Freud's explanation of aggression

Question 1

Two human instinct

Answer 1

• Eros and Thanatos

Question 2

Eros

Answer 2

• The life instinct
• Redirects the destructive nature of Thanatos away from the self and onto others, aggression

Question 3

Thanatos

Answer 3

• The death instinct
• Origin of aggression

Question 4

Id

Answer 4

• Id’s drives are formed from the desires of Thanatos and Eros
• It is driven by the impulses of eros and Thanatos with no thought of consequence
• It operates under the pleasure principle it drives to gain pleasure or satisfaction of its urges as quickly as possible
• It demands satisfaction of your urges:
  Eros: It might be sexual desire or food
  Thanatos: It might be aggression

Question 5

Superego

Answer 5

• Superego is the socialised part of your personality
• Meaning it is developed through the way you were raised and taught right from wrong
• Operates under the morality principle which is based on the socialised understanding of what is right and what is wrong
• It demands that you follow morals, if someone follows their id they may feel guilty as punishment from the superego but if they are able to control themselves, they may feel pride and satisfaction

Question 6

Ego

Answer 6

• Ego is driven by understanding of reality, that the urges of the id cannot always be satisfied
• Operates under the reality principle, understanding of what is socially acceptable or realistically to achieve
• Ego appreciates that sometimes it is not appropriate to exhibit certain behaviour such as aggression
• It can redirect the id’s desires to another more realistic or appropriate behaviour through sublimation and displacement

Question 7

Displacement

Answer 7

• Where aggression towards someone is not acceptable so your redirect aggression towards a more available substitute

Question 8

Sublimation

Answer 8

• When an individual is able to displace their emotion in a constructive and socially acceptable way rather than destructive activity

Question 9

Catharsis

Answer 9

• The process of releasing the internal drive of aggression in the id

Question 10

Strength of Freud’s explanation of aggression

Answer 10

• One strength of Freud’s explanation of aggression is that research has shown that processing aggression can lead to be beneficial
• Graham et al found that in their sample of 51 those who ranted and processed their emotions and aggression had an improvement in control over pain and depressed mood after consistently ranting
• This suggests that expressing anger may lead to health benefits, which may be linked to Freud’s concept of catharsis

Question 11

Weakness of Freud’s explanation of aggression

Answer 11

• One weakness of Freud’s explanation of aggression is that his concept of catharsis, letting of steam has been suggested to actually heighten aggression rather than reduce it
• Bushman in his study made 600 student angry by getting a confederate to heavily criticise an essay the student had written, he found that student who were allowed to vent their anger by hitting a punching bag were the most aggressive with the confederate when compared to controls
• This suggest the opposite of Freud’s theory of aggression being cathartic may actually heighten aggressive behaviour