Psychology of Personality: Take Home Questions #2
Question 1
a) A research study using multiple regressions was undertaken to find out the efficiency of psychoanalytic theory of Karen Horne (Larsen et.al, 2008). The theory suggested three ways in which people would react in the event of a certain anxiety such as losing or being separated from their mothers. Karen argued that they would get in touch with other people, detach themselves from others or rise against other people. Another suggestion regarding the same was that healthy people would function normally when faced with the loss of a mother as compared to people suffering from personality disorders.
b) What can be concluded from this research is that personality disorders such as paranoid and schizotypal are not related to sympathetic reactions. Besides, most personality disorders have no relationship (Larsen et.al, 2008). It was also concluded that individuals in aggression cluster are more likely to cause harm to themselves and others. However, individuals considered antisocial are more likely to cause harm to other people.
c) Karen Horney informed Feuds original presentation on repression by bringing in new insights from socio-cultural and biological perspectives. She also focused on feminism which she argued that it had been overlooked in psychodynamics. She argued that the jealousy between men and women is brought about by the culture which gives men more privileges but not biological differences as Feud suggests (Larsen et.al, 2008). According to her the fact that men cannot give birth makes them jealous for women’s wombs.
Question 2
In cognitive unconscious, individual’s behavior is influenced by what they perceive even when they are unaware and that what individuals think in their conscious minds is managed similarly to what is in the unconscious minds. Whereas motivated unconscious suggests that the unconscious part of the brain determines an individual’s behavior and this is tied to the memories and desires observed by the conscious mind of that individual (Larsen et.al, 2008). This suggests that conscious behavior is attributed to unconscious thoughts.
Question 3
a) Psychosocial is any problem associated with an individual’s state of mind and the social behavior. For instance a psychotic adolescent between ages 12 to 18 desire to belong in a group and are prone to poor pressure (Larsen et.al, 2008). In later adolescence, individuals want to think and act for themselves and hate to be controlled by parents.
b) Crisis is a situation that is very difficult to cope. In early adolescents individuals may experience this stage as they wonder about their body changes such as breast development and broad shoulders. In later stages, they are in a crisis as they engage in career selection. They want to know who they are and what they want to become.
c) Developmental tasks are those roles that come at or with a certain stage of growth in an individual’s life. For instance in early stages of adolescence, individuals have a tasked with acceptance of their bodies as they change (Larsen et.al, 2008). Later adolescence comes with tasks such as learning to choose a career and getting ready to start a family.
d) Central process is the manner in which an individual provides a solution to a crisis.
Question 3
The underlying attitude in image four is sorrow. The ailing woman in bed is the source of the sadness in the man standing behind her. The man seems stressed and uncertain about the ailing woman. There seems to be a husband-wife or son-mother relationship between the man and the ailing woman since it is not easy for men to cry. Clearly, the crying of the man behind the bed-ridden woman symbolizes sorrow.
The lady in image five is fidgeting in a chair and seems uncomfortable. Besides her, there is an unhappy man giving a lecture. There seems to be a master-servant relationship in this picture where the man is the boss and the lady is a junior. The lady may have messed up somewhere hence triggering a lecture from her senior. Clearly, the underling attitude in image five is anger.
Question 4
- The nature of self is very difficult to tell since human beings are not constant but dynamic. What they are today, their feelings, motivation, desires and life goals are prone to change. The future self cannot trust the current self.
- Everything that we perceive consciously is also registered by our unconscious minds since they both function and the unconscious mind function more during relation or when one is asleep therefore this influences our thoughts and actions regarding what was perceived consciously
References
Larsen, R. J., & Buss, D. M. (2008). Personality psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature. Boston: McGraw Hill.