Personality II Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.

Defensive Mechanisms  Repression  Regression  Reaction Formation  Projection  Rationalization  Displacement  Sublimation

Projective Tests  Goal: present ambiguous stimulus and ask test-takers to describe it or tell a story about it. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) or CAT Draw a person, Draw a family, Sentence Stem Rorschach Inkblot test – 1921 Hermann Rorschach  10 inkblots reflects our inner feelings and conflicts.  For example … if we see predatory animals or weapons, we infer that we have aggressive tendencies.

Projective Tests  Issues Reliability Validity Universal agreement – not very good. Training issues Nonetheless … used widely.

Neo-Freudians  Neo-Freudians accepted basic ideas: the personality structures of the id, ego, and superego; the importance of the unconscious; the shaping of personality in childhood; and the dynamics of anxiety and the defense mechanisms.  They did veer away from Freud in 2 important ways: the role of the conscious mind nd they doubted that sex and aggression were all-consuming motivations.

Alfred Adler & Karen Horney  The role of childhood.  Social; not sexual.

Carl Jung  Jung = the unconscious contains more than our repressed thoughts and feelings.  He believed we also have a collective unconscious – a common reservoir of images derived from our species’ universal experiences.

Freud critique  Freud did not have access to all that we have learned about human development, thinking and emotion.

Freud’s legacy  Nonetheless, Freud’s legacy continues on.  Some of his ideas are enduring.