Consciousness & Personality

Question 1

Psychodynamic Perspective

Answer 1

• Human behavior is seen as deterministic and pessimistic.
• Biological and social factors heavily influence behavior.
• Childhood experiences shape personality with little change after puberty.
• Motivation is viewed as primarily unconscious.
• Anxiety, conflict, and defense mechanisms are common.
• Emotional burdens like guilt and narcissism are widespread.

Question 2

Dual Instinct Theory

Answer 2

• Freud’s Dual Instinct Theory: Eros (life instincts) and Thanatos (death instincts) drive behavior.
• Eros instincts motivate survival behaviors like eating and sex.
• Thanatos instincts lead to rest and aggression, possibly causing self-criticism or depression.
• Individuals learn to channel these instincts through experiences.
• Psychosexual development involves managing these instincts.
• The ego guides behavior toward socially acceptable aims.

Question 3

Contemporary Psychodynamic Theory

The Unconscious

Answer 3

• The unconscious, initially challenging to explore empirically, is studied indirectly through methods like hypnosis, free association, and dream analysis.
• Freud proposed that unconscious urges are expressed in disguised, socially acceptable forms.
• Much of mental life is accepted as unconscious, leading to debates on different portrayals of it, including the Freudian unconscious and the adaptive unconscious.
• Modern psychologists use methods like subliminal activation, priming, and reaction times to study the unconscious.

Question 4

Contemporary Psychodynamic Theory

The Unconscious

Freudian Unconscious

Answer 4

• Freud’s concept of the unconscious is key in psychoanalysis, dividing the mind into conscious, preconscious, and unconscious parts.
• The unconscious contains instinctual impulses, repressed experiences, and unfulfilled desires inaccessible to awareness.
• Dream analysis illustrates this, revealing latent meanings that reflect unconscious wishes, like a dream of flying siblings symbolizing a desire for attention.

Question 5

Contemporary Psychodynamic Theory

The Unconscious

Adaptive Unconscious

Answer 5

• A significant portion of mental processing happens outside conscious awareness, efficiently handling tasks and judgments.
• This unconscious system operates rapidly and automatically, akin to an automatic pilot.
• It complements the deliberate conscious mind, operating swiftly and accurately to appraise situations.
• While the conscious mind intervenes for intentional adjustments, the adaptive unconscious largely manages tasks seamlessly, highlighting its adaptive nature.