2. Freud (Psychoanalysis) Flashcards
Name of Freud’s psychological society
Vienna Psychoanalytic Society
How was Freud’s relationship with his mother?
Good (a little too good)
How was Freud’s relationship with his brother Julius?
Hostile –> wanted him to die –> he died –> Freud guilty –> realized desire was normal –> psychic development
Three levels of mental life
Unconscious, preconscious, conscious
Contents of unconscious
All drives, urges and instincts that are beyond our awareness and motivate our words, feelings, actions
How do forces in unconscious become conscious?
Disguise to slip past primary guardian to preconscious then secondary guardian to conscious
Reaction Formation
Mechanism by which disguised drive takes form opposite to original feeling but exaggerated, obsessive, compulsive
How do unconscious images appear to us once they are in conscious?
Pleasant, non-threatening –> but with strong sexual or aggressive motifs (e.g. erotic or hostile urges expressed by teasing –> unconscious of first person influences unconscious of second but neither party consciously aware)
Unconscious images spring from…
Childhood events or phylogenetic endownment
Phylogenetic endowment
Experiences of early ancestors
Contents of preconscious
All elements that are not conscious but can become so readily or without difficulty
Two sources of preconscious elements
- Conscious (transitory/alternating between conscious and preconscious)
- Unconscious (in disguise)
Contents of conscious
Those mental elements in awareness at any given point in time
Two sources of conscious elements
- Conscious perception
- Preconscious and unconscious (in disguise/distorted)
Freud’s two structures of the mind
- Topographic/levels (conscious, preconscious, unconscious)
- Structural/provinces (id, ego, superego)
Ego levels
Across conscious, preconscious and unconscious
Superego levels
Preconscious and unconscious
Id levels
Entirely unconscious
What is the result of variance in provinces across individuals?
Different personalities
Result of a dominant ego
Psychological health (in control of id and superego)
Qualities of id
Primitive, chaotic, amoral, illogical
Id serves the ______ principle
pleasure (basic desires)
Id fueled by energy from…
basic drives
Ego serves the _______ principle
Reality
Which province of the mind makes decisions?
Ego
Ego must balance demands of: (3)
Id, superego and reality/external world
If ego cannot handle the tension involved in balancing id, superego and reality, the result is…
Anxiety
Ego manages its anxiety using…
Defence mechanisms
When does the ego develop?
When infants learn to distinguish self from outer world
Children’s good behaviour is initially motivated by the ______ then as they mature, the ________
ego, superego
Ego and superego fueled by…
energy from the id
Superego serves the _______ principle
moral/ideal
Superego’s two systems
Conscience (what we should not do) and ego-ideal (what we should do)
If ego does not meet superego’s moral standards =
Guilt
If ego does not meet superego’s ideals =
Inferiority
What motivates people?
Energy from basic drives to seek pleasure and reduce anxiety
Sex drive psychic energy
Libido
Aggression drive psychic energy
Nameless
Every basic drive characterized by: (4)
An impetus (amount of force exerted)
A source (region of the body in state of excitation/tension)
An aim (to seek pleasure by removing excitation/tension)
An object (means through which aim is satisfied)
Where in the body is libido?
Everywhere
Sex can take the form of: (4)
Narcissism, love, sadism, masochism
Characterize infant libido
Primary narcissism – invested in own ego
Characterize adolescent libido
Secondary narcissism – personal appearance and self interests
Characterize child libido
Development from primary narcissism (inward) to object libido (love)
When do sadism and masochism become perverse/pathological?
When sex drive subservient to aggressive drive
What is the aim of the aggressive drive?
To return organism to inorganic state (death)
When did Freud develop the aggressive drive?
After WWI and death of his daughter
What are some everyday manifestations of aggressive drive?
Teasing, gossip, sarcasm, humiliation, humour
Define anxiety
A felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by physical sensation that warns person against impending danger
What causes anxiety?
Reality preventing unopposed fulfillment of sex and aggressive drives
Neurotic Anxiety
Feeling of unknown danger caused by ego’s dependence on chaotic id
Moral Anxiety
Feeling of impending guilt/inadequacy caused by ego’s dependence on idealistic/unrealistic superego
Realistic Anxiety
Fear-like feeling caused by ego’s dependence on reality
Not related to a specific fearful object; just a general unpleasant feeling
What is the function of anxiety?
Preserves ego by signalling danger
What is the function of defence mechanisms?
Protects ego from pain of anxiety
Are defence mechanisms always pathological?
No – they are normal and universally used
Define repression
When ego forces id impulses into unconscious
When does repression begin?
In childhood –> anxiety due to punishment for drives
What can happen when id impulses are repressed into unconscious? (3)
- Impulses remain unchanged in unconscious
- Impulses force their way into consciousness in unaltered form, resulting in overwhelming anxiety
- Impulses expressed in altered form (disguised/displaced)
Define displacement (as a defence mechanism)
Reaction formation limited to a single object
Redirection of unacceptable impulses onto various people/objects
Define fixation
Permanent attachment of libido onto a more primitive stage of development due to anxiety about psychological growth
Define regression
Temporary attachment of libido onto a more primitive stage of development due to anxiety about psychological growth
Define projection
Seeing one’s own unacceptable impulses in others
Describe projection in its pathological form
Paranoia –> characterized by repressed homosexual feelings toward the persecutor (a same sex former friend) –> reverse feelings (love –> hate) and project them onto original object (he hates me)
Define introjection
Incorporating positive qualities of another person into own ego to minimize feelings of inferiority
Describe relationship between introjection and Oedipus complex
When child resolves Oedipus complex and introjects parents’ values, superego forms
Define sublimation
Aim of a basic drive substituted with cultural/social aim (e.g. art, human relationships, social pursuits)
Which defence mechanism helps the individual and society?
Sublimation
What are the four stages of psychosexual development?
Infant phase, latent phase, genital phase, maturity
What are the three sub-stages of the infant phase?
Oral phase, anal phase, phallic phase
Which stage of psychosexual development is most crucial for personality formation?
Infant period
What are the two sub-stages of the oral phase?
Oral-receptive –> oral-sadistic
How do infants in oral phase obtain pleasure?
Sucking/milk
Characterize oral-receptive phase
Infants receive nipple with minimal anxiety
Characterize transition from oral-receptive to oral-sadistic phase
Infant develops anxiety due to weaning, resulting in ambivalence towards love object and increased ego ability to defend against anxiety
Characterize oral sadistic phase
Infants get teeth, bite, close mouth, cry
How do adults gratify oral needs?
Overeating, smoking, making “biting” remarks
When does the aggressive drive more fully develop?
Anal phase
How is satisfaction derived in early anal phase
Destroying/losing objects
Behaving aggressively toward parents
Frustrating parents with toilet training
How is satisfaction derived during late anal phase
Erotic pleasure of defecating
How can parents mess up during the anal phase?
If child presents feces to parents as a prize and is shamed, children may obtain anal pleasure by withholding feces until pressure is painful/erotically stimulating –> leading to narcissistic and masochistic pleasure
What are the three characteristics of anal adults?
Orderliness, stinginess and obstinacy
What happens to children who are resistant to toilet training in adulthood?
They receive erotic satisfaction from being orderly
Describe Freud’s fucked up ideas re anal eroticism and penis envy in girls
Anal eroticism becomes penis envy during phallic stage, ultimately satisfied by giving birth (poop = penis = baby)
When do male and female psychosexual development diverge?
Phallic phase (age 3-4)
From psychoanalytical perspective, the most crucial aspect of personality development
Experience with Oedipus complex
Describe Oedipus Complex
Infant boy wants to be his father and wants his mother, then as ego develops, sees father as rival for mother’s affection
How does Oedipus complex get resolved?
When superego begins to develop –> unacceptable feelings pushed into unconscious –> boy then sees parent(s) as moral model
Describe castration anxiety in boys
Develops when a boy (i) becomes aware of absence of a penis in girls and (ii) is mature enough to comprehend connection between sexual desires and removal of penis
Since he has been punished for sexual behaviours, he fears having his penis removed (like a girl) and represses sexual desire for mother
Describe the relationship between castration anxiety and phylogenetic endowment
Ancient jealous fathers castrated sons for sexual desiring mother
Circumcision is a relic of this practice
Describe female Oedipus complex
When girls learn that boys have more than a vagina, they feel cheated and want more –> later becomes desire for baby
Sexual desire for mother turns into hostility for having a penis, then directed to father who can give her a substitute phallus (a baby)
Resolution of female Oedipus complex
When a girl gives up masturbating and sexual desire for father –> identifies with mother
Describe the latency period
Period of minimal psychosexual development from age 6-12 when libido sublimated and psychic energy directed toward nonsexual activities
Describe the relationship between the latency period and phylogenetic endowment
Ancient fathers killed sons so sons killed fathers, then banded together to prohibit their sons from killing them and seducing female relatives –> when they became fathers, they suppressed sexuality leading to latency –> repeated over generations
Describe the genital period
Sexual energy directed toward others
Vagina attains some status for boys and girls
Sex drive may be repressed, sublimated or expressed
Final stage of psychosexual development
Maturity = balance among structures of mind, more prominent consciousness, minimal need to repress drives, in control of psychic energy with a functioning ego
Does everyone reach psychosexual maturity?
No –> most people develop pathologies or neuroses
What was Freud’s early therapeutic technique?
Extract repressed childhood memories using hypnosis and dream interpretation
What was the primary goal of Freud’s later therapeutic technique?
Transform the unconscious into conscious by uncovering repressed memories through dram analysis or free association = strengthen the ego by freeing up psychic energy
What is Freud’s free association technique?
Patients must verbalize every thought that arises, no matter how irrelevant or repugnant –> in order to follow conscious idea to unconscious
What is the function of transference in the therapeutic process?
Movement of libido from neurotic symptoms to struggle with new object (therapist) in nonthreatening setting
What is resistance in the therapeutic process?
Patients’ unconscious responses to block therapeutic process –> can indicate progress
Freud’s identified limitations of psychoanalysis (3)
(1) Not all memories should be brought into conscious
(2) Less effective strategy with psychoses –> better with phobias, hysteria, obsessions
(3) Once cured, patient may later develop another psychic problem
What is the basic assumption of dream analysis?
Almost all dreams are wish fulfillments and may contain manifest or latent content –> only dream analysis can uncover wishes underlying latent content
Dreams consist of _________ content (conscious meaning) and _________ content (unconscious meaning)
Manifest; latent
What disguises do dreams take to slip past censors? (3)
Condensation = unconscious material condensed to appear as manifest content
Displacement = dream image replaced by another remotely related idea
Inhibit or reverse dreamer’s affect about emotional event
What is nonconscious mental processing?
Mental processes that are neither in awareness nor under intentional control – major theme of cognitive psychology over last 20 years
What is a Freudian slip?
Everyday slips of the tongue that arise from opposing intentions of unconscious and preconscious, revealing unconscious, true intentions
What are the pleasure-seeking structures in the brain?
Brainstem and limbic system
How do the pleasure-seeking structures in the brain keep us motivated?
Brain wants dopamine and is satisfied by opioid –> we seek more than we are satisfied
What happens when the frontal-limbic system is damaged?
Increase in pleasure-seeking impulses / controlled by id
What is the relationship between repression and the brain?
When right hemisphere artificially stimulated, repression goes away and awareness returns
The more repressive the personality, the longer it takes to perceive a stimulus
What is the activation synthesis theory?
The waking mind gives meaning to random brain activities and there is no meaning inherent in dream
What is the dream rebound effect?
Attempts to suppress unwanted thoughts prior to sleep lead to increased dreaming about that target –> supported by empirical research
How do modern psychoanalysts view activation synthesis theory?
They challenge it –> there is no one to one correspondence between REM sleep and dreaming, so studies that show higher level thinking structures are not involved in REM sleep do not prove what they claim to prove
