PSYC340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Oral Stage, Mortality Salience, Humanistic Psychology
9 Jun 2018
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Unit 6: Personality: Theory, Research, and Assessment
Our uniqueness is based on our own personal thought patterns, behaviours, and feelings. Personality
theories help us to understand these properties and to further understand the differences between
people and the particular behaviours with which individuals engage or struggle. Theme 2—psychology is
theoretically diverse—is prominent in Chapter 12. Perhaps no other area of psychology is characterized
by as much theoretical diversity as the study of personality. The psychodynamic, behavioural,
humanistic, and biological perspectives on personality interpret why we are who we are and how we
become that way in vastly different ways. The theoretical information in Chapter 12 helps to set the
stage for Chapters 14 and 15, which address psychological disorders and their treatment. A therapist
ust hae a perspetie o the liet’s persoality ad akgroud efore egiig therapy. The
therapist’s eliefs aout ho persoality deelops ad the iforatio opiled aout the liet’s
personality and background enable the therapist to interpret the disordered behaviour and plan the
therapeutic approach. Information on why people are the way they are is of vital importance for
therapeutic change of disordered behaviour.
Theme 3—psychology evolves in a sociohistorical context—is also an important theme in Chapter 12.
Weite ad MCa desrie the iteratios etee theory ad ulture. Freud’s ideas eae
popular at a time when the clinical approach to psychology was dominant; many concepts attempted to
explain things, but little experimental verification existed to validate the concepts. In America, the focus
shifted to observable behaviour and the learning process, and the behavioural approach to personality
flourished. However, humanistic psychology, with its focus on the self-concept and subjective
experiences, evolved as an alternative to behaviouristic and psychodynamic approaches. Currently,
biologically oriented researchers have compiled convincing evidence that biological factors help shape
personality. At present, however, no comprehensive biological theory of personality has emerged. The
sociohistorical climate certainly played a major role in the development of personality theories during
the twentieth century, and will likely continue to do so. The third theme emphasized in Chapter 12 is
theme 5—behaviour is shaped by cultural heritage. Although the research on whether countries have
dominant personality styles has not supported the notion of atioal persoalities, soe differees
in traits have been shown. Research by Markus and Kitayama (1991, 1994, 2003, as cited in Weiten &
McCann, 2013, p. 582) that compared American and Asian conceptions of the self shows that Americans
tend to be independent and stress individuality, whereas Asians tend to be more interdependent and
stress the importance of the group. Finally, cultural disparities in self-enhancement have been reported
by researchers.
Archetypes
-According to Jung, emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning.
-[Emotionally charges images that have a universal meaning]
-{Anima and Animus}
Collective unconscious
-According to Jung, a storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from people's ancestral past.
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-[Memory traces inherited from people's past.]
-{A rash of a disk shaped UFO sightings were related to an archetype of god -- he believed that the disk-
shape was an archetype of godlike form and perfection and the rash of sightings was an expression by
people who wanted to be saved from destruction by some superhuman force.}
Collectivism
-Putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one's identity in terms of the groups one
belongs to.
-[group goals ahead of personal goals]
-{Focuses on things such as fitting into the group, and behaving in ways that are in line with social
norms}
Compensation
-According to Adler, efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by developing ones abilities.
-[A defense mechanism in which people overachieve in one area to compensate for failures in another]
-{Individuals with poor family lives may direct their energy into excelling above and beyond what is
required at work.}
Conscious
-Whatever one is aware of at a particular point in time.
-[If you are awake, you are conscious]
-{I see my laptop}
Displacement
-Diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target.
-[When a person shifts his/her impulses from an unacceptable target to a more acceptable or less
threatening target.]
-{Getting angry about being grounded then taking that anger out on sibling}
Ego
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-According to Freud, the decision-making component of personality that operates according to the
reality principle.
-[Helps us deal with reality by mediating between the demands of the id, superego, and the
environment]
-{When you walk down the street and see an extremely attractive person, the ego, working on the
reality principle, helps us realize that it is not socially acceptable to cross the street, grab the person, and
have sex with them. Instead, the ego tells us that there will be other, more appropriate people, places,
and times to fulfill these needs.}
Factor analysis
-Statistical analysis of correlations among many variables to identify closely related clusters of variables.
-[Statistical analysis of correlations among many variables]
-{When you take a multiple choice introductory psychology test, a factor analysis can be done to see
what types of questions you did best on and worst on.}
Fixation
-According to Freud, failure to move from one psychosexual stage to another.
-[When a person is "stuck" in ones stage of psychosexual development.]
-{If a person does not get through the oral stage of development properly, then Freud would say that
the person is fixated in the oral stage and will continue to seek oral pleasures, and will not be able to
progress to the next stage of development until the oral issues are resolved.}
Id
-According to Freud, the primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the
pleasure principle.
-[This is part of the human personality that is made up of all our inborn biological urges that seeks out
immediate gratification, regardless of social values or consequences.]
-{When you are in a bar and see a really attractive person who stirs some sexual feelings in you, the id is
what is pushing you to simply go over to this person, grab them, and have sex with them.}
Identification
-Bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group.
-[The unconscious modeling of one's self upon another person]
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