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COURSE NOTES: Personality

Chapter 2:
Freud

Based on the following textbook, with supplements and modifications by the author:
Cloninger, S. (2004). Theories of Personality: Understanding Persons (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NY: Prentice Hall.
Instructors who have adopted this text may obtain supplementary Powerpoint presentations from the publisher.

denotes a term that you should know how to define, and to recognize and give examples.

denotes an important person. You should remember this person's name and what (s)he has done.

denotes an important research finding.

denotes an issue that you should be able to discuss or explain.

THE PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE

Personality is strongly influenced by unconscious determinants.
The unconscious is dynamic, or motivational, and is in conflict with other aspects of the unconscious and with consciousness.
The unconscious originates in early experience.

Chapter 2:

Freud: Classical Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud: the "father of psychoanalysis"

childhood origins
instincts
sex & aggression

THE UNCONSCIOUS

Psychic Determinism

psychic determinism

proposes that psychological factors (not only biological factors such as brain abnormalities) cause symptoms and other behavior
includes (for example) the impact of traumatic events as causes of psychopathology

psychoanalysis: Freud's theory and its application in therapy

the theory described in this chapter, which investigates (analyzes) the unconscious
form of therapy that involves exploration of the unconscious

Levels of Consciousness

conscious
preconscious
unconscious
iceberg metaphor

Effects of Unconscious Motivation

physical symptoms, including hysteria
conversion hysteria
hypnosis
psychosis
dreams
psychopathology of everyday life
parapraxes (Freudian slips)
humor
projective tests

conversion hysteria: form of neurosis in which psychological conflicts are expressed in physical symptoms (without actual physical damage)

glove anesthesia
psychogenic mutism
blindness caused solely by psychological conflicts

Hypnosis

highly suggestible state
posthypnotic suggestion
dissociation interpretation
expectations

Psychosis

irrationality of the unconscious
hallucinations

Dreams

"the royal road to the unconscious"
manifest content (recalled story)
latent content (interpretation)
[graphic images of dream symbols]

The Psychopathology of Everyday Life

Freudian slips (parapraxes)
examples:
slips of the tongue
errors of forgetting
other "accidents"
determined by the unconscious

Humor

What do you laugh at? We find jokes funny if they provide a safe release for unconscious conflicts.
condensation

Origin and Nature of the Unconscious

repression
personal experience
hedonic hypothesis
phylogenetic inheritance
shared by everyone

STRUCTURES OF THE PERSONALITY

id: the pleasure principle; source of energy
superego: ideals; guilt
ego: the reality principle

Id

id: the most primitive structure of personality; the source of psychic energy

primitive sexual impulses
primitive aggressive impulses
pleasure principle
the hedonic hypothesis
libido
psychic energy

Eros

life energy
love

Thanatos

death instinct
aggressiveness
destructiveness

primary process

primitive
wants satisfaction now
out of touch with reality

characteristics of instincts

source (body)
pressure (motivational force)
aim (reduce tension)
object

cathexis
learning

Ego

ego: the most mature structure of personality; mediates intrapsychic conflict and copes with the external world

being able to wait before indulging in sexual behavior
competing in a game of basketball instead of fighting

reality principle
secondary process
- Secondary process takes reality into account. It can plan ahead.

Superego

superego: structure of personality that is the internal voice of parental and societal restrictions

feeling guilty when you say something critical of someone
insisting on acting “like a man” or “like a woman”

society's rules internalized
ego ideal
archaic
Guilt comes from the superego.

The structures of personality can be described metaphorically:

id: motor of car
ego: steering wheel
superego: rules of the road

[cartoon graphic: Sometimes all seems to go well. Sometimes not. Therapy? Comment: Our automobile metaphor is less connected with animal instincts than the older metaphor.]

Intrapsychic Conflict

Energy Hypothesis
Anxiety
Defense Mechanisms
Sublimation
Empirical Studies of Defenses

INTRAPSYCHIC CONFLICT

conflict
return of the repressed
energy hypothesis

PSYCHIC CONFLICT

anxiety

signal function
neurotic anxiety
moral anxiety
reality anxiety

Defense Mechanisms

repression
denial
reaction formation
projection
displacement
identification
isolation
rationalization
intellectualization

Sublimation

Georgia O'Keeffe painted flowers that have been interpreted as sexual symbols.
Some psychoanalysts believe occupational choice is determined by sublimated instincts.

measuring defense mechanisms

projective tests (Rorschach test; TAT)
- Rorschach inkblot test
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
self-report measures
- Defense Mechanism Inventory

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

The Five Psychosexual Stages

erogenous zones
psychosexual stages
[Table from text: Stages of Psychosexual Development]

ORAL STAGE

oral eroticism
oral sadism
weaning

oral character traits

optimism
passivity
dependency

passive dependence
counterdependence

ANAL STAGE

toilet training
anal retentive (organized, controlled)
anal expulsive (messy, disorganized)

anal character traits

orderliness
parsimony
obstinacy

PHALLIC STAGE

genital zone
masturbation
fantasy of parental partner
males: Oedipus complex

castration anxiety
identification with the father
superego development
sex typing

females: Electra conflict

(the term actually came from Jung, not Freud)
penis envy
shift erotic attachment to father
masculinity complex
weaker superego than males
"biology is destiny"

incest

seduction hypothesis
abandonment of the seduction hypothesis
recovered memory therapy
false memory syndrome

effects of fixation at phallic stage

weak superego
impaired sex role identity
problems with sexuality (inhibition, promiscuity, homosexuality)

LATENCY
GENITAL STAGE

puberty
genital character
vanity; appearance; attention

Freud's model suggests that adult personality shows the effects of childhood fixations.
ORAL ISSUES

optimism vs. pessimism
gullibility vs. suspiciousness
manipulativeness vs. passivity
admiration vs. envy
cockiness vs. self-belittlement

ANAL ISSUES

stinginess vs. overgenerosity
stubbornness vs. acquiescence
orderliness vs. messiness
rigid punctuality vs. tardiness
precision vs. vagueness

PHALLIC ISSUES

vanity vs. self-hatred
pride vs. humility
gregariousness vs. isolation
chastity vs. promiscuity
happiness vs. sadness

If we have overcome or avoided fixation at the early stages, libido is available for creativity.

PSYCHOANALYTIC TREATMENT

love and work
"Where id was, there shall ego be."
free association
catharsis
insight
transference
countertransference

Projective tests

PSYCHOANALYSIS AS A SCIENTIFIC THEORY

Silverman's Experiments
Unconscious Cognition
Unconscious Influences and the Body

EMPIRICAL VERIFICATION

low reliability of projective tests
validation through the psychoanalytic method
effectiveness of therapy
process of therapy (insight not necessary)
oral & anal character
Silverman's studies

subliminal psychodynamic activation
"Mommy and I are one"
"Beating Daddy is OK"

hypnosis

PSYCHOANALYSIS AND NEUROLOGY

brain areas
psychobiology

web links:

Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture (Library of Congress exhibit)
http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/freud/
Freud Net (Brill Library of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute)
http://psychoanalysis.org/
International Psychoanalytical Association (founded by Freud himself)
http://www.ipa.org.uk/
The American Psychoanalytic Association
http://apsa.org/index.htm