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Psychology 305A: Theories of Personality

Lecture 12

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1. What therapeutic methods have emerged from psychoanalytic theory?

2. What is the psychosocial perspective?

3. According to attachment theory, what are the 4 infant attachment styles?

The Psychoanalytic and Psychosocial Perspectives

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4. How are attachment styles assessed in adults?

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2. discuss the process of “dream work.”

1. describe the therapeutic goal and techniques of psychoanalysis.

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

3. identify contemporary applications of Freud’s ideas and techniques.

4. discuss contemporary research findings regarding the effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy.

8. distinguish between attachment classification systems.

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7. review the strange situation.

5. contrast the psychoanalytic perspective and the psychosocial perspective.

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6. describe Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development.

9. distinguish between attachment styles.

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What therapeutic methods have emerged from psychoanalytic theory?

• Freud did propose a method by which adults could “restructure” their personalities: Psychoanalysis

• Goal of psychoanalysis: To bring unconscious conflicts to conscious awareness (i.e., insight).

• Freud primarily used 2 techniques in conducting psychoanalysis:

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(a) Free association

Involves having the patient say, without hesitation, whatever comes to his or her mind.

Described by some as “daydreaming out loud.”

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In beginning free association, Freud (1913, 1958) would instruct his patients as follows:

“You will notice that as you relate things various thoughts will occur to you which you would like to put aside on the grounds of certain criticisms and objections. You will be tempted to say to yourself that this or that is irrelevant here, or is quite unimportant, or nonsensical, so that there is no need to say it. You must never give in to these criticisms, but must say it in spite of them—indeed, you must say it precisely because you feel an aversion to doing so …. Finally, never forget that you have promised to be absolutely honest, and never leave anything out because, for some reason or other, it is unpleasant to tell it.”

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Resistance

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An analyst must interpret the material provided by the patient in order to identify any unconscious conflicts.

Once identified, the analyst reveals the unconscious conflicts to the patient, allowing him/her to resolve it.

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(b) Dream analysis

Involves having the patient recount her or his dreams through free association.

Freud believed that there are 2 types of dream content:

Manifest content: Narrative of the dream that is consciously remembered.

Latent content: Memories, fantasies, forgotten events, unconscious conflicts that give rise to manifest content.

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Condensation: The unconscious compresses several latent elements into a single manifest image.

Displacement: The unconscious shifts emphasis away from an important but threatening image to an image that is less threatening

E.g., Power and hostility are represented by an ax.

E.g., A patient’s abusive father is represented as an old and frail man.

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Symbolism: The unconscious uses a common and acceptable image to symbolize an unacceptable latent element.

Secondary revision: The unconscious synthesizes the disjointed images that have been created through condensation, displacement, and symbolism into a coherent story (e.g., by adding a setting or plot)

E.g., A vagina is represented as a hollow box.

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An analyst must interpret the manifest content of the dream, as described by the patient, in order to identify any unconscious conflicts.

Once identified, the analyst reveals the unconscious conflicts to the patient, allowing him/her to resolve it.

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• Contemporary psychoanalysts (e.g., Shedler, 2009) continue to employ Freud’s ideas and techniques:

Focus on emotional experience and expression.

Discussion of childhood and interpersonal relations.

Exploration of defense mechanisms.

Free association (implicit associations; schemas).

Resistance and transference.

Exploration of wishes, fantasies, and dreams.

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• Research (e.g., Abbass et al., 2006; de Maat et al., 2009; Leichsenring et al., 2004) indicates that

psychoanalytic therapy is as effective as other forms of therapy (e.g., CBT, drug therapy).

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What is the psychosocial perspective?

• The psychosocial perspective is comprised of theories derived from psychoanalytic theory.

• In contrast to psychoanalytic theory, these theories do not emphasize sexuality; they emphasize social factors.

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• Examples of psychosocial theories include: 1. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development.2. Bowlby’s attachment theory.

Age Stage Label Crisis Ego (Basic) Strength

0-1 Infancy Basic trust vs. mistrust Hope

2-3 Early childhood

Autonomy vs. shame and doubt

Will

3-5 Preschool Initiative vs. guilt Purpose

6-11 School age Industry vs. inferiority Competence

12-20 Adolescence Identity vs. role confusion Fidelity

21-35 Young adulthood

Intimacy vs. isolation Love

36-60 Adulthood Generativity vs. stagnation

Care

61-Death Old age Ego integrity vs. despair Wisdom

Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development

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Stage 5: Adolescence

12 – 20 years of age.

Crisis: Identity vs. role confusion.

Successful resolution: Occurs when adolescents develop an integrated and consistent self-view (i.e., one that is seen similarly by oneself and others).

Ego (basic) strength: Fidelity (the ability to be true to oneself and to significant others despite contradictions in value systems across roles and relationships).

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Stage 6: Young Adulthood

21 – 35 years of age.

Crisis: Intimacy vs. isolation.

Successful resolution: Occurs when young adults feel that they can merge with another individual without losing their personal identity.

Ego (basic) strength: Love (a mutual devotion with another individual that is greater than any antagonism between the identities of each individual in the partnership).

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• Attachment theory is among the most important contemporary outgrowths of Freud’s theory, having generated decades of research.

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According to attachment theory, what are the 4 infant attachment styles?

• Ainsworth developed the “strange situation” procedure to assess infant attachment.

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• Using this procedure, Ainsworth (1972, 1979) identified 3 infant attachment styles:

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1. Secure: “Normal” distress when the parent leaves the room, interacts willingly with the stranger, exhibits joy when the parent returns (66% of the infants).

2. Avoidant: Little distress when the parent leaves the room, indifference when the parent returns,

sometimes exhibiting rejection behaviours (20% of the infants).

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More recent research suggests a fourth attachment style:

4. Disorganized: Disoriented or confused by surroundings, displays no coherent pattern of coping.

3. Ambivalent: Extreme distress when the parent leaves the room, ambivalent when the parent returns,

exhibiting approach and rejection behaviours (14% of the infants).

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• Infants with a secure attachment style tend to have responsive and affectionate parents. Infants with an insecure attachment style (e.g., avoidant, ambivalent) tend to have unresponsive and/or unaffectionate parents.

• Infants with a disorganized attachment style typically have been exposed to a chaotic/abusive environment.

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How are attachment styles assessed in adults?

• Bowlby theorized that infant relationships produce “internal working models” for adult relationships.

• Internal working models: Unconscious expectations about relationships (schemas, representations of the self in relation to close others).

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• Consistent with Bowlby’s theory, research has found:

(b) for most people, attachment classifications in infancy correspond to attachment classifications in

adulthood.

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(a) a positive correlation between parent-infant attachment style and adult attachment style.

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1. Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ; Hazan & Shaver, 1987)

Assesses secure, ambivalent, and avoidant attachment styles.

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• Several methods have been developed to assess the attachment styles of adults:

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Contains multi-sentence descriptions that are extrapolations of Ainsworth’s three infant patterns.

Respondents think about their experiences in romantic love relationships and select the description that best describes how they feel (a categorical response).

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2. Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991; see also Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994)

Assesses secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing attachment styles.

Bartholomew argued that the AAQ conflates two theoretically distinct forms of avoidance—fearful-avoidance and dismissing-avoidance.

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MODEL OF SELF

MODEL OF OTHER

Positive

Positive

Negative

Negative

SECURE

FEARFULPREOCCUPIED

DISMISSING

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Similar to the AAQ, the RQ contains multi-sentence descriptions of each of 4 the attachment styles

identified by Bartholomew.

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Respondents are asked to think about “the way they generally are in close relationships” and:

(a) select the description that best corresponds to their general relationship style (a categorical response).

(b) use a 7-point scale to rate each description for the extent to which it corresponds to their general relationship style (4 continuous responses).

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Descriptions included in the RQ:

“It is easy for me to become emotionally close to others. I am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t worry about being alone or having others not accept me.” (Secure; 47% of university students)

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“I want to be completely emotionally intimate with others, but I often find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I am uncomfortable being without close relationships, but I sometimes worry that others don’t value me as much as I value them.”(Preoccupied; 14% of university students)

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“I am uncomfortable getting close to others. I want emotionally close relationships, but I find it difficult to trust others completely, or to depend on them. I worry that I will be hurt if I allow myself to become too close to others.” (Fearful; 21% of university students)

“I am comfortable without close emotional relationships. It is very important to me to feel independent and self-sufficient, and I prefer not to depend on others or have others depend on me.” (Dismissing; 18% of university students)

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1. What therapeutic methods have emerged from psychoanalytic theory?

2. What is the psychosocial perspective?

3. According to attachment theory, what are the 4 infant attachment styles?

The Psychoanalytic and Psychosocial Perspectives

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4. How are attachment styles assessed in adults?