Freud

Question 1

ambivalence

Answer 1

Mixed feelings of one person toward another, characterized by alternation between love and hate.

Question 2

anal character

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

anal eroticism

Answer 3

feelings of sexual pleasure that have their source in the person’s control over expulsion and retention of feces.

Question 4

anal stage

Answer 4

Second pregenital stage of psychosexual development, in which primary gratification centers around the anal cavity.

Question 5

anticathexes

Answer 5

Restraining forces within the personality that are designed to keep unwanted impulses from reaching consciousness or awareness.

Question 6

anxiety

Answer 6

Painful feelings experienced when the ego is threatened.

Question 7

catharsis

Answer 7

Reliving earlier traumatic experiences emotionally, to reduce disturbing physical symptoms. This term derives from the Greek word meaning purification.

Question 8

cathexes

Answer 8

Driving energy forces that attach themselves to an idea or behavior.

Question 9

compromise formation

Answer 9

Defense mechanism that uses contradictory behaviors to attain some satisfaction for an unacceptable impulse.

Like a backhanded compliment

Question 10

conscience

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

conscious

Answer 11

A state of the mind characterized by awareness of one’s experiences.

Question 12

countertransference

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

denial

Answer 13

Primitive defense mechanism in which the person protects the self against threats from the environment by refusing to recognize their existence.

Question 14

dependent personality type

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

determinism

Answer 15

Philosophical doctrine that all behavior is caused by the operation of other events and does not occur freely or at random.

Question 16

displacement

Answer 16

Defense mechanism in which the person seeks gratification of thwarted impulses by shifting the impulses from the original, frustrating object to a substitute object.

Question 17

dynamics

Answer 17

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).

Question 18

ego

Answer 18

Agency postulated by Freud to help the individual satisfy basic urges in ways deemed appropriate by society.

Question 19

ego-ideal

Answer 19

Positive aspect of the superego, comprising the standards of perfection taught to the child by the parents.

Question 20

fixation

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

free association

Answer 21

Therapeutic technique pioneered by Freud in which the therapist encourages patients to report, without restriction, any thoughts that occur to them.

Question 22

genital character

Answer 22

A mature individual who is sexually developed and capable of relating to members of the other sex.

Question 23

genital stage

Answer 23

Final stage of psychosexual development, in which an attempt is made to conduct a mature love relationship with a member of the opposite sex.

Question 24

healthy dependence

Answer 24

A manifestation of dependence that occurs in some contexts but not others and in ways that are situationally appropriate.

Question 25

id

Answer 25

identification

Question 26

intellectualization

Answer 26

Defense mechanism in which individuals protect themselves against pain by isolating their thoughts about painful events from their feelings about them.

Question 27

latency stage

Answer 27

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.

Question 28

libido

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

negative transference

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

neoanalytic perspective

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

neurosis

Answer 31

Behavioral disorder characterized by underlying conflicts and anxieties that prevent the individual from coping effectively with everyday problems.

Question 32

Oedipal complex

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

oral aggressive character

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

oral receptive character

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

oral stage

Answer 35

First pregenital stage of psychosexual development, in which primary gratifications center around the mouth.

Question 36

parapraxis

Answer 36

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

Question 37

phallic character

Answer 37

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.

Question 38

phallic stage

Answer 38

Third pregenital stage of psychosexual development, in which primary gratifications are derived from manipulation of the genitals.

Question 39

pleasure principle

Answer 39

The rule by which the id operates; the id seeks to achieve pleasure and avoid pain.

Question 40

positive transference

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

preconscious

Answer 41

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.

Question 42

projection

Answer 42

Defense mechanism in which a person attributes his or her own undesirable characteristics to others.

Question 43

psychopathology

Answer 43

Disordered behaviors, such as neuroses or psychoses, that interfere with realistic and effective functioning or behaving.

Question 44

psychosexual development

Answer 44

Theory devised by Freud to account for psychological and personality development in terms of individuals’ attempts to come to grips with key biological impulses.

Question 45

psychosexual development

Answer 45

Theory devised by Freud to account for psychological and personality development in terms of individuals’ attempts to come to grips with key biological impulses.

Question 46

psychosis

Answer 46

Severe behavioral disorder characterized by an inability to relate effectively to other people.

Question 47

rationalization

Answer 47

Defense mechanism in which individuals provide plausible but inaccurate justifications for their behavior.

Question 48

reaction formation

Answer 48

Defense mechanism in which an impulse or behavior is converted into its opposite.

Question 49

regression

Answer 49

Defense mechanism in which a person reverts to infantile behavior as a means of alleviating stress.

Question 50

repression

Answer 50

Basic defense mechanism by which unpleasant, highly painful experiences situated in the unconscious are prevented from entering consciousness.

Question 51

resistance

Answer 51

A patient’s unwillingness to report anxiety-provoking memories and conflicts. Freud believed that resistance was a symptom of an underlying conflict.

Question 52

seduction theory

Answer 52

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.

Question 53

sublimation

Answer 53

Form of displacement in which a socially acceptable goal replaces one that is unacceptable.

Question 54

superego

Answer 54

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.

Question 55

suppression

Answer 55

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.

Question 56

transference

Answer 56

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).

Question 57

undoing

Answer 57

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

Question 58

unhealthy dependence

Answer 58

A manifestation of dependence that occurs indiscriminately and reflexively across a broad range of situations.