Welcome to the Personality Unit
Learning Targets: Compare and contrast the major theories and approaches
to explaining personality: psychoanalytic, humanistic,
cognitive, trait, social learning, and behavioral.
Identify Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung & Anna Freud.
Differentiate between the Id, Ego & Superego.
What is Personality?
“Characteristic pattern of thinking,
feeling and acting.”
Psychologist who study personality focus on the
enduring traits and qualities we demonstrate over
time.
How does Gender Connect to Personality?
Males:38%= Strong27% = Competitive26%= Immature 21%= Lazy3-way tie for 19%Goofy, Assertive, Brave
Females:38% = Emotional29% = Caring28% = Sensitive27%= Smart Tie for 21% = Loving & Sweet
Types of Personality Perspectives● Psychoanalytic - unconscious drives &
motivations
● Trait - specific characteristics of
personality
● Humanistic - inner capacity for growth
● Social-Cognitive - influence of
environment and society
Sigmund Freud ● Born May 6, 1856● Father of Psychoanalysis Perspective ● You either LOVE him or HATE him● Most popular dead psychologist● Believed that there are unlearned
biological instincts (especially of a sexual and/or aggressive nature) that can occur early in life and these instincts influence how a person thinks, feels, and behaves
Psychoanalysis Freud’s theory that our current thoughts & actions are due to unconscious motives and conflicts from our past.
Also, the therapy technique in which a patient lies on a couch ...Free Association: relaxing & saying any word that comes to mind
The Iceberg
Conscious: our awareness
Preconscious: we can easily retrieve these thoughts
Unconscious: unaware of these thoughts (Freud said these were naughty, bad, sexual, aggressive thoughts)
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages● Oral (0-18 mos) - centered on the mouth● Anal (18-36 mos) - focus on bowel/bladder
elimination● Phallic (3-6 yrs) - focus on genitals/
“Oedipus/ Electra Complex”● Latency (6-puberty) - sexuality is dormant● Genital (puberty on) - sexual feelings toward
others -- maturation of sexual interests