 Personality- Individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.  We consider the psychodynamic and humanistic perspectives, two different viewpoints on how personality develops and how it can be assessed.  Psychodynamic- view of personality that retains some aspects of Freudian theory but is less likely to see unresolved childhood conflicts a source of personality development.  Humanistic- Humanistic psychology was instead focuses on the study of conscious experience, the individual’s freedom to choose, and the individual’s capacity for personal growth

 Austrian physician who proposed psychology’s first and most famous theory of personality.  He believed that individual’s personality emerges from tensions generated by unconscious motives and unresolved childhood conflicts.  He used an approach called psychoanalysis (a therapeutic technique that attempts to provide insight into thoughts and actions by exposing and interpreting the underlying unconscious motives and conflicts.  First comprehensive theory of personality

He compared the human mind to a big iceberg and divided to 3 regions: the conscious, pre- conscious, and unconscious.

 The ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.  7 defense mechanisms: o Repression o Regression o Denial o Reaction formation o Projection o Rationalization o Displacement

 Repressionanxiety is reduced bybanishing provoking thoughts ex. A little girl’s memory of being molested when she was a toddler might become a repressed memory. The little girl will completely forget about this experience, until the memory might resurface years later.  Regressionanxiety is reduced by moving back to a previous psychosexual stage ex. A teenager not being able to go to a party so she yells at her parents and throws a temper tantrum  Denialanxiety is reduced by refusing to admit that something unpleasant has happened ex. A drug addict or alcoholics  Reaction anxiety is reduced bymaking unacceptable impulses look formationlike opposites. ex. Saying you despise your ex- boyfriend but really loving him

 Projectionanxiety is reduced byattributing threatening impulses to others ex. An angry man might accuse someone else of being hostile  Rationalization anxiety is reduced byself-explaining things in a way that hides the behavior’s actual reason ex. Taking money from a rich friend and justifying it by saying he doesn’t need it  Displacement anxiety is reduced by diverting aggressive feelings to an acceptable object ex. the father getting mad at the mother. The mother then takes her anger out on her son, the son in turn yells at his little sister, the little sister kicks the dog, and the dog bites the cat.

 Agreed with Freud’s views of the importance of childhood experiences  Thought social tensions (not sexual) were crucial in development of personality  Centered on feelings of inferiority  If we start to organize our thoughts based on our perceived shortcomings or mistakes, we might develop an inferiority complex.

 Believed that we not only have a individual unconscious but also a collective unconscious- a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our ancestors.  He saw evidence of the collective unconsciousness in the archetypes (universal symbols) found in stories, myths, and art

 Pointed out that Freud’s theory was male dominated and that his explanation of female development was inadequate.  Stated that social variables, not biological variables, are the foundation of personality development.  Felt that social expectations, not anatomy, created the psychological differences between males and females.

 A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests though the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.  The images are deliberately ambiguous so you can’t really tell what’s happening.

 The most widely used projective test.  A set of 10 inkblots that a therapist uses to identify a person’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the inkblot.

 Humanistic psychologists wanted a psychology what o emphasized conscious experience o Focused on free will and creative abilities o Studied all factors (not just observable behaviors) relevant to the human condition

 Humanistic psychologist who stressed the importance of acceptance, genuineness, and empathy in fostering human growth  He believed in the unconditional positive regard which is an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

 ychology/a/hist_humanistic.htm ychology/a/hist_humanistic.htm  psychological-defense-mechanisms/ psychological-defense-mechanisms/