Personality theories

Romina Shrestha
B.N. (Psychiatric Nursing), M.A. (Clinical Psychology), M.N. (Child Health Nursing)

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Personality
 Derived from the Greek word; Persona

 Total quality of the individual’s behavior

 Sum total of the typical way of thinking and

feeling that makes each person unique.

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Personality Theories
 Psychosexual theory by Freud
 Psychosocial theory by Erickson
 Interpersonal theory by Sullivan
 Cognitive theory by Piget

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 Psychoanalytic Approach

 Developed by Sigmund Freud

 Also termed as psychodynamic approach where, mind
(psychical energy) is the source of energy and behavior as the
expression of energy.
 Emphasizes unconscious motivation - the main causes of
behavior lie buried in the unconscious mind

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Contd….
Freud thought of personality as being based upon a structure
of three parts; id, ego and superego

Id - instinctual drives present at birth

 does not distinguish between reality and fantasy
 operates according to the pleasure principle
 An unconcious mechanism that works on two
energy sources, Eros, the sexual life energy and
Tanatos, the anger, or death energy.

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Contd..

Ego - develops out of the id in infancy

 understands reality and logic
 mediator between id and superego
 tries to keep these two energy
sources, Eros and Tanatos, in
balance

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Contd..

 Superego
 is the mental image that people have
of their ideal self
 internalization of society’s moral
standards
 responsible for guilt

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Contd..
 Freud further separated the mind into three level
of consciousness:
 Conscious mind
 Preconscious mind
 Unconscious mind

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Pre-test (level of mind)
 After providing clues, an adult can easily
recall his nursing rhymes because these
are available in :
a. Conscious mind
b. Subconscious mind
c. Unconscious mind
d. Supraconscious mind

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Answer (level of mind)
 After providing clues, an adult can easily
recall his nursing rhymes because these are
available in :
a. Conscious mind
b. Subconscious mind/ Preconscious mind
c. Unconscious mind
d. Supraconscious mind

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Contd..
 Freud further separated the mind into three level
of consciousness:
 Conscious mind: that portion of our mind which
we are aware of.
 Preconscious mind: that portion of mind that has
information that is not presently conscious but can
easily be brought into consciousness.
 Unconscious mind: that part of mind which we
can never be directly aware

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 Psychoanalytic Approach

Rational, Information
planful, in your
mediating Conscious immediate
dimension Ego awareness
of personality
Superego Preconscious Information
which can
Moralistic, easily be
judgmental, made
Unconscious conscious
perfectionist
dimension of
personality Id Thoughts,
feelings,
urges, and other
Irrational, information
illogical, that is difficult
impulsive to bring to
dimension of conscious
personality awareness
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 Defense / Adjustment Mechanisms

Primary Defense Mechanism: Repression

Secondary Defense Mechanism: Compensation,

Rationalization, Projection, Identification,
Substitution, Sublimation, Regression, Sympathism,
Withdrawal, Day-dreaming, Denial, Reaction
formation, Conversion, Displacement etc.

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Repression

 It is the involuntary blocking of unpleasant

feelings and experiences from one's
awareness.
 According to Freud, repression is basic to all
other forms of defense mechanisms.

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Compensation

 In this, the individual tries to overcome a

failure or deficiency in one area through
achieving recognition in another area and is
able to enhance his self-esteem which had
been threatened.

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Rationalization

 Rationalization is the attempt to make

excuses or formulate logical reasons to justify
unacceptable feelings or behaviors.
 It operates in two forms.

 a.Sour Grapes:
 b. Sweet lemon:

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Contd…
Projection
 It is the attribution of feelings or impulses
unacceptable to one's self to another person.

Identification
 It is an attempt to increase self-worth by
acquiring certain attributes and
characteristics of an individual one admires.

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Contd..
Substitution
 When original goals are too difficult to achieve, the
person substitutes this goal into another, which is
less difficult to achieve, remaining the ultimate goal
same.
Sublimation
 It is re-channelizing of drives or impulses that are
personally or socially unacceptable (e.g.,
aggressiveness, anger, sexual drives) into activities
that are more tolerable and constructive.

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Contd..
Regression
 Regression is the mechanism of going from
the present pattern to the past level of
behavior.

Sympathism
 In sympathism, the individual avoids the
necessity of solving his problems by obtaining
the sympathy of others.
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Contd..
Withdrawal
 Some people tend to withdraw from the
situation in which they experience difficulty.
 This is an adjustment mechanism where the
person avoids taking responsibility in work,
home etc. because he /she fears criticism
from others and he/she feels threatened by
them.

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Contd..
Day-dreaming/ Fantasy
 It is a kind of withdrawal when faced with real
problems of life as instead of solving the
problems realistically the person includes
himself in imaginary activities, feeling of
fantasy.
Denial
 Denial is the refusal to acknowledge the
existence of a real situation or the feelings
associated with it.
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Contd..
Reaction Formation
 Reaction formation is the prevention of
unacceptable thoughts or behaviors from
being expressed by exaggerating opposite
thoughts or types of behavior.
 It is changing an unacceptable impulses into
its opposite.

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Contd…
Conversion
 Conversion is a defense mechanism by which
an emotional conflict is expressed as physical
symptoms for which there is no demonstrable
organic basis.
Displacement
 Displacement is the transferring of the
feelings from one target to another that is
considered less threatening or neutral.

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Psychosexual Stages

 Freud has considered sexual motive behind human

behaviour and thus described psycho-sexual
development of personality under different stages:
Oral,Anal,Phallic,Latency,& Genital.

 Freud believed that gratification during each stage

is important, if the individual is not to be fixated
at that level

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 Oral Stage (birth - 1 year)

 Mouth is associated with sexual pleasure

 Weaning a child can lead to fixation if not handled
correctly
 Fixation can lead to oral activities in adulthood

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 Anal Stage (1 - 3 years)

 Anus is associated with pleasure

 Toilet training can lead to fixation if not handled
correctly
 Fixation can lead to anal retentive or expulsive
behaviors in adulthood

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 Phallic Stage (3 - 5 years)

 Focus of pleasure shifts to the genitals

 Oedipus or Electra complex can occur
 Fixation can lead to excessive masculinity in males
and the need for attention or domination in females

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 Latency Stage (5 - puberty)

 Sexuality is repressed
 Children participate in hobbies, school and same-sex
friendships

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 Genital Stage (puberty on)

 Sexual feelings re-emerge and are oriented toward

others
 Healthy adults find pleasure in love and work, fixated
adults have their energy tied up in earlier stages

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