AP Psychology Feb. 6th Objective Opener Evaluate the main personality perspectives by completing a graphic organizer. Apply Freud’s theories to a case study (Id, Ego, Superego) and scenarios (defense mechanisms) Share your results from your personality test webquest with your group.

What is Personality? Personality How people differ at the individual level Personality An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

The Psychoanalytic Perspective Freud’s Theory Unconscious motivations influence personality

The Psychoanalytic Perspective Psychoanalysis - Freud Theory of personality that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts People are motivated by unacceptable passions for sex and aggression, so we repress those motivations from consciousness, causing conflict Techniques used in treating psychological disorders that seek to expose and interpret unconscious conflicts Based on the existence of conditions with no basis in neurology (e.g., numb hand but no nerve damage)

Psychoanalytic Structure of the Mind The mind is divided into 3 parts: Conscious mind contains things that occupy one’s current attention Preconscious mind contains things that aren’t currently in consciousness, but can be accessed Unconscious mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories that are beyond awareness

Psychoanalytic Personality Structure Freud’s “iceberg” idea of the mind’s structure Abstract concepts for understanding the mind’s conflicts between pleasure-seeking and social restraint Preconscious

Psychoanalytic Personality Structure Personality is also divided into 3 structures: Id: Governed by inborn instinctual drives, especially those related to sex and aggression Obeys the pleasure principle Superego: Motivates people to act in an ideal fashion, according to moral customs of parents and culture Obeys the idealistic principle Ego: Induces people to act with reason and deliberation, and to conform to the requirements of the outside world Obeys the reality principle Id is entirely in unconscious mind superego and ego are divided between conscious and unconscious mind

Psychoanalytic Personality Structure Id (unconscious psychic energy) strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification (think of an infant) Must be restrained by reality “id-dominated” people more often use tobacco, alcohol, drugs

Psychoanalytic Personality Structure Superego (conscience) Internalized ideals (how we ought to behave) The conscience Idealized Self Internalized Parent At odds with the id

Psychoanalytic Personality Structure Ego (personality executive) the largely conscious, “executive mediator” part of personality In charge of coping with reality by constraining our perceptions, thoughts, judgments and memories Struggles to reconcile the id and the superego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring long-term pleasure rather than pain

The Cat in The Hat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQW8AfBdea4

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms Some Defense Mechanisms Ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality Different parts of personality are in constant conflict, especially with regard to the id Defense mechanisms ward off the resulting anxiety from these conflicts, often through self-deception Repression Denial Reaction formation Projection Rationalization Displacement Sublimation

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms Repression Cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness Incomplete repression when urges seep out in dream symbols and “Freudian slips”

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms Denial defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety denies the source of the anxiety

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms Reaction Formation defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings e.g., if you are jealous of someone, you may try to become their friend to suppress the jealousy

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms Projection defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others You accuse your mate of cheating on you because you have been fantasizing about another person

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms Rationalization defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions “It’s okay for me not to vote, because one vote doesn’t matter anyway” Disguises “I’d rather sleep late/hang out with my friends”, “I haven’t bothered to find out where to vote or the issues or candidates on the ballot” etc.

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms Displacement defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet You’re mad at your boss, so you punch the wall/kick the dog/yell at your friend, etc.

Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms Sublimation defense mechanism similar to displacement, but has positive (pro-social) consequences

Defense Mechanisms Application

Reliability v Validity

Assessing the Unconscious If personality emerges from the unconscious, how can we measure it? Projective Test a personality test, such as the Rorschach, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics People interpret unstructured or ambiguous stimuli Idea is that you “project” true thoughts, feelings into the interpretation, revealing your personality

Assessing the Unconscious Rorschach Inkblot Test the most widely used projective test a set of 10 inkblots designed by Hermann Rorschach seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

Assessing the Unconscious Is the Rorschach a good test of personality? Most scientists say no Subjective Not reliable (consistency of results) Different raters may interpret a patient’s response quite differently Not valid (do not predict accurately) Cannot identify who is suicidal and who isn’t However, some therapists still use these tests today

Problems with Freud Extremely influential on Western culture, but not accepted by many modern psychologists Criticisms: Ideas are not testable, nor do they predict behavior His observations were not scientific Over-reliance on case studies of disturbed individuals Biased against women Freud attributed women’s reports of childhood sexual abuse to unconscious conflicts and a weak superego