CH13 PERSONALITY Personality an individual s characteristic pattern of thinking feeling and acting Psychodynamic theories view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the impt of childhood experiences view human behavior as a dynamic interaction between conscious and unconscious mind descended from Freud s psychoanalysis unconscious according to Freud place of mostly unacceptable thoughts wishes feelings and memories that we repress or block from consciousness because they would be too unsettling to acknowledge According to contemporary psychologists info Processing of which we are unaware Preconscious thoughts stored temporarily can retrieve them into conscious awareness Psychoanalysis Freud s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interrupt unconscious tensions free association method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind no matter how trivial or embarrassing Mental dominoes distant past troubled present retracing the chain of thought to retrieve and release painful unconscious memories from childhood Freud nothing is accidental Believed he could see the unconscious seeping into people s free associations beliefs habits symptoms and slips of the tongue pen viewed jokes as expressions of repressed sexual and aggressive tendencies dreams are the road to the unconscious inner conflicts manifest content the remembered content of the dream latent content the underlying unconscious wishes Personality Structure Freud human personality arises from conflict b n impulse restraint between out aggressive pleasure seeking biological urges our internalized social controls over these urges personality arises from our efforts to resolve this conflict to express these impulses in ways that bring satisfaction WITHOUT bringing guilt punishment 3 interacting systems when trying to resolve this conflictid unconscious psychic energy stives to satisfy basic drives to survive reproduce aggress Pleasure principle seeks immediate gratification Ex newborn crying for satisfaction not carrying about anything else Ex people who only think in the present and not into their future party now work and succeed later Ego largely conscious executive part of personality mediates among the id demands superego and reality Reality principle seeks to gratify id impulses in realistic ways that will bring long term pleasure 4 5y o child s ego recognizes demands of the superego superego represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement and future aspirations How we ought to behave Judges actions and producing positive feelings of pride OR guilt Someone with strong superego virtuous but guilt ridden Weak superego self indulgent and remorseless Personality Development Freud personality develops during the first few years of life children pass through psychosexual stages psychosexual stages childhood stages of development oral anal phallic latency genital during which the Id s pleasure seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones Phallic stage genital stimulation unconscious sexual desires for mother father and jealousy hatred for mother father rival guilt fear of punishment castration by father o Oedipus conflict o Electra conflict children eventually cope by repressing the feelings and identifying trying to become like with the rival parent identification when children incorporate their parents values into their developing stages Identification with the same sex parent gender identity conflicts unresolved during a psychosexual stage maladaptive behavior in adult years at any point in oral phallic anal stages strong conflict can fixate person s pleasure seeking energies in that stage fixation lingering focus of pleasure seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage in which the conflicts were unresolved Ex someone orally indulged deprived fixate at the oral stage o Adult can exhibit passive dependence nursing infant or exaggerated denial of dependency acting tough o Deprived at the oral stage Continue to seek oral gratification by smoking excessive eating Defense Mechanisms ego s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality All defense mechanisms function indirectly and unconsciously Repression defense mechanism that banishes anxiety arousing thoughts feelings and memories from consciousness Underlies all the other defense mechanisms Is often incomplete appear as symbols in dreams or slips of the tongue Regression retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage where some psychic energy remains fixated Facing a mild stressor children will regress retreat to the comfort of earlier behaviors like clinging to their caregivers Ex little boy reverts to the oral comfort of thumb sucking in the car on the way to his school child who starts wetting the bed again from stress caused by parents divorce Reaction formation switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites Act in ways opposite your true feelings Ex repressing angry feelings exaggerated friendliness I hate that guy when you really like him Someone scared of snakes studies snakes Projection false consensus effect disguising one s own threatening impulses by attributing them to others your unacceptable thoughts and feelings are placed on another person Ex you re lusting after someone but you say wow THEY keep looking at ME Rationalization self justifying explanations in place of the real threatening unconscious reasons for your action not getting the job you really wanted I didn t want it anyways it was too far away habitual drinker saying she drinks just to be sociable Displacement shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening obj or person little girl mad at mom kicks her dog instead yelling at your roommate when you re mad at your professor Denial refusing to believe or perceive painful realities denying evidence of your loved one s affair infidelity Sublimation unacceptable thoughts feelings channeled into socially acceptable areas arsonist fire fighter serial killer surgeon Neo Freudian and s Theorists Neo freudians accepted Freud s basic ideas personality structures id ego superego impt of unconscious shaping of personality in childhood dynamics of anxiety and defense mechanisms Differ from Freud in 2 ways 1 more emphasis on the conscious minds role in interpreting