Freud & Psychoanalytic Theory Flashcards
SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)
- attended medical school at University of Vienna
- specialised in nervous disorder treatment
- studied hypnosis/”talking cure” particularly
- published “Interpretation of Dreams” (1990); introduced unconscious concept
- explored unconscious using free association method/dream interpretation
- developed first comprehensive personality theory
KEY ASSUMPTION
- PSYCHIC DETERMINISM
- UNCONSCIOUS INSTINCTUAL URGES
- STRUCTURE OF MIND
- PSYCHIC CONFLICT
- PSYCHIC ENERGY NEEDED TO MAKE MIND GO; ENERGY CANNOT BE DESTROYED BUT EXPRESSED
- PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY
PSYCHIC DETERMINISM (SHORT)
- everything that happens in a person’s mind/everything they do has a specific cause
UNCONSCIOUS INSTINCTUAL URGES (SHORT)
- people driven by unconscious/animalistic/instinctual urges
STRUCTURE OF MIND (SHORT)
- mind has internal structure divided in 3:
ID
EGO
SUPEREGO
PSYCHIC CONFLICT (SHORT)
- personality characteristics determined by way in which person learns to resolve unconscious conflicted between id/ego/superego
PSYCHIC ENERGY (SHORT)
- psychic energy comes from 2 drives:
1. EROS/LIBIDO - life/sexual instincts
2. THANATOS - death instinct
PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY (SHORT)
- aims to relieve psychic conflicts
- thereby free up psychic energy bi providing insight into unconscious
FREUDIAN THEORY OF PERSONALITY
- models difficult to integrate BUT interconnected complexly
- 3 models:
1. TOPOGRAPHIC MODEL - mental life stages
2. STRUCTURAL MODEL - 3 dif mental agencies
3. DEVELOPMENTAL-BIOLOGICAL MODEL - personality dev stages
THE TOPOGRAPHIC MODEL
- only provided limited personality description
- 3 awareness levels:
1. CONSCIOUS - current awareness
2. PRECONSCIOUS - just below consciousness surface
- can be accesses if required
- SUPEREGO
3. UNCONSCIOUS - cannot be voluntarily accessed
- ID
- EGO (in-between)
THE STRUCTURAL MODEL OF THE MIND
ID
- primitive “irrational” mind
- “pleasure” principle
- “I want it and I want it now”
EGO
- rational mind
- reality principle aka. “you can’t always get what you want”
- negotiates compromise between id/superego
SUPEREGO
- moral mind/conscience
- parental/social value embodiment
INTRA-PSYCHIC CONFLICT
- interactions between the 3 personality structures create intra-psychic conflict
- can be seen as mental disturbance
- basic symptom = anxiety
- personality characteristics determined by way in which person learns to resolve unconscious conflicts between id/ego/superego
INTRA-PSYCHIC CONFLICT: EXAMPLE
Q: you want to go to a friend’s party BUT it’s a long way; you’ll have to miss part of practical class (second in row)
ID = pleasure (aka. “Go and have fun at the party”)
EGO = rational; negotiates compromise (aka. “Download the notes and get a friend to record it”)
SUPEREGO = moral/conscience (aka. “You can’t go, you already skipped, you need to do well”)
- competing demands = anxiety/difficult decision; any choice = guilt
- deal via defence mechanisms
LIFE & DEATH DRIVES
- sexual/aggressive drives = major human beh motivators
- finite psychic energy
- Freud ignores social world individuals work in
- 2 drives/motivations:
1. LIBIDO - life/sexual instinct/drive
2. THANATOS - death/aggressive instinct/drive
PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
- ORAL
- 0-18 months - ANAL
- 18 months - 3.5 years - PHALLIC
- 3.5 years - 6 years - LATENCY
- 6 years - puberty - GENITAL
- puberty - adulthood
PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
- 3 parts to each stage:
1. PHYSICAL FOCUS
2. PSYCHOLOGICAL THEME
3. ADULT CHARACTER TYPE - fixation can occur during any stage
- doctrine of opposites
ORAL DEVELOPMENT STAGE
PHYSICAL FOCUS: mouth
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEME: dependency
ADULT CHARACTER: extremely/highly dependent
ANAL DEVELOPMENT STAGE
PHYSICAL FOCUS: anus
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEME: self-control/obedience
ADULT CHARACTER:
1. ANALLY RETENTIVE
- highly self-controlled; overly organised; subservient to authority
2. ANALLY EXPULSIVE
- little self-control; disorganised; hostile
PHALLIC DEVELOPMENT STAGE
PHYSICAL FOCUS: penis
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEME:
- sexual identification
- Oedipus/Electra Complex
ADULT CHARACTER: promiscuous; amoral/asexual; puritanical
LATENCY DEVELOPMENT STAGE
- period of relative calm
GENITAL DEVELOPMENT STAGE
PHYSICAL FOCUS: genitals
PSYCHOLOGICAL THEME:
- sexual reproduction
- intellectual/artistic creativity
ADULT CHARACTER: well-adjusted; balanced
EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS
DENIAL
REPRESSION
REGRESSION
REACTION FORMATION
PROJECTION
RATIONALISATION
INTELLECTUALISATION
DISPLACEMENT
SUBLIMATION
SUBLIMINATION
- acting out unacceptable impulses in socially acceptable way
DISPLACEMENT
- taking out impulses on < threatening target
INTELLECTUALISATION
- avoiding unacceptable emotions by focusing on intellectual aspects
RATIONALISATION
- supplying logical/rational reason > real one
PROJECTION
- placing unacceptable internal impulses on someone else
REACTION FORMATION
- taking opposite belief since true belief = anxiety
REGRESSION
- returning to previous development stage
REPRESSION
- pushing anxiety to unconscious
DENIAL
- stating anxiety provoking stimuli doesn’t exist
EVIDENCE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
REVEALING IT
- unconscious impulses leak out everyday
PARAPRAXES
- aka. Freudian slips
- random/uncontrolled
- ie. forgetting/slips of the tongue/accidents
HUMOUR
- controlled “leak”
- essential sublimation form
DREAMS
- “royal road to unconscious”
DREAMS & THE UNCONSCIOUS
- dreams provide id impulses w/expression stage via which the unconscious is revealed
- desires expressed in disguised form; represented symbolically
- unconscious threatening impulses expressed; conscious mind is NOT threatened
- most Freudian dream symbols = sexual
1. MANIFEST CONTENT - what we see/remember
2. LATENT CONTENT - what is really being said
PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY
- psychoanalysis aims to uncover repressed/unconscious material -> release pent up anxiety inducing emotions
- main techniques include:
DREAM ANALYSIS
FREE ASSOCIATION
TRANSFERENCE/COUNTER-TRANSFERENCE
PROJECTIVE TESTS
RORSCHACH INKBLOT TEST
- 10 inkblot cards
- describe what you see in one
THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST (TAT)
- ambiguous picture series
- tell a story about each
HUMAN FIGURE DRAWING TEST
- draw picture of therapist
FREUD’S THEORY: STRENGTHS
- first comprehensive beh/personality theory
- emphasises unconscious mind/early childhood experiences role/dynamic nature of beh
- stimulated much research/theorising
- influenced personality research subject matter
- developed first psychotherapy system
OLD RESEARCH EVIDENCE
ERDEYLI (1974)
- unconscious mind perceives things w/o conscious awareness
WEINBERGER & DAVIDSON (1994)
- defence mechanisms (esp. repression) occur
WESTON (1990)
- oral characteristics = intercorrelated
ERDELYI (1994)
- catharsis = helpful to physical/psychological health
ANDERSON & BAUM (1994)
- lab studies demonstrated transference
FREUD’S THEORY: CRITICISMS
- concepts poorly designed/cannot be operationalised (ie. what is “psychic energy”?)
- difficult to test empirically
- environment role overlooked
- over-emphasis on sexual drive/early experiences/destructive inner urges
- data from neurotic wealthy European women
- pessimistic (hard determinism) aka. no free will?
- assumes any deviation from heterosexual relations = pathological
- hetero male beh = norm
