PSYC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Phallic Stage, Oedipus Complex, Latency Stage
Document Summary
Personality the pattern of psychological and behavioral characteristics by which each person can be compared and contrasted: characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving, psychologists do not agree on a single definition. Influenced by many factors: there are four main theories. No single approach can explain all facets of personality. Personality was viewed by freud as a closed energy system, in which psychic or instinctive energy moves among three compartments: the id, ego, and superego. Present at birth and contains the primitive drives. Serves as a source of the personality, such as hunger, thirst and sex: the id operates according to the pleasure principle, in which it seeks immediate gratification and relief. As a child begins to interact with parents and other social influences, the ego and superego begin to control the id. The ego is the component of the personality that is readily seen by others, so it acts as the person"s self .
