Chapter 15 Flashcards
Free Association
In psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.
Personality
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling & acting.
Psychoanalysis
Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts.
Id
(Devil) Contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives.
Ego
(Umpire) The largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego and reality.
Superego
(Angel) The part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement and for future aspirations.
Psychosexual Stages
The childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital)
Oedipus Complex
According to Freud, a boys sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.
Identification
The process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents values into their developing superegos.
Fixation
A lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage.
Defense Mechanisms
In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
Repression
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from unconsciousness.
Regression
Allows us to retreat to an earlier, more infantile psychosexual stage of development. (Child is anxious and sucks thumb)
Reaction Formation
The ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. (Love-Hate)
(Bully is insecure but comes off as tough guy)
Projection
Disguises threatening impulses by attributing them to others. (Hypocrites)