Depth Psychology

Question 1

Basic psychoanalytical concepts

Answer 1

personality driven by unconscious mind - unconscious mind is submerged
so clinical practice practice focuses on gaining access to the submerged - unscientific, contextual

Question 2

Personality according to Freud

Answer 2

Id, Ego, Superego - work together to create complex human behaviours - but same time these contradict each other

Question 3

Freud’s dynamic unconscious

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Life and death instincts

Freud

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Pleasure and reality principles

Freud

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Defence mechanisms: repression, denial, displacement

Freud

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Freud’s ideas

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Stages of psycho-sexual development

Freud

Answer 8

1. Oral stage: from birth, energy focused on the mouth
2. Anal stage: around 1 year, energy focused on anus
3. Phallic stage: 3-5 years, energy focused on penis/clitoris
4. Latent stage: period of calm, little libidinal energy, ego and superego emerge
5. Genital stage: energy focused on the genitals, mutually satisfying relationships central to this stage

Question 9

Case study of Little Hans

Answer 9

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)

Question 10

Oedipus Complex

Freud

Answer 10

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)

Question 11

Critique of Freud

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Eysenck and Freud’s study of Little Hans

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Neo-analytic perspectives

Answer 13

childhood experience important and has long-term effects
but development can also occur beyond childhood
less emphasis on sexuality
Jung
Adler
Horney
Erikson

Question 14

Jung, 1875-1961

neo-analytic

Answer 14

early supporter of Freud but disagreement over future aspirations being able to shape behaviour
theory of libido: 1948
theory of unconscious: 1933

Question 15

Theory of libido: Jung, 1948

Answer 15

libido not just sexual energy but generalised psychic energy

purpose is to motivate individual

Question 16

Theory of unconscious: Jung, 1933

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Archetype: Jung

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Critique: Jung

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Adler, 1870-1937

neo-analytic

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Critique: Adler

Answer 20

major influence for shaping child guidance and adult education movements
forerunner in cognitive psychology for working with patients to change illogical thinking

Question 21

Horney, 1885-1952

neo-analytical

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Horney: 3 ways of dealing with anxiety

Answer 22

passive acceptance - accepting your fate
aggressive - trying to overcome your anxiety
withdrawn - avoiding situations that increase anxiety

Question 23

Horney: 3 types of self

Answer 23

ideal, real, despised

Question 24

Horney: neurotic personalities

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Critique: Horney

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Erikson, 1902-1994

neo-analytical

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Critique: Erikson

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Existentialism

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Humanism

Answer 29

very deterministic - tends to ignore notion that we can change who we are - ignores personal agency

Question 30

Positive aspects of psychology

Answer 30

we have personal agency - we can be creative, free, we have self-fulfilment
Fromm
Rogers
Maslow

Question 31

Fromm, 1900-1980

positive aspects of psychology

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Rogers, 1902-1987

positive aspects of psychology

Answer 32

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?

Question 33

Maslow

positive aspects of psychology

Answer 33

we have basic needs - must be met for growth/development - hierarchy
highest form of need = self-actualisation
social comparison plays major role

Question 34

Critique: Maslow

Answer 34

cannot provide scale for each stage to be measured on

mainly discounted by psychological mainstream