Personality The Psychoanalytic Perspective

Exploring the unconscious Pscyhoanalysis: Freud’s theory of personality & treatment Freud believed that the mind is mostly hidden

Exploring the unconscious Freud’s Methods: free association: patients say whatever comes to mind; Freud believed it was a window into the unconscious Dream analysis: freud saw dreams as the “royal road to the unconscious” manifest content: remembered content of dreams latent content: censored expression of the dreamer’s unconscious wishes hypnosis: a social interaction in which the hypnotist suggests to the subject certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, etc...

Personality Structure ID: unconscious psychic energy constantly striving to satisfy our basic drives: survival, reproduction, aggression EGO: operates on the reality principle; seeks to gratify the id’s impulses that will bring long-term pleasure SUPEREGO: this is our conscience; focuses on how we should behave

defense mechanisms Defense Mechanismexplanationexample repression The complete exclusion from consciousness of anxiety-producing thoughts, feelings, or impulses; most basic defense mechanism. regression Retreating to a behavior pattern characteristic of an earlier, more infantile stage of development. reaction formation Thinking or behaving in a way that is the extreme opposite of unacceptable urges or impulses. rationalization Justifying one’s actions or feelings with socially acceptable explanations rather than consciously acknowledging one’s true motives or desires. displacement Emotional impulses are redirected toward a substitute person or object, usually one less threatening or dangerous than the original source of the conflict. sublimation A form of displacement in which unacceptable urges are rechanneled into socially valued, productive, nonsexual activities. projection Disguising one’s own unacceptable urges or qualities by attributing them to other people. denial The failure to recognize or acknowledge the existence of anxiety-provoking information.