The Pursuit of Personality

1
The Pursuit of Personality

• Psychologys central quest?

2
personality

• Again, a concept weve all discussed, wondered
  about, made predictions on .
• But we cannot readily agree as to what it is.
• Our characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling
  and acting, or
• The stable ways in which our mood and behaviors
  differ from one another

3
Four major approaches

• Psychodynamic the interplay of conflicting
  forces, many unrecognized, within us
• Trait the study of consistent personal
  characteristics
• Humanistic we make conscious decisions about
  the direction of our lives
• Learning reinforcement shapes us

4
psychodynamics

• Originated by Sigmund Freud (1855-1938)
• Dreamed of being a scientist
• Pushed into psychiatry
• Mainly treated middle-aged Jewish women
• Used talking therapy with patients
• Developed first theory of personality
• Unsurpassed fame but little current influence?

5
psychoanalysis

• A basic concept with two, related, meanings
• 1) An explanation for how conscious and
  unconscious forces interact to produce
  personality, and
• 2) A method to treat psychological problems

6
More basics

• The Unconscious a pool of memories, emotions
  and thoughts, many illogical and irrational, that
  unknowingly affect behavior
• Like an iceberg below the water-line
• Many of these hidden memories and desires have
  been repressed (purposely forgotten) due to their
  traumatic nature

7
Developmental stages

• Psychosexual in nature
• Traces how our basic desires, sex/libido and
  aggression, are changed and expressed as we grow
• Freud claimed that we are obsessed with the
  pleasures of each stage
• If thwarted at a stage, trouble follows due to a
  fixation at that stage, expressed through defense
  mechanisms

8
At the beginning

• The Oral stage pleasure derived through
  stimulation of the mouth
• The first year or so
• If fixated, problems show up through excessive
  talking, eating, smoking, or any other activity
  involving the mouth

9
The controversial anal stage

• Pleasure comes from retaining and expelling feces
  
• If there is psychic trauma from the course of
  toilet training .
• Two types of fixations
• Retentive excessively neat controlling
• Explosive just the opposite

10
much more controversy

• The Phallic stage pleasure from our genitals
• Infantile sexuality the claim that at the age
  of 5 we have powerful sexual desires
• The Oedipus complex boys lust for their mothers
• Dad, standing in the way, is both resented and
  feared castration anxiety

11
But what about girls?

• They are just as sexual
• The Electra complex girls desire for dad and
  ill-will towards mom
• Girls also experience penis envy
• Freud was never satisfied with his explanation
  for female psychosexual development even though
  women were the great majority of his patients

12
A sudden halt

• From the ages of seven or eight, we suppress
  these raging desires and slowly begin to identify
  with our same-sex parent
• From then until our early teens our sexual
  energies lie dormant in the Latent stage

13
Finally ..

• At 14 or 15 our sexual capabilities are ripe
• The Genital Stage
• But are we really ready for mature sexual
  relationships?!?

14
Could this be true?

• Questionable evidence
• Small, non-representative sample
• Very vague, cannot falsify
• Never really looked at real children
• No verification

15
Personalitys structure

• The id
• At birth, our considerable psychic energy resides
  in our id
• The inner reptile, composed of our basic
  biological drives
• Completely selfish, it demands immediate
  gratification
• Never constrained by the limits of reality

16
(No Transcript)
17
The ego

• Arises after the primal id
• The voice of reality
• Operates in the world of laws, morals and ethics
• Must postpone the ids satisfaction to an
  appropriate time and place
• As if that werent enough, it must pacify its
  other demanding boss, the .

18
The super-ego

• Takes form during the long latent stage as we
  assimilate our same-sex parents world view
• The internalization of our parents and societys
  morals
• Just as unreasonable and uncompromising as the id
• More tyrant than conscience

19
(No Transcript)
20
Freud reconsidered

• Fraud or genius?
• Shortcomings
• 1) no empirical proof, not that he cared
• 2) too much unconscious and sex
• 3) male-oriented
• 4) derived from work with mentally ill
• 5) therapy long and ineffective

21
A genius

• First integrated, comprehensive theory
• Superb ability to organize and synthesize
• First to pay attention to childhood and
  development
• Unrivalled in influence
• Recent findings support some concepts

22

• Stressed great care and
• sensitivity towards patients
• A devoted son
• A father
• A motto that works for all of us
• To love and to work.

23
The neo-Freudians

• Theorists who accepted some aspects of Freuds
  approach but modified others
• Many fell under his magnetic influence only to
  drift (or be pushed) away
• Sex and the id declined in importance

24
Karen Horney 1885-1952

• A feminine perspective
• Rejected emphasis on sex people talked to her
  about financial concerns
• Anxiety caused sex problems, not reverse
• Destroyed concept of penis envy
• Stressed the importance of society and culture
• Hostility preshadowing attachment?

25
Anna Freud 1885-1982

• Worked closely
• with her father
• Elaborated
• defense mechanisms
• Actually
• investigated childhood
• Coined the term
• separation anxiety

26
Defense mechanisms

• Maladaptive techniques we use to ward off anxiety
• Denial refusing to believe information that
  causes anxiety
• Rationalization nonsensically justifying bad
  decisions or outcomes
• Displacement redirecting responses towards less
  threatening targets

27
More defenses

• Regression reverting to a more primitive level
  of behavior
• Projection accusing another of having your
  faults
• Reaction formation presenting yourself as the
  opposite of what you are
• Sublimation channeling undesirable desires into
  good works

28
(No Transcript)
29
Carl Yung 1875-1961

• Initially Freuds
• crown prince
• Later, a bitter split
• Much more positive
• Discussed the spiritual
• and mystical
• Introduced intriguing concepts

30
The collective unconscious

• From his exhaustive reading of world mythology,
  noticed similarities in many fundamental concepts
• Claimed that we all share a common pool of images
  and ideas accumulated through the centuries
• Fascinating, but contradicted by genetics
• The Mandala

31
Introversion vs. extroversion

• Some people are just naturally outgoing
• Others are shy and reserved
• He thought we possessed both qualities, in
  differing degrees
• Now viewed as traits, corroborated by the most
  demanding of statistical criteria

32
The inner journey towards development

• First to argue that we all strive to be more
  complete and unified
• A life journey changes from a Quest for
  Becoming to a Quest for Meaning
• Composed of opposing forces, we strive for
  reconciliation and the merging of these opposing
  currents
• His final dream

33
Alfred Adler 1870-1937

• The first to depart
• Again, sex
• Invented Individual
• Psychology the study
• of a person as a whole
• First - mental health as a positive state
• Social Interest our desire for the welfare of
  others

34
Striving for superiority

• Adler, often injured as a child, claimed that we
  all possess a Striving for Superiority
• We all want to be better at what we do
• We are conscious of our needs and goal-directed
• Trouble arises from The Inferiority Complex
  seeing ourselves as weak and ineffectual