PSYC 1000U Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Unconscious Mind, Erogenous Zone, Behaviorism
November 13, 2017
Personality
Lecture 8
Personality
• Individuals characteristics patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting
Different approaches
• Psychodynamic theories
o Freud
o Behaviour is dynamic interaction between conscious and unconscious mind
o In his clinical practice, he encouraged patients suffering from nervous disorders
o Complaints could not be explained in terms of purely physical causes
o Included unconscious mind, psychosexual stages, and defense mechanism
o Exploring unconscious:
▪ Reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and
memories
▪ Psychanalysts used free association in order to tap the unconscious
o Dream analysis
▪ Unconscious mind through interpreting manifest (what you can
remember) and latent (underlying content) of content of dreams
• Humanistic approach
o Inner capacities for growth and patterns of behaviours
• Trait theories
o Characteristic patterns of behaviour
• Social-cognitive theories
o Interaction between traits and social context
Personality Structure
• Develops as a result of our efforts to resolve conflicts between our biological impulses
(id) and social restraints (superego)
Id, Ego, Superego
• Id strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, operating on the pleasure
principle, demanding immediate gratification
• Ego futios as the eeutie ad ediates the deads of the id ad superego
• Superego provides standards for judgements (conscience) and for future aspirations
Personality Development
• Freud believed that it forms during first few years. During these stages, the id pleasure-
seeking energies focus on pleasure sensitive body areas called erogenous zones
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Psychosexual Stages
• (0-18 months) oral – mouth
o weaning from the bottle
o too much – more dependant
o not enough – want to exploit others
• (18m – 3) Anal – anus
o toilet training
o too much – overly controlling
o not enough – really messy
• (3-6) Phallic – Genitals
o overcoming Oedipus complex by identifying with same sex parent
• (6-puberty) Latency – none
o interacting with same sex parent
• (puberty-adult) Genital – genitals
o focus on healthy sexual relationship
Oedipus Complex
• Boys sexual desire for mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for rival father
• Girls desire for her father and rivalry with her mother is called Electra complex
Identification
• Children cope with threatening feelings by repressing them and identifying with rival
parent
• Through this proess, their superego gais stregth that iorporates their paret’s
values
Defense Mechanism
• Repression
o Preventing painful or unacceptable thoughts from entering the conscious
o i.e. Forgettig details of paret’s paiful death
• Sublimation
o Redirecting unmet desires or unacceptable impulses into acceptable activities
o i.e. rechanneling sexual desires into art
• Denial
o Protecting oneself from an unpleasant reality by refusing to perceive it
o i.e. alcoholics refusing to admit their addictions
• Rationalization
o Substituting socially acceptable reasons for unacceptable ones
o i.e. justifig heatig o test as eeroe does it
• Intellectualization
o Ignoring emotional aspects pf panful experiences by focusing on abstract
thoughts, words or ideas
o i.e. emotionless chat about divorce while ignoring pain
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
