FINAL EXAM (chapter 16)

Question 1

what is psychoanalysis?

Answer 1

• unconscious

- “hidden forces” shape our motives and behaviour without our awareness and consent.

Question 2

what are the 2 core instincts that energize dual-instinct theory?

Answer 2

life and death instincts.

Question 3

what are life instincts?

Answer 3

• survival driven
• food, water, air, sleep
• pleasure seeking behaviours: being rocked, being caressed

Question 4

what are death instincts?

Answer 4

• aggression toward others type instincts (hate, prejudice)

- self-focused aggression (self-criticism, suicide, alcoholism)

Question 5

what are psychodynamic therapists focused on?

Answer 5

MORE on: cognitive and INTERpersonal forces

LESS on: biological and INTRApersonal forces

Question 6

what are the 4 principles that define contemporary psychodynamic theory?

Answer 6

1. the unconscious (thoughts, feelings, desires)
2. psychodynamics (feelings and motives are often in conflict)
3. ego development (healthy development)
4. object relations theory (representations of the self and others form in childhood and guide our later social motivations)

Question 7

what is the function of dreams? (freud)

Answer 7

to vent unconscious wishes and tensions.

Question 8

subliminal motivation

Answer 8

• when a stimulus evokes an implicit response that we are NOT consciously aware-of
• also called a ‘prime’.

Question 9

what are psychodynamics?

Answer 9

• mental processes in parallel / we often want and fear the same thing at the same time.
• ALWAYS IN CONFLICT, it’s inevitable

Question 10

what is repression?

Answer 10

• central concept of psychodynamics.
• our unconscious seeks gratification which are held back from expression; this causes anxiety.
• moves us to repress that thought/desire.

Question 11

what is suppression?

Answer 11

(conscious, deliberate)
-stopping yourself from thinking or feeling something, presumed to be ineffective because if you withhold (anger?) it’ll have a REBOUND EFFECT, and return as vengeance.

Question 12

what is the ego?

what is the function of ego development?

Answer 12

• developmental process through learning and experience.
  1) to defend against anxiety
  2) interact more effectively with the environment

Question 13

what are the 6 stages of trajectory of ego development?

Answer 13

1. symbiotic
2. impulsive
3. self-protective
4. conformist
5. conscientious
6. autonomous

Question 14

what is object relations theory?

Answer 14

HOW people satisfy their psychological need for relatedness through their mental representations of - and attachments to - social and sexual objects (significant others).

Question 15

what is secure attachment?

Answer 15

• warm, responsive caregiver

- need for relatedness

Question 16

what is insecure attachment?

Answer 16

• cold, abusive caregiver

- frustrates need for relatedness (anxiety and mistrust)

Question 17

what are the 3 dimensions of mental representations of relationships?

Answer 17

1. unconscious tone
2. capacity for emotional involvement
3. mutuality of autonomy with others

Question 18

primary criticism of freud?

Answer 18

-most of freuds ideas are not scientifically testable and are not credible or viable scientific constructs.