Chapter 14 Flashcards
personality traits
characterize individuals’ customary ways of responding to their world
personality
the distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person’s responses to life situations
Three Characteristics of Personality
- components of identity that distinguish that person from other people
- the behaviours are viewed as being caused primarily by internal rather than environmental factors
- the person’s behaviours seem to “fit together” in a meaningful fashion, suggesting an inner personality that guides and directs behaviour
theory is scientifically useful if:
(1) provides a comprehensive framework within which known facts can be incorporated
(2) allows us to predict future events with some precision
(3) stimulates the discovery of new knowledge
Psychodynamic theorists
- look for the causes of behaviour in a dynamic interplay of inner forces that often conflict with one another
- focus on unconscious determinants of behaviour
Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
- was the first and most influential
conversion hysteria
physical symptoms such as paralysis and blindness appeared suddenly and with no apparent physical cause
- their symptoms were related to painful memories and feelings that seemed to have been repressed, or pushed out of awareness
- These observations convinced Freud that an unconscious part of the mind exerts great influence on behaviour
psychic energy
powers the mind and constantly presses for either direct or indirect release
Mental events may be…
conscious, preconscious, or unconscious
conscious mind
consists of mental events that we are presently aware of
preconscious mind
contains memories, thoughts, feelings, and images that we are unaware of at the moment but that can be called into conscious awareness
unconscious mind
a dynamic realm of wishes, feelings, and impulses that lies beyond our awareness. Only when impulses from the unconscious are discharged some way, such as in dreams, slips of the tongue, or some disguised behaviour, does the unconscious reveal itself
Freud divided personality into three separate but interacting structures:
the id, the ego, and the superego
The id
- exists totally within the unconscious mind
- It is the innermost core of the personality, the only structure present at birth, and the source of all psychic energy
- has no direct contact with reality and functions in a totally irrational manner
- Operating according to the pleasure principle
pleasure principle
seeks immediate gratification or release, regardless of rational considerations and environmental realities. Its dictum: “Want . . . take!”
The ego
- functions primarily at a conscious level, and it operates according to the reality principle
- must achieve compromise between the demands of the id, the constraints of the superego, and the demands of reality
- “executive of the personality.”
reality principle
It tests reality to decide when and under what conditions the id can safely discharge its impulses and satisfy its needs
anxiety
- When the ego confronts impulses that threaten to get out of control or is faced with dangers from the environment, anxiety results
- anxiety serves as a danger signal and motivates the ego to deal with the problem at hand
- the anxiety can be reduced through realistic coping behaviours. However, when realistic strategies are ineffective in reducing anxiety, the ego may resort to defence mechanisms
defence mechanisms
- deny or distort reality
- Some of the defence mechanisms permit the release of impulses from the id in disguised forms that will not conflict with the limits imposed by the external world or with the prohibitions of the superego
repression
- the ego uses some of its energy to prevent anxiety-arousing memories, feelings, and impulses from entering consciousness
- Repressed thoughts and wishes remain in the unconscious, but they may be expressed, as slips of the tongue or in dreams
sublimation
completely masking the forbidden underlying impulses
erogenous zones
specific pleasure-sensitive areas of the body
Neoanalysts
- psychoanalysts who disagreed with certain aspects of Freud’s thinking and developed their own theories
- Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Erik Erickson, and Carl Jung
- believed that Freud did not give social and cultural factors a sufficiently important role in the development and dynamics of personality. In particular, they believed that he stressed infantile sexuality too much
Alfred Adler
- insisted that humans are inherently social beings who are motivated by social interest
- They care about others, cooperate with them, and place general social welfare above selfish personal interests
social interest
the desire to advance the welfare of others
striving for superiority
drives people to compensate for real or imagined defects in themselves (the inferiority complex) and to strive to be ever more competent in life
Carl Jung
- developed his own theory of analytic psychology
- he believed that humans possess not only a personal unconscious based on their life experiences, but also a collective unconscious that consists of memories accumulated throughout the entire history of the human race. These memories are represented by archetypes
archetypes
inherited tendencies to interpret experience in certain ways
Object relations theorists
focus on the images or mental representations that people form of themselves and other people as a result of early experience with caregivers
psychoanalytic theory has often been criticized on scientific grounds:
- many of its specific propositions have not held up under the scrutiny of research
- it is hard to test, because it often explains too much to allow clear-cut behavioural predictions
reaction formation
which produces exaggerated behaviours that are the opposite of the impulse
self-actualization
the total realization of one’s human potential
George Kelly
- According to Kelly, people’s primary goal is to make sense out of the world, to find personal meaning in it. When they are unable to do so, they experience uncertainty and anxiety
- To achieve understanding, they try to explain and understand the events of their lives by attempting to anticipate, to predict.
- the personal construct system was the primary basis for individual differences in personality
personal constructs
cognitive categories into which they sort the people and events in their lives
fixed-role therapy
- He wrote role descriptions and behavioural scripts for his clients that differed from their typical views of themselves.
- Kelly hoped that by trying out the new role, the client might gain a firsthand appreciation for the ways in which different constructions and behaviours could lead to more satisfying life outcomes.
Carl Roger’s Self Theory
Rogers believed that our behaviour is not a reaction to unconscious conflicts but a response to our immediate conscious experience of self and environment
- He believed that the forces that direct behaviour are within us and that, when they are not distorted or blocked by our environment, they can be trusted to direct us toward self-actualization.
The Self
- an organized, consistent set of perceptions of and beliefs about oneself
- the self plays a powerful role in guid- ing our perceptions and directing our behaviour
Self-concept
now a more widely used term than “the self” and conveys much the same meaning as intended by “Self.”
self-consistency
an absence of conflict among self-perceptions
congruence
consistency between self- perceptions and experience
“problems in living”
- Any experience we have that is inconsistent with our self-con- cept, including our perceptions of our own behaviour, evokes threat and anxiety.
- Well-adjusted individuals can respond to threat adaptively by modifying the self-concept so that the experiences are congruent with the self. But other people choose to deny or distort their experiences to remove the incongruence.
Self-esteem
refers to how positively or negatively we feel about ourselves, and it is a very important aspect of personal well-being, happiness, and adjustment
- self-concept is how we perceive and describe ourselves, self-esteem is our affective evaluation of that description.
People with high self-esteem
- are less susceptible to social pressure
- have fewer interpersonal problems
- are happier with their lives, achieve at a higher and more persistent level
- are more capable of forming satisfying love relationships
