COUNSELING (CHAP 4) Flashcards
The Freudian view of human nature is basically _______
deterministic.
- sexual energy
o a source of motivation that encompasses sexual energy but goes beyond it.
Libido
includes all pleasurable acts; he sees the goal of much of life as gaining pleasureandavoiding pain.
Life instincts
the aggressive drive.
At times, people manifest through their behavior an unconscious wish to die or tohurtthemselves or others. Managing this aggressive drive is a major challenge to thehumanrace.
Death instincts
the original system of the personality from which the ego and superego emerge
the reservoir of psychic energy, supplying energy to the other two systems.
can be considered the “hedonistic branch” of the personality.
It is drivenbythe pleasure principle, which attempts to reduce tension by gratification of sexual andaggressive impulses.
id
It can be considered the “judicial branch” and is concerned with moralistic issues, determining what is right or wrong
It represents the values and ideals of society as handed down from parent to child.
has three purposes: to inhibit the impulses from the id, to alter the ego’s orientation from realistic to moralistic, and to encourage the personality to strive for perfection.
superego
can be considered the “executive branch” of the personality
It is ruled by the reality principle, which attempts to exert a realistic, reality-based influence over the id and superego.
has contact with the external world of reality. It is the “executive” that governs, controls, and regulates the personality. As a “traffic cop,” it mediates between the instincts and the surrounding environment
as the seat of intelligence and rationality, checks and controls the blind impulses of the id. Whereas the id knows only subjective reality, the ego distinguishes between mental
images and things in the external world.
ego
a feeling of dread that results from repressed feelings, memories, desires, and experiencesthat emerge to the surface of awareness. It can be considered as a state of tension that motivates ustodo something
Anxiety
is the fear of danger from the external world, and the level of such anxiety is proportionate to the degree of real threat.
Reality anxiety
the fear that the instincts will get out of hand and cause the person to do something for which she or he will be punished
Neurotic anxiety
fear of one’s own conscience. People with a well-developed consciencetend to feel guilty when they do something contrary to their moral code.
Moral anxiety
help the individual cope with anxiety and prevent the ego from being overwhelmed.
Ego-defense mechanisms
Threatening or painful
thoughts and feelings are
excluded from awareness.
involuntary removal of something fromconsciousness. It is assumed that most of the painful
events of the first five or six years of life are buried, yet these events do influence later behavior.
Repression
“Closing one’s eyes” to the
existence of a threatening
aspect of reality.
perhaps the simplest of all selfdefense mechanisms. It is a way of distortingwhat the individual thinks, feels, or perceives inatraumatic situation. This mechanismis similar torepression, yet it generally operates at preconsciousand conscious levels.
Denial
Actively expressing the
opposite impulse when
confronted with a
threatening impulse.
By developing conscious attitudes and behaviors
that are diametrically opposed to disturbing desires, people do not have to face the anxiety that wouldresult if they were to recognize these dimensions of
themselves.
Individuals may conceal hate with a
facade of love, be extremely nice when they harbor
negative reactions, or mask cruelty with excessivekindness.
Reaction
formation
Attributing to others one’s
own unacceptable desires
and impulses.
This is a mechanism of self-deception. Lustful, aggressive, or other impulses are seen as beingpossessed by “those people out there, but not byme.”
Projection
Directing energy toward another object or person when the original object or person is inaccessible
way of coping with anxiety that
involves discharging impulses by shifting fromathreatening object to a “safer target.”
Displacement