1. Psychodynamic Theories

Question 1

Sigmond Freud’s theory that psychological dynamics are similar to dynamics among physical forces.

Answer 1

Psychodynamics

Question 2

Which model used as spatial metaphor that provided mental processes into three types: conscious, preconscious and unconscious?

Answer 2

Freud’s topographic model

Question 3

What mental processes are rational, goal directed thoughts at the centre of awareness?

Answer 3

Conscious

Question 4

What mental processes are not conscious but could become conscious at any point?

Answer 4

Pre-Conscious

Question 5

What mental processes are irrational, organised along associative lines rather than by logic?

Answer 5

Unconscious

Question 6

Conflicting feelings or motives

Answer 6

Ambivalence

Question 7

A tension or battle between opposing motives.

Answer 7

Conflict

Question 8

The solutions people develop to maximise fulfilment of conflicting motives simultaneously.

Answer 8

Compromise formations

Question 9

Focused on what drives and motivates people.
He proposed to basic drives: sex and aggression.
The libido refers as much to pleasure seeking, sexuality and love as it does to desires for sexual intercourse.

Answer 9

Freud’s drive model or Instinct Model

Question 10

Freud’s model of how children develop.

Answer 10

Freud’s developmental model

Question 11

Stages in the development of personality, sexuality and motivation.
He proposed five _____ stages.

Answer 11

Freuds Psychosexual stages

Question 12

0 to 18 months – children explore the world through their mouths, characterised by dependency.

Answer 12

Oral stage

Question 13

Conflicts or concerns that persist beyond the developmental period in which they arise.

Answer 13

Fixations

Question 14

2 to 3 years – categorised by conflicts with parents about compliance and defiance.

Answer 14

Anal stage

Question 15

4 to 6 years – children enjoy the pleasure they can obtain from touching the genitals or even from masturbating. Identification with parents especially same-sex and others, Oedipus complex, establishment of conscience.

Answer 15

Phallic stage

Question 16

Making another person part of oneself: imitating a person’s behaviour, changing the self-concept to see oneself is like the person and trying to become more like the person by adopting his or her values and attitudes.

Answer 16

Identification

Question 17

Freuds hypothesis that little boys want an exclusive relationship with their mothers, and little girls want an exclusive relationship with their fathers.
Castration complex and penis envy.

Answer 17

Oedipus complex

Question 18

7 to 11 years – children repress their sexual impulses and continue to identify with the same-sex parent.

Answer 18

Latency stage

Question 19

12 years and on – Conscious sexuality resurfaces after years of repression, and genital sex becomes the primary goal of sexual activity. At this stage, people become capable of relating to and loving others on a mature level and carrying out adult responsibilities such as work and parenting.

Answer 19

Genital stage

Question 20

Describes conflict in terms of desires on the one hand and the dictates of conscience and the constraints of reality on the other.

Answer 20

Freuds Structural Model

Question 21

The reservoir of sexual and aggressive energy.

Answer 21

Id

Question 21

Wishful, illogical and associative thought.

Answer 21

Primary process thinking

Question 22

Seeking immediate satisfaction and gratification, with little or no consideration for the longer term ramifications.

Answer 22

The pleasure principle

Question 23

Acts as a conscience and source of ideals.

Answer 23

Superego

Question 24

The structure that must somehow balance desire, reality and morality.

Answer 24

Ego

Question 25

Is rational, logical and goal directed.

Answer 25

Secondary process thinking

Question 26

Recognising that the immediate desire for pleasure needs to be off seat against the reality of what the consequences might be.

Answer 26

The reality principle

Question 27

Unconscious mental processes aimed at protecting the person from unpleasant emotions or bolstering pleasurable emotions.

Answer 27

Defence mechanisms

Question 28

A defence in which a person keeps thoughts memories that would be too threatening to acknowledge from awareness.

Answer 28

Repression

Question 29

A defence in which a person refuses to acknowledge external realities or emotions.

Answer 29

Denial

Question 30

A defence mechanism by which a person attributes his own an acknowledged feelings or impulses to others.

Answer 30

Projection

Question 31

Where a person fails to acknowledge unacceptable impulses and overemphasises their opposites.

Answer 31

Reaction formation

Question 32

A defence that involves converting sexual or aggressive impulses into socially acceptable activities.

Answer 32

Sublimation

Question 33

The defence in which the person explains away actions in a seemingly logical way to avoid uncomfortable feelings, especially guilt or shame.

Answer 33

Rationalisation

Question 34

The defence involves people directing their emotions, especially anger, away from the real target to a substitute.

Answer 34

Displacement

Question 35

Involves a person reverting back to the early stage of psychological development, typically when under a period of great stress or hardship.

Answer 35

Regression

Question 36

The indirect expression of anger towards others

Answer 36

Passive aggression

Question 37

Refers to enduring patterns of behaviour in intimate relationships and to the motivational, cognitive and affective processes that produce those patterns.
The term comes from Freud’s view that an instinct has an aim, which is a kind of gratification, and an object, which is usually a person. Thus, these theories are about people’s relationships with others.

Answer 37

Object relations

Question 38

The need for relatedness is a central motive in humans, and people will distort their personalities to maintain ties to important people in their lives.

Answer 38

Relational theories

Question 39

Aim to understand the whole person in the context of life experience and environment.

Answer 39

Life history methods

Question 40

Present participants with an ambiguous stimulus and ask them to give some kind of a definition to it, to project a meaning into it.

Answer 40

Projective tests

Question 41

Asks a participant to view a set of inkblots and tell the tester what each one resembles.

Answer 41

Rorschach inkblot test

Question 42

The participant is asked to make a story about each of the series of ambiguous drawings, most of which depict people interacting.

Answer 42

Thematic Apperception test (TAT)

Question 43

The importance of (1) unconscious cognitive, emotional and motivational processes; (2) ambivalence conflict and compromise; (3) childhood experiences in shaping adult interpersonal patterns; (4) mental representations of the self, others and relationships; and (5) the development of the capacity to regulate impulses into shift from an immature dependent state in infancy to a mutually caring, interdependent interpersonal stance in adulthood.

Answer 43

Contributions of psychodynamic theories

Question 44

An inadequate basis in scientifically sound observation and sexism.

Answer 44

Limitations of psychodynamic theories