Research Based on Neo-Freudian Theories

Fall 2002 Personality Students:

Use these study questions (in lieu of class lecture) to organize your studying & to emphasize the points that would likely have been covered in the lecture.

Remember that you are responsible only for the sections on Anxiety & Coping and on Attachment & Relationships.

Anxiety & Coping Strategies

1. Q:  Freud made anxiety-avoidance a central motivator in his theory of personality.  Did the neo-Freudians maintain this tenet in their theories?

    A: Yes, all of the theorists saw anxiety avoidance as a major motivation for behavior.   They saw personality as shaped (more or less) by the person's efforts to avoid experiencing excessive anxiety.

    Here are 2 examples of unhealthy responses to anxiety:  (1) Horney’s neurotic styles, (2) Sullivan’s false personification.  Can you recall other theorists' views of normal & unhealthy responses to anxiety?

2. Q:  Freud believed that anxiety avoidance largely took place outside of consciousness, and involved the use of defense mechanisms.  Did the neo-Freudians maintain this notion, or did they focus more on anxiety avoidance as a conscious strategy of the ego?

    A:  All of them argued that some of the anxiety-avoidance strategies that people use are unconscious. 

3.  Q: Contemporary psychological research has taken the lead from the Neo-Freudian theorists and attempted to discover how people cope with anxiety day to day.  Did these researchers find that people use the same strategies that the Neo-Freudian theorists expected them to use?

    A:  Yes, they do use some of those strategies, most of which are unconscious.  They also use conscious strategies.  Contemporary researchers have mostly focused on coping mechanisms (or coping strategies -- two words for the same thing).

    A. A person's general style of dealing with stress and anxiety. 

6. Q: Why is coping style considered to be part of a person's personality?

    A. Because most of us have patterned responses to stress.  Because they are patterned, and tend to repeat themselves over time, they can be considered consistent aspects of who we are.  Thus, they are part of personality.

7. Q: Two types of coping styles are:

    A. Active (sensitizers) and avoidant (repressors).

8.  Q: Which of the following are characteristic of active coping and which are characteristic of avoidant coping?

    c. They think (even ruminate) about problems

    d. They avoid feeling the anxiety as long as possible.

    e. They distract themselves.

    f. They think through problems and take action on problems with the goal of solving them.

    A: Active:  a, c, f

        Avoidant:  b, d, e

9. Q:  Active strategies can be cognitive or behavioral.  Active cognitive strategies involve:

10. Q: Active behavioral strategies are:

11. The focus of coping efforts can be the problem itself, or the anxiety (or other emotions) the person feels about the problem.  A problem-focused strategy deals directly with ______________ and indirectly with ___________, while an emotion-focused approach does the opposite.

    A:  the problem or the environment; the emotions or one's reaction to the problem

12. How is emotion focused coping a cognitive strategy?

    A:  The effort is focused upon changing the way one thinks about the problem so as to reduce anxiety & other unpleasant affect.

13. What kinds of problems are caused by avoidant coping?  Under what circumstances?

    A: If one is dealing with a problem that will get worse with inattention (such as an illness), avoidant coping is harmful.  When one wants to accomplish a goal, avoidant coping is self-defeating.

   14. What kinds of problems are caused by active coping?

    A: If one is dealing with a problem that will be more easily resolvable if it is postponed, then active coping may waste energy. 

Attachment Style and Adult Relationships

1. Q:  Attachment style research is based on a Neo-Freudian theory not discussed in class.  That theory is:

2. Q: It's main distinction from the theories we have already discussed is:

    A. It proposes that personality is formed largely in the first 3 years of life as a result of interactions between the infant and the caregiving parent(s).

3.  Q: The originator of attachment theory is:

    A: John Bowlby

4.  Q:  A person's view of him/herself, other people, and close relationships is determined by whether the child feels ____________ in the relationship with the parent(s).

    A: secure

  5. Q:  What distinguishes secure parent-infant attachments from insecure ones (i.e., anxious-ambivalent & avoidant attachments)?

    A: Secure attachments: adequately fulfill the infant’s need for security. Children are happy and self-confident.

        Insecure attachments do not adequately fulfill infant's needs.

             Anxious-ambivalent attachments: The parent is insensitive and not predictable:  sometimes responsive, sometimes not.  Children are not easily soothed by the parent and sometimes seem to fight the parent's efforts to comfort them.

             Avoidant attachments:  The parent is unresponsive and the child does not seek the parent out for comfort.

Limitations of Attachment Research

1. We do not know yet whether a "secure adult attachment style" is the cause of, or the result of, a successful romantic relationship in adulthood.

2. The negative effects of early relationship experiences can sometimes be "healed" via good relationship experiences later in life (friendships, supportive romantic partner, community).