Id (Operates on Pleasure Principle)
Ego (Operates on Reality Principle)
Superego (Operates on Moral Principle)

This work was begun by Freud and carried further by his followers. The ego defends itself against internal and external threats with defense mechanisms. Major defense mechanisms of the ego include:

Repression
Regression
Displacement
Reaction Formation
Projection
Rationalization
Intellectualization
Denial
Identification
Suppression
Sublimation

Carl Jung was heir apparent to Freud until he split with him over the importance Freud placed on sexuality and his own concept of a collective unconscious.

Ego
Personal Unconscious
Complexes
Collective Unconscious
Archetypes
(Persona, Self, Anima/Animus, Shadow, and many others)

The four functions and two attitudes are combined to form eight types of individuals. This is the personality assessment model used by the Myers-Briggs.

Functions
Thinking
Feeling
Sensation
Intuition

Attitudes
Introversion
Extraversion

Adler was another early follower of Freud who split with him over Freud's emphasis on sexuality and his own beliefs about the importance of striving for success and perfection.

Life-Style
Striving for Perfection
Social Interest
Empathy
Inferiority and Superiority Complexes
Importance of Birth Order in Personality Development

Erik Erikson was trained as a lay psychoanalyst, and his contribution to personality theory was the epigenetic principle. This principle states that human development progresses in sequential stages, and that each stage must be satisfactorily resolved for development to proceed unimpaired to the next. If problems occur at any stage, they will influence and affect development that follows. Erikson's eight stages stretch across the life span, and unlike Freud, who believed everything critical in human development occurred in childhood, Erikson held that significant developmental challenges existed throughout the life cycle.

Basic Trust versus Basic Mistrust (0 - 1 years)
Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt (1 - 3 years)
Initiative versus Guilt (3 - 5 years)
Industry versus Inferiority (6 - 11 years)
Identity versus Role Diffusion (11 - Adolescence)
Intimacy versus Isolation (21 - 40)
Generativity versus Stagnation (40 - 65 years)
Integrity versus Despair (65 until Death)

Karen Horney: Social and Cultural Psychoanalysis

Erich Fromm: Humanistic Psychoanalysis

These approaches seek to develop a taxonomy of personality traits with this taxonomy considered to be an adequate explanation of personality. The area is tied closely to personality inventories and personality assessment. It was very different from psychoanalytical approaches in the emphasis placed on empirical research. Today there is a general consensus on five major traits that are relatively stable throughout life: (1) Neuroticism, (2) Extraversion, (3) Openness, (4) Agreeableness, and (5) Conscientiousness. Early writers in this area were:

Gordon Allport: Trait Theory

Hans Eysenck: Three-Factor Theory

Raymond Cattell: Factor-Analytic Approach

George Kelley: Theory of Personal Constructs

The major writer in this area was George Kelley. He assumed that the development of every individual's personality centered on their attempt to maximize their understanding of the world and themselves through a constantly evolving system of personal constructs. These ideas are highly personal and are based upon interpretations of events. Some interpretations are better supported by evidence than others, and some lead to successful and others unsuccessful behaviors. The concepts of "constructional alternativism" underlies his model. It basically means that we are always able to reinterpret our representation of events.

This area is sometimes called the Third Force movement in contemporary psychology, the other two being the psychoanalytic and behavioral approaches. This area emphasizes highly personal growth leading to realization or actualization as a unique, fully functioning individual. This good result assumes, however, that conditions guiding development are right. The humanistic/existential approach emphasizes the importance of personal values and meanings in the development of each person as a distinct and self-defined individual. Major writers in the area are:

Abraham Maslow: Importance of Self-Actualization

Carl Rogers: Self-Theory (Person-Centered Therapy)

Rollo May: Existential Analysis

There are three major learning theories: (1) Classical Conditioning (also known as Respondent Conditioning and Associative Learning) which was first described by Ivan Pavlov, (2) Operant Conditioning (which is also know as Stimulus-Response or Operant Learning) which is perhaps best reflected in the writings of B. F. Skinner, and (3) Social Learning (social modeling) perhaps best reflected in the writings of Albert Bandura.

Here, at the beginning, an Unconditioned Stimulus elicits an Unconditioned Response. In Pavlov's classic study the presentation of the food is the Unconditioned Stimulus and salivation the Unconditioned Response. Once another stimulus (Conditioned Stimulus) becomes associated with the Unconditioned Stimulus it to will have some ability to elicit the Response. We then say we have a Conditioned Stimulus (bell ringing) eliciting a Conditioned Response (salivation). Classical Conditioning is also known as Associative Learning. There are some behavioral concepts overlapping the areas that it may be helpful to be familiar with on the CRC exam.

Here the consequences of behavior determine whether that behavior will increase, decrease, or remain constant in frequency. If a behavior results in a pleasant stimulus (consequence) coming to the behaving organism the behavior is positively reinforced and will increase in frequency. If the behavior results in an unpleasant stimulus being removed from the organism the behavior is negatively reinforced and is more likely occur the next time the unpleasant stimulus is present (because the behavior was effective in removing the unpleasant stimulus). An all too frequent misconception is that negative reinforcement is punishment. The word negative refers to the removal of an undesired, unpleasant, problematic, negative stimulus (such as pain) and when this occurs we have negative reinforcement.

Punishment and reduces the frequency of behavior, especially when the stimulus administering the punishment (usually a person) is present. There are two types of punishment: (1) presentation of an aversive stimulus (e.g., a spanking, verbal scolding), and (2) withdrawal of a positive stimulus (e.g., taking away a favorite toy, turning off the TV).

Human Beings have all five senses common to the animal world. We may not be able to smell or hear as well as our dogs, or see as well as owls or eagles, but we can observe interactions with organisms and their environments (including interactions between people). We learn from these observations because we are intelligent ... and do not need to experience consequences directly or personally. This is sometimes called vicarious learning or learning by observation, and it is how a great deal of human learning is believed to occur.