Personality psychology chapter8 the psychoanoalitic

Chapter Eight The Psychoanalytic Perspective Basic Themes • Conflict between aspects of personality • Defense mechanisms to manage threat • Human experience suffused with lust, aggression, sexuality, and death • Perspective is highly metaphorical Topographical Model of the Mind The mind is organized into levels of functioning • Conscious Level Common characterization • Preconscious Level • Unconscious Level Freud’s contribution The Conscious Level • Contains elements about which a person is currently aware • Contents can be articulated verbally • Contents can be thought about in a rational/logical manner The Preconscious Level • Represents elements in ordinary memory — those outside of current attention • Contents are easily brought to current awareness • Examples: – What you had for dinner last night – Your grandmother’s first name The Unconscious Level • Elements of the mind that are actively kept from consciousness • Generally, a repository for images, feelings and ideas associated with anxiety, fear, and pain • Contents cannot be brought to consciousness directly, but can only enter awareness in distorted form • Even though they are outside of awareness, the contents of the unconscious can have a dynamic influence on personality The Structural Model • Complements the Topographical Model • Describes the three components of personality functioning – ID (Latin for “It”) – Ego (Latin for “I”) – Superego (Latin for “over I”) The Id • Is the original part of personality; present at birth • Embodies inherited, instinctive, and primitive aspects of personality • Tied to biological functions • Operates entirely in the unconscious • Functions as the engine of personality, through which all psychic energy comes • Conforms to the “Pleasure Principle” Pleasure Principle • Asserts that the true purpose of life is the immediate satisfaction of all needs • Gives no consideration to risk, environment, social constraints or problems in satisfying needs • Unmet needs result in a state of aversive tension • Mechanism for discharge of tension = “Primary Process” Primary Process • Primary way for id to satisfy needs • Formation of mental image of desired object, activity that would meet need • Act of forming such an image = “Wish Fulfillment” – Examples Need • Hunger • Thirst • Lonely Image Juicy cheeseburger, pizza Fresh lemonade, cool stream Friends from home • Problems – Can’t distinguish between objective and subjective states – Doesn’t care how needs are met – Can be irrational, reckless, immoral Intellectualization • Thinking in a cold, analytical, or detached way about things that normally evoke distress • Allows disassociation of thought from feelings • Suggests that the intellectual part of an idea can exist in the conscious mind, while the emotional quality of the idea remains unconscious Displacement and Sublimation • Considered less neurotic and more adaptive than other defense mechanisms • Displacement – Shifts an impulse from one target to another – New target is less threatening, thus anxiety is reduced • Sublimation – Transforms the impulse into a more socially acceptable form – The expressed impulse is more acceptable, thus anxiety is reduced – Considered the most mature defense mechanism Psychosexual Development • Sequential progression through stages • Each stage is characterized by a crisis • Adult personality is influenced by how crises are resolved during each stage • Stages: – – – – – Oral Anal Phallic Latency Genital Oral Stage • • • • Birth–18 months Mouth is source of tension reduction Crisis = being weaned from mother Two phases: – Oral incorporative—dependency, gullibility, jealousy – Oral sadistic—verbal aggressiveness • Oral personalities – Preoccupied with food and drink – When stressed, reduce tension through oral activities (smoking, nail biting) – When angry, engage in verbal aggression Anal Stage • 18 months–3rd year • Anus is the source of pleasure from stimulation that results from defecation • Crisis = toilet training • Two orientations to toilet training: – Praise for successful elimination at desired time and place • Result—value in producing things by whatever means possible • Basis for adult productivity and creativity – Punishment and ridicule for failures • If child reacts with rebellion—anal expulsive traits result (messy, cruel, destructive, hostile) • If child reacts by withholding—anal retentive traits result (rigid, obsessive, stingy, obstinacy, orderliness) Phallic Stage • • • • 3rd year-5th year Genitals become the source of pleasure Crisis = attraction toward opposite-sex parent Patterns somewhat different for boys and girls: – Boys • • • • Attracted to mother wants to replace father (Oedipus complex) Fears retaliation on part of father (castration anxiety) Repress feelings toward mother, begins to identify with father Identification with father gives rise to super ego – Girls • • • • Attracted to father abandons love for mother (Electra complex) Wants father because he possesses penis (penis envy) Repress feelings toward father, begins to identify with mother Identification with mother gives rise to super ego Latency Period • years old–early teens • Period of relative calm, no new developmental conflicts • Attention is focused on other pursuits (intellectual or social) Genital Stage • Late adolescence and adulthood • Libidinal energy still organized around the genitals • Focus on mutual sexual gratification • Develop the ability to share in warm and caring relationships and have concern for other’s welfare • Demonstrate greater control over impulses • Represents an ideal, rather than an absolute, endpoint of development Psychopathology of Everyday Life • Not random, but arises from impulses/urges in the unconscious • Error of memory, word mix-ups, and accidents (parapraxes; from the German “faulty achievement”) reflect our unconscious – Forgetting = repression – Slips of the tongue or pen = unsuccessful repression Dreams • “Royal road to the unconscious”—Freud • Two Aspects – Manifest Content—actual sensory images – Latent Content—the source of the manifest content; the meaning underlying the dream • Sources – Concurrent sensory stimulation (e.g., barking dog, ringing phone)—guardians of sleep – Current concerns—thoughts, feelings, concerns in life – Unconscious id impulses—present in all dreams Projective Assessment Techniques • Represent formal approaches to assessing unconscious processes • Projective hypothesis: Provide people with ambiguous, unstructured stimuli and they will apply projection in their interpretations of what they see Rorschach Inkblot Test • Chosen for ability to evoke different responses from different psychiatric patients • 10 bilaterally symmetrical blots – all black – red and black – pastels • Administration in predetermined order • Administration in two stages – Free response format—respondent indicates what she sees in the blots, or what they resemble or suggest – Systematic questioning—reminded of previous responses and requested to indicate what about the blot made her say what she said Rorschach Scoring • Based on three factors – Location of response—part vs whole, commonly noted detail vs rarely noted detail, blot vs space surrounding • Response based on whole blot indicative of conceptual thinking – Determinants of response—form, shading, color, texture, or perceived movement in location of response • Response based on color indicative of emotionality • Response based on human movement indicative of imagination – Content of response—subject matter • Conveys overt meaning and symbolic meaning Problems and Behavior Change • Problems arise from overuse of defenses – Unresolved conflict resulting in fixation – Broad libidinal repression of basic needs – Repressed trauma • Goal of therapy is to free-up energy by releasing need to repress through awareness and insight – Consequences of therapy • Resistance—actively fighting against awareness of repressed conflicts and impulses • Transference—displacements onto therapist Problems and Prospects • Controversial – Prominent sexual themes – Many determinants of behavior that are outside of awareness • Difficult to test empirically – Ambiguous terms or ill-defined concepts • Heavy reliance on a small number of potentially biased case studies • Confusion of fact with inference • Even so, Freud offers a significant and important contribution to the discussion of personality and human behavior ... though they are outside of awareness, the contents of the unconscious can have a dynamic influence on personality The Structural Model • Complements the Topographical Model • Describes the three... aspects of personality • Tied to biological functions • Operates entirely in the unconscious • Functions as the engine of personality, through which all psychic energy comes • Conforms to the “Pleasure... Describes the three components of personality functioning – ID (Latin for “It”) – Ego (Latin for “I”) – Superego (Latin for “over I”) The Id • Is the original part of personality; present at birth