PSY/250 Psychology of Personality

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Theories of Personality

Freud & Jung

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Psychoanalytic Personality Theories

Psychoanalytic Perspective on Personality
Sigmund Freud – Classical Psychoanalysis
Carl Jung – Analytical Psychology

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Sigmund Freud – Classical Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud
The Unconscious
Structures of Personality
Intrapsychic Conflict
Personality Development
Psychoanalytic Treatment

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Sigmund Freud

Born in 1856 in Freiberg, Moravia
Had 7 siblings
Graduated from the University of Vienna with a degree in medicine
Became a clinical neurologist
Developed the theory of psychoanalysis based on his experiences with clients who suffered from psychological disorders, mainly hysteria

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Sigmund Freud

Development of Psychoanalysis

Sought to understand the biological factors that contribute to mental dysfunction
Derived main background of theory from laws of physics
Newton’s proposition that matter is unchanging until it is acted upon by energy
Translated this view to the psyche and believed it needed energy in order to be properly explained
Mainly based on archaic ideas from physics, a limited comprehension of the nervous system, and an inability to see other possible factors that could contribute to the human experience

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The Unconscious

Levels of Consciousness

Conscious
Experiences that occur when a person is aware
Intentional behaviors
Preconscious
Information that is not being intentionally thought about or used at a specific time, but can be readily brought to conscious thought if necessary
Unconscious
Mental processes outside of conscious awareness
Can include events that have been repressed, motives for behavior, motives for dreams

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The Unconscious

Physical Symptoms

Conversion Hysteria
Happens when unconscious conflicts produce physical symptoms that are perceived to be physical illness or disease, but there are no medical physical causes

Hypnosis

A state of consciousness that is dissociated from regular human experience
Can alter perceptual experiences

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The Unconscious

Psychosis

Severe mental disorder in which the patient has lost touch with reality and experiences the world based on the unconscious through hallucinations and delusions

Dreams

“The royal road to the unconscious”
Sleep relaxes the restraints that the conscious has over the unconscious, allowing content from the unconscious to travel to awareness
Sleep disguises unconscious desires through creating symbolic dreams
Manifest content – the surface content of the dream
Latent content – the unconscious meaning of the dream (usually hidden)

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The Unconscious

The Unconscious in Everyday Life

Freudian Slips
An error in speech, hearing, or behavior that appears to be psychologically motivated by the unconscious
Humor
Thought to be a safe expression of repressed conflict
Tension is released through the joke, providing pleasure
Projective Tests
Tests that reveal unconscious material through the presentation of ambiguous stimuli
Rorschach inkblot test
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

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Structures of Personality

Pleasure Principle: behaviors are motivated by seeking pleasure and avoiding pain
Libido
Sexual instinct that is the source of psychic energy
Eros
Life instinct that is responsible for behaviors that promote life and love
Thanatos
Death instinct that is destructive and leads us toward inevitable death
Most primitive structure of personality
Functions purely on instinctive processes

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Structures of Personality

Ego

Reality Principle: motivates behavior based on the external world
Secondary Process
Allows for delay of gratification
Characterized by logical thought
Defense Mechanisms
Used by a weak ego to adapt to reality
Strategies for coping with unconscious conflict
If the ego is not able to function, a psychotic episode will occur

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Structures of Personality

Superego

Representative of societal and familial rules and restrictions
Ego Ideal
The image of what we would like to be, which forms our internal standards for behavior
Sense of morality is immature and rigid

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Intrapsychic Conflict

Conflict between the structures of personality

Energy Hypothesis
Personality has a limited amount of energy
Energy that is being used for one purpose is unavailable for use in dealing with current reality
Anxiety
Neurotic – id impulses may become expressed
Moral – fear of guilt
Reality – current reality threatens potential danger

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Intrapsychic Conflict

Defense Mechanisms

Denial: individual refuses to acknowledge a painful reality
Reaction Formation: the unconscious desire is unacceptable in reality so it is repressed, and the opposite behavior is presented in an exaggerated form
Projection: the unacceptable desire of the individual is thought to belong to another person
Displacement: transfers the focus of energy from one object to another
Identification: adopting another person’s identity by merging with one’s own
Isolation: unpleasant thoughts are dissociated from other thinking
Rationalization: disguising true motives by giving rational reasons for behavior instead
Intellectualization: focusing on thinking instead of feeling; ignores recognition of an impulse by excessive explanation
Sublimation: considered to be the most healthy strategy

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Personality Development

Psychosexual Stages of Personality Development

Oral (birth to 12 months)
Conflict: weaning
Anal (1 to 3 years)
Conflict: toilet training
Phallic (3 to 5 years)
Conflict: masturbation and Oedipus/Electra conflicts
Latency (5 years to puberty)
Genital (puberty to adulthood)

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Personality Development

Oral Stage

Erogenous zone centers on the mouth
First phase involves swallowing what is good and spitting up what is bad
Second phase involves biting what enters the mouth
Fixation results in optimism, passivity, and dependency
Conflict with fixation can lead to the opposite results

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Personality Development

Anal Stage

Feelings of pleasure surround the anus
Pleasure is first experienced by the ability to retain feces (anal retentive)
Pleasure is then experienced by defecation (anal expulsive)
Fixation may be expressed through issues with money
Anal character: characterized by orderliness, parsimony, and obstinacy

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Personality Development

Phallic Stage

Erogenous zone centers around the genitals
Oedipus Conflict
A young boy’s feelings of sexual desire toward his mother and aggression toward his father
Castration Anxiety
Fear that the penis will be cut off
Motivates behavior for young boys at this stage
Effects of Fixation
Can lead to difficulty in forming the superego, gender-role identity, and sexuality

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Personality Development

Latency Stage

Sexual instincts are calm

Genital Stage

Last of the psychosexual stages
Child develops the ability to experience sexual satisfaction with another person

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Psychoanalytic Treatment

Therapeutic Techniques

Free Association: the patient will recall whatever may come to mind at a specific moment in therapy
Insight: recognizing one’s motivation and unconscious conflicts
Catharsis: release of emotion when previously unconscious information is brought into conscious awareness
Transference: a patient’s displacement of feelings onto the therapist in a therapy session
Countertransference: projective reactions from the therapist to the patient, usually based on unresolved conflicts

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Carl Jung – Individual Psychology

Carl Jung
The Structure of Personality
Symbolism and the Collective Unconscious
Therapy
Synchronicity
Psychological Types

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Carl Jung

Born in Kesswil, in the Swiss canton of Thurgan
Was a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, and founded analytic psychology
Worked with Freud but separated to build upon his own ideas
Best known concepts by Jung include the archetype, collective unconscious, the complex, and extraversion and introversion

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The Structure of Personality

The Personality as a Whole

Self: the fully integrated personality of an individual
Compensation: describes the relationship between the unconscious and conscious; the unconscious will provide what is missing from consciousness to form a complete personality
Individuation: the process of becoming a completely developed person
Transcendent Function: integrates all aspects of personality to be unified

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The Structure of Personality

Ego
Persona
Shadow
Anima and Animus
Collective Unconscious

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Symbolism and the Collective Unconscious

Anima or animus and the shadow constitute the personal unconscious; developed from unique experiences
Collective unconscious in an inherited unconscious made up of many archetypes
Believed that the unconscious manifests in symbols
Symbols form where conscious and unconscious meet

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Therapy

Jung’s therapy focused on dreams and symbolic representations, similar to Freud
Did not emphasize the past as the cause for psychological difficulties
Regarded the unconscious as an ally, not an enemy
Personal growth in therapy is toward greater wholeness; parts of the psyche that have been separated must be rejoined

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Synchronicity

Jung believed the collective unconscious forms the basis for paranormal activity
Jung studied spiritualism and was fascinated with ESP and mental telepathy
Synchronicity is a principle where events are determined by transpersonal forces rather than causes generally understood by science

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Psychological Types

Jung believed personality was based on the individual’s orientation toward one side of a psychological type
Psychological types represent a person’s pattern toward:
Introversion/extroversion
Thinking/feeling
Sensation/intuition

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