Chapter 9 - Person Psychology: Psychoanalytic and humanistic perspectives Flashcards
Subjectivity
The inner world of subjective experience, thoughts and feelings.
Free association
A technique in psychoanalysis in which patients are encouraged to express freely everything that comes into mind.
Dream analysis
Interpreting the latent content from the manifest content of a dream (e.g. by ‘working through’ the distortions created by condensation, displacement, dramatization/ symbolization and secondary elaboration).
Freudian slip
An accidental action or utterance which expresses unconscious motivation (in Freud’s original German fehlleistung, literally ‘faulty achievement’, but translated as ‘parapraxis’ in the standard edition of Freud).
Libido
Psychosexual energy.
Oral stage
First stage of psychosexual development where the focus is on the mouth and pleasure from sucking and/or biting.
Anal stage
Second main stage of psychosexual development where the focus is on the anal area and the primary source of pleasure is the retention and elimination of faeces.
Phallic stage
Third stage of psychosexual development where the focus is on the genitals and pleasure from stimulating the genital area.
Oedipal conflict
Oedipal conflict arises during the phallic phase when a boy comes unconsciously to regard his father as rival for his mother’s affection.
Penis envy
Freud’s controversial and contested notion that the crucial issue in the psychosexual development of a girl is the realization that she has no penis.
Transference
The psychoanalytic idea that the emotional feelings aroused in our early relationships can be unconsciously ‘transferred’ into relationships in adult life.
Fixation
Refers to an overemphasis in later life on the characteristics or satisfactions associated with a particular phase of psychosexual development.
Seduction theory
Freud’s initial belief (later changed) that the origins of repressed conflict lay in early sexual experiences.
Id
The aspect of the psyche Freud called the ‘It’ (das Es) focused on pleasure from the satisfaction (in reality or fantasy) of biological needs.
Ego
The reality-testing, perceptual aspect of the self which Freud called the ‘I’ (das Ich) which is also focused on integrating the different aspects of self.
Superego (or conscience)
This is based on the introjection of ‘moral’ attitudes through identification with significant others (especially the father). Designated by Freud the ‘Above-I’ (das Uber-Ich).
Psychodynamics
Internal psychic conflict between different forces or aspects of the self and the defences and distortions this may involve.
Angst
Anxiety and anguish resulting from inner conflict.
Repression
A much-used defence mechanism where disturbing feelings are shut out of consciousness.
Displacement
A defence mechanism whereby an unconscious motivation is redirected towards a more acceptable or less threatening target.
Sublimation
A form of displacement of libido to non-sexual and personally or culturally valued goals.
Projection
A defence mechanism whereby repressed feelings such as aggression or sexuality are projected onto (and are thus seen as characteristics of) other persons.
Reaction formation
A defence whereby a repressed impulse is held in check by exaggerating the opposite tendency.
Defence mechanisms
Largely unconscious processes for avoiding inner conflict and the anxiety this creates.
Object relations
A British approach to psychoanalysis which emphasizes the need for contact with others rather than instinctual needs as the driving force in human behaviour.
Neo-Freudians
A group of analysts who emigrated from Europe to the USA and who emphasize the significance of social- cultural contexts in understanding the individual.
Psychic determinism
The notion that our actions and experiences are determined by unconscious residues
of early experience.
Existential
Relating to the experience of being and existing and all that this implies (e.g. being conscious, finite and having the capacity for choice).
Autonomy
A person’s power to initiate the thoughts and actions they choose.
Personal growth
Psychological development, particularly where a person him or herself takes responsibility and an active role in the process.
Peak experience
A specific state of consciousness characterized by a sense of delight, wholeness, meaningfulness and abundant energy.
Flow experience
Term used by Csikszentmihalyi to refer to the experience of total involvement in an activity enjoyed for its own sake.
Personal constructs
Term used by Kelly to refer to the bipolar discriminations underlying the ways in which a person makes sense of his/her world.
Repertory grid
A method devised by Kelly for eliciting and plotting the relationships between the constructs used by a person.
Constructive alternativism
Term used by Kelly to signify that any event or experience can be construed in an infinite variety of ways.
Situated freedom
The idea that we have freedom but that it is constrained by factors (both physical and social) not of our choosing.
Authentic
Existentialist term for conscious awareness
of the reality of our existence (e.g. that existence is impermanent and individuals have both responsibility and freedom to choose).
Will to meaning
Frankl’s term for the need to find meaning and purpose in life.
Self-actualization
The human desire for self-fulfilment and developing one’s potential.
Sense of self
Our self concept which, in Rogers’ view, originates in both our own actual experiences and evaluations of the self by others.
Person-centred counselling
A psychotherapeutic approach, originated by Rogers, involving unconditional regard but no interpretations, aimed at encouraging clients to explore and become aware of their feelings.
Unconditional regard
A non-judgemental attitude of warmth and respect.
Transpersonal
A study of experiences in which the sense of identity of self extends beyond the individual or personal to encompass spiritual aspects of being.
Positive psychology
An approach to psychology (initiated by Csikszentmihalyi and Seligman) which aims to use psychology to enhance the well-being of both persons and communities.
