Exam II – Review

Psychology of Personality

Discussion Questions: Mr. Holland's Opus

    1. How might Mr. Holland’s reaction to his life changes be interpreted according to Attachment Theory?  What type of attachment style did he appear to have?  Are the types of grief based on Attachment Theory applicable here?

    2. How might Horney describe Mr. Holland’s situation? What role did compulsive drives and/or idealized self-image play in his perceptions?  What trend of handling anxiety does Mr. Holland show?  Does he show evidence of the normal or neurotic analog?  Why?

    3. How would Fromm describe Mr. Holland’s behavior in terms of freedom and self-awareness? What character orientation would Mr. Holland most likely have?

    4. How might Sullivan describe Mr. Holland’s experience in terms of his anxiety and resulting dynamisms?

    5. How would Erickson explain Mr. Holland’s experience in terms of identity crisis?  Identify Mr. Holland's psychosocial stage of development.  What was the ultimate resolution?
 

Chapter 5 – Klein (Object Relations Theory)

            Fantasies (object, impetus, source)

            Good breast/bad breast

            Psychic defense mechanisms

            Positions

            Oedipus complex

            Bowlby (attachment theory) & Ainsworth (attachment styles-secure, avoidant, anxious-

                        ambivalent, disoriented)

            Comparison with Freud

Chapter 6 – Horney (Psychoanalytic Social Theory)

            Basic anxiety; Basic hostility

            Compulsivity

            Neurotic trends and normal analogs

            Idealized self-image

            Self-realization

            Feminine psychology

            Impact of Culture & Socialization

            Criticism of Freud

Chapter 7 – Fromm (Humanistic Psychoanalysis)

            Freedom, isolation, & role of self-awareness

            Uniqueness of humans

            Incestuous symbiosis

            Character orientations (receiving, hoarding, marketing, exploiting)

            Biophilia

            Personality disorders & syndrome of decay

            Malignant aggression

            Possible cultural bias?

Chapter 8 – Sullivan (Interpersonal Theory)

            Interpersonal relations

            Tensions

            Security operations & self-system

            Selective inattention

            Dissociation

            Levels of cognition (protaxic, parataxic, syntaxic)

            Dynamism

            Stages of development; importance of pre-adolescence

Chapter 9 – Erickson (Post-Freudian Theory)

            Identity Crises; identity confusion

            Psychosocial development

            Stages, crises, and resolution (trust vs. mistrust = hope or withdrawal; integrity vs. despair =

                        wisdom or disdain)

            Procreativity

            Epigenetic principle

            Integrity