Chapter 14 - The Psychodynamic Perspective Flashcards
The Psychodynamic Perspective
- They look for the causes of behaviour in a dynamic interplay of inner forces that often conflict with one another.
- Focus on unconscious determinants of behaviour
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
- Freud was awarded a fellowship in Paris with neuroscientist Jean Charcot who was treating patients with conversion hysteria (paralysis and blindness appeared suddenly and with no apparent physical cause).
- Freud noticed that these symptoms were related to painful memories and feelings that seemed to have been repressed. When his patients were able to recall and talk about these memories their physical symptoms often disappeared or improved.
- Freud began to experiment with hypnosis, and dream analysis
- He himself conducted an extensive self-analysis based on his own dreams
- Made a book which only sold 600 copies but attracted many more followers but also sceptics
- Freud based his theory on careful clinical observation an constantly sought to expand it. Over time, psychoanalysis became a theory of personality
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
- Psychic Energy
- considered personality to be an energy system
- psychic energy - which powers the mind and constantly presses for either direct or indirect release
Ex: Buildup of sexual energy can be discharged directly through sexual activity, or indirectly through fantasies or artistic depictions
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
- Mental Events
- Conscious – events that we are presently aware of
- Preconscious – memories, thoughts, feelings, images that we are unaware of at the moment, but can be recalled
- Unconscious – dynamic realm of wishes, feelings, and impulses that lie beyond our awareness
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
The Structure of Personality - Id
- exists totally within the unconscious mind. It is the innermost core of the personality, the only structure present at birth, and the source of all psychic energy. It has no direct contact with reality and functions in a totally irrational manner
- It operates according to the pleasure principle, it seeks immediate gratification or release, regardless of rational considerations and environmental realities.
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
The Structure of Personality - Ego
- executive of personality that is partly conscious between impulses of id, prohibitions of superego, and dictates of reality
- Operates according to reality principle (tests reality to decide when the id can safely discharge impulses)
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
The Structure of Personality - Superego
- moral arm of personality that internalizes standards and values of society
- With this development self-control takes over from the external controls of rewards and punishments
- Strives to control the instincts of the id, particularly the sexual and aggressive impulses that are condemned by society.
- Rewards compliance with pride, and non-compliance with guilt
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
The Structure of Personality - Iceberg Analogy
- id is below the water (unconscious),
- while ego and superego are mostly above water (conscious, and Precounscious)
- Ego is mostly above water, while superego has portions both above and under
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Conflict, Anxiety and Defence - Unconscious Conflict
- interaction of id, ego, and superego results in constant struggle, causing anxiety
- Reality anxiety – ego’s fear of real world threats
- Neurotic anxiety – ego’s fear of id’s desires
- Moral anxiety – ego’s fear of guilt from superego
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Conflict, Anxiety and Defence - Defence Mechanisms
unconscious processes by which the ego prevents the expression of anxiety-arousing impulses
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Conflict, Anxiety and Defence - Defence Mechanisms
Repression
An active defensive process through which anxiety-arousing impulses or memories are pushed into the unconscious mind.
- A person who was sexually abused in childhood develops amnesia for the event
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Conflict, Anxiety and Defence - Defence Mechanisms
Denial
- A person refuses to acknowledge anxiety-arousing aspects of the environment. The denial may involve either the emotions connected with the event or the event itself
- A man who is told he has terminal cancer refuses to consider the possibility that he will not recover.
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Conflict, Anxiety and Defence - Defence Mechanisms
Displacement
- an unacceptable or dangerous impulse is pressed, and then directed at a safer substitute target
- A man who is harassed by his boss experiences no anger at work, but then goes home and abuses his wife and children
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Conflict, Anxiety and Defence - Defence Mechanisms
Intellectualization
- The emotion connected with an upsetting event is repressed, and the situation is dealt with as an intellectually interesting event
- A person who has been rejected in an important relationship talks in a highly rational manner about the “interesting unpredictability of love relationships”
The Psychodynamic Perspective:
Feud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Conflict, Anxiety and Defence - Defence Mechanisms
Projection
- an unacceptable impulse is repressed, and then attributed to (projected onto) other people
- A woman with strong repressed desires to have an affair continually accuses her husband of being unfaithful to her.
