Myers’ EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (6th Ed) Chapter 12 Personality Modified from: James A. McCubbin, PhD Clemson University Worth Publishers

What is Personality?  Personality  Individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, & acting  Historic perspectives  Psychoanalytic  Humanistic

Psychoanalytic Perspective  Freud’s Theory  Proposed that childhood sexuality & unconscious motivations influence personality  Psychoanalysis  Attributes thoughts & actions to unconscious motives & conflicts  Treat psychological disorders by seeking to expose & interpret unconscious tensions  Used free association to explore unconscious

Psychoanalytic Perspective  Unconscious  According to Freud - a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings & memories  Contemporary viewpoint - information processing of which we are unaware

Personality Structure  Id  Reservoir of unconscious psychic energy  Strives to satisfy basic sexual & aggressive drives  Pleasure principle (immediate gratification)  Ego  Largely conscious, “executive” part of personality  Mediates among demands of id, superego, & reality  Reality principle, satisfying id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain  Superego  Internalized ideals  Standards for judgment (conscience) & aspirations

Personality Development  Psychosexual Stages  Childhood stages of development during which id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones  Fixation  Lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at earlier psychosexual stage, where conflicts unresolved

Personality Development Freud’s Psychosexual Stages 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)

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