Freud & Aggression Flashcards
Main drives considered by Freud?
- libido
- sex drive
- self-preservation
What does the ego repress?
It represses thoughts that are unacceptable into the unconscious.
Why does the ego repress these thoughts?
To preserve the self and respond to the drives.
What does the ego do at the same time as repression?
It also balances the superego’s demands.
How can thoughts leak into the unconscious mind?
- in dreams
- defence mechanisms like displacement
- free association
What is free association?
Free association is a technique used in psychoanalytic therapy to help patients learn more about what they are thinking and feeling, by allowing them to freely speak about and express their thoughts & feelings.
What is displacement?
When someone focuses thoughts onto one person when they ‘belong’ to someone else.
Displacement can help to?
Release thoughts in a way that is safe for the ego without upsetting the superego.
What is aggression in Freud’s theory?
It is also a drive.
What does aggression link to?
The death instinct.
What is aggression the outlet for?
It is the outlet for the death instinct.
What does aggression preserve?
It preserves life.
How does aggression preserve life?
Because without, someone would have a strog death instinct with no outlet, which would affect their behaviour & thinking.
What does the life instinct oppose?
It opposes the death instinct.
What is the life instinct supported by?
By aggression
Aggression can help to release what?
To release the drive towards death.
According to Freud, what leads to aggression?
Frustration.
What was Freud interested in, with regard to aggression?
He was interested in the emotions & ideas behind aggressive behaviour.
In Freud’s theory, what is aggression linked to?
It is linked to the superego.
What is the superego?
The conscience of the child, formed from the parents’ demands about what should & shouldn’t be done and thought in a society.
Why does the child unconsciously feel aggression towards their parents?
Because they prevent things that will give the child pleasure (demands from the id).
Where is aggression caught up according to Freud?
In the superego.
Why is the aggression taken into the child’s superego?
Because the child loves their parents so they can’t direct the aggression towards them.
What does the strength of the superego depend on?
The amount of aggression within it.
What 2 types of aggression did Fromm (1937) discuss?
Benign aggression & destructive aggression.
Benign aggression?
A natural response to the environment.
Destructive aggression?
Aggression that exists for someone to achieve their own goals.
