Personality What is personality? “Personality is the organization of enduring behavior patterns that often serve to distinguish us from one another.” Examine the whole person, unlike previous units. Try to address fundamental issues of human nature and individual differences.

Big Questions: Personality vs. situation Is personality stable across situations? Is personality stable over time? Do people agree about a person’s personality? Does personality predict behavior? Nature vs. Nurture

Four major perspectives on Personality Psychodynamic - unconscious motivations Trait - specific dimensions of personality Humanistic - inner capacity for growth Social-Cognitive - influence of environment

Personality The Psychodynamic Perspective Freud’s model of the mind and personality structure Psychosexual stages Defense mechanisms Neo-Freudians Projective tests

Psychodynamic Perspective Considered father of modern psychology. Introduced psychological concepts, though now considered obsolete, still remain part of popular culture. Unconscious mind, psychosexual stages, and defense mechanisms. Psychoanalysis was born! Criticized unscientific process and for ignoring developmental phases of women. Saw women as inferior and defective. OBJECTIVE 44-2| Explain how Freud’s experiences in private practice led to his theory of psychoanalysis. In his clinical practice, Freud encountered patients suffering from nervous disorders whose complaints could not be explained in terms of purely physical causes. His experience led him to develop the first comprehensive theory of personality which included, the unconscious mind, psychosexual stages and defense mechanisms. Psychoanalysis was born! Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Psychodynamic Perspective In his clinical practice, Freud encountered patients suffering from nervous disorders whose complaints could not be explained in terms of purely physical causes. His experience led him to develop the first comprehensive theory of personality which included, the unconscious mind, psychosexual stages and defense mechanisms. Psychoanalysis was born! Culver Pictures Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Root of Psychoanalysis: The Unconscious A reservoir (unconscious mind) of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories. Freud asked patients to say whatever came to their mind (free association) to tap the unconscious. OBJECTIVE 44-3| Discuss Freud’s view of the mind as an iceberg, and explain how he used this image to represent conscious and unconscious regions of the mind. http://www.english.upenn.edu

Psychoanalysis: Dream Analysis Another method to analyze the unconscious mind is through interpreting the manifest and latent contents of dreams. The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli (1791)

Were these memories real? Or false memories? Psychoanalysis The process of free association, dream analysis, and the analysis of Freudian slips led to painful, embarrassing unconscious memories. Once these memories were retrieved and released, the patient felt better. Were these memories real? Or false memories?

Freud’s personality structure Psychosexual stages of development Defense mechanisms

Freud’s Model of the Mind The mind is like an iceberg. Mostly hidden and below the surface lies the unconscious mind. The preconscious, stores temporary memories. Do others know “the real you”? Why or why not? What types of things do you keep hidden from casual friends and acquaintances? Why? Freud believed that people were like icebergs… with only a small portion of their personalities revealed and the rest hidden from view. What types of things do you share? Why?

Freud believed that people were like icebergs… with only a small portion of their personalities revealed and the rest hidden from view. Do others know “the real you”? Why or why not? What types of things do you keep hidden from casual friends and acquaintances? Why? What types of things do you share? Why?

Personality Structure Personality develops as a result of our efforts to resolve conflicts between our biological impulses (id) and social restraints (superego). OBJECTIVE 44-4| Describe Freud’s view of personality structure, and discuss the interactions of the id, ego and the superego.

Id, Ego and Superego Id unconsciously strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, demanding immediate gratification. Works on the “pleasure principle” Superego provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. The last one to develop in a person. Works on the “moral principle” Largely conscious, ego functions as the “executive” and mediates the demands of id and superego. Works on the “reality principle” The id is the part of the personality that contains our primitive impulses—such as thirst, anger, hunger—and the desire for instant gratification or release. The id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the other circumstances of the situation. The id is sometimes represented by a devil sitting on someone’s shoulder. As this devil sits there, he tells the ego to base behavior on how the action will influence the self, specifically how it will bring the self pleasure. The superego is the part of the personality that represents the conscience, the moral part of us. The superego develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers. It dictates our belief of right and wrong. The superego is sometimes represented by an angel sitting on someone’s shoulder, telling the ego to base behavior on how the action will influence society. The ego is the part of the personality that maintains a balance between our impulses (our id) and our conscience (our superego). The ego works, in other words, to balance the id and superego. The ego is represented by a person, with a devil (the id) on one shoulder and an angel (the superego) on the other.

Ego: Batman/Bruce Wayne — Wants to keep order, and will use questionable means to do so. Id: The Joker: Sadistic, determined to show that deep down, all people are heartless monsters. Superego: Harvey Dent: Gotham's White Knight, wants to remain above chaos for justice. Id: Alan Ego: Phil Superego: Stu (Superego when reduced to a trio, even if he fits Ego more) and Doug (the actual Superego; unfortunately he's the Living MacGuffin – object that drives the story or plot) Luke: Balances the two (ego) Leia: Coolheaded, pragmatic, devoted to duty (superego) Han: Impatient, hotheaded, operates on instinct (id)

Personality Development Freud believed that personality formed during life’s first few years divided into psychosexual stages. During these stages the id’s pleasure seeking energies focus on pleasure sensitive body areas called erogenous zones. OBJECTIVE 44-5| Identify Freud’s psychosexual stages of development, and describe the effects of fixation on behavior.

Oedipus & Electra Complex …or tell me about your mother. Can arise during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. Oedipus complex refers to a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father. - Castration Anxiety Electra complex refers to a girl’s desire for the father. - Penis Envy

Identification Resolution of Oedipus and Electra Complex: Children cope with threatening feelings by repressing them and by identifying with the rival parent. Superego gains strength by incorporating parents’ values. In classical, Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the child’s identification with the same-sex parent is his and her key psychological experience to developing a mature sexual role and identity. Freud further proposed that girls and boys resolved their complexes differently — he via castration anxiety, she via penis envy; and that unsuccessful resolutions might lead to neurosis, pedophilia, and homosexuality. Hence, men and women who are fixated in the Oedipal and Electra stages of their psychosexual development might be considered “mother-fixated” and “father-fixated” as revealed when the mate (sexual partner) resembles the mother or the father.

Defense Mechanisms Ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. 1. Repression banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness. This is at the root of all defense mechanisms OBJECTIVE 44-6| Describe the function of defense mechanisms, and identify six of them. 2. Regression leads an individual faced with anxiety to retreat to a more infantile psychosexual stage.

Defense Mechanisms 3. Reaction Formation causes the ego to unconsciously switch unacceptable impulses into their opposites. People may express feelings of purity when they may be suffering anxiety from unconscious feelings about sex. 4. Projection leads people to disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.

Defense Mechanisms 5. Rationalization offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions. 6. Displacement shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or persons… redirecting anger toward a safer outlet.

Defense Mechanisms Denial Refusal to accept reality or fact, acting as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist. Sublimation Channel impulses into acceptable behavior. Often uses humor. Compensation process of psychologically counterbalancing perceived weaknesses by emphasizing strength in other areas. For instance, a person who is a functioning alcoholic will often simply deny they have a drinking problem, pointing to how well they function in their job and relationships. Sublimation can also be done with humor or fantasy. Humor, when used as a defense mechanism, is the channeling of unacceptable impulses or thoughts into a light-hearted story or joke. Humor reduces the intensity of a situation, and places a cushion of laughter between the person and the impulses

Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective Freud's psychoanalytic theory rests on repression of painful experiences into the unconscious mind. Majority of children, death camp survivors, battle-scared veterans are unable to repress painful experiences into their unconscious mind.

Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective Freud’s theory has been criticized on scientific merits. Psychoanalysis is meagerly testable. Most of its concepts arise out of clinical practice which are after-the-fact explanations.