Basics of psychoanalysis

Question 1

Key Ideas of Psychoanalysis

Answer 1

Psychoanalytic theory is based on a small number of key ideas, including psychic determinism, the mind’s three-part internal structure (id, ego, and superego), psychic conflict, and mental energy.

Question 2

Developmental stages and their results

Answer 2

The main theme for the oral stage is dependency; for the anal stage, it is obedience and self-control; for the phallic stage, it is gender identity and sexuality; and for the genital stage, it is maturity, in which one ideally learns to balance “love and work.”

Question 3

Primary process thinking

Answer 3

assumed by Freud to be present in babies and in the unconscious part of the adult mind, is unconscious thought characterized by displacement, symbolism, and an irrational drive toward immediate gratification.

Question 4

Secondary process thinking

Answer 4

develops as the child moves toward adulthood, is ordinary, rational, conscious thought.

Question 5

The three layers of consciousness

Answer 5

the conscious mind, the preconscious, and the unconscious. Freud thought the conscious mind was by far the smallest of the three

Question 6

Ego defence mechanisms

Answer 6

Defence mechanisms include denial, repression, reaction formation, projection, rationalisation, intellectualisation, displacement, and sublimation.

Question 7

Psychoanalytic theory critique

Answer 7

Psychoanalytic theory has been criticized for its excessive complexity, its reliance on the case study method rather than on experimentation, the poor definitions of some of its concepts, its untestability, and its sexism.