http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/2079106

Personality dynamics; an integrative psychology of adjustment

"This book is intended to answer the need for a systematic treatment of personality dynamics. It is perhaps the first serious attempt to develop, in textbook form, a thoroughly systematic presentation of psychoanalytic principles. Though Freud's work was not well received by American psychologists during the first three or four decades of this century, there seems to be a growing tendency to recognize the significance of his contributions, some of which are so fundamental to an understanding of human behavior that they can hardly any longer be ignored. I have tried to state Freud's concepts in a manner that will make them clear to the student who is not yet familiar with Freud's original works. By choice, I have retained much of Freud's terminology, in view of the fact that clinical psychologists especially will require these terms in order to communicate effectively with psychoanalytically oriented psychiatrists. I have, however, defined Freud's terminology in such a manner that it can be integrated with the current concepts of American psychology. This book provides, I think, some important contributions to conceptual clarity. Among these may be mentioned the following: 1. Freud's tripartite division of personality functions--involving his concepts of id, ego, and superego--has been described, in somewhat modified form, in terms of definitions stating that id functions involve biogenic need-tensions (anxiety), that ego functions involve the cognitive (intellectual) and voluntary processes, and that superego functions involve all aspects of psychogenic motivation. 2. Extensive emphasis has been given to the analysis of "need integrates" or motives into the three components: need, instrumental act, and object. Such analysis aids in clarifying the concept of anxiety and in defining what occurs to motives when they undergo "defensive" modification. 3. The concept of anxiety has been defined more rigorously than previous treatments have permitted. In the present treatment, the concept of anxiety becomes equivalent to that of id functions: it implies the occurrence in consciousness of biogenic need-tensions without conscious representation of instrumental acts or objects in relation to which gratification or relief may be anticipated. 4. Two concepts of identification, which Freud often referred to indiscriminately by a single term, are separately described and distinctively named. The term perceptual identification is used to refer to identical (or nearly identical) interpretations of different stimuli; the term developmental identification is used to refer to the development of characteristics that are similar to those of respected or admired models"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

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