Chapter 9 - Psychoanalytic Approaches

Question 1

What is the Intrapsychic Domain?

Answer 1

-deals with mental mechanisms of personality (many are unconscious)
-classic and modern versions of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis

Question 2

Who is Sigmund Freud?

Answer 2

-born in 1856; raised in Vienna
-medical degree
-studied hypnosis with Jean-Martin Charcot
-treated patients with “nervous-disorders” and developed theory of the unconscious
-adult personality a result of how one coped with sexual and aggressive urges

Question 3

What are the fundamental ideas of psychoanalytic approach?

Answer 3

-personality as a complex interplay of conscious and unconscious motives, thoughts, and feelings
-behaviour motivated by unconscious factors
–parapraxis

Question 4

What is Parapraxis?

Answer 4

-it’s also called Freudian slip
-when you want to say something but another word comes out
-ex: saying mom instead of miss to a teacher

Question 5

What are the fundamental assumptions of psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 5

-human mind is like a “hydraulic” system
-personality change occurs with redirection of a person’s psychic energy
-unconscious mind operated under its own power
-emphasis on interaction and conflict between the unconscious and conscious mind
-unconscious thoughts must be discovered in indirect ways
-developed large theoretical models to explain a wide range of clinical observations

Question 6

What are instincts?

Answer 6

-strong innate forces that provide all the energy in the psychic system

Question 7

What was Freud’s theory of instincts and who influenced him?

Answer 7

-original theory was influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution
-two instinct classes (at first):
–self-preservation instincts
–sexual instincts

Question 8

What modifications did Freud do to his initial theory of instincts?

Answer 8

-collapsed self-preservation and sexual instincts into one –> life instinct (libido)
-added death instinct (thanatos)

Question 9

What are the 3 parts that make up the human mind (Freud)?

Answer 9

1. Conscious: thoughts, feelings, and images (aware)
2. Preconscious: info one is not presently thinking about but can be retrieved and made conscious (memories, stored knowledge)
3. Unconscious: thoughts & memories we’re unaware of (sexual/aggressive urges, thoughts & feelings); largest part of human mind

Question 10

What is the iceberg metaphor?

Answer 10

-“motivated unconscious”
-material can “leak” into thoughts, feelings, and behaviours
(if not managed it can take over)

Question 11

What is the Dynamic Unconscious?

Answer 11

-id: instincts
-ego: rational (who you are)
-superego: moral (society’s norms)

Question 12

What is the Id?

Answer 12

-most primitive part of the mind, source of all drives and urges
-operates according to the pleasure principle: desire for immediate gratification
-functions according to primary process thinking
-wish fulfillment: something unavailable is conjured up and the image of it is temporarily satisfying

Question 13

What is the Ego?

Answer 13

-constrains id to reality
-develops within first two or three years of life
-operates according to reality principle: ego understands that id urges are often in conflict with social and physical reality
-operates according to secondary process thinking

Question 14

What is the Superego?

Answer 14

-internalizes ideals, values, and moral of society (or care-givers)
-what some refer to as the “conscience” or ego-ideal
-main tool of the superego in enforcing right and wrong is the emotion of guilt
-like id, superego is not bound by reality

Question 15

What is Anxiety?

Answer 15

-state of tension which motivates individuals to do something

Question 16

What are the 3 types of anxiety?

Answer 16

-Reality Anxiety: conflict between ego and external reality
-Neurotic Anxiety: conflict between id and ego
-Moral Anxiety: conflict between ego and superego

Question 17

What are Defence Mechanisms and their 2 characteristics?

Answer 17

-when the ego is not in control of anxiety through rational methods, resorts to unrealistic methods
2 characteristics:
1. denying, falsifying & distorting reality
2. operate unconsciously

Question 18

What are the 3 big categories of defence mechanisms and their respective mechanisms?

Answer 18

-Primitive (id): denial, projection, regression
-Neurotic (not facing the issue): repression, displacement, reaction formation, rationalization
-Mature (accepted by society): sublimation, humour, suppression, altruism

Question 19

What is Repression?

Answer 19

-keeping the unconscious from consciousness by pushing it down
-repressive coping: not allowing anxiety to become fully conscious; slow reaction times to disturbing sexual and aggressive phrases

Question 20

What is Denial?

Answer 20

-not acknowledging unconscious content
-fundamental attribution error

Question 21

What is Displacement?

Answer 21

-moving a troubling impulse onto a different, less threatening object
-anger is a common example
(urges might show up in dreams)

Question 22

What is Projection?

Answer 22

-protecting the Ego by attributing your own undesirable characteristics to others
-false consensus effect (assuming other are similar to us/have the same thoughts as us)

Question 23

What is Rationalization?

Answer 23

-reinterpreting behaviour through use of plausible but inaccurate excuses

Question 24

What is Reaction formation?

Answer 24

-disguising unconscious content by turning it into its opposite (ex: homophobic people enjoy gay sex)

Question 25

What is Sublimation?

Answer 25

-channelling unconscious impulses into work (art)
-relatively healthy

Question 26

How is humour a defence mechanism?

Answer 26

-releases tension between unconscious and conscious
-diffuse an uncomfortable situation
-help people cope with negative experiences

Question 27

What are the 4 styles of humour?

Answer 27

-affiliative (want to make everyone laugh)
-self-enhancing (laugh at yourself)
-aggressive (mean; sarcasm)
-self-defeating (self-deprication)

Question 28

What is the empirical evidence for defence mechanisms?

Answer 28

-considerable evidence for reaction formation and denial
-some evidence for projection
-little evidence for displacement or sublimation
-more likely to protect self-esteem than defend against unconscious drives

Question 29

What are the psychosexual stages of personality development?

Answer 29

-oral stage (birth to 1)
-anal stage (1-3 years)
-phallic stage (3-5 years)
-latency stage (6-puberty)
-genital stage (puberty through adult life)

Question 30

What is the Oral Stage?

Answer 30

-id driven
-source of pleasure and tension reduction are the mouth, lips, and tongue
-key conflict is weaning - withdrawing from the breast or bottle (oral fixation; need to suck, how they eat)

Question 31

What is the Anal Stage?

Answer 31

-libido is attached to anus
-child obtains pleasure from first expelling feces and then, during toilet training, from retaining feces
-focus on potty training
-many conflicts arise around the child’s ability to achieve self-control, self mastery, self knowledge

Question 32

What are the 2 resulting patterns of anal fixation?

Answer 32

-anal retentive: pleasure obtained from neatness and order
-anal expulsive: pleasure obtained from messiness and disorganization

Question 33

What is the Phallic Stage?

Answer 33

-libido is attached to genitals (child discovers they do(n’t) have a penis)
-sexual desire directed toward the parent of opposite sex
-produces Oedipal and Electra conflicts (unconscious wish to have opposite-sex parent all to self by eliminating the same-sex parent)
-castration anxiety

Question 34

What is the Latency Stage?

Answer 34

-little psychological development occurs
-libido remains dormant until puberty
-focus of child is on learning skills and abilities necessary to succeed as adult

Question 35

What is the Genital Stage?

Answer 35

-libido is focused on the genitals, but not in manner of self-manipulation associated with the phallic stage
-this stage is not accompanied by specific conflict
-people reach this stage only if conflicts are resolved at previous stages

Question 36

What is the goal of psychoanalysis?

Answer 36

-to make the unconscious conscious
-1st aim of psychoanalysis is to identify unconscious thoughts and feelings
-once a patient is aware of this material, the 2nd aim is to enable the person to deal with it realistically and maturely

Question 37

What are 3 techniques for revealing the unconscious?

Answer 37

1. Free association
2. Dream analysis
3. Projective techniques

Question 38

What is free association?

Answer 38

-resistance: blockage or refusal to disclose painful memories during free association
-analysis of repression: barring unacceptable ideas, memories, or desires from conscious awareness; leaving them to operate in the unconscious mind

Question 39

What is dream analysis?

Answer 39

-manifest content: liberal meaning
-latent content: underlying meaning
-wish fulfillment: symbolic expression of a wish

Question 40

How does personality impact dreaming?

Answer 40

-high neuroticism: more nightmares
-low in neuroticism and high in openness: more dreams about flying
-high in openness: more strange and different people and more likely to remember dreams
-highly agreeableness: more people in their dreams

Question 41

What are projective techniques?

Answer 41

-project their own personalities into what they report seeing
-hostile and aggressive person might see teeth, claws, and blood
-oral fixated might see food or people eating