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Personality Psychology
Chapter 7 Psychoanalytic Approaches Contemporary
Issues
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Neoanalysts Disagreements with Freud

• Freud emphasized sex too much
• Sexuality is not important in infancy
• Different view of the Unconscious
• Different view of the Ego

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Views of the Unconscious

• Psychoanalytic Neoanalytic_________
  
• Motivated unconscious Cognitive unconscious
• Conflicts bring info into Priming/Cog.
  Mechanisms bring
• awareness info into awareness
• Autonomous Not autonomous
• Greatly influences beh. Does not greatly
  influence beh.
• Repressed Not repressed
• Stores unacceptable thoughts Stores harmless
  thoughts
• Primitive, irrational, dramatic Peaceful,
  rational, benign
• We arent at all aware of info. We arent aware
  of some of the info some of the time

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Neoanalysts Extensions of Freud

• Underlying processes among the Id, Ego, and
  Superego do occur
• Childhood experiences are important
• Defenses are the result of dealing with anxiety
  that reflects various, underlying psychological
  conflicts

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Neoanalytic Paradigm

• All points of disagreement with Freud are
  included in their paradigm
• Ego processes and development are central to an
  understanding of personality (Ego Psychology)
• The Egos primary tasks revolve around the nature
  and quality of the persons relations with other
  people (Psychosocial Theory)

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Ego Psychology

• A psychodynamic framework that stresses Ego
  functioning Ego functioning is given greater
  status than it was accorded by Freud
• The Egos purpose of adaptation and the conscious
  processes by which it takes place are more
  important than its battles for control over the
  Id
• Ego exists at birth, apart from the Id
• Different theorists had varying views on how the
  Ego allow us to achieve greater adaptation
• White, Jeanne and Jack Block, Adler, Erikson

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Ego Psychology

• White
• Effectance motivation
• Competence motivation
• Jeanne and Jack Block
• Ego control
• Ego resiliency

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Ego Psychology Adler

• Early childhood experiences
• Personality as a process of inferiority
• Compensatory process
• Strive for superiority
• Birth order
• Future experiences
• Response through lifestyle
• Healthy Adaptive ways of responding
• Mistaken Maladaptive ways of responding

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Adlers Four Points

• 1. Goals
• Movement of all living things is governed by
  goals goals are what unifies ones personality
• Future-oriented

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Adlers Four Points

• 2. Fictional Finalism
• Each person has guiding self-ideal
• Subjective
• Motivating yet never achieved
• Partly known partly unknown
• Changes according to situation
• Striving towards superiority
• Not competitive

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Adlers Four Points

• 3. Inferiority
• Inferior feelings drive personality
• Origins in infancy
• Not considered abnormal
• Motivating force
• 4. Birth Order
• Based upon interactions with siblings
• Different types of parental attention
• Influence goals

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Birth Order

• First-born
• All of parental attention
• Exaggerated sense of importance
• Dethroned with 2nd child
• Sensitivity to power issues
• Second-born
• Competes with older from birth
• Less sensitive to power issues
• Often the higher achiever

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Birth Order

• Youngest Child
• Pampered and spoiled
• Undermines desire to strive
• Unrealistic sense of entitlement
• Only Child
• Never dethroned
• May develop exaggerated sense of importance

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Neoanalytic Paradigm

• All points of disagreement with Freud are
  included in their paradigm
• Ego processes and development are central to an
  understanding of personality (Ego Psychology)
• The Egos primary tasks revolve around the nature
  and quality of the persons relations with other
  people (Psychosocial Theory)

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Psychosocial Theories

• Eriksons Lifespan Development Theory
• Object Relations
• Attachment Theory

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Psychosocial Psychology

• Personality is inherently social/interactive
  Outward, not inward-focused
• Ones relationships with other people (i.e.
  parents) influence the development of personality
• Continues to emphasize the Ego rather than Id or
  Superego

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Erikson

• Differed from Freud
• Psychosocial, not psychosexual
• Lifespan development
• Similar to Freud
• Stage-like
• Predominant themes
• Conflicts or psychosocial crises
• Themes
• Development of Ego Identity
• Competence and personal adequacy

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Ego Psychology

• Eriksons Eight Stages of Development
• Trust vs. Mistrust
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
• Initiative vs. Guilt
• Industry vs. Inferiority

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Ego Psychology

• Eriksons Eight Stages of Development
• Identity vs. Role Confusion
• Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Generativity vs. Stagnation
• Integrity vs. Despair

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Object Relations

• Group of theories that focus on an individuals
  relationships with other people (the object is
  the other person)
• Child internalizes image of mother and uses it to
  compare to other people
• The Egos function is to bond with other people
• Two broad themes
• Early childhood sets persons style of social
  interaction
• These patterns recur throughout life

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Margaret Mahler

• Development of personality is a process of
  separation from, and internalization of, the
  mother
• Symbiosis (newborn)
• Separation-Individuation (infancy)
• Mental Representation (toddlerhood)
• Aspects of development
• Pace (separation anxiety)
• Balance (emotional availability vs. independence)

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Aspects of Object Relations

• The object is a person
• Learn from the external world ? develop internal
  model of the object ? use this model to interpret
  and act on external world
• Internalized image used to view parent and others
• We do not notice patterns of relating to others
• Forms the core of personality

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Attachment Theory

• Attachment to caregiver serves as a foundation
  for behavior and relationships to other people
• Mother secure base from which child can explore
  world
• Results from ability of parent to be responsive
  to childs needs for protection, nurturance, and
  support
• Provides internal model of relationships

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Attachment Theorists

• Harlows experiments with infant monkeys
• Bowlbys three catagories
• Happy
• Separation Anxiety
• Detached
• Ainsworths Strange Situation

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Strange Situation

• 8 minutes
• Supposes the question Can I count on my
  caregiver to be responsive and supportive when
  needed?
• Found same three behavior patterns

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Research-based Attachment Patterns

• Securely Attached (66)
• Explored bravely, interacted with stranger, happy
  to be reunited with mother
• Avoidantly Attached (20)
• No behavior change when mother left, appeared
  aloof, no emotion when mother returned
• Ambivalently Attached (12)
• Anxious when mother left hard to soothe by
  stranger, both relieved/happy and angry at
  mothers return
• Disorganized (2)
• Random responses when mother left seem
  disoriented or dazed when mother returned

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Attachment status has to do with Expectation of
the child

• Secure babies affectionate, responsive mothers
  (babies expect response)
• Avoidant babies less attentive, less responsive,
  distant, rejecting mothers (babies expect
  distance so they do not respond)
• Ambivalent babies inconsistently attentive,
  inconsistently responsive mothers (babies do not
  know what to expect, so they must always try to
  get attention or also respond inconsistently)
• Disorganized babies mothers may be giving off
  confused, frightening cues as a result of trauma
  or psychopathology (babies respond in a confused
  way early on respond with parenting behavior at
  later age)

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Attachment vs. Object Relations?

• Object Relations the infant forms internal
  representation of person-object and then expects
  others to act similarly so similarly interacts
  with others as with parent
• Attachment Theory the infant forms internal
  representation of other persons responsiveness
  and their relationship, and then expects others
  to respond similarly
• Both Early experience and relationship with
  caregivers determine adult personality

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Contemporary Attachment Research

• Van de Boom, 1989 Does infant temperament
  predict insecure attachment?
• Study 1 Classified infants as irritable then
  followed to 1 year to determine later attachment
  status
• Study 2 Intervention study Trained half of
  mothers with irritable infants in
  responsiveness/sensitivity other half control
  group tested both groups 1 year later

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Contemporary Attachment Research

• Keller, 2001 Does attachment status predict
  behavior problems?
• Study 1 Looked at many variables in a group of
  161 mothers and children including to infant
  attachment, mother negativity, family ecology,
  parenting measures examined child behavior
  problems 3 years later

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Contemporary Attachment Research

• Aspects of father-attachment
• Fox, Kimmerly, Shafer, 1991
• Attachment status seems to be consistent for
  both parents
• Lincoln, 1985
• Study 1 Father-infant attachment developed
  later than mother-infant attachment
• Study 2 Father seems to play key role in
  separation-individuation process, predicting
  child autonomy moreso than mother

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Contemporary Attachment Research

• Brennan and Shaver (1993) How long-standing is
  attachment status?
• Study 1 Retrospective report of adults about
  early relationships with parents then measured
  adult attachment style based on questionnaires on
  current and past relationships
• Results Childhood attachment status seemed to
  predict some adult patterns
• Ainsworth Bowlby (1991)
• Adult can revise mental representation and even
  internalize new representation of secure
  relationship through nurturing, secure
  relationship

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Adult Attachment Styles (Hazan Shaver)

• Secure
• Easy to get to know feel liked by others
  believe others are well-intentioned
• Avoidant
• Suspicious of other people believe they do not
  need others to be happy
• Ambivalent
• Have more self-doubts feel misunderstood and
  under-appreciated believe others are less
  willing and able than they to commit to a
  relationship