PERSONALITY An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

What is Personality? Focusing on differences between individuals Q1: Is personality unchanging? Q2: What is responsible for personality – genes or environment?

Two (relatively old) perspectives on personality – repercussions for today’s research and clinical practice Psychoanalytic perspective Childhood motivations and the unconscious Humanistic perspective Inner capacities for growth and self- fulfillment

Module 33: Psychoanalytic Perspective on Personality Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) ATTENTION THE TWO EDITIONS DIFFER IN THIS MODULE

Contemporary definition The unconscious Contemporary definition FREUD A collection of (mostly unacceptable) thoughts, feelings, wishes, and memories Information processing that takes place in the brain without our awareness

Plan for this Module Freudian theory: Unconscious Structure of personality Development of personality Psychopathology: As a result of maladjusted development As a result of maladjusted functioning of personality structures Neo Freudian and post Freudian approaches Measurement of personality using psychoanalytic perspective Critical evaluation of the psychoanalytic perspective

The Psychoanalytic Perspective The characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and acting will be driven by unconscious motives and conflicts If we learn about the unconscious, we can understand an individual’s personality How do we learn about the unconscious? How do we end up with thoughts in the unconscious? What are common thoughts stored in the unconscious? How does the unconscious operate?

How do we learn about the unconscious? Free Association a method of exploring the unconscious in psychoanalysis person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

How do we end up with thoughts in the unconscious? Some thoughts are in preconscious: they can be retrieved Some thoughts are repressed  they shape our personality We forcibly block many thoughts from our conscious because they are too unacceptable or too unsettling.

What is stored in the unconscious?

How does the unconscious operate? Pleasure-seeking (mostly unacceptable) and aggressive thoughts Socially acceptable thoughts and behavior Satisfy these Do not get punished PERSONALITY

Plan for this Module Freudian theory: Unconscious Structure of personality Development of personality Psychopathology: As a result of maladjusted development As a result of maladjusted functioning of personality structures Neo Freudian and post Freudian approaches Measurement of personality using psychoanalytic perspective Critical evaluation of the psychoanalytic perspective

Personality Structure Id contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy strives to satisfy basic pleasure-seeking and aggressive drives operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification Ego Develops during childhood the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain Superego develops the last the part of personality that presents internalized ideals and strives for perfection provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

Plan for this Module Freudian theory: Unconscious Structure of personality Development of personality Psychopathology: As a result of maladjusted development As a result of maladjusted functioning of personality structures Neo Freudian and post Freudian approaches Measurement of personality using psychoanalytic perspective Critical evaluation of the psychoanalytic perspective

Personality develops during the first few years of life Freud’s Psychosexual Stages based on Id’s pleasure-seeking focus and erogenous zones Stage Focus Oral Pleasure centers on the mouth-- (0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing Anal Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder (18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for control Phallic Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with (3-6 years) incestuous sexual feelings Latency Dormant sexual feelings (6 to puberty) Genital Maturation of sexual interests (puberty on)

Phallic Stage – Sexual thoughts in early childhood Males: Oedipus Complex: a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father Castration anxiety Females: ?? Electra complex Acquiring gender identity: Children cope with these feelings by trying to become like the rival parent: IDENTIFICATION

Plan for this Module Freudian theory: Unconscious Structure of personality Development of personality Psychopathology: As a result of maladjusted development As a result of maladjusted functioning of personality structures Neo Freudian and post Freudian approaches Measurement of personality using psychoanalytic perspective Critical evaluation of the psychoanalytic perspective

What happens if normal development through psychosexual stages is disrupted? Fixation a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, where conflicts were unresolved Overindulgence or deprivation may lead to fixation Example: too much nursing or not enough nursing may lead to oral fixation Denial of oral pleasure Seeking oral gratification through smoking or over eating

Plan for this Module Freudian theory: Unconscious Structure of personality Development of personality Psychopathology: As a result of maladjusted development As a result of maladjusted functioning of personality structures Neo Freudian and post Freudian approaches Measurement of personality using psychoanalytic perspective Critical evaluation of the psychoanalytic perspective

The result of the struggle between id and superego: ANXIETY Defense Mechanisms: the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality Repression Regression Reaction Formation Projection Rationalization Displacement

Defense mechanisms to reduce anxiety Repression – Basic defense mechanism underlying all others Threatening impulses are kept from reaching the conscious These impulses emerge in other forms (dreams, jokes, etc) E.g., we do not remember our childhood lust for our opposite sex parent!

Additional defense mechanisms to reduce anxiety Regression: retreating into an earlier stage of development Reaction Formation: unacceptable impulses become their opposites when surfaced into the conscious Inadequacy  overconfidence Projection: attributing impulses to others Used in personality assessments Using someone else to describe one’s own feelings Rationalization: generating self-justifying explanations “I smoke to be sociable” Displacement: Sexual or aggressive impulses are directed to another target Anger towards an unacceptable target will be expressed as anger towards a safer target

Plan for this Module Freudian theory: Unconscious Structure of personality Development of personality Psychopathology: As a result of maladjusted development As a result of maladjusted functioning of personality structures Neo Freudian and post Freudian approaches Measurement of personality using psychoanalytic perspective Critical evaluation of the psychoanalytic perspective

Neo-Freudian theories Early childhood is central to personality development Anxiety is an important issue to be resolved by all individuals; BUT Conscious mind has an active role in shaping personality and interacting with the environment Sex and aggression may not be the strongest urges that all individuals have to struggle with Other motives and social interactions may play a role

Some neo-Freudian theorists Alfred Adler Childhood social tensions are critical: individuals’ need to overcome childhood feelings of inferiority and the desire for self-improvement proposed the idea of the inferiority complex Karen Horney driving force of personality is basic childhood anxiety of being helpless in a hostile world sought to balance Freud’s masculine biases: “women inherently have weak superegos and suffer from penis envy”

Some neo-Freudian theorists Carl Jung Unconscious exerts a powerful influence on personality development In addition to individual’s personal unconscious, there is a collective unconscious shared by all human beings myths, arts, folklore

Post Freudian Psychodynamic Theory Sex in not the central theme of personality Id-ego-superego are not “real” constructs People are not classified into “oral,” “anal,” or “phallic” types Much of the mind is unconscious We struggle with inner conflicts

Plan for this Module Freudian theory: Unconscious Structure of personality Development of personality Psychopathology: As a result of maladjusted development As a result of maladjusted functioning of personality structures Neo Freudian and post Freudian approaches Measurement of personality using psychoanalytic perspective Critical evaluation of the psychoanalytic perspective

How do we assess personality? We need to access the unconscious Cannot be achieved by asking direct questions Projective tests: give an ambiguous stimulus which will result in a projection TAT (thematic apperception test) – ambiguous pictures Rorschach inkblot test – ambiguous symmetric shapes

TAT picture What has led up to the event shown? What is happening at the moment? What are the characters thinking and feeling? What is the outcome?

Critique of projective tests Reliability (the consistency of results) is low Validity (whether it measures what it is supposed to measure) is questionable Many normally functioning adults are diagnosed as pathological Cannot discriminate between suicidal and non-suicidal patients Only hostility and anxiety measures have limited validity

Plan for this Module Freudian theory: Unconscious Structure of personality Development of personality Psychopathology: As a result of maladjusted development As a result of maladjusted functioning of personality structures Neo Freudian and post Freudian approaches Measurement of personality using psychoanalytic perspective Critical evaluation of the psychoanalytic perspective

Evaluation of the Psychoanalytic perspective: Contradictory evidence Personality and identity are not fixed at age 5-6 Gender identity can develop without a same-sex parent Dreams and slips of tongue can be explained by neural processes (not repression) Repression is not a common response to unsettling experiences Sexual inhibition or repression is not the major cause of psychopathology Unconscious includes a lot of automatic information processing Defense mechanisms are activated to protect our own self-image

Freud’s ideas vs. Scientific theory Freud’s ideas are not based on objective observations Freud’s theory does not offer hypotheses that can be empirically verified If a male student calls his mother more frequently than the norm, he has an unresolved Oedipus complex. If a male student calls his mother less frequently than the norm, he has an unresolved Oedipus complex. Freud’s theory cannot be used to predict personality traits or behaviors It explains phenomena after the fact

Freud’s Contributions Importance of unconscious thoughts, feelings and motivation Role of early childhood experiences in forming personality Physical disorders can have psychological origins There is tension between biological impulses and social well-being