Theories of Personality - AP Psychology

Freud proposed that the psyche/personality is divided into three distinct sections: the id, the ego, and the superego. Each has a distinct role and function within the person. The ego is the mediator or regulator of the personality because it works out realistic ways of satisfying the id's demands, while also seeking to satisfy the superego by considering realities, norms, and etiquette and avoiding negative societal consequences.

The big five personality traits are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Use the acronym OCEAN to help you remember.

Freud postulated that there were three distinct parts of the psyche: the id, the ego, and the superego. These three parts develop at different times in a person's life. The id is the most basic, innate part of the psyche. It is the primitive and instinctive component of the personality. It consists of all biological instincts, such as sexual attraction and aggression. The id responds immediately and directly to its instincts, seeking pleasure and self-preservation.

Freud believed there were five psychosexual stages that people went through as they matured into adults. Either frustration and overindulgence in a particular stage might lead a person to become fixated in that stage. The oral stage is the first stage that a person goes through, and is very mouth-oriented. A person in this stage will have a tendency to bite, suck, swallow, and generally explore the world with their mouth. The oral stage is typically experienced for the first year of life, during which infants are frequently seen to place unnatural objects like sand or plastic in their mouths.

Stagnation or fixation in the oral phase could lead these effects to linger into adulthood. The compulsion to chew metal or other items, as is common in pica, could be attributed to this phenomenon.

The five stages of Freud's psychosexual development are: oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital. At each of these stages, he theorized that one could become "fixated" and thus have consequences on personality throughout the lifetime.

Though there are numerous feminist criticisms of the idea of penis envy, the main argument is that Freud's concept is an abstract idea built on the premise that women subconsciously want to be men, implying it is better to be a man. If there were such a thing as "penis envy," feminists suggest it would be due to men's advantages in society due to perceptions engrained in social contexts.

Jung's theory of collective unconscious is that we inherit unconscious desires and fears, which can be represented by a variety of recurring archetypes and instinctual impulses. In contrast to Freud, who saw the unconscious mind to primarily represent repressed sexual desires and memories specific to the individual, Jung saw it as a storehouse of individual, as well as ancestral, instincts and memories.

This was inspired by the fact that across many cultures, similar patterns and symbols come up in a recurring manner. The four primary symbols were that of the "persona" (our socially acceptable selves we present to the world), "anima/animus" (the traits we have in ourselves that represent our opposite sex), "shadow" (our creative and destructive selves), and "self" (our unique identities). Jung believed these were manifested in varying ways across cultures in religion, dreams, art, and culture.

Freud believed that the ego helps us deal with life's demands (reality), whereas the superego deals with cultural rules, and the id operates on the pleasure principle.

According to the theory, mesomorphs are muscular and mature-looking, have a sense of adventure and courage, and desire to dominate and have power. The other two types are ectomorph, which are thin and young-looking people who are self-conscious and introverted, and endomorphs, which are round people who are tolerant and sociable and have over-active digestive systems. The connection of temperament and character with the physical types has been widely discredited.

The idiographic view supports that people are highly unique in their personalities and psychological structure to the point where they can't be compared to other people. Those who conduct research in support of this view often use case studies as opposed to general surveys.

In Rogers' theory, individuals strive for congruence, or rather, a match between their imagined self and reality. When this match is not achieved, we describe the disconnect as incongruence. Possible selves are the cognitive concept of an individual's goals, hopes, or anxieties about their future. For example, a teenager's possible selves might include being a mother or a doctor, but might also include being an addict or homeless.

Prior to Erik Erikson, most theorists held that development ended in adolescence or early adulthood, after that, they argued, personality was essentially stable. Erikson argued that adults of all ages continued to face new challenges that shape their personalities as they age. Erikson's conception of development across the lifespan is unique and has continued to influence modern personality theorists and humanistic psychotherapists long after his death.

An adaptation of Gardner's ideas of interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence, EQ was brought forth by Daniel Goleman as an alternative to traditional IQ for indicating which people tend to be more successful in life.

Freud believed that human personality was a battle between the id, superego, and ego. He believed that the id was the primitive and instinctive part of personality that compelled a person to seek basic primal desires. He theorized that the ego was the part of personality that mediated and controlled the id and that the superego incorporates all the morals and rules of society. This causes people to feel guilt for wrong actions.

The five-factor theory of personality states that there are five basic dimensions that make up personality: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness.

Countertransference describes when an analyst becomes emotionally attached or involved with a patient as if they are an important person in their life. The opposite of this phenomenon, when a patient becomes attached to an analyst, is called transference.

Evolutionary psychology describes the idea that human behavior has evolved over time and has been passed down from generation to generation. In evolutionary psychology, humans’ behavioral tendencies were passed down from our ancestors.

Freud outlined three basic kinds of anxiety (anxiety, for Freud, being the feelings associated with an imminent danger). Realistic anxiety is fear of being in genuine danger. It occurs when there is an actual threat to the person. Moral anxiety is the fear of one's internal values being challenged or compromised. Neurotic anxiety is the fear of the id overpowering the ego.

According to Freud, repression was the mind’s first defense against harmful memories or psychological issues. Freud defined repression as the ego blocking an inappropriate wish or desire from being known or recognized consciously.