Chapter 10.

Personality
1. Psychodynamic (Tâm động học): personality is primarily unconscious and motivated by inner forces and conflicts
about which people have little awareness.
2. Sigmund Freud: the proponent of Psychoanalytic theory that uses free association: A patient talks of whatever
comes into their minds, so that the doctor can help the patient achieves healing.
3. Psychoanalytic theory (Thuyết phân tâm học): unconscious forces (động lực vô thức) act as determinants of
personality (yếu tố quyết định tính cách).
4. Unconscious (Vô thức): A part of the personality that contains the memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, drives
and instincts of which the individual is not aware.
5. Preconscious (Tiền ý thức): contains material that is not recognized (threatening) yet but is very easily brought to
mind.
6. Freudian slip (lời nói lỡ lời): A slip of the tongue that shows the speaker’s unconscious desires.
7. Structures of Personality:
 Id (cái ấy): The raw, unorganized, inborn part of personality whose sole purpose is to reduce tension
which created by primitive drives as hunger, sex, aggression,…
 Based on the “Pleasure principle” where the goal is immediate reduction of tension, and achieve the
maximum of satisfaction.
 Ego (cái tôi): Provides a buffer (=balance) between the Id and the outside world.
 Based on the “Reality principle” where instinctual energy is restrained (hạn chế) to maintain the
individual’s safety.
 Superego (cái siêu tôi): Judge harshly the morality of our behavior (xét khắc nghiệt)
 Conscience (lương tâm): prevents us from behaving in a morally improper (không đúng đạo đức) by
making us feel guilty if we do something wrong.

 Psychosexual Stages of Develop:

8. Psychosexual stages (tâm tính học): the development that children pass through (in childhood stage) during
which they encounter (experience) conflicts between the demands of society and their own sexual urges.
 Psychosexual energy (libido): the driving force behind behavior (các động lực)
9. Fixations (sự ngừng phát triển trí óc): when a person fails to progress after a stage completely. Unresolved issues
or conflicts will lead the person to remain “stuck” on a certain stage.
a) Oral stage (miệng): An infant’s center of pleasure is the mouth (Age 12 – 18 months)
 Weaning (Cai sữa): the main conflict in oral stage.
 Overindulge (being fed every time they cry) or frustration on this stage leads to fixation.
b) Anal stage (hậu môn): A child’s center of pleasure is the anus (18 months – 3 years)
 Anal retentive: cố gắng nhịn đi vệ sinh  biết cách kiềm chế, chịu đựng trong tương lai.
 Anal expulsive: ỉa đùn, đái dầm  không có tính chịu đựng, messy, wasteful or destructive in future.
c) Phallic stage (dương vật): A child’s pleasure focuses on the genitals (during 3 years)
 Oedipal conflict (cạnh tranh Oedipal): A child is interested in his or her opposite-sex parent.
 Castration Anxiety (lo lắng bị thiến): fear of losing penis.
 Identification (sự tương tự): want to be like another person as much as possible, imitate their behavior
 Penis envy (ghen tị về dương vật)
d) Latency stage (giai đoạn trễ): Sexual feelings are inactive and unimportant.
e) Genital stage (giai đoạn sinh dục): The person develops a strong sexual interest in the opposite sex
(sexual behavior)
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10. Defense Mechanism (cơ chế phòng thủ): are unconscious strategies that people use to reduce anxiety.
 Repression (dồn nén): Unpleasant impulses are pushed out of awareness.
Ex: A woman is unable to recall that she was raped.
 Regression (hồi quy): People behave as if they were at an earlier stage of development.
Ex: A boss is very angry when an employee makes a mistake.
 Displacement (chuyển đối tượng): giận cá chém thớt
Ex: A brother yells at his younger sister after his teacher gave him a bad grade.
 Rationalization (biện minh): sour graping & sweet lemonizing.
Ex: A student goes out drinking the night before exam rationalizes that the test is not important.
 Denial (chối bỏ): People refuse to accept an anxiety-producing piece of information.
Ex: A student refuses to accept that he has failed a course.
 Projection (đổ lỗi): “suy bụng ta ra bụng người”
Ex: A man who is unfaithful to his wife and thinks that she also does like this to him.
 Reaction – formation (phản ngược): Unconscious impulses are expressed as their opposite.
Ex: A mother resents her child because the child acts overly loving way toward the child.
 Acting out: acting instead of expressing the feelings.
Ex: Instead of saying “I’m angry with you”, he throws a book at the person.
 Undoing (hoàn tác): cố gắng làm hài lòng người mà mình đã vô ý làm họ tổn thương.

 Neurosis (bệnh thần kinh): a mental disorder produced by anxiety.

11. Collective Unconscious (by Carl Jung): is an inherited set of ideals, feelings, images, symbols,… that are shared
with all humans because of our common ancestral past.
12. Archetypes (nguyên mẫu): universal symbolic representations for people, objects, ideas, or experiences.
 Mother archetype (nguyên mẫu mẹ): trong các bài văn học, tôn giáo,…
 Feminine archetype (tính nữ): Anima – a part of man’s personality.
 Male archetype (tính nam): Animus – a part of woman’s personality.
 Nam và nữ đều dị tính, nhưng nó không vượt quá giới tính trội.
 Shadow archetype (bóng tối): the dark side, negative side of personality.
 Persona (bề ngoài – mặt nạ): the opposite of authentic self.

13. Basic Anxiety (by Karen Horney):

 Social forces in childhood (not biological forces) influence personality development.
 Disputed Freud’s penis envy (không đồng ý với việc con gái ghen tị về dương vật).
 Womb envy: Men actually feel inferior with women because they cannot give birth (sinh con).
 Chapter 10. Personality

14. 10 neurotic needs of Horney: (nhu cầu thái quá)

A. Moving toward people:
 For affection and approval (lấy lòng người khác và được yêu thích ngược lại)
 For a powerful partner.
B. Moving against people:
 To limit one’s life within narrow boundaries. (cầu toàn)
 For power. (điều khiển người khác)
 To exploit others. (bóc lột người khác)
 For social recognition. (muốn sự công nhận của xã hội)
 For personal admiration. (su nguong mo ban than)
C. Moving away from people:
 For personal ambition. (mong muốn cá nhân)
 For self-sufficiency. (không cần đến ai)
 For perfection. (sự hoàn hảo)

15. Alfred Adler: Striving for Superiority (sự ưu việt)

 Inferiority feelings (tự ti): are natural & positive motivations force that motivates a person to develop.
 Inferiority complex (phức tạp tự ti): because of excessive feelings of inferiority. Therefore, they would
avoid challenges because they are sure that they would fail.

16. Humanistic Approaches by Carl Rogers: The uniqueness of you (cách tiếp cận nhân văn)
 Self-actualization (thể hiện bản thân): a state of self-fulfillment in which people realize that their highest
potential, each in a unique way.
 Self-concept: the set of beliefs & perceptions which people hold about their own abilities, behavior.
 Unconditional Positive Regard (tình yêu thương vô điều kiện): the attitude of acceptance and respect
others, it doesn’t depend on their behavior (even it’s wrong).  Self-actualization
 Conditional Positive Regard: a significant person withdraws their love from another person who did
something that they cannot accept.  Frustrations & anxiety.