The Psychology of Personality and Individual Differences

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The Psychology of Personality and Individual
Differences

• Lecturer Cathal OSiochru
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• Neo-Freudians Personal Psychology

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Neo-Analytics

• Similarities to Freud
• All recognised the existence of and EGO
• All recognised some form of UNCONSCIOUS
  motivation
• Most recognised the influence of ANXIETY and our
  attempts of avoid or reduce it
• Differences to Freud
• All rejected the idea that SEX was central
• All were more positive in their views.

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Carl Jung 1875 - 1961

• Psycho-physics
• Libido Driving force of the self, source of
  its energy. Composed of general life energy (not
  just sexual)
• Principles of
• equivalence
• entropy
• opposites

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Jungs Topology

• Conscious
• Ego - Still the arbiter between conscious and
  unconscious but no longer the centre of
  personality
• Personal unconscious
• Unacceptable components of the Psyche
• Gender opposite components
• Complexes
• Collective unconscious
• archetypes - symbols
• persona - public representation
• anima - female component
• animus - male component
• shadow dark side

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The Self

• The Self
• Rejects the idea of independent components and
  instead proposes an interdependent system, the
  Self.
• Ultimate targets of development of the Self are

• Individuation recognise each component of the
  psyche and re-unify them
• Compensation the development of those
  components neglected by consciousness
• Self-realisation - harmonise between all
  opposites in the psyche

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Personality Development

• Stages of Development
• 1 Childhood (birth to adolescence)
• libido directed to learning to walk etc
• after 5 directed to sexual development
• 2 Young Adulthood (adolescence to 40)
• libido directed to vocation, marriage, kids etc
• outgoing, energetic
• 3 Middle Age (40 to later years)
• switches to more spiritual, philosophical 

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Empirical Evidence

• Rosen et al (1991).
• Asked people to remember pairs of images and
  words
• In some cases there was a match between the image
  (symbol) and the archetype the word was derived
  from
• They recalled more of the match-pairs then the
  mismatch-pairs
• No awareness of the archetypes the matches
  represented.
• Cope (2006) Current research in the cognitive
  neurosciences investigating memory, emotional
  imagery, and emotions provides ample support for
  a neurological stratum to Jungs concept
  emotional complexes.
• A fear of Jung,
• Anyone familiar with Jungs works notices similar
  terminology, ideas, and even conclusions.
• They dont mention Jungs name or his
  psychological research.

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Attitudes Functions of Thought

• Functions of thought
• Rational Functions
• T - thinking identifies, classifies
• F - feeling determines worth, liking and
  disliking
• Irrational Functions
• S - sensing focuses on what can be
  detected/learned
• i - intuiting going beyond knowledge
• Attitudes
• introversion/extroversion
• perceiving/judging

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Jung, Psi and Quantum Physics

• Jung psychology "irrepresentables
  archetypes,
• Pauli quantum physics "irrepresentables
  micro-particles
• Jung concluded, "When the existence of two or
  more irrepresentables is assumed, there is always
  the possibility which we tend to overlook
  that it may not be a question of two or more
  factors but of one only."
• Unus mundus
• "...that the multiplicity of the empirical world
  rests on an underlying unity, and that not two or
  more fundamentally different worlds exist side-
  by- side or are mingled with one another."

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Pros Cons

• Significant Developments
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• the EGO as the center of your IDENTITY
• Gender opposites and complexes
• Functions and Attitudes
• A more positive view of humanity

• Cons
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• Non-Scientific
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• Contradictory
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• Elitist
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• Overly mystical

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Socio-cultural Theories of Personality

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Alfred Adler
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Alfred Adler 1870 - 1937

• Socio-cultural Theory
• Development cannot be understood by a study of
  the individual. We must also examine the external
  social world in which that individual life has
  developed
• Vygotsky Zone of Proximal Development
• Bandura Social Learning Theory
• Adler Individual Psychology

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Complexes

• We are driven to strive for superiority over our
  inferiorities
• This theory incorporates political struggles such
  as the struggle against inequality.
• If the struggle went wrong complexes would
  result 

Inferiority Complex Being overwhelmed by feelings
of inferiority and ceasing to struggle against
it. Superiority Complex Striving for superiority
without an interest in the wider community.
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Social Interest

• All problems stem from the challenges of living
  together. Ignoring social interest leads to
  problems.
• Social Interest is an inborn capacity of humans
  but must be fostered during childhood.
• The mother-child bond is the prototype for later
  action.
• The aim of this process was to foster a socially
  useful type, who confronts problems and solves
  them in a socially useful way.
• Physical inferiority, pampering or neglect during
  childhood can lead to complexes and even a
  mistaken lifestyle.

   
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Fictions
Fiction Healthy Reaction
Neurotic
Men cant control Their sexual appetites
Time Exists
In most people fictions are constantly revised
and modified. The neurotic forget that fictions
are just tools and so cannot revise them. For
neurotics inconsistent experiences are adapted to
be consistent with our fictions or they simply
ignore them. No need for the Freudian concept of
burying a trauma in the unconscious.
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Fictional Finalism Lifestyle

• Created at an early age, 5-8 yrs. Guiding
  self-ideal.
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• Combination of fictions and inferiority. Results
  in a 'world view' that guides the persons life
  from then on.
• A combination of complexes and neurotic fictions
  can result in a mistaken lifestyle.

Fiction Healthy Reaction
Pathology
The world is a competitive place
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Treatment through Social Interest

• Lack of social interest leads to a mistaken
  lifestyle.
• ruling dominant type dominate others
• getting/leaning type greedy, parasitic
• avoidant type shirks responsibility

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Adlerian Therapy

• Therapy must treat the whole person and raise
  social interest through cooperation and
  collaboration.
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• No blame or criticism, as this just increases
  sense of inferiority.
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• Group/Family Therapy
• Birth order, first memories
• Behavioural mannerisms.
• Dream analysis
• Overcoming Safeguards

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Overcoming Safeguards
Neurotic symptom safeguards the patient from the
experience of the inferiority feelings.
Distancing moving backward standing
still hesitation Constructing obstacles,
Experiencing anxiety Exclusion tendency
Excuses "yes,but.." "if only" Aggression
Depreciation Idealization Solicitude Accusation
and self-accusation
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Pros Cons

• Significant Developments
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• Recognised the importance social variables
• Concept of inferiority and striving to compensate
• First to propose the idea of group/family therapy
• Hugely influential on theories of personality
  with a more positive view of humanity

• Cons
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• Birth order research is contradictory
• Terminology lacks clear definition
• Too optimistic, finds it hard to explain more
  negative aspects of human behaviour.

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Evaluating the Neo-Analytics

• Similarities with Freud
• Significant departures from Freud
• The value of those departures

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Further Study In Hope

• Hope Library Classmark for Jung and Adler
  180.192
• Jung, S. A. (1985) Jung the Post-Jungians.
  London R. K.P.
• Stevens, A. (2002) Archetype revisited an
  updated natural history of the self . (2nd ed)
  London Brunner-Routledge.
• Tacey, David J. (2001) Jung and the New Age.
  Brunner-Routledge, 2001

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Further Study Outside of Hope

• Online MBTI
• http//www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
• Cope, T.A. (2006) Fear of Jung Complex Doctrine
  and the Science of Emotions. Karnac Books (n/a)
• Rosen, D. H., Smith, S. M., Huston, H. L.
  Gonzalez, G., (1991) Empirical study of
  associations between symbols and their meanings
  Evidence of collective unconscious (archetypal)
  memory, Journal of Analytical Psychology, 36, 211
  228. (n/a)