Personality Study Guide (Exam 3)

Describe Ainsworths strange situation. List Ainsworths attachment types and give a brief description of each
type as it appears in the strange situation.
Ainsworths strange situation is an experiment used to observe various types of attachment. It
involves the childs reaction when the mother (caregiver) leaves the child. There are three main
types of attachment:
Secure Attachment: the child is upset when the mother leaves and happy when she comes back.
Ambivalent Attachment: The child shoes signs of clinginess
before and shows unusual mixed responses of acceptance and
rejection when the mother comes back.
Avoidance Attachment: the child is calm when the mother leaves, and ignores her when she
comes back.
Briefly explain how successful resolution of the conflict of trust vs. mistrust in the infancy stage might help a
child with the next stage of conflict (autonomy vs. shame and doubt).
In the infancy stage, the conflict of trust vs. mistrust occurs. If the mother successfully cares for
the child, she gains trust and hope. The when her mother leaves, she has hope that she will come
back. If the mother fails to do so, the child gains mistrust. This affects the later stage of autonomy
vs. shame and doubt, since a child who has trust is able to function better in life, and thus
approaches the next change in a better way. Mistrust and loss of hope may affect a child greatly
in later life.
Define anxiety (the way Freud understands it). Differentiate between reality anxiety, neurotic anxiety, and
moral anxiety (as discussed in class).
Anxiety is a warning for the ego.
Reality anxiety: is the anxiety that comes from threats and dangers of the real world.
**Neurotic anxiety: a kind of ego anxiety endangered by drives of the Id that seek satisfaction.
Moral Anxiety: is the anxiety that comes from the quilt when we violate our conscience and
social norms.
What are the fundamental assumptions of the Phenomenological perspective?........
There are five fundamental assumptions to the phenomenological perspective:
o 1. Each person has a unique and valid perspective
o 2. Reality can only be known through direct experiences.
o 3. Reality perception require interpretation.
o 4. All people have free will
o 5. People are intrinsically good and self-perfecting.
Rogers theory says that people develop capabilities to further enhance their lives.
Unconditional positive regard is very difficult because we go through conditional self-regard
everyday/pattern of self-acceptance, while unconditional means that there are no strings
attached.
Describe the Buddhist view of suffering what causes it and how can we stop it? How does the Buddhist
perspective resemble the humanistic perspective?
The Buddhist view is based on 4 noble truths.
o 1. There is suffering it based on delusion, and is ignorance of the dharma.

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2. There is a cause to suffering: due to attachment, Samsara (wheel of suffering) and

desires of sensory pleasures, continuing or becoming existent, etc
3. Suffering can be stopped through non attachment and meditation.
4. There is a path to end suffering (Eightfold Path: right view, right intentions, right
speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right
concentration.
The humanistic perspective is based on the fact that everyone has the potential to grow
and develop in life. Similarly, the Buddhist perspective acknowledges that although
there are sufferings in life, there is a way for everyone to overcome them and reach
nirvana.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 8 The psychoanalytic perspective

Freuds Topographical Model (PCS, CS, UCS): Focuses on the regions of consciousness (i.e. awareness).
Conscious (CS) | Preconscious (PCS) | Unconscious (UCS)
Freuds Structural Model (Id, Ego, Superego): Focuses on the aspects of personality. Id Yes. Ego
Maybe. Superego No. Id operates on the pleasure principle (the idea that needsto seek pleasure and
avoid pain must be satisfied now. It does this through the primary process. Ego operates on the reality
principle through the secondary process, using reality testing. Superego inherited from the parents
superegos through interjection. It is divided in to the ego ideal and the conscience. Ego strength shouldnt
be too strong but needs to be strong enough.
Freuds Energetic Model (Cathexis, Anticathexis): Based largely on the recently proposed law of
conservation of energy. It is used to help explain motivation and is based on a hydraulic model (pressure
build and release). Each physical structure vies for a share of the total and finite amount of psychic energy
available. Each structure uses that energy for its own goal. Id cathects without distinction between reality and
fantasy (e.g. dreams). Ego cathects real objects and activities associated with meeting the needs of the id. Also
anticathects the ids dangerous or unrealistic cathexis objects. Superego cathetcs expressions of parents
superegos through identification.
Eros, Thanatos, Anake (Life, Death, and Necessity): Eros associated with libido (cathected energies),
which pushes (drives) the organism to seek pleasure by satisfying the demands of the erogenous zones.
Ananke meaning necessity, this represents the constraints placed on the individual by society. Thanatos
following from the hydraulic functioning of the energetic model, Freud believed that the ultimate aim of the
psyche is to achieve a zero energy state.
Polymorphous Perversity: In the beginning, the organism is one big erogenous zone, which Freud calls this.
Freuds Psychosexual Stages of Development:
The Oral Stage:
Birth - ~18months
(0-6mo oral incorporative; 6-18mo oral sadistic)
Libidinal focus Mouth (sucking, swallowing, biting)
Conflict Weaning from breast
Fixation in this stage can lead to oral receptive or oral aggressive personalities

The Anal Stage:

18months - ~4years
Libidinal focus Anus (defecating or withholding)
Conflict Toilet training
Fixation in this stage can lead to anal retentive or anal expulsive (sometimes called anal aggressive)
personalities
The Phallic Stage:
~4 5 years
Libidinal focus Genitals [with an emphasis on autoerotic (narcissistic) orientation]
Conflict Boys Oedipus Complex resulting in castration anxiety
Girls Electra Complex related to penis envy
The Latency Period:
5 or 6 puberty
Libidinal focus None (libidinal energies sublimated into more social activities, e.g. sports, hobbies,
friendships)
Conflict none
The Genital Stage:
Puberty into adulthood
Libidinal focus Genitals (with an emphasis on achieving sexual gratification from others, along with closer,
more intimate relationships)
Conflict Social mores, rules, norms
Defense Mechanisms:

Projective Techniques: Formal assessment methods used to access and interpret unconscious processes.
Different from objective measures. Come in three main flavors: Associative, Constructive, Completion.
Examples: TAT, word association, sentence completion.

Chapter 9 Psychosocial Theories

Object relation theories object = other individual(s). Broad themes: a persons pattern of relating to others
is established early in childhood. These patterns tend to reoccur throughout life. Symbiosis: infant fused with
mother. Separation-individuation: the process by which you become separate. It is not based on actual
experiences but the childs interpretation of the experiences. Transference to other self-objects; pattern sets
in early on.
Eriksons psychosocial development Eriksons has 8 stages rather than 5. His is psychosocial rather than
psychosexual. His spans a lifetime rather than just a few years. Competence and mastery are essential,
especially social competence. Develop through periods of crisis/conflict (i.e. turning point). Identity vs. Role
Confusion: Unable to integrate incompatible self-aspects. Negative outcomes: stagnation, not choosing a
career or major, identification with heroes and antiheroes.
Terror Management Theory Knowledge that you will die produces fear. Cultural values provide meaning
and serve to promote symbolic immortality. Reminders of death make people grasp their world views
ethnocentrism, religiocentrism, etc.
Chapter 11 Self-actualization & Self-determination
Fundamental assumptions of humanistic psychology: the human being is in a constant state of becoming
striving toward a realization of its own, inherently good nature
Carl Rogers theory of becoming a fully functioning human: Believed that we are all motivated to work
toward becoming a fully functioning person. This is accomplished through the process of self-actualization
working to increase a sense of congruence between ones own ideal self, ones own actual (perceived) self,
ones actions, and ones sense of the others experience of ones self.
Existential Psychology: An approach to psychology coming out of a recognition of the human condition.
Focuses on several key points:
Individual Freedom
Personal Responsibility
Potentiality & Existential guilt
Meaning-making as a human endeavor
Dasein
Existential Guilt
Finitude
Existential thinkers: Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Soren Kierkegaard
Buddhism and Personality
Some assumptions of Buddhism include: The self is empty, thus the concept of a stable personality is
illusory. The natural flow of the developmental process is toward compassion and acceptance. The Buddha
discovered and taught Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path.
The 4 Noble Truths: There is suffering (duhkha)
Suffering has a cause; Samsara (Wheel of suffering)
Suffering can cease but not through practice rather through
meditation.
There is a path to end suffering which is the 8-fold Path
The Eightfold Path (wisdom); often referred to as the middle way.
This relates to personality through: the concept of the self, or ego.
> Self-esteem vs. self-compassion similar to congruence (Carl Rogers)
> Anatta (no-self) stems from recognition of impermanence. (Nirvana)