Page 397 - Understanding Psychology

wants nothing more than to please the men in her life—unconsciously covering up her true feelings. Have you ever put on a front and acted strong and confident when you were really scared?
Regression
Regression means going back to an earlier and less mature pattern of behavior. When a person is under severe pressure, he may start acting in ways that helped him in the past. For example, he may throw a temper tantrum, make faces, cry loudly, or revert to eating and sleeping all the time the way he did as a small child. If you have ever been tempted to stick out your lower lip and pout when you know that you should really accept that you cannot have your own way, you have experienced regression.
Displacement
Displacement occurs when you cannot take out your anger on the source of your frustrations, so you displace it or take it out on a less pow- erful person. For example, if you wanted to hit your father but were afraid to, you might hit your little brother instead. Your poor brother gets slapped around partly because he reminds you of your
father and partly because he is not as likely to hit back.
Sublimation
Sublimation refers to redirecting a forbidden desire into a socially acceptable desire. For example, you may be so frustrated by your friend’s arrogant attitude that you work extra hard at soccer practice, pushing your- self to your physical limits. You have channeled your aggressive feelings into physical activities.
EVALUATING FREUD’S CONTRIBUTION
The recognition of the tremendous forces that exist in human personality and the difficulty of controlling and handling them were Freud’s great contributions to understanding human life. After Freud, it became easier to understand why human life contains so much con- flict. It is a matter, Freud thought, of a savage individ- ual coming to terms with the rules of society. The id is the savage part, and the superego is the representative of society. In a healthy person, the ego (the “I”) is strong enough to handle the struggle (Hall, 1954).
Freud was also the first psychologist to claim that infancy and childhood are critical times for forming a person’s basic character structure. In his theory of psy- chosexual development, Freud reasoned that a child goes through five stages of development—oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Conflicts arise in each of
Birth Order
Are you either the oldest child in the family or the youngest? Does this affect your per- sonality? Frank Sulloway (1996) studied birth-order effects on personalities, coming up with the following characteristics:
• Firstborns are interested in preserving the status quo; later-borns are more open to new experiences and ideas.
• Firstborns are usually more responsible, achievement-oriented, and organized than those born later.
• Later-borns are usually more agreeable than firstborns.
• Firstborns are more jealous and fearful than later-borns.
• Firstborns have more assertive and domi- nant personalities but may not be as socia- ble as later-borns.
It is important to note that Sulloway’s research focused on middle- to upper-class people in Western cultures and therefore may not apply to other cultures. Sulloway’s research also is generalized, meaning it may not apply to every individual or every family.
Chapter 14 / Theories of Personality 383