HW410 • Chapter 5: “Toward a Psychology of Stress” Flashcards
Who is chosen by many scholars as the reference point from which all other psychological theories emanate?
Sigmund Freud
From Freud’s perspective, humans operate from an instinctual nature, or those biological and physiological impulses referred to as what?
The id.
What metaphor did Freud come up with to compare the mind’s innermost thoughts, memories, and feelings, components that make up one’s identity?
The egg. Like the contents of an egg, the human psyche is extremely delicate and fragile. And like an egg it is enclosed and protected by a sturdy yet quite vulnerable shell.
According to Freud, what is the purpose of the ego?
To seek pleasure and to avoid pain with regard to our biological impulses (a function now thought to be similar to that of the hypothalamus).
What is the relationship between the id (yolk) to the ego (shell) and what is produced?
That is, the ego is primarily responsible for controlling the flood of impulses from the id. The ego is also vulnerable to perceptions of outside stimuli, which constantly threaten the stability of the contents within. This, too, he observed, produces tension.
What is defined as a term coined by Freud naming the part of the psyche that not only triggers the stress response when threatened, but also defends against all enemies, including thoughts and feelings generated from within?
Ego.
What is defined as a Freudian term used to highlight the tension between the mind’s impulses and the body’s response, suggesting that stress is humanly inherent?
Instinctual tension.
What is defined as described by Sigmund Freud; unconscious thinking patterns of the ego to either decrease pain or increase pleasure?
Defense mechanisms. This aids in the protection of the ego’s fragile contents.
What did Freud believe in defense mechanisms on why they are always in operation at some extent?
Both constant inner tension produced by instinctual impulses and stressfully perceived external stimuli.
What are the two characteristics of all defense mechanisms?
(1) they are denials or distortions of reality, and (2) they operate unconsciously.
Name that defense mechanism!
When people are confronted with circumstances they find to be a threat, they often _____ association or involvement with any aspect of the situation. Example children stealing cookies or adults with a drinking/gambling habit
Denial
Denial: One of the primary defense mechanisms noted by Freud in which one disbelieves what occurred when personally threatened.
Name that defense mechanism!
_______ is the involuntary removal of thoughts, memories, or feelings from the conscious mind. It differs from suppression, wherein painful experiences are intentionally forgotten, in that the conscious mind is unaware of this process. Freud referred to ______ as an unconscious denial of something that brings emotional discomfort or pain. Example memories of child abuse or embarrassing moments when you can’t remember details but others do.
Repression
Repression: The involuntary removal of thoughts, memories, and feelings from the conscious mind so they are less threatening to the ego.
Name that defense mechanism!
_______ is a process in which an individual defends the ego by attributing unacceptable feelings, impulses, and behaviors to other people—or objects such as dogs, tennis racquets, swim goggles, or the weather. In this way, when an impulse or emotion is manifested, it is now less threatening because its source appears to be generated externally rather than from within. Ownership of painful feelings is minimized and is most prevalent in response to feelings of sexual desire, insecurities, and aggression. An example of ________ is oversleeping, getting a late start for work, getting caught in traffic, and then blaming every dumb driver for your lateness.
Projection
Projection: The act of attributing one’s thoughts and feelings to other people so that they are less threatening to the ego.
Name that defense mechanism!
___________ is the reinterpretation of the reality of one’s behavior or circumstances. It’s a manipulation of the truth. __________ can be described as a filtered lens that makes emotional pain more acceptable, even appealing, to one’s emotional vision. Actions or thoughts that are perceived to be threatening are quickly reinterpreted in terms of another, more acceptable, ______ explanation. For example, someone who has been fired from a job he loved might ________ this outcome by saying, “It was an awful job and I’m glad to be done with it.” Another example would be when your boyfriend breaks up with you and you tell friends you wanted to break it off because the relationship was too great a time commitment.
Rationalization
Rationalization: The reinterpretation of the current reality to match one’s liking: a reinterpretation of the truth.
Name that defense mechanism!
When something that causes pain to the ego is inaccessible or otherwise cannot be responded to directly, the painful feelings can be transferred to an unrelated person or object. This is what Freud called ________. ________involves transferring emotional pain and its related behavior from an unacceptable object (e.g., an authority figure) to a nonthreatening object (usually children and pets). For example, your boss is a jerk and you would love to choke him, but instead you go home and shoo away the cat who begs for attention. Even though feelings of anger and aggression are most commonly cited as those that are _____, it is also possible to _______ feelings and behaviors associated with joy and love to those you perceive to be most receptive to them, rather than those you believe would not respond favorably.
Displacement
Displacement: The transference of emotional pain (usually anger) from a threatening source (one’s boss) to a nonthreatening source (one’s cat).
Name that defense mechanism!
Later in his career, Freud began to study the psychology of _______. Reviewing the works of several ______, he was at first perplexed at the phenomenon but soon saw it as a device for the body to release sexually repressed thoughts through laughter. This is the rationale he proposed to explain the popularity of “dirty” jokes. _____, remarked Freud, is a unique defense mechanism unlike the others. It simultaneously decreases pain and increases pleasure, making it the most advanced of all the defense mechanisms.
Humor
Humor: The defense mechanism noted by Freud that both decreases pain and increases pleasure.
What can a less defensive attitude result in?
With a less defensive attitude, however, this pain can enable the individual to expand his or her self-awareness and personal growth. In this case, the result is an expansion of the ego.
Each time this “space” grows, therein lies an opportunity to expand one’s capabilities and enhance one’s human potential. It may not seem that stress always involves the ego, but in truth, it really does. Our ego is our identity, and whether it is fear or anger that triggers the stress response, things that cause stress typically attack the integrity of our identity and perceptions of self-worth.
Who did Freud pick to be his heir?
Carl Gustav Jung.
His theories involving introverts and extroverts, personality types (inspiring the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory), midlife crisis, synchronicity, anima-animus, archetypes, the shadow, and the spiritual nature of humankind sowed many seeds in the human potential movement, and his following continues to grow both within and outside the field of psychology.
What is defined as a term coined by Carl Jung to describe self-realization, a process leading to wholeness?
Individuation. Individuation involves not only the culmination of childhood experiences, but also a spiritual life force that shapes one’s being and life direction.
What metaphor did Carl Jung use to describe the conscious and unconscious mind?
The tip of the iceberg above the water and the bigger, iceberg below.
What two levels did Carl Jung divide the unconscious mind into and what are their definitions?
Personal unconscious - A repository of personal thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and memories.
Collective unconscious - A term coined by psychologist Carl Jung; the deepest level of unconsciousness, which connects all people together as one; divine consciousness.
What are some takeaways from the relationship of the conscious and unconscious mind?
Daily stress is compounded by internal tension between the seemingly incompatible thought processes of the two minds. This explains why many people initially cannot recall their dreams or make sense of them if they do remember them. Although the censoring process may seem effective in the short term, the inability to decipher the language of the unconscious perpetuates internal stress in the long run.
Imagine that while driving in a foreign country you become lost and stop to ask directions from people who speak no English. You do not speak a word of their native tongue either. They try to warn you that the road you are on is unsafe, but even their pantomimes are unclear. You proceed and encounter the same situation with more natives a mile down the road. Baffled and discouraged, you shake your head, ignoring the warnings and continuing to drive on into potential danger.
Briefly describe Jung’s observations of dreams?
Dreams should be treated as fact, not as fabrications of the mind.
Dreams have a definite and purposeful idea or theme expressed in unique symbols.
Dreams make sense when time is devoted to understanding their meaning.
Recurring dreams may represent a traumatic life event, be an attempt to compensate for a personal defect in attitude, or signal an event of importance in the future.
Dream interpretation is individualistic in that no dream symbol can be separated from the person who dreams it (e.g., the meaning of a plane crash is specific to the person who dreamed it).
Dream interpretation is essential to the resolution of stress and anxiety. In his last published book, Man and His Symbols, Jung wrote, “For the sake of mental stability and even physiological health, the unconscious and the conscious minds must be integrally connected and thus move in parallel lines.”
What is defined as a term coined by Carl Jung to describe the balance of thought (and subsequent health-wholeness) between the conscious and unconscious minds, by having the conscious mind become multilingual to the many languages of the unconscious mind (e.g., dream interpretation)?
Psychic equilibrium
What is defined as a term coined by Carl Jung describing a mental imagery process where, in a lucid dream state or relaxed state, you consciously imagine (and resolve) the end of a recurring dream. __________ is a form of visualization.
Active imagination
Who brought the issue of death to the forefront of human consciousness and stepped onto the global stage in 1969 with her pioneering work studying and counseling terminally ill cancer patients?
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross.
What is defined as a process outlined by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross regarding the mental preparation for death, including denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance?
Stages of grieving. Although these stages were observed among dying cancer patients, the same stages apply to any type of loss, including the death of unmet expectations.
What are examples of each stage of grieving?
Denial: The refusal to accept the truth of a situation—a rejection of the truth. “I don’t have cancer. This isn’t happening to me.
It cannot happen to me. I’m too young to die. I won’t let it happen.” Denial is also described as shock. In the case of a stolen wallet, the comparable reaction would be observed, “My wallet must be at home. I couldn’t have misplaced it. Perhaps it’s in my other pants (purse).”
The anger stage is a fit of rage that may include yelling, pounding, crying, and/or deep frustration manifested in a physical and emotional way. In this stage, anger is the physical expression of hostile feelings. Kübler-Ross typically saw anger directed not only at clinicians and family members but also toward a “higher power,” even in those people who claimed not to believe in one. Similarly, a stolen wallet can provoke an outward expression of anger, where everyone becomes a suspect in its disappearance.
Kübler-Ross described this phase as a very brief but important one. Bargaining is an agreement between the conscious mind and the soul involving an exchange of offerings—primarily, a negotiation for more time to live. With cancer patients it may be expressed as, “If you let me live, I’ll never smoke again.” In the case of the stolen wallet, the negotiations would be something along the lines of, “Go ahead and take the money—but please don’t use my credit cards.”
Kübler-Ross divides the depression stage into two categories: reactive depression, when a patient grieves for a specific anatomical loss resulting from surgery (as with breast or bone cancer), and preparatory loss, feelings of impending losses related to the cancer, including personal freedom, time, family, and perhaps one’s own life. Preparatory-loss depression is best described as a quiet or passive mood of uneasiness while feeling overwhelmed with thoughts and responsibilities at the same time. With depression there is very little, if any, perceived hope. In the case of the wallet, not only is there depression over the missing article, but also a feeling of being overwhelmed by having to arrange the replacement of its contents.
If and when a person has moved through the previous stages of the grieving process, then and only then can he or she arrive at the final stage, acceptance. Acceptance is an approval of existing conditions, a receptivity to things that cannot be changed. Acceptance is not giving in or giving up. It is not a surrender to the circumstance. Rather, it is acknowledgment of the particular situation in which you find yourself. Acceptance allows you to move on with your life. With acceptance comes hope. For those cancer patients who arrive at this stage, their frame of mind can be described as, “Okay. So this is the way it is. I’m going to keep living my life as best I can. I’m going to put up a good fight.” In the case of the stolen wallet, “So I lost my wallet. I’ll get a new license, credit cards, ATM card, and a new wallet.” In the acceptance stage there is no trace of anger or pity. Kübler-Ross indicates that this stage is very difficult to arrive at; in fact, many people never reach this stage in the course of their grieving. A significant component of the stage of acceptance is adaptation—consciously adapting to the new situation with thoughts and actions.
What is defined as a behavior and attitude considered the epitome of the acceptance stage of grieving, where a person adapts to the new situation and no longer views him- or herself as a victim?
Adaptation.
To paraphrase Kübler-Ross, acceptance is your ability to acknowledge the emotional chains that bind you to your primary cause of stress, and acceptance allows you to free yourself from their bondage. Complete, unconditional acceptance, a full resolution without any resentment, animosity, or pity associated with these emotional potholes, leads to what Kübler-Ross calls essential inner peace. The process of acceptance, resolving pent-up feelings or frustrations, is not an easy one. In fact, it can be quite emotionally painful. In her work, she observed some people with a stubborn streak who would rather leave matters unresolved than face the fear of this process. Others were unsure how best to resolve these emotions and eventually became hostage to them.
What is defined as a term coined by psychiatrist Viktor Frankl describing the search for meaning in one’s life?
Logotherapy
Logos in Greek translates not only as “meaning” but also as “spirit.”
