1 Psychology 305A: Personality Psychology October 9 Lecture 10.

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Psychology 305A: Personality Psychology

October 9

Lecture 10

Scoring Your Questionnaire: LSI-DM

In order to score your questionnaire, you must compute 7 scores. For each score, sum the number of “YES” responses for the items listed below.

Score 1: Items 1, 19, 25, 30, 37, 44, 58, 60, 68, 80, 84.

Score 2: Items 2, 12, 15, 23, 29, 34, 42, 50, 61, 66, 69, 76, 78, 83.

Score 3: Items 3, 9, 11, 14, 21, 26, 39, 48, 51, 54, 56, 62, 71, 72, 77.

Score 4: Items 4, 10, 18, 28, 32, 40, 45, 49, 57, 64, 70, 74.

Score 5: Items 5, 16, 22, 31, 38, 43, 53, 75, 79, 85.

Score 6: Items 6, 8, 20, 24, 33, 36, 47, 55, 63, 65, 82, 86.

Score 7: Items 7, 13, 17, 27, 35, 41, 46, 52, 59, 67, 73, 81.

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A little R&R ….(Review and Reflect)

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1. What are the components of the mind and personality?

2. What are the stages of personality development?

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The Psychoanalytic Perspective

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. distinguish between the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious components of the mind.

2. distinguish between the id, ego, and superego.

3. describe the Stage Theory of Psychosexual Development.

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4. describe the personality types associated with fixation at distinct stages of psychosexual development.

5. discuss Freud’s views regarding sex differences in personality development.

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What are the components of the mind and personality?

• Freud maintained that there are 3 components that makeup the mind and 3 components that makeup personality:

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Model Components

Topographical Model of the Mind

Conscious (accessible)

Preconscious (readily accessible)

Unconscious (inaccessible)

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Contemporary psychoanalysts (e.g., Shelder, 2006, 2009) distinguish between two subcomponents of the unconscious mind:

Dynamic unconscious: Stores threatening information.

Nonconscious: Stores non-threatening information.

Model Components

Topographical Model of the Mind

Conscious (accessible)

Preconscious (readily accessible)

Unconscious (inaccessible; dynamic unconscious vs. nonconscious)

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Model Components

Topographical Model of the Mind

Conscious (accessible)

Preconscious (readily accessible)

Unconscious (inaccessible; dynamic unconscious vs. nonconscious)

Structural Model of Personality

Id (drives/ instincts)

Ego (safe expression of id drives/instincts; executive of personality)

Superego (morality; conscience vs. ego ideal)

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What are the stages of personality development?

• Freud argued that personality is formed by conflicts that occur in the unconscious component of

the mind.

• Freud proposed the Stage Theory of Psychosexual Development to explain how unconscious conflicts influence personality development.

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• This theory assumes:

There are 5 stages of personality development.

In each of the first 3 stages, we experience an unconscious conflict related to our need to obtain sexual gratification.

In each of the five stages, an erogenous zone is the focal point of attention through which we obtain sexual gratification.

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Successful development occurs when individuals navigate through the stages without becoming “fixated.”

Fixation occurs when the conflict associated with a stage is not resolved.

Individuals who become fixated at different stages develop different personality characteristics.

Fixation at one stage prevents successful resolution of conflicts at subsequent stages.

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1. Oral Stage

0 – 18 months.

Erogenous zone: Mouth

Sexual impulses are largely expressed through nursing at the mother’s breast.

• The 5 stages of development are:

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Main conflict occurs when the infant is weaned from the breast.

Fixation occurs if the infant is prematurely weaned or experiences trauma while being weaned.

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2. Anal Stage

18 months – 3 years.

Erogenous zone: Anus

Sexual impulses are largely expressed through defecation.

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Fixation occurs if the child is subjected to strict and rigid toilet training practices.

Main conflict occurs when the child is toilet trained.

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3. Phallic Stage

3 – 5 years.

Erogenous zone: Genital region

Sexual impulses are largely expressed through self-stimulation of the genital organs.

Main conflict is referred to as the Oedipus Complex for boys and the Electra Complex for girls.

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Oedipus Complex

• Boys experience a desire to achieve sexual union with their mother.

• This desire leads boys to perceive of their father as a rival who will retaliate against them by castrating them.

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• Through identification with their father, boys resolve the conflict, internalize his values, and gain vicarious satisfaction of their sexual impulses towards their mother.

• “Castration anxiety” forces boys to identify with their father.

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(b) Electra Complex

• Girls, too, begin life with a strong attraction towards their mother.

• When they realize that they and their mother lack a penis, they blame their mother for the “deficiency.”

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• Through identification with their mother, girls resolve the conflict, internalize her values, and gain vicarious satisfaction of their sexual impulses towards their father.

• Girls shift their affection toward their father, developing a desire to achieve sexual union with their father.

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Fixation results in poor moral development in males and females.

Freud argued that females are more likely than males to become fixated at this stage.

Fixation occurs if the child is unable to identify with the same-sex parent.

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4. Latency Stage

6 years – puberty.

Erogenous zone: Genital region

Sexual impulses are less pronounced. Children direct energy towards learning and peer group activities.

There are no specific conflicts at this time. This stage is one of relative calm, with little psychological growth.

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5. Genital Stage

Puberty – adulthood.

Erogenous zone: Genital region

There are no specific conflicts. Freud described this stage as an ideal, as the stage of “psychosexual

maturity.”

Sexual impulses are largely expressed through mutually gratifying sexual interactions with other individuals.

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. distinguish between the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious components of the mind.

2. distinguish between the id, ego, and superego.

3. describe the Stage Theory of Psychosexual Development.

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4. describe the personality types associated with fixation at distinct stages of psychosexual development.

5. discuss Freud’s views regarding sex differences in personality development.