Module 19 20 outline Freudian and Humanistic Theories Personality refers to a combination of long lasting and distinctive behaviors thoughts motives and emotions that typify how we react and adapt to other people and situations Freud s Psychodynamic Theory of Personality emphasizes the importance of early childhood experiences unconscious or repressed thoughts that we cannot voluntarily access and the conflicts between conscious and unconscious forces that influence our feelings thoughts and behaviors our wishes desires or thoughts that we are aware of or can recall at any represent wishes desires or thoughts that because of their disturbing or threatening content we automatically repressed and cannot voluntarily access a Freudian technique in which clients are encouraged to talk about any thoughts or images that enter their head Conscious thoughts given moment Unconscious forces Free association Dream interpretation a Freudian technique of analyzing dreams is based on the assumption that dreams contain underlying hidden meanings and symbols that provide clues to unconscious thoughts and desires Freudian slips Divisions of the Mind are mistakes or slips of the tongue that we make in everyday speech Ego executive negotiator between id and superego second division of the mind develops from the id during infancy the ego s goal is to find safe and socially acceptable ways of satisfying the id s desires and to negotiate between the id s wants and the superego s prohibitions satisfying a wish or desire only if there is a socially acceptable outlet available Reality principle Superego regulator third division of the mind develops from the ego during early childhood the superego s goal is to apply the moral values and standards of one s parents or caregivers and society in satisfying one s wishes Anxiety in Freudian theory is an uncomfortable feeling that results from inner conflicts between the primitive desires of the id and the moral goals of the superego Defense mechanisms Freudian processes that operate at unconscious levels and that use self deception or untrue explanations to protect the ego from being overwhelmed by anxiety Rationalization involves covering up the true reasons for actions thoughts or feelings by making up excuses and incorrect explanations Denial Repression Projection Reaction formation Displacement Sublimation refusing to recognize some anxiety provoking event or piece of information that is clear to others involves blocking and pushing unacceptable or threatening feelings wishes or experiences into the unconscious falsely and unconsciously attributes your own unacceptable feelings traits or thoughts to individuals or objects involves substituting behaviors thoughts or feelings that are the direct opposite of unacceptable ones involves transferring feelings about or response to an object that causes anxiety to another person or object that is less threatening type of displacement involves redirecting a threatening or forbidden desire usually sexual into a socially acceptable one Developmental Stages Psychosexual stages five developmental periods oral anal phallic latency and genital stages each marked by a potential conflict between parent and child conflicts arise as a child seeks pleasure from different body areas that are associated with sexual feelings erogenous zones Fixation Oral stage refers to a Freudian process through which an individual may be locked into a particular psychosexual stage because his or her wishes were either overgratified or undergratified lasts for the first 18 months of life and is a time when the infant s pleasure seeking is centered around the mouth Fixation at this stage results in adults who continue to engage in oral activities due to too much or too little gratification demanding gullible Anal stage lasts from the age of about 1 to 3 years and is a time when the infant s pleasure seeking is centered on the anus and its function of elimination Fixation at this stage results in adults who continue to engage in activities of retention or elimination retention very neat stingy or behaviorally rigid elimination generous messy or behaving very loose or carefree Phallic stage Oedipus complex lasts from the age of 3 to 6 and is a time when the child s pleasure seeking is centered on the genitals process in which a child competes with the parent of the same sex for the affections and pleasures of the parent of the opposite sex Fixation at this stage boys may go through life trying to prove toughness girls may go through life feeling inferior to men Oedipus complex boys discovers that his penis is a source of pleasure result feels hatred jealousy and competition toward his father and fears castration Castration anxiety a boy s fear that as punishment for loving mother and hating father his father will cut off his penis resolves the complex by identifying with his father Oedipus complex Electra complex girls penis envy girl discovers that she does not have a penis and feels a loss loss makes her turn against her mother and develop sexual desires for her father resolves complex by identifying with her mother according to Freud because girls are unable to experience castration anxiety they can only partially resolve the complex and remain fixated at this stage lasts from about 6 to puberty is a time when the child represses sexual thoughts and engages in nonsexual activities such as developing social and intellectual skills no fixation lasts from puberty through adulthood and is a time when the individual has renewed sexual desires that he or she seeks to fulfill through relationships with other people conflict resolution depends on how conflicts in the first three stages were resolved Latency stage Genital stage no fixation People Carl Jung focused on the collective unconscious Collective unconscious consists of ancient memory traces and symbols that are passed on by birth and are shared by all peoples in all cultures Alfred Adler focused on the importance of feeling inferior inferiority complex and helplessness in personality formation Individual psychology we are aware of our motives and goals have the capacity to guide and plan our futures Birth Order and Personality Karen Horney emphasized the importance of parent child interactions proposing that parents should show warmth respect and consistent interest in children also proposed that girls have power envy power that goes along with having a penis not penis envy Humanistic theories