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Personality- Individual’s characteristic pattern of
thinking, feeling, and acting.
We consider the psychodynamic and humanistic
perspectives, two different viewpoints on how
personality develops and how it can be assessed.
Psychodynamic- view of personality that retains
some aspects of Freudian theory but is less likely
to see unresolved childhood conflicts a source of
personality development.
Humanistic- Humanistic psychology was instead
focuses on the study of conscious experience,
the individual’s freedom to choose, and the
individual’s capacity for personal growth
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Austrian physician who proposed psychology’s first
and most famous theory of personality.
He believed that individual’s personality emerges
from tensions generated by unconscious motives
and unresolved childhood conflicts.
He used an approach called psychoanalysis (a
therapeutic technique that attempts to provide
insight into thoughts and actions by exposing and
interpreting the underlying unconscious motives
and conflicts.
First comprehensive theory of personality
He compared
the human
mind to a big
iceberg and
divided to 3
regions: the
conscious,
preconscious,
and
unconscious.
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The ego’s protective methods of reducing
anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
7 defense mechanisms:
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Repression
Regression
Denial
Reaction formation
Projection
Rationalization
Displacement
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Repression
anxiety is reduced by
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Regression
anxiety is reduced by
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Denial
anxiety is reduced by
Reaction
formation
anxiety is reduced by
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banishing provoking thoughts
ex. A little girl’s memory of being
molested when she was a toddler
might become a repressed memory.
The little girl will completely forget
about this experience, until the
memory might resurface years later.
moving back to a previous
psychosexual stage
ex. A teenager not being able to go to
a party so she yells at her parents and
throws a temper tantrum
refusing to admit that something
unpleasant has happened
ex. A drug addict or alcoholics
making unacceptable impulses look
like opposites.
ex. Saying you despise your exboyfriend but really loving him
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Projection
anxiety is reduced by
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Rationalization anxiety is reduced by
attributing
threatening impulses
to others
ex. An angry man might
accuse someone else of
being hostile
self-explaining things
in a way that hides the
behavior’s actual
reason
ex. Taking money
from a rich friend
and justifying it by
saying he doesn’t
need it
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Displacement
anxiety is reduced by
diverting aggressive
feelings to an
acceptable object
ex. the father getting mad at the
mother. The mother then takes her
anger out on her son, the son in turn
yells at his little sister, the little
sister kicks the dog, and the dog
bites the cat.
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Agreed with Freud’s
views of the importance
of childhood experiences
Thought social tensions
(not sexual) were crucial
in development of
personality
Centered on feelings of
inferiority
If we start to organize
our thoughts based on
our perceived
shortcomings or
mistakes, we might
develop an inferiority
complex.
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Believed that we not
only have a individual
unconscious but also a
collective
unconscious- a shared,
inherited reservoir of
memory traces from
our ancestors.
He saw evidence of the
collective
unconsciousness in the
archetypes (universal
symbols) found in
stories, myths, and art
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Pointed out that Freud’s
theory was male
dominated and that his
explanation of female
development was
inadequate.
Stated that social
variables, not biological
variables, are the
foundation of personality
development.
Felt that social
expectations, not
anatomy, created the
psychological differences
between males and
females.
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A projective test in which people express
their inner feelings and interests though the
stories they make up about ambiguous
scenes.
The images are deliberately ambiguous so
you can’t really tell what’s happening.
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The most widely
used projective
test.
A set of 10 inkblots
that a therapist
uses to identify a
person’s inner
feelings by
analyzing their
interpretations of
the inkblot.
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Humanistic psychologists wanted a
psychology what
o emphasized conscious experience
o Focused on free will and creative abilities
o Studied all factors (not just observable behaviors) relevant
to the human condition
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Humanistic
psychologist who
stressed the
importance of
acceptance,
genuineness, and
empathy in fostering
human growth
He believed in the
unconditional positive
regard which is an
attitude of total
acceptance toward
another person
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http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofps
ychology/a/hist_humanistic.htm
http://listverse.com/2007/11/15/top-7psychological-defense-mechanisms/