Theories of Personality
Monday, 06 March 2023 10:34
Sub heading and page number
Lecture Main topics:
○ What is personality
○ 8 main approaches to understanding personality
○ FREUD
Lecture notes:
Personality- the psychological qualities that contribute to an individuals enduring and distinctive patterns
of feelings, thinking and behaving
Psychoanalytic Approach to personality development
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
• Structures of personality are largely unconscious
(people are unaware of why they behave the way they do)
• Strongly influenced by conflicts such as:
→ Instincts
→ unconscious motives
→ past experiences
→ social norms
FREUD'S VIEW
Life instinct and death instinct
Instincts- basic motivational drives that provide basis for personality. Mental representations of internal
stimuli that causes a person to take action.
Life Instincts death Instincts
'Eros' 'Thanatos'
Need for survival and Destructive force of human
development. (hunger) nature
Ensure the reproduction of Unconscious wish to die-
species (sexual desire) transformed into aggressive
Psychic energy manifested- drive (act out)
libido We all have the potential
to be destructive
The conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious levels
These are the 3 levels of personality according to Freud
Conscious- sensations and experiences that we are aware of at any
given moment of time
○ Limiting aspect of our personalities because it only includes a
small portion of:
→ Thoughts
→ Sensations
→ Memories
Preconscious- lies between conscious and unconscious. Includes
thoughts, memoires and perceptions that we may be able to recall by
bringing them into the state of consciousness
Unconscious- contains memories, emotions and instincts that are
threating to conscious they remain buried (e.g. sex or aggression)
Summaries Page 1
Monday, 06 March 2023 10:34
Sub heading and page number
Lecture Main topics:
○ What is personality
○ 8 main approaches to understanding personality
○ FREUD
Lecture notes:
Personality- the psychological qualities that contribute to an individuals enduring and distinctive patterns
of feelings, thinking and behaving
Psychoanalytic Approach to personality development
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
• Structures of personality are largely unconscious
(people are unaware of why they behave the way they do)
• Strongly influenced by conflicts such as:
→ Instincts
→ unconscious motives
→ past experiences
→ social norms
FREUD'S VIEW
Life instinct and death instinct
Instincts- basic motivational drives that provide basis for personality. Mental representations of internal
stimuli that causes a person to take action.
Life Instincts death Instincts
'Eros' 'Thanatos'
Need for survival and Destructive force of human
development. (hunger) nature
Ensure the reproduction of Unconscious wish to die-
species (sexual desire) transformed into aggressive
Psychic energy manifested- drive (act out)
libido We all have the potential
to be destructive
The conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious levels
These are the 3 levels of personality according to Freud
Conscious- sensations and experiences that we are aware of at any
given moment of time
○ Limiting aspect of our personalities because it only includes a
small portion of:
→ Thoughts
→ Sensations
→ Memories
Preconscious- lies between conscious and unconscious. Includes
thoughts, memoires and perceptions that we may be able to recall by
bringing them into the state of consciousness
Unconscious- contains memories, emotions and instincts that are
threating to conscious they remain buried (e.g. sex or aggression)
Summaries Page 1
