4.4 Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality

Sigmund Freud argued that much of personality is driven by the unconscious: thoughts, wishes and memories you aren't aware of. The preconscious holds material that isn't in awareness right now but can be brought up easily, like your phone number. Later psychodynamic theorists changed many of Freud's ideas but kept the focus on unconscious processes and early experience.

Freud described personality as three interacting parts. The id seeks immediate pleasure. The superego holds internalized rules and ideals and can produce guilt. The ego is the realistic part that balances the id's demands, the superego's standards and the real world. When these conflict, you feel anxiety, and the ego protects itself with defense mechanisms.

You won't be tested on Freud's psychosexual stages (oral, anal and so on); they're left out of the AP course.

Defense mechanisms are unconscious strategies that protect the ego from anxiety by distorting or hiding reality. The 'unconscious' part matters: if someone does it deliberately, it isn't really a defense mechanism.

If the important material is unconscious, you can't just ask people about it. Projective tests show an ambiguous stimulus and assume people will 'project' hidden feelings onto it. In the Rorschach inkblot test, people say what they see in inkblots. In the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), people tell stories about ambiguous pictures of people.

Critics point out that projective tests often have low reliability (two scorers may interpret the same answers differently) and limited validity (scores don't predict behavior well). Psychodynamic ideas are also hard to test, because almost any behavior can be explained after the fact.

Humanistic psychologists, led by Carl Rogers, rejected the idea that people are driven by dark unconscious forces. They argued that people are basically good and have a self-actualizing tendency, a natural drive to grow and fulfill their potential.

Rogers believed growth requires a supportive climate with three features: genuineness (being open and honest), acceptance and empathy (understanding someone's feelings from their point of view). The key form of acceptance is unconditional positive regard, accepting and valuing a person no matter what they do. When love is conditional ('I'll approve of you only if you get straight A's'), people may develop conditions of worth and hide or deny parts of themselves.

Humanistic psychologists assess personality mostly through questionnaires and interviews about self-concept, sometimes comparing how people see their actual self with their ideal self. A big gap between the two is linked to distress.

Abraham Maslow also helped found humanistic psychology, but you won't be tested on his hierarchy of needs.