Personality characteristics that define a person’s behavior, cognition, and emotion Psychoanalytic Theory Psychodynamic Theory Birth Order Theory Humanistic Theory Trait Theory Social-Cognitive Theory

Intro to Psychodynamic Theory Those who were influenced by Freud and his work but modified them were known as the neo-Freudians. Erik Erikson, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney (among others) They accepted his basic ideas of the id, ego, and superego, the unconscious, the shaping of personality in childhood, and the defense mechanisms But they disagreed with his emphasis on sexual desires and believed social experiences played a larger role This view (and change in thinking) led to the new name “Psychodynamic” The difference is important!

T The Neo-Freudians Carl Jung: expanded Freud’s idea of the unconscious to claim we all shared a collective unconscious a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species history that contains archetypes (universal ideas such as the “caring mother”, angel/demons, or creation/apocalypse, etc.) Alfred Adler: believed the driving force in personality was overcoming inferiority toward others or toward tasks (inferiority complex) Adler was always sick growing up and developed rickets (bone calcification); based theory on life? Karen Horney: criticized Freud’s sexist theories and believed personality was formed by overcoming childhood anxiety by seeking love and comfort, specifically from parents also believed men had “womb envy”

Assessing the Unconscious You are going to see three different ambiguous images. Your job is to tell a dramatic story about each image. Try to include… what has led up to the event what is happening at the moment what the characters are thinking and feeling what the outcome of the story is You’ll have three minutes for each picture. Try to keep writing the entire time duration. Don’t stop early.

Assessing the Unconscious This time you are going to be shown ten different inkblot pictures. Each will only be shown for a few seconds. Write down the first thing that comes to mind when you see each inkblot. Don’t over-think it; just write your immediate reaction.

Projective Tests Anyone want to share their story? You just took two examples of what psychodynamic psychologists refer to as “projective tests”. These work similarly to the defense mechanism projection… Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): subjects reveal their unconscious motives, concerns, feelings, and interests in the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes Whatever you wrote actually is a reflection of yourself… you “project” your own unconscious onto the image The actual use of the TAT by psychologists utilizes between 8-20 “cards” Has undergone some criticism for not being “scientific” enough of an assessment

Projective Tests Inkblot test has low reliability and low validity Rorschach Inkblot Test: subjects perceptions of inkblots are recorded and analyzed using psychological interpretation to examine personality characteristics and emotional functioning Look through your answers for any patterns… Where do you see the image? to the right: you focus on the future to the left: you focus on the past in the center: you focus on the here and now in the upper portion: you are an achiever in the lower portion: you are sad about something in the white spots: you are a creative, unusual thinker in the dark spots: you are a typical thinker What types of images do you see? inanimate objects: you are good at mechanical things plants or animals: you like nature people: you are sociable Inkblot test has low reliability and low validity

The modern Unconscious The modern view of the unconscious has shifted from Freud’s idea into a part of the mind that deals with automatic processing… schemas for perceptions/interpretations and emotion activation priming of memory associations and implicit (skill-based) memories self-concepts for ourselves and stereotypes for others Defense mechanisms (besides repression) are widely accepted and verified through testing False Consensus Effect: people tend to overestimate the extent to which their own beliefs or opinions are typical of others Those who cheat on their taxes assume others do as well Think of this as a modern day update of the “projection” defense mechanism Terror-Management Theory: conflict that results from having a desire to live but realizing death is inevitable Some believe the “defense mechanism” for this is turning to religion or creating a family to ensure your “legacy”