Sigmund Freud – Personality Development

Freud’s Major Hypotheses about Personality:

Man’s psychic system is a complex energy system and obeys the scientific law that energy cannot be lost or destroyed, but it can be transferred from one part of a system to another part, and it can be transformed.

The Topography of the Mind
There are three levels or types of mental (psychic) activity:

1. Conscious
2. Preconscious
   
3. Unconscious

The Intrapsychic System
The personality structure consists of three subsystems:

The Psychosexual Stages of Development
There are five major stages of biological-physiological development through which every person must progress if he is to become psychologically mature. Freud called these levels of development Psychosexual Stages which include:

1. Oral Stage (Birth – 18 months)
2. Anal Stage (18 months – 3 years)
3. Phallic Stage (3 years – 5 years)
4. Latent Stage (6 years – Puberty)
5. Genital Stage (Puberty – )

Personality Development
Personality develops in response to four major sources of tension. A person is forced to learn methods of reducing tension and this learning constitutes personality development (new models of thought, feeling, and behavior):

1. Physiological growth processes (physical growth)
2. Frustration
   
3. Conflict
   
4. Threat
   

That the Ego develops methods for reducing tension and self protection:

1. Identification and displacement are used to resolve conflicts and frustrations.
2. Defense Mechanisms are methods that deny or distort reality and that may impede the positive (or mature) development of personality or psychological functioning.

That the Early years of infancy and childhood are decisive in laying down the basic character structure and personality of each individual.

Criticisms of Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory

1. Does not consider the influences of culture and society on the acquisition of modes of behavior and personality structure.
2. Too little emphasis on the significance of the process of learning.
3. Too much emphasis on the influence of Instincts, heredity, biology, and physical maturation on the development of personality.
4. His scientific or empirical procedure for validating his hypotheses had grave shortcomings in it.
5. Psychoanalytic theory is extremely difficult to test through controlled scientific research (it does not lend itself to testing by the experimental method).

Before Sigmund Freud introduced the “Iceberg Metaphor”, it was generally believed that the actions of people were primarily influenced by conscious thought and rational choices, made in relation to present situations.

Freud contended that the conscious thought and volitional behavior that the person is aware of constituted only a small portion of the person’s ongoing “day to day” experiences, and that the major influences on both conscious and thinking and observable behavior were unconscious, irrational, and historical, and derived from, multiple layers of the “Psychic Apparatus“, with each layer influencing those layers above it.

The following represents an illustration of the topographic model of the mind, the various levels of mental functioning, and the elements that comprise the components of mental functioning.

In ancient Rome, actors did not use makeup, but instead, they wore a “persona“, one of a number of masks which told the audience to expect certain attitudes, characteristics, and consistent behavior from the actor who wore a particular mask.

The mask served to conceal the actor while enhancing and amplifying the character and role they played (in the ancient Greek sense, one’s persona hides some things from public view, while displaying and intensifying some others).

Soon the word persona came to refer to not only a mask, but to the character and the role it implied.

“Persona” is the source of the English word “personality“, and as the term is used today it implies that we expect a consistent pattern of attitudes, characteristics, and behaviors (in some orderly arrangement) in those people we know.

All people tend to exhibit recognizable characteristics, traits, attributes, and behavior patterns that serve to identify them as individuals.

For thousands of years, thoughtful people have puzzled over where these “regularities come from. Are they really unique? Are they combinations of characteristics possessed by all people? Are they inherited or learned, or both? Can they be changed or altered?

Originally such questions were addressed by philosophy and religion, and these fields continue to be interested in them. For the last 100 years, however, scientific psychology has attempted to understand and explain human personality from its own perspective.

For most people, making decisions about, making distinctions between, and making evaluations of other people’s personalities are part of their everyday life. Everyday beliefs and the conclusions we draw about personality are referred to as “implicit theories” of personality (non-scientific personality theories).

We assume for example, that certain phenomena which we observe (i.e., behaviors, gestures, and expressions) are accompanied by other characteristics which we do not observe (needs, motives, and intentions).

The concept of implicit theories that are similar also implies that everyone brings preconceptions and predispositions to the “formal study” of personality.

According to researchers (Kalliopuska, 1985; Dweck, Hong and Chiu, 1993), such preconceptions and beliefs may tend to bias individuals in favor of certain personality theories that are similar to their own implicit theory.

It should also be noted that, personality theorists in psychology are also likely to develop theories which formalize their own predispositions about personality. In many instances, personality theories can also be seen as autobiographical.

Most people have an “intuitive” understanding of the term “personality.” The common usage of the tern refers to the impression that someone creates in their interactions with others, including one’s qualities, characteristics, traits and mannerisms (i.e., the most highly visible and/or social aspects of personality).

However, personality may exist in the absence of other people, and may well have aspects’ that are not visible.

Therefore, over the last century psychology has attempted to apply methods of science to arrive at clearer and less ambiguous understanding of human personality.

Personality Theory

Modern psychology is a very broad discipline comprised of many different specialized fields. Personality Psychology is at the crossroads of many of these fields because it is interested in the study of all aspects of the functioning of individuals.

In this introductory course in the Psychology of Personality, an effort will be made to develop a scientific approach to some of the major models and methods (strategies) that psychologist have used in conceptualizing human personality.

This approach and a discussion of theories as representative of certain models of personality will be employed, rather than an attempt to present an exhaustive list of diverse theories.

The beginning student in Personality Psychology should note that there is not theoretical perspective in the field that is so convincing and so validated by empirical research data that it has rendered other perspectives obsolete.

Therefore, there is no single “paradigm” or single model accepted by the field of personality.

Instead, there are competing paradigms including: the “Psychodynamic Model” (including “Psychoanalytic theory” and it’s derivations); The “Learning Model” (including “Learning Theory“, “Behaviorism“, and “Social Learning Theory“); the “Type“, “Trait“, and “Factor” Model; the “Humanistic-Existential Model” (including the phenomenological, self and person-centered theories).

There have also been attempts to integrate some of these models and theories. For the most part, however they simply coexisted, each with their own theoretical and research literature.

It should be noted, however, that the majority of personality psychologist (”personologists“) prefer an approach which combines insight from many different theories, and refer to themselves as “eclectics” (or “functionalists“).

Part of the reason for this division (or fragmentation) can be traced to the division in psychology which has traditionally been referred to as the “two disciplines” (or “two cultures”) of psychology.

One division emphasizes academics, research, and experimentation with groups of subjects (i.e. “academic psychologist” who engage in research, teaching, and publication).

The other divisions emphasizes the application of psychological theories and principles in a variety of settings in working with both individuals and groups in the solutions of real life problems (i.e. Applied or “professional psychologist” who work in clinics, counseling centers, hospitals, schools, etc).

These represent the two major divisions between the “basic” and “applied” fields of psychology.

Important Terms and Concepts

Adaptation

Coping or adjusting to the external environment.

Applied Research

EA: Research that is intended to have practical uses.

BAA: Basic Research

Applied Value

The ability of a theory to guide practical application and uses.

Basic Research

BAA: Research that is intended to develop a theory or add the body of knowledge in Psych.

EA: Applied Research

Case Study

An intensive in-depth investigation of the life of a single individual.

Comprehensiveness

The ability of a theory to explain a broad variety of observations.

Consistency

Predictable and/or repeatable

(As personality is assumed to be)

Construct

The concepts (building blocks) used in a theory; invented to describe or explain observations.

A theory consists of a set of constructs that are related to each other in a logical and consistent way

Construct Validity

The usefulness of a term or concepts as evidence by an accumulation of research findings.

Control Group

The group in an experiment which is NOT exposed to the experimental treatment.

Dependent Variable

The EFFECT in the subjects of the experimental Group.

Description

The theoretical task of identifying the units or components of personality, with particular emphasis on the differences between people.

Determinism

The assumption that all phenomena have causes that can be discovered by means of empirical research.

Development

The process of formation or change in personality over time.

Dynamics

The motivational aspect of personality. (Often unseen and changing)

Eclectic

The process of combining ideas of a variety of personality theories.

Empirical

The process of obtaining information based on scientific observations.

Experimental Group

The group in an experiment which IS exposed to the experimental Treatment.

Factor

The statistically derived, quantitative dimension of personality that is broader than a trait.

Heuristic Value

The ability of a theory to generate new ideas or new questions for further research.

Hypothesis

a speculative statment, an educated guess, or prediction to be tested by research.

Idiographic

EA: Idio (Individuality) + graphic (visual representation)

Representing a person’s individuality; study of a single individual in depth.

BAA: Nomathetic

Implicit Theories of Personality

The ideas about personality that are held by ordinary people (not based on formal theory)

Independent Variable

The CAUSE in an experiment that is introduced in to the experimental group and manipulated by the researcher.

Nomathetic

BAA: Noma (general laws) + thetic (to place or to fit).

Study and comparison of a number of subjects breaking the complex down into simpler parts or elements.

EA: Idiographic

Operational Definition

The procedure for measuring a theoretical construct.

Paradigm

A basic theoretical model that is shared by various theorists and researchers.

Parsimonious

The quality of a theory that uses concepts efficiently, avoiding unnecessarily complicated explanations.

Personality (ALLPORT)

The dynamic organization within an individual of those Psychophysical systems, that determine a person’s unique adaptation to hisher environment.

Core and Peripheral

Psychobiography

The application of personality theory to the study of an individual’s life; distinguishing from a CASE STUDY by its theoretical emphasis.

Temperament

The consistent behavior style, mood patterns and activity level present throughout a person’s life; strongly influenced by biological factors.

Theoretical Proposition

A theoretical statment about the relationship between and among theoretical constructs.

Theory

A conceptual tool, consisting of systematically organized constructs and propositions, for understanding certain specified phenomena.

Trait

A personality characteristic that makes one person different from another, and or that describes an individual’s personality.

Type

A category of people with similar personality characteristics.

Verifiability

The ability of a theory to be tested by empirical procedures which result in confirmation or disconfirmation of the theory.

Molar

EA: A broad and comprehensive set of theoretical propositions which attempt to deal with a broad range of phenomena (i.e. adaptation, development, social interaction, normal vs. abnormal)

BAA: Molecular

Molecular

BAA: A parsimonious theoretical proposition which attempts to deal with a small number of factors under consideration; or the relationships between variables.

EA: Molar

Introspection

EA: Reliance on self-reported information based on subjects looking within to determine the origins of motivation and behavior; INNER, PRIVATE, and subjective.

BAA: Observation

Observation

BAA: Reliance on objective, public, and systematic observations of subjects; OUTER, PUBLIC, and subjective.

EA: Introspection

Holistic

EA: The study of the total personality of the individual.

BAA: Reductionistic

Reductionistic

BAA: To reduce the study of personality to discreet dimensional components, and features of a person.

EA: Holistic

Case Study Method

EA: The use of case histories and psychobiographies in intensive and detailed study of individuals.

BAA: Experimental Method

Experimental Method

BAA: The study of groups (experimental and control) to determine the extent to which environmental or situational factors effect behavior or personality.

EA: Case Study Method

Dynamics

EA: The study of changing needs, motives, and adjustments in the individuals over time.

BAA: Consistency

Consistency

BAA: The study of common traits and characteristics which remain stable over the course of time.

EA: Dynamics

Analytical

Of or relating to analysis or analytics.

Biophysical

The physics of biological processes and the application of the techniques and concepts of physics to Biology (OED 92)

Biosocial

Pertaining to the interplay or mingling of the biological and social forces, as with human behavior that is influenced simultaneously by complex neurophysiological processes and learned social meaning. (APA 121)

Reliability

Validity, replicatable, repeatability

Dualist

The view that the mind and the body function separately.

Evaluate

Examine and judge something: t consider or examine something in order to judges its value, quality, importance, extent, or condition.

Experimental Research

Research based on randomized EXPERIMENTS with the objective of drawing casual inference.

Extensiveness

Large in extent, range, or amount.

Functional

Denoting of referring to a disorder in which normal behavior changes without an observable organic or structural cause.

Gestalt Tradition

A branch of Psychology that treats behavior and perception as an integrated whole and not simply the sum of individual stimuli and responses.

Purposive Behaviorism

Behavior with a specific goal, as opposed to aimless or random behavior.

Hypothetical

Involving ideas or possibilities

Individual differences

A trait or other characteristics by which one individual may be distinguished from others.

Integrative

To bring about the integration of personality traits.

In general, the coordination of unification of parts into a totality.

Omnibus

Of, relating to, or providing for many things at one.

Containing or including many things.

Psychometric Tradition

The psychology theory and technique of mental measurement.

The branch of psychology dealing with measurable facts, also called Psychometrics Psychology; Psychometry

Theoretical Construct

A principal or body of interrelated principles that purports to explain of predict a number of intercalated phenomena.

Theory of Personality

An educated gues about important aspects of human behavior which may be based on clinical observations or empirical research.

Origins of Psychology (pp 7)

Grew out of two well established fields: philosphy and Experimental Physiology.

Hypnotism

Was used to gain access to the unknown mind as early as 1784, starting with pioneers as MESMER, BRAID, and CHARCOT

Von Schubert

Developed a tripartite theory somewhat simialr to Freudian Id, Ego, and Super Ego, as well as concepts much like NARCISSISM and DEATH INSTINCTS.

Empahsized the sybolic nature of dream language and observed that dream symbols may combine many concepts in a single picture (what Freud later call Condensation)

Carl Gustav CARUS

Argued that hte Key to knowledge of conscious life lay inthe realm of the unconcious.

Arthur SCHOPENHAUER

Made the statment: “The wills opposition to let what’s is repellent to it come to the knowledge of the intellect, is the spot through which insanity can break through the spirit”

Closely parallels Freud’s later ideas of the ID (WILL), EGO (INTELLECT), and REPRESSION.

Also argued sexuality was the most important instinct.

Friedrich NIETZSCHE

Discussed the self-deceiving and self-destructive nature of human beings,

The active inhibition of threatening thoughts, and the need to unmask unconcious materials, so as to remove self-deceptions.

First to use the term Id, and regarded as some as the true founder of modern psychology.

Pierre JANET

Theorized that traumatic events caused ideas to become fixed inthe SUBCONSCIOUS (a word Janet coined) and to be replaced by neurotic symptoms.

Gustav Theodor FECHNER

Wundt’s immediate predecessor:

Father of Experimental Psychology recognized the possibility of UNCONCIOUS perception and supplied Freud with such principles as MENTAL ENERGY and PLEASURE UNPLEASURE

Dream Interpretation

Can be traced to medieval times.

PLATOs claim that there are strong impulses within us that emerge more readily during sleep.

According to Plato, these Impulses include desire for “Intercourse with mother or anyone else” and they emerge in our dreams.

When the reasonable humane part of us is asleep and its control relaxed, and out bestial nature…wakes and has its Fling. Ideas which are remarkably similar to Freud’s concepts of OEDIPAL CONFLICTS. The Id and the relaxing of the ego’s defenses during sleep.

Karl Albert SCHERNER

Designated eloganated objects as symbols of the male genitals, and the slippery courtyard footpath as symbolic of the female genitals.

Alfred MAURY

Studied the effects of sensory stimulation on dreams and drew attention to the role of forgotten memories on dream formation.

Marqui’s Hervey de SAINT-DENIS

Developed the technique of learning to become aware that he was dreaming and then waking himself at will to take notes.

Published a study of his own dreams and anticipated Freudian concepts of CONDENSATION and DISPLACMENT

Yves DELAGE

Concluded that dreams originate from unfinished acts or thoughts primarily those of the preceding day

Monist

Is a person who sees mind and body working together.

Freud is an example of the monist point of view, in Freud’s theory its virtually impossible to tell where the mind leaves off and the body begins.

Why is timing of the CS and UCS important in classical conditioning?

Delayed conditioning is the most effective form of classical conditioning. Less effective are simultaneous conditioning and trace conditioning

After conditioning, extinction of the CR occurs when the UCS is discontinued. Allowing time to pass and returning the subject to the apparatus is typically accompanied by spontaneous recovery.

Why is it important for the CS to “predict” the UCS?

The crucial factor in classical conditioning is the consistency with which the CS predicts the occurrence of the UCS.

How do generalization and discrimination work?

Stimulus generalization occurs when a stimulus similar to the original CS also produces CR. Stimulus discrimination, its complement, occurs when dissimilar stimuli produce lesser CR or none at all.

How does biological predisposition affect classical conditioning?

Biological predispositions are often apparent in classical conditioning. Because of pre-wiring, some CS-UCS associations can be established much more easily that others and some not at all.

Taste aversion experiments provide an example of how biological predispositions affect conditioning. The learning of taste aversion is easy for animals that naturally associate taste with food but difficult to impossible for animals that use other cues, such as visual ones for food.

Experiments:

In the modern view, conditioning can be best explained by the development of expectancies-that is, what animals and humans learn is the expectation that a particular conditioned stimulus (CS) will be followed by an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).

Classical conditioning by past events may account for many of the fears and preferences displayed by human adults-and also for physical symptoms such as unexplained headaches or nausea and the intense desire to return to drug use that is some times displayed by former drug addicts.

In Watson and Rayner’s “Little Albert” experiment, the loud sound was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the rat was the conditioned stimulus (CS), and a fear response was the (UCR), and the (CR).

In the experiment on conditioned illness in rats, the insulin was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the light and syringe were the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the coma was the unconditioned response (UCR), and conditioned response (CR).

In the experiment on conditioning the immune system in rats, the drug was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the novel taste was the conditioned stimulus (CS), and production of the antibodies was the unconditioned response (UCR), and conditioned response (CR).

In the experiments on conditioning sexual behavior in rats, normal female odors were the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the lemon scent was the conditioned stimulus (CS), and sexual arousal was the unconditioned response (UCR), and conditioned response (CR).

Focus Questions

What is operant conditioning and how did Skinner study it?

Operant behavior “operates” on the environment in accord with contingencies. Operant conditioning
is base on contingencies that are arranged in the lab or occur in real life.

Contingency: the relationship between behavior and its consequences.

Operant conditioning: the imposition of contingences, either deliberate or natural.

The controlled environment of the Skinner box revolutionized the study of learning and conditioning.

Parallels between classical and operant conditioning occur in areas extinction and spontaneous recovery, as well as stimulus generalization and discrimination.

Shaping and successive approximations is an efficient procedure for training subjects to perform specific behaviors.

Shaping and successive approximations: a procedure for quickly establishing a contingency, such as bar pressing by rats or key pecking by pigeons, by rewarding successive approximations to the target behavior.

An operant is a class of behaviors-not a specific behavior.

What basic terms and procedures are involved in operant conditioning?

The first half of Thorndike’s law of effect corresponds to positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement: the second half corresponds to positive punishment and negative punishment.

Positive reinforcement: an operant conditioning contingency in which behavior is strengthened because it results in presentation of an appetitive stimulus; also known as reward training.

Negative reinforcement: an operant conditioning contingency in which behavior is strengthened because it results in removal of an aversive stimulus; also known as escape or active avoidance training.

In operant conditioning contingencies, positive means that a stimulus is presented or “added” and negative means that a stimulus is removed or subtracted. The effect on behavior is then determined by whether the stimulus is appetitive or aversive.

Positive punishment: an operant conditioning contingency in which behavior is weakened or suppressed because it results in presentation of an appetitive stimulus; also known as reward training

The Mind as an Iceberg

Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, compared the human mind to an iceberg. The tip above the water represents consciousness, and the vast region below the surface symbolizes the unconscious mind. Of Freud’s three basic personality structures-id, ego, and superego-only the id is totally unconscious.

How do psychological researchers protect the rights and safety of human participants?

The code of ethics developed by the APA and enforced by law requires that researchers who use human participants pay particular attention to such issues as informed consent and protection of participants from physical or psychological harm.

Informed Consent the ethical requirement that research participants be told in advance what will happen and participate voluntarily throughout.

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) decide whether psychological research may be conducted.

How do psychological researchers protect the rights and safety of laboratory animals?

The APA and public law also require that researchers take special care in the use of animals in psychological research, avoiding needless harm and exploitation; the use of animals in scientific research remains controversial.

What is classical conditioning and how did Pavlov study it?

Ivan Pavlov is the originator of what is now called classical conditioning, a form of learning base primarily on stimuli that causes reflexes, such as salvation in response to food.

Conditioning: the establishment of a relationship between stimuli and responses, or vice versa.

Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior potential as a result of experience..

Reflexes: a built-in or otherwise automatic response to a specific stimulus.

What basic procedures are involved in classical conditioning?

In classical conditioning, the stimulus that naturally produces the reflex response is the unconditional stimulus (UCS), which is repeatedly paired with an initially neutral stimuli until the latter becomes the conditional stimulus (CS). What is learned in classical conditioning is a CS-UCS association; the original reflex response is the unconditional response (UCR), and the response produced by the CS is the conditional response (CR).

Classical Conditioning: The establishment of a relationship between two stimuli, typically one that evokes a reflex response and one that is initially neutral with regard to this response.

Unconditional stimulus (UCS):
Any stimulus that automatically and reliably produces a particular response, such as a reflex.

Conditional stimulus (CS): An initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response similar to that elicited by a UCS.

Unconditional response (UCR): The automatic response to an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditional response (CR): the learned response to a conditioned stimulus (CS).