Depth Psychology Flashcards
Basic psychoanalytical concepts
personality driven by unconscious mind - unconscious mind is submerged
so clinical practice practice focuses on gaining access to the submerged - unscientific, contextual
Personality according to Freud
Id, Ego, Superego - work together to create complex human behaviours - but same time these contradict each other
Freud’s dynamic unconscious
Most everyday actions/behaviour not consciously done
‘Dynamic’ unconscious revealed in slips of tongue/psychological symptoms/creativity
Suggested to exist through recurrent themes within dreams that reflect unconscious desires
Life and death instincts
Freud
Life and death instincts - innate forces
Eros - life - sometimes referred to as sexual instincts - deals with basic survival, pleasure and reproduction
Thanatos - death - people hold an unconscious desire to die - life instincts usually temper this wish
Pleasure and reality principles
Freud
all driven by biologically based desires - pleasure principle
fundamental conflict between pleasure and restrictions placed upon this by society
socialisation into family is about curbing these desires for ordinary life - reality principle
Defence mechanisms: repression, denial, displacement
Freud
repression: prevents unacceptable/disagreeable thoughts or impulses crossing into the conscious
denial: refusing to see significance of a behaviour, feeling etc.
displacement: redirecting threatening/unacceptable impulses away from the original source and onto nonthreatening objects
Freud’s ideas
hysterical symptoms (without known organic cause) linked to previous trauma
unresolved events/memories from childhood could emerge as symptoms in adults
sexuality is a key factor in development of personality - infants and children are sexual beings
Stages of psycho-sexual development
Freud
- Oral stage: from birth, energy focused on the mouth
- Anal stage: around 1 year, energy focused on anus
- Phallic stage: 3-5 years, energy focused on penis/clitoris
- Latent stage: period of calm, little libidinal energy, ego and superego emerge
- Genital stage: energy focused on the genitals, mutually satisfying relationships central to this stage
Case study of Little Hans
5 y/o - fear of horses
Freud had no direct contact but had correspondence with father of Little Hans
1st report: curiosity about differences between his body and sister’s body
had castration anxiety: admonished for sexual behaviours and threatened with castration = anxiety
Oedipal conflict: wants to sleep with mother, kill father
phobia of horses was displacement (fear of being bitten by horse = unconscious anxiety about castration by father)
Oedipus Complex
Freud
stage every child must go through
understanding that mother and father have specific relationship that they can one day have
occurs in Phallic stage (for girls called Electra complex - experience penis envy)
Critique of Freud
too much emphasis on early infanthood, destructive behaviours, sexuality
downplays interpersonal relationships - sense of social identity and that we can change in later life
underplays free will
cannot test empirically
sees women as inferior
not everything has to be symbolic - Eysenck
Eysenck and Freud’s study of Little Hans
most of the case study was actually written by Little Hans’s father - not Freud
Father posed leading questions that indoctrinated the boy
but at the time no alternatives to this theory
Neo-analytic perspectives
childhood experience important and has long-term effects
but development can also occur beyond childhood
less emphasis on sexuality
Jung
Adler
Horney
Erikson
Jung, 1875-1961
neo-analytic
early supporter of Freud but disagreement over future aspirations being able to shape behaviour
theory of libido: 1948
theory of unconscious: 1933
Theory of libido: Jung, 1948
libido not just sexual energy but generalised psychic energy
purpose is to motivate individual
Theory of unconscious: Jung, 1933
psyche made up of multiple, interacting systems
two parts of unconscious: personal unconscious and collective unconscious
Personal = has temporarily forgotten information and repressed memories, complexes as part of this (more elements attached to complex, more influence it has)
Collective = share symbols and archetypes in cultures, these are primordial (due to evolution), we express things that have underlying meanings
Also have conscious ego
Archetype: Jung
1947 images/thoughts that have universal meaning persona - real self anima - mirror image of biological sex shadow - animal side to personality self - sense of unity in experiences
Critique: Jung
although tried to be scientific (looked at reaction times) was not as popular as Freud’s ideas - perhaps less well explained
theory of archetypes not thought of as scientific - more like New Age speculation
has contributed to mainstream psychology - especially with theories of extroversion and introversion
Adler, 1870-1937
neo-analytic
belief that what lies underneath behaviour is in fact the opposite - i.e. if loud and talkative then in fact have inferiority complex
want to improve ourselves - be better than we think we are - we have an ideal self (drive for personal improvement)
we have an aggression drive - personalities develop to compensate for our issues/shortcomings
inferiority complex = feelings of imperfection, lack of achievement in reaching personal goals
superiority complex = exaggerating pretensions of the self
thought to be defence mechanisms
Critique: Adler
major influence for shaping child guidance and adult education movements
forerunner in cognitive psychology for working with patients to change illogical thinking
Horney, 1885-1952
neo-analytical
like Adler we are continuously developing: but this is due to anxiety
behaviour is consequence of anxiety - coping mechanism
rejected Freud’s view on women - we are not inferior - women only feel inferior due to social, historical and cultural restraints
3 ways of dealing with anxiety
3 types of self
coping strategies for neurotic personality
Horney: 3 ways of dealing with anxiety
passive acceptance - accepting your fate
aggressive - trying to overcome your anxiety
withdrawn - avoiding situations that increase anxiety
Horney: 3 types of self
ideal, real, despised
Horney: neurotic personalities
neuroticism: maladaptive/counterproductive ways of dealing with relationships
3 ways of dealing with the world formed by an upbringing in a neurotic family (coping strategies)
- moving towards - seeking to please and dependence
- moving against - need for power, status, compliments
- moving away - needing self-sufficiency, perfection and having narrow-limits
Critique: Horney
major implications for therapy: get people to move away from despised self and accepting the real self
brought to light the importance of socio-cultural determinants of women’s inferior position
Erikson, 1902-1994
neo-analytical
Freud’s phases too small, too focused on sexuality
we have crises in life that form who we are
stages added and renamed from Freud’s original one:
trust/mistrust
autonomy/shame vs doubt
initiative/guilt
industry/inferiority
identity/role confusion
intimacy/isolation
generativity/stagnation
ego integrity/despair
Critique: Erikson
rather vague in cause of development
no universal mechanism for crisis resolution
McCrae and Costa, 1997 - provide evidence to suggest lack of discrete stages of personality development
Existentialism
appreciate meaning of life - philosophy of human existence
don’t believe in real world to be discovered
we need to understand how people make sense of themselves
the self you present to others may be your real self
Humanism
very deterministic - tends to ignore notion that we can change who we are - ignores personal agency
Positive aspects of psychology
we have personal agency - we can be creative, free, we have self-fulfilment
Fromm
Rogers
Maslow
Fromm, 1900-1980
positive aspects of psychology
creation of broader and more culturally oriented theory after influence from Freud and Horney
thinking of meaning of life - there must be love
“love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence”
if we focus on materialism we become alienated
we have become existentially alienated - social indicator changes (i.e. divorce rate, out-of-wedlock birth rate)
because we have lost appreciation of spirituality/meaning of life
Rogers, 1902-1987
positive aspects of psychology
Rogerian therapy - therapist is not there to interpret but to treat client as expert
belief in human growth and potential
we must take responsibility for our selves
individualistic idea - but surely this is still shaped by culture/time?
Maslow
positive aspects of psychology
we have basic needs - must be met for growth/development - hierarchy
highest form of need = self-actualisation
social comparison plays major role
Critique: Maslow
cannot provide scale for each stage to be measured on
mainly discounted by psychological mainstream
