4.4 - 4.

5b: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality

Psychodynamic theory: Personality is shaped by our unconscious forces, internal conflict, and defense
mechanisms
-​ Theory originally developed by Sigmund Freud
-​ Emphasizes the importance of the influence of childhood experiences

Preconscious mind: Thoughts and feelings that are not currently in the conscious awareness and can be
easily accessed

Unconscious mind: Processes and memories that are beyond conscious awareness and significantly
influences thoughts, feelings, and behaviours

Id: Instincts, primal desires

Ego: Reality, rational mediator

Superego: Morality, conscience, social norms

Psychosexual Stages: Freud believed that humans progressed through developmental stages that required
a certain amount of stimulation
1)​ Oral (0-18 months)
-​ Fixation on the mouth-sucking, biting, chewing
2)​ Anal (18-36 months)
-​ Fixation on bowel and bladder control; coping with demands for control
3)​ Phallic (3-6 years)
-​ Coping with incestuous sexual feelings towards the opposite sex parent and adopting
their beliefs and morals and gender identity during this phase
4)​ Latency (6 to puberty)
-​ Phase of dormant sexual feelings
5)​ Genital (puberty onward)
-​ Maturation of sexual feelings

Projective tests: Tools used by psychodynamic personality psychologists to assess personality by

eliciting responses that reveal the contents of the preconscious and unconscious mind
-​ Ex. They show you an abstract picture and analyze what you see

Ego defence mechanisms: unconscious strategies used by the ego to protect itself from anxiety and
perceived threats
 1)​ Denial: Ego defence mechanism where individuals unconsciously refuse to acknowledge denial
or facts

2)​ Displacement: Emotional impulses are redirected from the original source to a safer target
-​ ex. Someone is mean to mom at work, she is nice to them. She comes home and yells at
us
-​ Could also stem from childhood experiences

3)​ Projection: Individuals attribute their own unacceptable feelings, thoughts, or motives to
someone else unconsciously
-​ Deflecting self-criticism

4)​ Rationalization: Individuals justify their behaviour or feelings in a seemingly rational or logical
manner to avoid confronting the true underlying reason
-​ ex. Balming you failing a test on the test itself and not on the fact that you didn't study

5)​ Reaction Formation: Individuals suppress unacceptable impulses by unconsciously displaying

the opposite behaviour or emotion
-​ ex. Being really mad and want to punch someone, but you are overly nice to them instead

6)​ Regression: Individuals revert to earlier stages of development and childlike behaviours when
faced with stress or emotional conflict
-​ ex. Watching a childhood movie when you are stressed

7)​ Repression: Distressing thoughts and feelings are unconsciously blocked from entering the
conscious awareness

8)​ Sublimation: The negative urge and impulses are transferred to something more "acceptable"
-​ ex. Taking out your anger/aggression by going boxing

Alfred Adler & Karen Horney: Believed that childhood social tensions are crucial for personality
development
-​ Behaviour comes from a desire to overcome childhood social tensions (ex. inferiority and
subservience to our parents)

Carl Jung: Proposed the idea of the collective unconscious

-​ Collective Unconscious: Common reservoir of images or archetypes derived from our species
and universal experiences

Projective tests: Used to assess personality and are designed to probe the preconscious and unconscious
mind
1)​ Rorschach Inkblot Test: Interpret inkblots to uncover unconscious thoughts, intended to reveal
hidden aspects of personality
 2)​ Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Creating stories based off of ambiguous images
-​ Shown a picture of something random and they make up a story

Humanist Theories: Psychologists who believe that one’s primary psychological drive is the acquisition
or meeting a series of hierarchical needs

Abraham Moslow: Developed the hierarchy

-​ Once physiological and safety concerns are secured, you can pursue meaningful relationships,
self-improvement, and help the greater world

Person-centered perspective: Carl Rogers believed that the ability to self-actualize could be achieved
through the person-centered perspective
-​ Therapeutic technique centered around the patient and their own self-assessment
-​ Patient will guide conversations, assess weaknesses, strengths, and solutions while the therapist
acts as a non-jugmental listener
-​ Led to increased confidence and a positive self concept

Carl Roger: Believed that genuineness, acceptance, and empathy are required
-​ Genuineness: required to truly love someone
-​ Once genuine, the therapist can hold the patient in the unconditional positive regard:
people respect your agency to choose to act or respond to life with your best possible
effort
-​ Genuineness leads to acceptance
-​ Empathy is required to feel and to be understood

Positive self-concept: Viewing yourself as generally good and capable of improvement

Negative self-concept: To be dissatisfied and unhappy with life, assume that the world is flawed and
incapable of improvement
-​ To find if someone has a positive or negative self-concept, people are given a survey where they
are told tho build the idea person
-​ They fill out another survey about themself, and compare the two surveys
-​ The further away you are from the ‘ideal’ person, the more negative is their self-concept
 4.6: Trait Theories and Testing
Social-Cognitive Theory: Emphasizes the interaction between personal, behavioural, and environmental
factors in shaping personality

Reciprocal Determinism: The idea that personal factors, behaviour, and the environment interact to
shape personality
-​ ex. Someone’s friendly behaviour (behaviour) influences their social environment (environment)
which reinforces their view of themselves as sociable (personal factor)

Self-concept: How one views themselves and their relationships with others
-​ ex. Seeing yourself as competent and capable in social situations

Self-Efficacy: Belief in one’s ability to succeed in specific situations

-​ ex. Confidence in my ability to solve a math problem

Self-Esteem: Overall sense self-worth and personal value

-​ ex. Feeling good about yourself and your value

Trait Psychology: Analyzes the pattern of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
-​ Looks to identify and categorize behaviors and characteristics over a prolonged period of time

Characteristics: Qualities and features that belong to a person and their personality

Myer-Briggs Type Indicator: Comprehensive personality-trait test which attempted to form 16 distinct
personalities
-​ Comprised of either intuition/sensing, feeling/thinking, introversion/extraversion, and
perception/judging
-​ Test did have several flaws such as inconsistent results and the exclusion of neuroticism

Esenck Personality Questionnaire: Also known as factor analysis, uses statistics to group qualities into
traits
-​ Added temperament, which Briggs’ test did not have
-​ Temperament: linked to one’s emotional stability; one’s general mood and how it impacts the
intensity and reaction in certain situations
-​ One can be phlegmatic (peaceful and relaxed), sanguine (optimistic and active), choleric
(short-tempered or irritable), or melancholic (analytical and quiet)
-​ Model found that traits are generally genetically linked

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI):