Freud Flashcards
ambivalence
Mixed feelings of one person toward another, characterized by alternation between love and hate.
anal character
An individual fixated at the anal stage, who derives pleasure from his/her control over retention of feces. As an adult, this person is characterized by stinginess, orderliness, stubbornness, and the hoarding of possessions.
anal eroticism
feelings of sexual pleasure that have their source in the person’s control over expulsion and retention of feces.
anal stage
Second pregenital stage of psychosexual development, in which primary gratification centers around the anal cavity.
anticathexes
Restraining forces within the personality that are designed to keep unwanted impulses from reaching consciousness or awareness.
anxiety
Painful feelings experienced when the ego is threatened.
catharsis
Reliving earlier traumatic experiences emotionally, to reduce disturbing physical symptoms. This term derives from the Greek word meaning purification.
cathexes
Driving energy forces that attach themselves to an idea or behavior.
compromise formation
Defense mechanism that uses contradictory behaviors to attain some satisfaction for an unacceptable impulse.
Like a backhanded compliment
conscience
Punitive aspect of the superego. Once the person has incorporated societal values by forming a conscience, violation of that conscience makes the person feel guilty or ashamed. Such feelings are punishing.
conscious
A state of the mind characterized by awareness of one’s experiences.
countertransference
The tendency of the therapist to react with personal feelings toward the patient on the basis of the therapist’s own needs and conflicts. These feelings might involve attraction and lust, but other possibilities include dislike and even revulsion toward an aggressive and/or hostile patient because of the therapist’s own insecurities. Analysis of these needs and conflicts could lead the therapist to better self-understanding, which, in turn, could lead to an increased understanding of the patient and movement toward a cure.
denial
Primitive defense mechanism in which the person protects the self against threats from the environment by refusing to recognize their existence.
dependent personality type
A personality style wherein individuals are predisposed to seek the guidance, help, and support of others, even in situations where they are capable of functioning independently and meeting challenges on their own.
determinism
Philosophical doctrine that all behavior is caused by the operation of other events and does not occur freely or at random.
displacement
Defense mechanism in which the person seeks gratification of thwarted impulses by shifting the impulses from the original, frustrating object to a substitute object.
dynamics
Complex interrelationships among the structural components of personality such that changes in one component trigger changes in the other components. For example, if id impulses (e.g., sexual urges) are activated, the superego comes into play by making the person feel guilty about his lustful feelings, while the ego searches for a more realistic and socially acceptable way of gratifying the need (e.g., by establishing a personal relationship through dating).
ego
Agency postulated by Freud to help the individual satisfy basic urges in ways deemed appropriate by society.
ego-ideal
Positive aspect of the superego, comprising the standards of perfection taught to the child by the parents.
fixation
Defensive attachment to an earlier stage of psychosexual development. Fixation prevents the learning of new behaviors, the acquisition of new interpersonal relationships, and progress in development.
free association
Therapeutic technique pioneered by Freud in which the therapist encourages patients to report, without restriction, any thoughts that occur to them.
genital character
A mature individual who is sexually developed and capable of relating to members of the other sex.
genital stage
Final stage of psychosexual development, in which an attempt is made to conduct a mature love relationship with a member of the opposite sex.
healthy dependence
A manifestation of dependence that occurs in some contexts but not others and in ways that are situationally appropriate.
id
identification
intellectualization
Defense mechanism in which individuals protect themselves against pain by isolating their thoughts about painful events from their feelings about them.
latency stage
Psychosexual period during which libidinal energy lies dormant and the primary focus is on the development of interests and skills through contact with childhood peers and teachers.
libido
In Freudian theory, the basic energy source contained in the id that propels behavior. Freud considered it to consist of sexual impulses; Jung conceptualized it as a more general life-energy process consisting of sexual, creative, spiritual, and self-preservative instincts.
negative transference
Phenomenon that occurs during psychoanalytic therapy in which the patient redirects toward the therapist unconscious feelings of anger and hostility retained from experiences with authority figures in childhood.
neoanalytic perspective
Theoretical positions that have their origins in Freudian psychoanalytic theory but have evolved new concepts and ways of examining and understanding human personality that are significant departures from Freud’s original theory.
neurosis
Behavioral disorder characterized by underlying conflicts and anxieties that prevent the individual from coping effectively with everyday problems.
Oedipal complex
The process during the phallic stage in which the male child desires sexual contact with the mother, feels threatened by the father, and eventually resolves the conflict by identifying with the father.
oral aggressive character
An individual who becomes fixated in the oral stage because of underindulgence during feeding, when newly emerging teeth are used to bite the caregiver as a means of obtaining nourishment. As an adult, this person is characterized by envy, manipulation of others, and suspiciousness.
oral receptive character
An individual who becomes fixated in the oral stage because of overindulgence during feeding (before the emergence of teeth). As an adult, this person is characterized by gullibility, admiration for others, and excessive dependence.
oral stage
First pregenital stage of psychosexual development, in which primary gratifications center around the mouth.
parapraxis
Malfunction in language, such as a slip of the tongue, a bungled word, misreading, mishearing, or forgetting words or things, that indicates the presence of underlying conflicts.
Freudian slip
phallic character
An individual fixated at the phallic stage who, later in life, needs to prove continually his or her sexual adequacy. The male phallic character needs to prove his adequacy through sexual conquests. This person is characterized by brashness, excessive vanity and pride, and exhibitionism. The female phallic character needs to prove her adequacy by continually ridiculing and humiliating men. This person is characterized by a domineering and contemptuous attitude toward men.
phallic stage
Third pregenital stage of psychosexual development, in which primary gratifications are derived from manipulation of the genitals.
pleasure principle
The rule by which the id operates; the id seeks to achieve pleasure and avoid pain.
positive transference
Phenomenon that occurs during therapy in which the patient redirects toward the therapist unconscious feelings of love and affection retained from experiences with authority figures (usually the parents) in early childhood.
preconscious
A state of the mind in which the person is currently unaware of some idea, memory, or event, which can, however, be made conscious with some effort.
projection
Defense mechanism in which a person attributes his or her own undesirable characteristics to others.
psychopathology
Disordered behaviors, such as neuroses or psychoses, that interfere with realistic and effective functioning or behaving.
psychosexual development
Theory devised by Freud to account for psychological and personality development in terms of individuals’ attempts to come to grips with key biological impulses.
psychosexual development
Theory devised by Freud to account for psychological and personality development in terms of individuals’ attempts to come to grips with key biological impulses.
psychosis
Severe behavioral disorder characterized by an inability to relate effectively to other people.
rationalization
Defense mechanism in which individuals provide plausible but inaccurate justifications for their behavior.
reaction formation
Defense mechanism in which an impulse or behavior is converted into its opposite.
regression
Defense mechanism in which a person reverts to infantile behavior as a means of alleviating stress.
repression
Basic defense mechanism by which unpleasant, highly painful experiences situated in the unconscious are prevented from entering consciousness.
resistance
A patient’s unwillingness to report anxiety-provoking memories and conflicts. Freud believed that resistance was a symptom of an underlying conflict.
seduction theory
Originally, the view that patients reported that they had been literally seducted by a parent of the other sex during early childhood. Later, the revised form of the theory was that patients had fantasized that they had experienced sexual abuse via seduction by a parent of the other sex.
sublimation
Form of displacement in which a socially acceptable goal replaces one that is unacceptable.
superego
Agency postulated by Freud to represent the individual’s incorporation of the moral standards of society and the ways in which these internalized standards control his or her behavior via reward and punishment.
suppression
A form of defense in which threatening thoughts are removed by actively and consciously deciding not to think about them. The person can exert control over their removal and their reactivation.
transference
Phenomenon postulated by Freud to account for the patient’s development of positive and negative feelings toward the therapist during treatment—feelings presumed to have originally been directed toward another person (usually one of the parents).
undoing
Defense mechanism in which a person makes amends for a socially unacceptable act by performing a related socially acceptable act that nullifies the misdeed.
Atonement
unhealthy dependence
A manifestation of dependence that occurs indiscriminately and reflexively across a broad range of situations.
