4/5 : Freud and Personality

•  Levels of Focus (3)
• Societal level- trends of social behavior
• Sociology
• No research or experiments; Description method
• Individual level- unique life history and psychological characteristics
• Clinical and Personality psychologists
• P = average C = troubled
• Differentiation
• Interpersonal level- person's social situation
• Social psychologists
• S = average + environment
• Behavior Elicited from Environment
• Personality: individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
• differ = individual personality
• Perspectives
• Freud's Psychodynamic
• Neo-Freudians
• Trait perspective

Freud Psychoanalytic Psychoanalysis: thoughts and actions---> unconscious motives and conflicts

• Unconsicous: portion nonaccessible to conscious thought
• Access via Talking Methods:
• Free Association
• say anything comes to mind - reveal 
• Dream Analysis
• playground for infantile unconscious wished
• Paraphraxes
• slip of tounge reveal insight
• filter out unconscious 
• Personality arises from: Aggressive Pleasure-seeking Impulses vs Social Constraints
• Transference: social mental scripts
• ID = basic drives (It)
• most primitive part of mind; innate
• aggrssion, lust, sexuality death
• primarily unconscious
• Operates = Pleasure Principle ----> Wish Fulfillment
• Strives to Satisfy Basic Drives to Reduce Inner Tension
• Unrealistic Thinking
• Ego = Reality Check (I)
• Constrains Id to Reality
• 2-3 years of age
• All levels of consciousness
• Reality Principle
• what's possible given situation
• Secondary process thinking
• rational; weighing things out
• Mediator between ID and Superego, ID and Reality
• Superego = Morality (Over I)
• Internalizes Values, Morals, Norms, and Ideals of society
• Develops around age 5
• All levels of consciousnesses too
• Perfection Principle
• how you, things, ought to be
• Ego Ideal
• Conscience
• Introjection - incorporate parents' values
• Conscious
• Working Memory; Awarness
• Preconscious
• Ordinary memory easily brought into awareness
• Unconscious
• Unawareness
• Psychosexual Stages of Development
• Conflict not resolved = Fixation
• Fixation = emotionally stuck at a given stage
• less energy to confront later stages
• Stages
• Oral
• Anal
• Phallic
• Latency
• Genital
• 1st 3 stages = Most Important
• forms personality by age 5
• major sources of physical stimulation
• Oral Stage- 18 months after birth
• Pleasure and tension reduction = mouth, lips, tongue
• Primary conflict = weaning
• Secondary conflict- biting
• Key aspect: Dependency 
• determinant of fixation = parents' reactions to baby's needs
• Overindulge = Fixation
• Undergratified = Reluctant Leave Stage
• Fixated Oral Receptive = dependent, orally preoccupied
• Fixated- Oral Aggressive = Pleasure from biting---> verbal aggression and biting sarcasm
• Anal stage: 18 months - 3 years; Pooping
• Key Aspect: Self Control
• Conflict - self-control and toilet training
• Praised by parents = productive and creative
• Shamed by parents = fixated
• Anal Expulsive: messy, cruel, destructive, potty mouth
• Anal Retentive: everything has to be in order
• Phallic Stage: 3-5 years of age ; Ejaculation
• Key aspect: Close personal relationship w/ parents = Self Worth
• Oedipal Complex, castration anxiety = rendered impotent; compete for mom
• resolution = id with father---> masculine identity
• Electra Complex, penis envy = penis source of power; compete for dad
• id with mom----> feminine identity
• Identification = reduces guilt-laden hostility and ambivalence for same sex parent
• represents beginning of internalization of superego
• Fixation 
• Men: alpha male
• Women: tease
• Latency stage: 6- Puberty
• Lack of Specific Sexual Conflicts
• Consolidate Superego, focuses intellectual development
• Genital Stage: Puberty - Death
• Reached via resolving conflicts prior stages
• Focus: Mutual Sexual Gratification
• Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms
• Ego Battles ID, Superego and outsideworld
• creates conflict = anxiety
• Activated defense mechanisms fight anxiety
• unconscious ways rid anxiety
• Defense Mechanisms
• Repression -   Threatening Thoughts----> Unconscious
• Reaction Formation - Exact Opposition to Unconscious Desires
• Denial-   Refuse acknowldedge anxiety provoking events
• Projection-   Anxiety provoking Impulses----->People have them
• Sublimation-   Dangerous Urges-----> Socially Acceptable Behavior
• Regression-   Return to earlier 'safer' time
• Rationalization-  Logical explanations for Impulse driven Behavior
• Displacement-  Reaction from Real Source-----> Safer individual/object
• Projective Tests Measure Unconscious
• Interpret Vague and Ambiguous Stimuli ; Open-ended instructions
• no anxiety to defend
• Used by Psychodynamic practicioners
• Most popular
• Rorschach- ambiguous stimuli, ink blots
• Breakdown
• What seen
• Where seen
• What Features used
• At least 14 responses
• ~50 min take. 95 minutes interpret
• Thematic Appreciation (TAT)
• Reveals unconscious fantasies
• Tell story of people in drawing
• Themes = focus
• not structure of personality
• Sentence completion: clincial test, fill in blanks of sentences
• I wish _______
• Draw-a-Person (DAP) test
• "Draw a person"
• "Draw another person of the opposite sex"
• Criteria
• Quality of drawing
• screens for cognitive maturity, adjustment, impusliveness
• Overall mood of drawing
• convey's person views
• Specific details
• unusual characteristics 
• Integrated with other info of person
• Diagnostic tool
• Evalutating Projective tests
• Pros
• allow to provide info not available from self report tests
• useful when hesitation to acquire negative info
• Cons
• hours to score and interpret
• adds little info beyond other tests
• rarely showed reliability or validity
• overpathologize
• may be biased against minority ethnic groups
• Take home message
• useful supplementary info
• not used as diagnostic tool
• Major Freudian Weaknesses
• Pessimistic
• emphasizes early experiences and destructive inner urges
• first 5 years personality determined
• Difficult to Study Empirically and Disconfirm
• Explain = Always
• Predict = Never
• Lifetime development or later relationships
• Male behavior is the norm and superior; hetero is only way
• Freudian Contributions
• Scientific exploration of:
• Personality 
• Behavior
• Sexuality =Motivating Force
• Importance of 
• Childhood in Shaping Personality
•  Unconscious