all five senses
- Do not express themselves verbally but through
action
- Impulsive, absorbed, kind, sensitive, sypathetic
- Job: many drop out of school, fine arts, business,
decorative design and purchasing, nursing,
forestry/landscaping careers, veternarians
The Four Guardian Types
• The Supervisor (ESTJ)
– Follows rules and procedures, do not put up with
other people’s nonsense, social and civil minded
– Cooperative with supervisors, have a sense of
duty, good at scheduling, trust authority
– Loyal, hardworking, model students, polite
– Jobs: law, politics, police work, military, and
business
• The Inspector (ISTJ)
– Super dependable, down to earth, conservative in
terms of fashion, traditional
– Community servants, value ceremonies and
rituals, responsible, patient, law abiding, do not
need praise for work, trustworthy, committed
– Jobs – librarians, dentists, optometrists, legal
secretaries, law researchers, high school and
college teachers of social sciences/business
• The Protector (ISFJ)
- Safety and security, caretaking, shy, warm
hearted, sincere, serious, diligent, thorough,
frugal
- Aware of status, humble, believe in necessity of
social ranking
- Prepare for emergencies, value tradition,
- Jobs – curators, private secretaries, librarians,
middle managers, police officers, medical
practitioners
The Four Idealist Types
• The Teacher (ENFJ)
- educator, group leaders, enthusiastic, creative,
personal concern with others, sincere,
empathetic, idealizing
- Gifted with language, articulate, expressive,
dramatic, well developed intuition, good
insight, affectionate, and nurturing
- Jobs – media, ministry, therapist, educators,
lawyers, primary care physicians
• The Counselor (INFJ)
- Guide people to reach their human potential,
work intensely with those close to them, private
people, reserved, mysterious, sensitive
- Poetic, use metaphor/imagery in everyday
language, enjoy solving people-problem,
perfectionists
- Small circle of friends, search for soulmate
- Jobs – medicine, psychological counseling,
psychology, psychiatry,
• The Champion (ENFP)
- Believe people/events are filled with profound
meaning, strong convictions, vivacious, and inspiring,
emotionally intense, become bored quickly,
individualistic, suspicious of motives of others, intuitive
- Wide range of personal relationships, spontaneous,
exuberant, enthusiastic, creative
- Attracted to working with language, like variety,
unconventional, free thinking
- Job – teacher, family lawyer, ministers, journalist,
orators, novelists, screen writers
• The Healer (INFP)
-spiritual, idealistic, ethical, selfless, fantasy-filled,
dreamy, follow their heart, optimistic, poetic
- adaptable, aware of their feelings, good with
language, respond to a calling to help others,
conscience-stricken
- romantic, reserved, soft spoken, devoted
- Jobs – ministry, missionary work, social work,
tutoring, child counseling, NOT Business
The Four Rational Types
• The Fieldmarshal (ENTJ)
- Natural leaders, ability to command people,
order, efficiency, achieve objectives,
coordinators, gifted with foresight, pragmatists,
single-minded, controlling
- Jobs – executives
• The Mastermind (INTJ)
- Contingency planners, pragmatists, open
minded, self minded, drive to completion,
positive, single minded, efficient, demanding,
dedicated, loyal employees, independent,
firm, and consistent
• The Inventory (ENTP)
- ingenuity, curious, hunger for knowledge,
pragmatists, innovative, non-conformists,
lively circle of friends, easy going, good humor,
intellectually competitive, hobbyist
- Jobs- teacher, leaders on pilot projects,
engineering
• The Architect
- 1 per cent of population
- Pragmatists, obsessed with analysis, prize
intelligence, precise, complex and technical in
speech, shy, loyal, even tempered
Jobs: The logician, mathematician, technologist,
scientists
• When you are complete the test, calculate
your results and answer the following
questions:
– What was your personality type? Indicate the
percentage of each type e.g. INFJ
– Please describe what your personality type is from
your results? Do you agree with your results?
– What other personality types are you compatible
with? Do you have friends these traits?
– What career choices are you most suited for
based on your personality type?
Jung – Dream Analysis
• A patient's dreams are looked at on two levels
– The manifest content of a dream is the actual
content of the dream, what actually happened
during the dream.
– In contrast, the latent content of the dream is the
symbolic meaning of the content of the dream. In
order for an analyst to get to the latent content,
they require the patient to discuss the dream's
manifest content and encourage free-association
about the dream.
Stages of Sleep
• Stage One
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Light Sleep
Right after falling asleep
Slow rolling of eye movement may be notice
4%-5% of total sleep
• Stage Two
– Accounts for 45%-50% of total sleep
– NREM sleep – non rapid eye movement
– Muscles relax – heart rate slows
– Preparing for deep sleep
Stages of Sleep
• Stage Three
– Accounts for 4%-6% of total sleep
– Eye movement activity is not present
• Stage Four
– Deepest sleep of the four stages
– Accounts for 12%-15% of total sleep
– Sleep terrors and sleep walking may occur at this
stage
– Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
– Most important sleep stage
– Increases following stressful experiences or intense
learning
How Much Do We Need?
• Infants require about 16 hours a day.
• Teenagers need about 9 hours on average.
• Adults need 7-8 hours a night.
Why We Dream
• Some believe that dreaming has no function—
that instead, it is simply a phenomenon that
occurs during REM sleep.
• Others are determined to find an explanation
for these marvels and have put forth many
believable theories, like the ones listed below.
Purpose of Dreaming
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•
•
•
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Dreams may get rid of emotional baggage
We usually dream of events related to daily life
Most dreams are not notably pleasant
Getting rid of unacceptable feelings (Freud)
There are hidden meanings and languages of
their own (Freud)
• The expression of secret wishes and ambitions
(Freud)
• Information processing, sorting our and fixing a
day’s experiences.
• Coping with traumatic stress
Why We Dream
• Dreams Get Rid of Emotions
– Emotions that are not expressed during one’s waking
state are expressed in dreams.
– For example, if you have a huge argument with
somebody, you probably will not dream about it since
you were able to yell and get the anger out.
– If you are annoyed at a friend but do not tell anybody,
you are likely to dream about them and your feelings
towards them.
– Some believe that this shows that dreams and
hypnosis are connected.
Why We Dream
• The Physiological Theory
– We dream to exercise the synapses (pathways)
between brain cells.
– When we are in our waking state, we constantly
receive and transmit external messages.
– Dreaming is the form this process takes in the
sleeping state.
– Thus, dreams may be used to help someone cope
with traumatic and stressful events by reducing
emotional stimulation.
Common Meaning of Dreams
• Airplanes
– Airplanes signify change, transitions, and new
aspirations. Crashes, power outages, or other
trouble with planes show doubt about reaching
these new destinations or goals.
• Falling
– Shows lack of emotional support and uncertainty
about the future and things to come.
Common Meaning of Dreams
• Journey
– Dreams of preparing for or being on a journey signify longterm goals we hope to achieve. They also symbolize new
projects in our lives that we have strong hopes for. In
completing a journey, we have reached one of these goals
and a period in our life has come to a close.
• Marriage
– Dreams concerning marriage signify literal desires to marry,
especially with young men and women. Marriages may
symbolize harmony between different aspects of yourself,
the desire to be with a person you love in real life, and the
desire to join forces with a business partner. Being
unprepared for a wedding often are common before one in
real life.
Common Meaning of Dreams
• Pregnancy
– Pregnancies can either be translated as literal or
metaphorical. It can be seen as the actual desire to
have a baby, or the "birth" of a new idea, project, or
concept in your life. Pregnancy dreams are more
common in women than men
• Rain
– Signifies a release of tension, being relieved of stress.
The water represents emotion that has been
contained in a cloud, or in this case, your mind. It is a
symbol for emotional cleansing or sudden
understanding.
Common Meaning of Dreams
• Animals
– Animals reflect the personalities of the people we know in reality.
Your feelings about these people are usually shown by analyzing
the typical temperament of the animal. For example:
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Sharks: agressive in business or sex
Horses: children, liveliness
Bears: people with bad tempers
Wolves: threatening people
Large Sea Animals: large emotions
• Cars
– Cars are representative of oneself, driving in the direction we feel
we are headed in our lives. Difficulty, like brake failure or running
out of gas, is associated with our lives or feelings being out of
control. Difficulty seeing the world ahead shows uncertainty about
the future, while accidents represent emotional loss of control.
Common Meaning of Dreams
• Underwater
– Symbolizes immersion in one's emotions. If you are
swimming through the water without harm or
discomfort, you are aware of your subconscious
feelings. If you can breathe underwater, it shows
that you are comfortable with your own emotions.
Being short of breath isn't the opposite of being
able to breathe, however--it may be an indication
that you are having difficulty breathing in real life
or have sleep apnea.
Karen Horney
• According to Horney we are
shaped by how we react to a
common neurosis: feelings of
anxiety and fear.
• Horney suggested that we all
have these neurotic needs, or
drives that are not healthy.
1. Moving toward people —A Person will put themselves down
to achieve affection and approval. They fear being alone.
2. Moving against people —A person will not trust and try to
dominate other people. In this way of dealing with anxiety,
success is doing better than everyone else. The neurotic
needs here include power, exploiting others, social
recognition and prestige, and personal achievement.
3. Moving away from people —Here, a person deals with
anxiety by abandoning relationships and being self-focused
and socially isolated. A person is not interested in forming
relationships and is indifferent to what is happening. The
neurotic needs include personal admiration, self-sufficiency,
and perfection.