Core Studies - Individual Differences Psychology - Freud’s Study Flashcards
What is Freud’s theory for the structure of the mind
- The mind is made up of the conscious mind, the pre-conscious mind and the unconscious mind
- The unconscious mind contains unresolved conflicts
What is Freud’s theory for the structure of the personality
- The personality contains three elements: the ID, the EGO and the SUPEREGO
- The ID is the pleasure principle and is present from birth. It demands immediate gratification of biological needs with no consideration of what is appropriate in a given situation
- The EGO is the reality principle and maintains the balance between the ID and the SUPEREGO
- The SUPEREGO is the morality principle and is concerned with socially appropriate behaviour
- The ID and the SUPEREGO always have conflict
What is the ID
The ID is the pleasure principle and is present from birth. It demands immediate gratification of biological needs with no consideration of what is appropriate in a given situation
What is the EGO
The EGO is the reality principle and maintains the balance between the ID and the SUPEREGO
What is the SUPEREGO
The SUPEREGO is the morality principle and is concerned with socially appropriate behaviour
What is Freud’s theory for defence mechanisms
- Defence mechanisms are behaviours that occur due to unresolved conflicts
- There are 2 examples of defence mechanisms: repression and displacement
- Repression is the process involving pushing painful or disturbing thoughts into the unconscious in order to prevent or minimise anxiety
- Displacement is the process of taking out our impulses on a less threatening target
What is repression
Repression is the process involving pushing painful or disturbing thoughts into the unconscious in order to prevent or minimise anxiety
What is displacement
Displacement is the process of taking out our impulses on a less threatening target
What is Freud’s theory for the psychosexual stages of development
- When a child’s personality forms through a series of stages in which the libido becomes fixated on something else
- In the phallic stage of psychosexual development, children’s libido is focused on the opposite sex parent
- In young boys the Oedipus complex occurs in which they have an unconscious desire for an exclusive relationship with their mother, have an unconscious fear of their father, and unconscious castration anxiety
What is the Oedipus complex
In young boys the Oedipus complex occurs in which they have an unconscious desire for an exclusive relationship with their mother, have an unconscious fear of their father, and unconscious castration anxiety
Aim
To report findings of the treatment of a five year old boy for his phobia of horses and to find evidence for Freud’s theories of psychosexual development and the Oedipus complex
Sample
- A boy called Little Hans
- From Vienna, Austria
- Aged 3-5 years old
Sampling method
- Opportunity sampling
- Making use of an existing relationship with Hans’ father
Research method
Case study
What are the features of a case study
- Investigates a unique case of behaviour in one individual or small group
- Collects rich insightful data which is often qualitative
How can the features of a longitudinal study be seen in Freud’s research
- Observations and conversations of one boy (Hans) were made from the age of 3-5
- Freud was able to track how Hans progressed through the Oedipus complex over 2 years, his struggles and how he resolved it
How can the features of a case study be seen in Freud’s research
- Han’s unique phobia of white horses
- Data was collected from numerous interviews and observations of Hans with his father, then sent to Freud via letters to be interpreted
What are the 2 forms of bias in Freud’s research
- Bias from Hans’ father
- Bias from Freud
How can the bias from the father be seen
Hans’ father is a supporter of Freud and his ideas so he would want to find evidence to help Freud prove his theory of psychosexual development
How can the bias from Freud be seen
Freud wanted to find evidence for the phallic stage and the Oedipus complex so would interpret the letters by Hans’ father in a way which proves this
Procedure
Many measurements of Hans’ behaviour were taken using observations and conversations that Hans’ father had with Hans. These were then communicated to Freud via letter in a qualitative form. Freud then interpreted this behaviour and tried to find evidence for how they illustrated Hans’ progression through the phallic stage and Oedipus complex.
Main finding
- Little Hans’ fear of horses was considered by Freud as a subconscious fear of his father because the dark around the mouth of a horse and the blinkers resembled the moustache and glasses worn by his father.
- He was fearful of his father because he was going through the Oedipus complex
Conclusions
- Hans had an interest in widdlers and it seemed that Hans’ problem came from the conflict between the love of his mother and fright of his father . Hans’ fantasy of looking after children with his mother supported this as well and is symbolic of the ‘Oedipus wish’
- Through his fantasies and symbolic fear of horse biting . Freud suggested that horses have characteristics which are symbolic of moustaches and glasses and Hans tried to displace his fear of his father onto the horses, therefore seems to show that the Oedipus complex exists
What was the first conclusion
- Hans had an interest in widdlers and it seemed that Hans’ problem came from the conflict between the love of his mother and fright of his father . Hans’ fantasy of looking after children with his mother supported this as well and is symbolic of the ‘Oedipus wish’
What was the second conclusion
- Through his fantasies and symbolic fear of horse biting . Freud suggested that horses have characteristics which are symbolic of moustaches and glasses and Hans tried to displace his fear of his father onto the horses, therefore seems to show that the Oedipus complex exists
What were Hans’ 6 main behaviours
- Hans’ fear of white horses
- The giraffe dream
- Hans’ fascination with his widdler
- The plumber fantasy
- Hans’ resentment of his little sister Hanna
- The parenting fantasy
What is a major problem with Freud’s argument
- Other explanations can be found for Little Hans’ phobia of white horses
- MAIN EXAMPLE: Hans was classically conditioned to fear horses as he had witnessed a horse fall and collapse which scared him. This then caused him to generalise / associate this fear to all horses
Link to Key Theme
Freud enhances our understanding of how unique phobias develop and the meanings behind them. Freud suggests that this is developed by conflict within the unconscious mind as a result of the child going through the psychosexual stages of development
Link to Area
