Freud Flashcards

Question

What is reaction formation, give an example and evidence for it?

Answer 1

Reaction formation is converting socially unacceptable impulses into the opposite. Example: insinuations that one is intolerant might lead to exaggerated efforts to be seen as tolerant. Evidence: Non-prejudiced individuals given false physiological feedback about their racial prejudices subsequently gave more money to a Black individual than those who were not given such feedback (Dutton & Lake, 1973).

Answer 2

Projection is perceiving others of having traits (particularly undesired) that one inaccurately believes oneself not to have. Example: person who has feelings for someone other than partner accuses partner of having an affair Evidence: False consensus effects (e.g., Ross et al., 1977) Projection may be a by-product of a different defensive mechanism (Newman et al., 1997).

Answer 3

Displacement is altering the target of an impulse Example: an unacceptable violent impulse towards one’s father may be transformed into a hostile attitude towards authority figures. Evidence: Scapegoating (Hovland & Sears, 1939) Participants who have been frustrated are more likely to be aggressive towards others even if not the source of frustration (Hokanson et al., 1963) But is this displacement or mood arousal?

Answer 4

Undoing is the desire to alter the past to make something not happen (rumination about alternative outcomes) Example: thinking of how you could have responded to someone Evidence: People who had lost their jobs often replayed the ‘scene’ of their firing during their unemployment, thinking up clever things they wish they had said (Newman, 1988) But is this defensive, or coping mechanism?

Answer 5

Isolation is creating a mental barrier between a threatening cognition and other thoughts/feelings Example: people may stop a train of thought before changing to a different subject entirely Evidence: Religious conversion – “born again” (Greven, 1977) Those who had committed crimes described it as a closed, isolated incident that had no long lasting impact (Baumeister et al., 1990)

Answer 6

Sublimation is channelling an unacceptable desire into something more socially acceptable Example: aggressive people channel their aggression into sport Evidence: none

Answer 7

Denial is the refusal to accept certain facts that may be damaging to one sense of self. Example: smoker may refuse to admit that it is damaging to their health Evidence: Externally attribute for failure, and remember failures less (Crary, 1966; Zuckerman, 1979) Caffeine users question evidence that caffeine consumption is associated with certain diseases (Lieberman & Chaiken, 1992)

Answer 8

Neo-Freudians – disagreed with Freud’s highly sexualised view, but emphasised more the importance of social environment/culture

Answer 9

Erich Fromm - Emphasised other human drives such as relatedness, meaning and coherence. Erik Erikson - Psychosocial stages of development. Alfred Adler - Individual Psychology – drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority. Carl Jung - Personality types (e.g., extraverted/introverted)  Myers-Brigg type indicator (Myers & McCaulley, 1985) – often used in occupational settings. Did not just believe that the past affected our behaviour, but also our ability to think about the future. ``` Karen Horney - Women do not have penis envy, but jealously is culturally based (e.g., freedom, independence, respect). Men also have womb envy. Coping styles (dependence, aggression, isolation). ```

Answer 10

The broad strokes of Freud’s ideas have some validity and, in some cases, well accepted (e.g., early experiences, anxiety/conflict, defence mechanisms, unconscious). Teaching Freud may be a useful as students can see how ideas progress over time, and is an easy way to practice critically evaluating psychological theory.