What Personality Theories Try To Do:  To provide a way of organizing the many facts about yourself and about other people.  To explain the differences between individuals.  To provide a set of guidelines to live by. (These will help us to be free of emotional problems and decide how a good, healthy person might respond to situations in life).

Theory:  An hypothesis, not proven wrong.  An idea which is supportable.  An idea applicable to a wide variety of situations.  An educational explanation of an occurrence.

Personality:  The unique or individual pattern of a person’s life.  Sum total of all that a person is.  Reaction to environment.

Describe your Personality Do one of the three experiences described below: 1. Find a picture in a magazine that you fell represents you in some way. Write a paragraph explaining why this picture represents you. 2. One simple experience to help you understand yourself is to think of yourself as an animal. The animal you choose may reflect the char. which you see in yourself. Identify the animal and explain the ways in which the animal represents you as a person. Write a paragraph explaining your answer. 3. Choose a famous person, dead or alive, whom you admire. Identify the person and the qualities in that person that are similar to qualities you possess. In what ways are you like that person or you try to be like that person? Write a paragraph explaining why this picture represents you.

Psychoanalytic Perspectives 1. Personality is unconscious (beyond awareness) and heavily colored by emotion. 2. Theorists believe that behavior is what is seen on the surface and to understand someone’s personality, we have to look at the meanings of behavior and inner workings of the mind.

Sigmund Freud’s Theory 1. Medical doctor specializing in neurology. 2. Developed theory from his work with neurotic patients.

3. He viewed the mind as an iceberg with a large part below the surface being the unconscious part.

Structure of Personality  Freud believed that personality has three structures: id, ego and superego.  The id wants what it wants right now. It has contact with reality and consists of instincts. The ids acts immediately not waiting around just like the Nike slogan “Just Do It”. BKTXQ

 The ego has the job of getting things done and dealing with reality. It makes decisions. This is similar to Larry the Cable Guy’s saying "Just Git-Er Done“ america-with-larry-the-cable- guy/videos/playlists/exclusives#git-r-done america-with-larry-the-cable- guy/videos/playlists/exclusives#git-r-done 

 The superego is concerned with right and wrong or the conscience. Basically it is “just doing the right thing”. K9hWY K9hWY

 One last clip about ID, Ego and Superego: DMNus

4.The unconscious mind holds the key to understanding behavior 5.Freudian slips are when trivial behaviors are significant when the unconscious reason for them is revealed.

Resources 1. “Human Adjustment Book” by Jane S. Halonene and John Santrock 2.Ciadvertising.org/sa/spring04/adv382/ karaz/personality 3. “Person to Person” by Sasse

Freud’s Journal – Keep a running diary of your behavior for 2 days. Categorize the behaviors in the three columns. IDEgoSuperego Day 1: See food at store and want it NOW. Go through the Check outline and pay for food at grocery store. Pay for food at the store Day 2: