PSYCH 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Psychoanalytic Theory, Age 13, Tantrum

• School: UMASS-Amherst
• Department: Psychology & Brain Sciences
• Course: PSYCH 100
• Professor: Tammy Rahhal

Document Summary

Personality: what is personality, theories of personality. The big five traits: other perspectives. Attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. 4 topics central to psychoanalytic theory: levels of consciousness, structure of personality, psycho-sexual stages of development, anxiety and the defense mechanism. Conscious: short term memory, what we"re thinking of right now. Preconscious: long term memory, easily put into consciousness if we want to. Unconscious: anxiety, guilt, shameful things that you don"t want to remember/think of => hard to remember. All of our primitive thoughts, urges, needs, desires. Pleasure principle: demands immediate gratification regardless of cost (if i want a car right now, buy immediately) Holds id in check until conditions are right for gratification. Reality principle: takes external environment into account to direct behavior/ maximize pleasure. Also seeks to control the id, but focus is on morality. Will only gratify impulses if morally correct - not just safe. Conscience - expects good at all times.