Clinical Psychology Lecture 1 Personality Theory Psychodynamic Theory Personality enduring patterns of behavior like actions feelings thoughts and interactions that are relatively consistent over time and across circumstances They are unique characteristics that account for our enduring patterns of inner experience and outward behavior It is largely defined in the context of how we relate to others Harry Stack Sullivan said personality cannot be separated from the interpersonal world in which the person lives Personality Theories formal attempts to describe and explain why how when etc Theories are propositions not facts Theories are bound to change based on time and culture Types of theories Psychodynamic Theories Sigmund Freud was a practicing neurologist who saw patients with hysterical physical symptoms He shaped his theory by observations of these people Suggested that unconscious was an explanatory mechanism o Three types of mental processes Conscious immediate awareness rational and goal directed Preconscious can be accessed fairly readily Unconscious out of awareness and irrational Freud say this as the key to understanding human experience like human problems o Motivated unconscious purposeful exclusion of informative or material from conscious awareness because it is threatening to the stability and integrity of the self It served a self protective system o Freud s drive model instincts or drives as inborn psychic energies that comes from basic biological needs Two instincts life instincts survival and reproduction death aggression drive the aim of all life is death o Freud s Structural Model three systems that make up structure of personality Personality dynamics are reflected in the relative distribution of psychic energy among the three Id original system completely instinctive reservoir of libidinal energy operates according to pleasure principle maximize pleasure minimize pain and primary process thinking unconscious irrational wishful primitive Ego develops out of the id restrains the id impulses in accordance with demands of external world and operates according to reality principle need fulfillment secondary process thinking It is the executive striking balance and reasonable and rational A strong ego leads to good psychological health Superego internalized standards and ideals of culture Two aspects are ego ideal and conscience It is non rational harsh demanding unrealistic and unforgiving Also restrains the id Defense mechanisms unconscious processes generated by the ego to protect from anxiety and distress All defense mechanisms operate unconsciously and involve the denial or distortion of reality so as to make it less threatening They re present in normal and abnormal functioning o Freud s Developmental Model learning to deal with libidinal energy is a major developmental task It is focused on different biological function and tasks as a child grows Erogenous zones parts of the body that is a source of pleasure Psychosexual stages of development oral 0 18 months anal 2 3 years phallic 3 6 years latency 6 puberty genital puberty and beyond Stage resolution Fixations unresolved stage conflicts persisting beyond the period Regression reverting to conflicts of earlier stage under stress o Evaluating Freud observant narrative of human development elaborate thoughtful theory and intuitive appeal Contributions and criticisms are recognition of the unconscious and the assumption of primacy unconscious insufficient attention to conscious experience and awareness Childhood experience is important We have to recognize that we are biological creatures and have basic needs and instincts It attempts to explain both normal development and psychopathology They are comprehensive and rich theories o Contemporary Psychodynamic Theory more ego less id There is less focus on childhood less unconscious conflict less sex and aggression and more emphasis on culture and social influences Humanistic Theories Trait Biological Theories