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Mary Morcos

Mrs. Gribben
AP Psychology
16 February 2016
Directions:
What would each theorist say about Jaylene's case?
Apply specific aspects of theories to specific behavior demonstrated by Jaylene.
Concept from theory explained in own
words

Examples of this aspect in Jaylene's


behavior

Sigmund Freud
1. Defense mechanisms:
Reaction formation- the ego unconsciously
makes unacceptable impulses look like their
opposites.

Jaylene may appear to be intelligent,


motivated, attractive, etc. to her friends, when
in fact she is unhappy and anxious.
Acquaintances describe Jay in glowing
terms- for example, as highly motivated,
intelligent, attractive, and charming. But Jay,
unbeknownst to others, is terribly insecure
and anxious.

2. Electra Complex- when a girls sexual


desires is towards the father and feelings of
jealousy and hatred towards mother or other
siblings that would get in her way of receiving
total attention from her father.

Jay became really close to her father as she


was the only girl among her siblings. She
ended up loving her father and feeling jealous
and hatred towards her brothers. In the
process, Jay became closer to her father,
while greater than average jealousy and
rivalry characterized Jays relationships with
her younger brothers from early childhood to
the present.

3. Defense mechanism
Displacement- diverts sexual or aggressive
impulses toward an object or a person that is
psychologically more acceptable than the one
that aroused the feelings.

When Jay saw Ted talking to a female


classmate, she got angry and ended up
diverting such anger to Ted. ...conversation
between Ted and a female classmate
triggered Jays rage. When Jay caught sight
of the two, she turned quickly and hurried
away. Ted finally caught up with her, but she
screamed angrily in his face that she never
wanted to see him again.

4. Psychosexual Development
Jays negative feelings of herself may be due
phallic stage- occurs between 3-6 years of
to the fixation of being in the phallic stage.
age and focuses on the pleasure zones of the According to Freud, personality

genitals, the person tries to cope with


incestuous sexual feelings.
fixation- being locked-in or regresses to a
particular stage.

characteristics such as insecurity,


introversion, and feelings of inadequacy and
worthlessness often arise from fixation at the
phallic stage of development.

5. personality development:
latency stage- occurs during the ages of 5 or
6 until puberty; the stage focuses on dormant
sexual feelings.

At around age 5 or 6, Jays sexual feelings


towards her father would have become
dormant due to her realization that she cannot
marry her father. In all likelihood, Freud
would also have predicted that at around age
5 or 6, Jay would undoubtedly have become
aware that she could not actually marry her
father and do away with her mother, as Freud
would say she wished to do.

Carl Jung
Ever since Jay was born, her father had seen
1. Personal Unconscious- which includes
potential in her and have always strived to
anything which is not presently conscious, but help her achieve her best and become a
can be.
successful person. In fact, he is one of the
reasons to why Jay has become the
successful person that she is. Even though
that fact is stored in her unconscious mind, it
can be conscious by her admitting it.
2. Collective unconscious- It is the reservoir
of our experiences as a species, a kind of
knowledge we are all born with. And yet we
can never be directly conscious of it. It
influences all of our experiences and
behaviors, most especially the emotional
ones, but we only know about it indirectly, by
looking at those influences.

As a species, we are all born to have


knowledge of who our family members are,
who our siblings and our father and mother
are. Jay had known that she had brothers,
even though no one told her directly, and so
her emotions towards her brothers were
negative because she received little attention.
Jays first brother, born when she was 2
years old, was for some time a threat and a
source of irritation to Jay, although she does
not remember too clearly the details of their
early relationship.

3. Principle of opposite- Every wish


immediately suggests its opposite.

When Jay says she does not deserve to be a


doctor, then according to Jungs principle of
opposite, Jay is also suggesting that she
deserves to be a doctor. I dont deserve to be

a doctor.
4. principle of equivalence-The energy
created from the opposition is "given" to both
sides equally. When more energy is put into
one side while the other side is
acknowledged, then a persons psyche
improves.

Jay thinks she does not deserve to be a


doctor, but she can go both ways: either to
work hard and be a doctor or to not work at all
and never become a doctor. Jay put more
energy into becoming a doctor, but she still
faced and acknowledged the opposite side of
her not deserving to be a doctor, thus
improving her psyche and personality.

5. principle of entropy- the tendency for


oppositions to come together, and so for
energy to decrease, over a person's lifetime.

According to Jungs principle, Jays energy


into fulfilling one side of the wish should be
decreased and the energy should be evenly
distributed to both sides. Jay became an
excellent doctor while still recognizing her
flaws.

Karen Horney
1. Neurosis- a "psychic disturbance brought
by fears and defenses against these fears,
and by attempts to find compromise solutions
for conflicting tendencies" (The Neurotic
Personality Of Our Time, 28-29).

According to Horney, Jay may have


experienced neurosis by her fear of never
becoming a successful person and a doctor
one day. However, she attempted to find
some solutions to her fears by working harder
and not looking for romantic relationships that
may distract her.

2. Neurotic needs:
The neurotic has a need to be recognized
socially. They are extremely concerned with
appearance and popularity. So, they strive to
be outgoing.

Jay has illustrated that need by acting highly


motivated, intelligent, attractive, and
charming in front of her friends while she is in
fact insecure and anxious.

3. Neurotic needs:
The neurotic has a desperate need for
acceptance and affection.

Jay illustrated the neurotic need of being


desperate for acceptance and affection by
causing tantrums when she was young
because she received relatively little attention
compared to her baby brothers. Also, she
always questions why she is never able to
have a lasting relationship with a partner, and
despite her fails, she kept getting into
relationships due to her desperate need for

affection.
4. Psychoanalysis- the characteristics and
description of a personality and how it came
to be when considering the persons
environmental factors, their homes and their
parents.

Jays personality would be characterized by


her fathers ability to help her from a young
age and how his support for her influenced
the person she came to be at age 30.

5. Inner Conflicts- the problems that a person


goes through makes them have a potential of
becoming a better or decent person.

Jays inner conflicts is her realizing her


negativity towards herself and how is worried
about being happy or about being successful.
Due to her worries and fears, she worked
harder to achieve her goals, which is to get
into medical and become a doctor. Her inner
conflict then drove her to become a better and
a successful person.

Alfred Adler
1. Striving for perfection- It is a principle
similar to the concept of self-realization,
where a person is always striving to reach his
or her full potential and achieve it.

Throughout her life, Jay was always striving


for perfection since she first started setting
her goal of becoming a doctor. Then she got
through middle, high school, and even
college. She then reached her perfection
when she graduated from medical school at
the top of her class.

2. Aggression drive- the drive to full hunger,


pleasure, etc, is used by frustrating means
and aggression.

Jay had illustrated the aggression drive when


she used to make tantrums because she
wanted attention and affection from her
parents.

3. Compensation- striving to overcome.

Jay strived to overcome her fears and her


negative thoughts by studying harder and
becoming isolated from anything that could
possibly distract her, such as finding a partner
to be in a relationship with.

4. Striving for superiority- when a person tries


hard to be better than others and to achieve
more than others.

Jay strived for superiority when she became


jealous of her two brothers. She had decided
to get even closer to her father so that she
would be the only one of her siblings to be so
close to Dr. Smith. In other words, she put

herself above her siblings when considering


her relationship with her father.
5. Fictional finalism- Assumptions made
about our life that could end up being true,
but is never proven to happen unless they
already happen.

Throughout her life, Jay used fictional finalism


to look at the outcomes of her life. For
example, she kept asking herself Why cant I
meet that special person? This is a fictional
finalism because she is suggesting that she
will never meet that special person just
because she had some failed relationships.
That is an assumption that could be true in
the future, but she can never know for sure
until she either finds that person or not.

Abraham Maslow
1. Hierarchy of needs- According to Maslow,
one goes through a hierarchy of needs in
which when a basic need is fulfilled they can
move on to satisfy a higher need.
Belongingness and love needs- need to love
and be loved, to belong and be accepted;
need to avoid loneliness and separation.

According to Maslows hierarchy of needs,


Jay fulfilled her needs of belonging by her
father always paying attention to her
demands and helping her achieve her best
and seek her full potential. His ambitions and
goals for Jay were extremely high, and as she
matured, he responded to her every need and
demand almost immediately and with full
conviction.

2. Hierarchy of needs
Esteem needs: Need for self-esteem,
achievement, competence, and
independence; need for recognition and
respect from others.

Jay fulfilled her esteem needs by doing


academically well and getting accepted into
medical school. Thanks to her excellent work
during college, Jay was admitted to medical
school.

3. Hierarchy of needs:
Physiological needs- needs to satisfy hunger
and thirst.

Jays personality was able to develop to


higher needs according to Maslow since her
physiological and basic needs were satisfied
by her mother. Tired when she was home,
she had little energy for nonessential
interactions and devoted what efforts she
could to feeding the children (especially the
younger ones) and to making certain the
house was in order.

4. Hierarchy of needs:
Safety needs- need to feel that the world is

When Jay had 2 brothers, she felt unsafe


because of the little attention that she

organized and predictable; need to feel safe.

received from her parents and she started to


form a close relationship with her father in
order to feel safe. Her parents recall that Jay
would sometimes have temper tantrums when
the new infant demanded and received a lot
of attention...As time went on, the brothers
seemed to form an alliance to undermine
Jays supreme position with their father. In the
process, Jay became closer to her father

5. Hierarchy of needs:
self-actualization needs- need to live up to
our fullest and unique potential.

Jays personality developed to the way it is


because she never realized her full potential
since she did not know who she was or
deserve to be a doctor. While she tried not to
dwell on personal feelings and conflicts during
this period of her life, they crept through
periodically: I dont deserve to be a doctor; I
wont pass my exams; Who am I and what do
I want from life?; Why cant I meet that
special person?

Carl Rogers
1.Growth-promoting climate:
genuine- being open with feelings, dropping
their facades, and being transparent and selfdisclosing.

Jays personality developed by her father


being genuine to her and helping her grow as
well as her friends who stayed by her side
and described her in positive ways instead of
being fake. Acquaintances describe Jay in
glowing terms- for example, as highly
motivated, intelligent, attractive and
charming.

2.Growth-promoting climate:
acceptance- when a person is accepted no
matter what their flaws are.

Jay is accepted by both of her parents even


though she was only closer to her father. At
graduation, Dr. and Mrs. Smith were as proud
as they could possibly be.

3. Growth promoting climate:


unconditional positive regard- an attitude of
grace, an attitude that values us even
knowing our failings. It is a profound relief to
drop our pretenses, confess our worst
feelings, and discover that we are still
accepted.

Jays father accepted his daughter and


offered her unconditional positive regard by
being with her every step of the way in order
for her to be successful. He wanted to instill
in her a strong desire for achievement so that
someday she would strive to become
successful and independent. He wanted very

much to be proud of his little bundle of joy...


4. Growth-promoting climate:
empathic- sharing and mirroring our feelings
and reflecting our meanings.

Jays personality did not grow into a positive


one because she did not talk to anyone about
her feelings and the thoughts that she had for
herself. Thus, no one was able to empathize
with her nor did she give the chance to
anyone to empathize with her. But Jay,
unbeknownst to others, is terribly insecure
and anxious.

5. Self-concept- all the thoughts and


feelings we have in response to the question,
Who am I? If our self-concept is positive, we
tend to act and perceive the world positively.
If it is negativeif in our own eyes we fall far
short of our ideal selfsaid Rogers, we feel
dissatisfied and unhappy.

Jays personality developed to become the


way it is because she always had a negative
self-concept of herself in which she was never
happy, always anxious, and did not even
know her purpose in life.When asked once
by a psychologist to pick out some selfdescriptive adjectives, Jay selected
introverted, shy, inadequate, and unhappy

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