Chapter Nine Flashcards
psychic energy
- a source of energy that is within each person
- operated according to the law of conservation of energy; the amount of psychic energy an individual possessed remained constant throughout life
life instincts (libido)
- generally considered sexual; any need-satisfying, life-sustaining, or pleasure-oriented surge (freud) (ie. eating as a life instinct as it entails the consumption nutrients necessary for survival)
death instincts (thanatos)
any urge to destroy, harm or aggress against others or oneself (ie. rape as a death instinct as it is fused with sexual energy that brings pleasure)
the relation between libido and thanatos
eating as both instincts: eating for nutrition (libido); chewing and biting into food is destructive (thanatos)
the conscious mind
- part that contains all the thoughts, feelings and perceptions that you are presently aware of
- what you are currently perceiving or thinking about
( ie. making a sandwich and you think about your actions and thoughts (what type of sandwich you want, how to prepare it, and how hungry you are)
the preconscious mind
- any information that you are not presently thinking about, but that could be easily retrieved and made conscious
- vast number of memories, dreams and thoughts that you could easily bring to mind if you so desired
(ie. what were you wearing yesterday? what was the name of your best friend in grade 7? what is the earliest memory you have of your mother?)
the unconscious mind
- contains thoughts, memories, desired, impulses not readily accessible to conscious awareness
- society doesn’t allow people to freely express all their sexual/aggressive instincts so one way they control the urges is keeping them from entering conscious awareness which is stored in the unconscious mind
psychic determinism
- idea that nothing happens by chance or by accident
- there is a reasons behind every act, thought, and feeling
everything we do, think, say and feel - - an expression of the mind — the conscious, preconscious and unconscious
blindsight (unconscious)
- when people lose some/all their ability to see that damages the primary vision centre in the brain but the eyes still work to bring information into the brain
- people who suffer this blindness display interesting capacity to make judgements about objects they cannot truly see
- evidence of the unconscious as one part of the mind knows about something that another part of the mind does not know about
deliberation-without-attention
if a person is confronted with a difficult decision, can put it out of their conscious mind for a period of time, then the unconscious mind will continue to deliberate on it outside of the person’s awareness, helping them arrive at a “sudden” and often correct decision sometime later
id
- something we are born with and is the source of all drives and urges
- operates according to the pleasure principle; the desire for immediate gratification (without delay)
- operates with primary process thinking; thinking without logical, moral, patient rules of conscious thought or an anchor in reality
ego
- part of the mind that constrains the id to reality
- reality principle; understanding that the urges of the id are often in conflict with social / physical reality
- understands that actions of the id can lead to problems and that direct expression of the id actions must be avoided, redirected or postponed
- secondary process thinking; the development of strategies for solving problems and obtaining satisfaction
superego
- internalizes the values, morals and ideas of society
- makes us feel guilty, ashamed or embarrassed when we do something “wrong” and makes us feel pride when we do something “right”
- guilt is the main tool of the superego
- like the id, the superego is not bound by reality as it is free to set standards for virtue and self-worth, even if those standards are perfectionistic, unrealistic and harsh
the interaction of the id, ego and superego
- a well balanced mind, free from anxiety, is achieved by having a strong EGO
- the ego balances the competing forces of the id, on the one hand, and the superego on the other
objective anxiety
fear; occurs in response to a real, external threat to the person
(ie. being confronted by a large, aggressive-looking man with a knife while taking a shortcut through an alley)
neurotic anxiety
occurs when there is a direct conflict between the id and the ego
(danger is that the ego may lose control over an unacceptable desire of the id)
moral anxiety
caused by a conflict between the ego and the superego
(people who punish themselves, low self-esteem, are most likely suffering from moral anxiety from an overly powerful superego)