Made by:
WEEK ONE
CHAPTERS 1 & 2
Psychology 213
Introduction:
• We are all constantly engaged in Personology
• Psychology is shaped by the everyday context, culture, societal, political etc
• Psychology feeds back into our everyday lives and practices
• Depth psychology is probably the most widely known school of psychological
thought, both within and beyond the boundaries of psychology. The key feature
of this approach is the emphasis given by its followers to the ‘deep’,
unconscious aspects of the personality.
• The school that gave depth psychology its foundation and which is still its most
important branch is Freud’s psychoanalysis.
• A clear, scientific distinction between conscious and unconscious human
functioning was, however, made only much later in the work of the French
physician and philosopher, Jean Martin Charcot (1825–1893), and his student
Pierre Janet (1859–1924).
• Charcot and Janet were also the first to use hypnotism to uncover the
unconscious in the treatment of neuroses characterised by hysterical
phenomena.
• Hysteria is a disorder in which the person presents an organic symptom such as
paralysis of the limbs, hearing defects, loss of eyesight, difficulty in swallowing
and amnesia for which no organic cause can be found.
• Although there are many different ways one can compare approaches to
psychological personhood
o Body & Soul
o Conscious & Unconscious
o Self & Other
o Freedom & Captivity
o Meaning & Meaninglessness
o Normal & Pathological
Personology and everyday knowledge of human nature:
• Personology is also known as personality psychology and can be regarded as an
extension of our everyday knowledge of human nature
• Everyday knowledge of human nature - involves the ability to judge, understand,
explain and predict behaviour of one's fellow human beings
• Our ability to judge people depends on four sources of information: cultural
tradition, direct communications from others, observation of others' behaviour
and self-observation
• Personology - the branch of psychology which focuses on the study of the
individual's characteristics and of differences between people
1
,Made by:
The reasons why there are so many different personality theories:
• The complexity of humans and their behaviour:
o Biological factors, diet, environmental circumstances and stimuli, social
factors and psychological and spiritual factors are all interdependent
factors in creating a complex human
• Practical and ethical problems in research:
o Research is limited to random studies that are restrictive in terms of size
and duration
• Complete knowledge of the person may not be possible or desirable:
o Debate about determinism (behaviour is determined by forces out of
your control) and freedom (behaviour is determined by free will)
• Assumptions concerning the person and scientific research:
o Pre-conceived ideas are difficult to change, especially when it is difficult
to find concrete evidence for anything
Definitions of key concepts
• Person - refers to an Individual human being who can act independently
o Physical existence as living organisms
o Psychological existence: conscious and unconscious feelings, needs,
desires, thought and fantasies
o Spiritual existence: values and goals
o Context: Relationship, family, community, culture, nationality,
western/non-western, developed world/developing world
• Personality - The constantly changing but relatively stable organisation of all the
physical, psychological, and spiritual characteristics of an individual, which
determine their behaviour in interaction within the context in which they find
themselves.
o Involves cognition (thinking), affectivity (feeling), interpersonal
functioning (relating), and impulse control (acting) combined to make an
enduring pattern of deeply embedded psychological characteristics that
are hard to eradicate and are expressed naturally and automatically
o Inflexible/flexible (depending on level of pathology) and pervasive across
situations
o Conscious and unconscious
o Intrinsic and pervasive
o Enduring qualities an individual shows in his/her ways of behaving in a
wide variety of situations
o Focus on overt behaviour, but underlying mental activity (motivation,
defences, attitudes, emotions play part.
• Character - refers to elements determined by socialisation and education
o Those aspects of personality involving a person's values
o The person's ability to behave in a manner that is consistent with those
Values
o Behaviour that is 'out of character' does not fit with the person's
personality
• Temperament/Nature - inherited, biological aspects of a person
o Both used to describe a person's emotions and how they express their
emotions
2
,Made by:
The ‘source’ of individual personhood?
• Personism
o Behaviour is influenced primarily by the personality (Psychic
Determinism)
o Individuals have fixed characteristics/behaviour tendencies
§ In the same situation, different people will behave differently
§ Psychometric testing
• Situationalism
o All people in the same situation would behave in the same way
(Environmental Determinism)
o All people are equal – the environment is what shapes individual
differences
• Interactionalism
o Acknowledges influence of individual differences as well as the situation
on behaviour
o Humans are part of a physical, social, and cultural environment and their
behaviour is the outcome of this entire system
Classification Systems
• Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (DM) classifies personality types in 3
categories:
o Intimacy, defensive patterns, and mental functioning
• In the 3 following categories, the traits range from one extreme at the first bullet
to another extreme at the last bullet
• Capacity for Relationships and Intimacy
o Deep, emotional capacity for intimacy, caring and empathy even when
experiencing intense feelings or stress
o Intimacy, care, and empathy are present but disrupted by strong
emotions and wishes such as anger or anxiety
o Superficial and need orientated, lacking intimacy and empathy
o Indifferent to others or aloof and withdrawn
• Defensive Patterns and Capacities
o Can experience a broad range of thoughts, affects, and relationships and
handles stresses with minimal use of defences that suppress or alter
feelings and ideas. Defences that are used support flexibility and healthy
emotional functioning. Common mechanisms: humour
o Uses defences to keep potentially threatening ideas, feelings, memories
or fears out of awareness without significant extortion of experiences.
Common mechanisms: rationalisation and displacement
o Extensive use of defences that distort experiences and limits
experiences of relationships in order to deal with internal and external
stressors to keep thoughts and feelings out of awareness. Common
mechanisms: Projection and splitting
o Generalised failure of defensive regulation leading to a pronounced
break with reality. Common mechanisms: Projection and psychotic
distortion
• Major Defects in Basic Mental Functions
o Major structural psychological defects and defects in mental functions
o Perception and regulation of affect
3
, Made by:
o Integration of affect and thought
o Reality testing and organisation of perception, thought, and capacity for
human affective engagement
o Major defects in basic physical, organic integrity of mental apparatus
• Categorical continuum: (Personality types)
o Each category should contain members that are identical
o Should be mutually exclusive
o Sharp boundaries necessary
• Dimensional continuum: (Personality traits)
o Continuous distribution of the amount of a variable
o Big 5: Extroversion, neuroticism, openness to experience,
conscientiousness, agreeability
o Novelty speaking, harm-avoidance, reward-dependence
Personality Theories
• Theory - system of ideas explaining something (especially based on general
principles independent of the facts)
• Psychological Theory - selects from the complexity of a life certain aspects or
dimensions which are thought to lie at the centre of human concerns colouring
much of seemingly diffuse and variegated aspects of the person's experience
• Personality Theory - The outcome of a purposeful, sustained effort to develop a
logically consistent conceptual system for describing, explaining, and/or
predicting human behaviour
• Personality theories usually include the following concepts:
o An underlying view of the person
o Structure of personality
o What motivates human behaviour
o A description and/or ideal about human development
o Nature and causes of psychopathology
o How human behaviour might be controlled
o How to study, measure and predict behaviour
Philosophical assumptions
• philosophical assumptions about the relationship between soul and body
• Monism: This philosophical assumption sees a single aspect or principle as
being absolute.
• Materialism: This is an example of a monistic point of view that recognises the
body as the only manifestation of human existence. In this view, all objects, and
events, including psychological processes such as thinking, willing and feeling,
are explained solely as observable physiological processes.
• Mentalism: This is also an example of a monistic view, which rests on the
philosophical hypothesis that all psychological phenomena, such as thought,
will and emotions, can be ascribed to higher, non-observable mental processes
and should be distinguished from physiological processes.
• Dualism: In contrast with monism, dualism acknowledges two principles or
aspects of human nature, namely the physical and the psychological or mental.
4
WEEK ONE
CHAPTERS 1 & 2
Psychology 213
Introduction:
• We are all constantly engaged in Personology
• Psychology is shaped by the everyday context, culture, societal, political etc
• Psychology feeds back into our everyday lives and practices
• Depth psychology is probably the most widely known school of psychological
thought, both within and beyond the boundaries of psychology. The key feature
of this approach is the emphasis given by its followers to the ‘deep’,
unconscious aspects of the personality.
• The school that gave depth psychology its foundation and which is still its most
important branch is Freud’s psychoanalysis.
• A clear, scientific distinction between conscious and unconscious human
functioning was, however, made only much later in the work of the French
physician and philosopher, Jean Martin Charcot (1825–1893), and his student
Pierre Janet (1859–1924).
• Charcot and Janet were also the first to use hypnotism to uncover the
unconscious in the treatment of neuroses characterised by hysterical
phenomena.
• Hysteria is a disorder in which the person presents an organic symptom such as
paralysis of the limbs, hearing defects, loss of eyesight, difficulty in swallowing
and amnesia for which no organic cause can be found.
• Although there are many different ways one can compare approaches to
psychological personhood
o Body & Soul
o Conscious & Unconscious
o Self & Other
o Freedom & Captivity
o Meaning & Meaninglessness
o Normal & Pathological
Personology and everyday knowledge of human nature:
• Personology is also known as personality psychology and can be regarded as an
extension of our everyday knowledge of human nature
• Everyday knowledge of human nature - involves the ability to judge, understand,
explain and predict behaviour of one's fellow human beings
• Our ability to judge people depends on four sources of information: cultural
tradition, direct communications from others, observation of others' behaviour
and self-observation
• Personology - the branch of psychology which focuses on the study of the
individual's characteristics and of differences between people
1
,Made by:
The reasons why there are so many different personality theories:
• The complexity of humans and their behaviour:
o Biological factors, diet, environmental circumstances and stimuli, social
factors and psychological and spiritual factors are all interdependent
factors in creating a complex human
• Practical and ethical problems in research:
o Research is limited to random studies that are restrictive in terms of size
and duration
• Complete knowledge of the person may not be possible or desirable:
o Debate about determinism (behaviour is determined by forces out of
your control) and freedom (behaviour is determined by free will)
• Assumptions concerning the person and scientific research:
o Pre-conceived ideas are difficult to change, especially when it is difficult
to find concrete evidence for anything
Definitions of key concepts
• Person - refers to an Individual human being who can act independently
o Physical existence as living organisms
o Psychological existence: conscious and unconscious feelings, needs,
desires, thought and fantasies
o Spiritual existence: values and goals
o Context: Relationship, family, community, culture, nationality,
western/non-western, developed world/developing world
• Personality - The constantly changing but relatively stable organisation of all the
physical, psychological, and spiritual characteristics of an individual, which
determine their behaviour in interaction within the context in which they find
themselves.
o Involves cognition (thinking), affectivity (feeling), interpersonal
functioning (relating), and impulse control (acting) combined to make an
enduring pattern of deeply embedded psychological characteristics that
are hard to eradicate and are expressed naturally and automatically
o Inflexible/flexible (depending on level of pathology) and pervasive across
situations
o Conscious and unconscious
o Intrinsic and pervasive
o Enduring qualities an individual shows in his/her ways of behaving in a
wide variety of situations
o Focus on overt behaviour, but underlying mental activity (motivation,
defences, attitudes, emotions play part.
• Character - refers to elements determined by socialisation and education
o Those aspects of personality involving a person's values
o The person's ability to behave in a manner that is consistent with those
Values
o Behaviour that is 'out of character' does not fit with the person's
personality
• Temperament/Nature - inherited, biological aspects of a person
o Both used to describe a person's emotions and how they express their
emotions
2
,Made by:
The ‘source’ of individual personhood?
• Personism
o Behaviour is influenced primarily by the personality (Psychic
Determinism)
o Individuals have fixed characteristics/behaviour tendencies
§ In the same situation, different people will behave differently
§ Psychometric testing
• Situationalism
o All people in the same situation would behave in the same way
(Environmental Determinism)
o All people are equal – the environment is what shapes individual
differences
• Interactionalism
o Acknowledges influence of individual differences as well as the situation
on behaviour
o Humans are part of a physical, social, and cultural environment and their
behaviour is the outcome of this entire system
Classification Systems
• Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (DM) classifies personality types in 3
categories:
o Intimacy, defensive patterns, and mental functioning
• In the 3 following categories, the traits range from one extreme at the first bullet
to another extreme at the last bullet
• Capacity for Relationships and Intimacy
o Deep, emotional capacity for intimacy, caring and empathy even when
experiencing intense feelings or stress
o Intimacy, care, and empathy are present but disrupted by strong
emotions and wishes such as anger or anxiety
o Superficial and need orientated, lacking intimacy and empathy
o Indifferent to others or aloof and withdrawn
• Defensive Patterns and Capacities
o Can experience a broad range of thoughts, affects, and relationships and
handles stresses with minimal use of defences that suppress or alter
feelings and ideas. Defences that are used support flexibility and healthy
emotional functioning. Common mechanisms: humour
o Uses defences to keep potentially threatening ideas, feelings, memories
or fears out of awareness without significant extortion of experiences.
Common mechanisms: rationalisation and displacement
o Extensive use of defences that distort experiences and limits
experiences of relationships in order to deal with internal and external
stressors to keep thoughts and feelings out of awareness. Common
mechanisms: Projection and splitting
o Generalised failure of defensive regulation leading to a pronounced
break with reality. Common mechanisms: Projection and psychotic
distortion
• Major Defects in Basic Mental Functions
o Major structural psychological defects and defects in mental functions
o Perception and regulation of affect
3
, Made by:
o Integration of affect and thought
o Reality testing and organisation of perception, thought, and capacity for
human affective engagement
o Major defects in basic physical, organic integrity of mental apparatus
• Categorical continuum: (Personality types)
o Each category should contain members that are identical
o Should be mutually exclusive
o Sharp boundaries necessary
• Dimensional continuum: (Personality traits)
o Continuous distribution of the amount of a variable
o Big 5: Extroversion, neuroticism, openness to experience,
conscientiousness, agreeability
o Novelty speaking, harm-avoidance, reward-dependence
Personality Theories
• Theory - system of ideas explaining something (especially based on general
principles independent of the facts)
• Psychological Theory - selects from the complexity of a life certain aspects or
dimensions which are thought to lie at the centre of human concerns colouring
much of seemingly diffuse and variegated aspects of the person's experience
• Personality Theory - The outcome of a purposeful, sustained effort to develop a
logically consistent conceptual system for describing, explaining, and/or
predicting human behaviour
• Personality theories usually include the following concepts:
o An underlying view of the person
o Structure of personality
o What motivates human behaviour
o A description and/or ideal about human development
o Nature and causes of psychopathology
o How human behaviour might be controlled
o How to study, measure and predict behaviour
Philosophical assumptions
• philosophical assumptions about the relationship between soul and body
• Monism: This philosophical assumption sees a single aspect or principle as
being absolute.
• Materialism: This is an example of a monistic point of view that recognises the
body as the only manifestation of human existence. In this view, all objects, and
events, including psychological processes such as thinking, willing and feeling,
are explained solely as observable physiological processes.
• Mentalism: This is also an example of a monistic view, which rests on the
philosophical hypothesis that all psychological phenomena, such as thought,
will and emotions, can be ascribed to higher, non-observable mental processes
and should be distinguished from physiological processes.
• Dualism: In contrast with monism, dualism acknowledges two principles or
aspects of human nature, namely the physical and the psychological or mental.
4
