Lecture 1

Question 1

Why should we study Freud?

Answer 1

Because it’s a change of paradigm (framework containing accepted views of a subject). He believed mental illnesses had biological roots whereas society believed it was conscious rationality.

Question 2

Give two examples of changes in paradigms

Answer 2

Geocentricism to heliocentricism

Homeocentricism to evolution

Question 3

Are Freud’s concepts still used today?

Answer 3

Yes, for example therapy techniques or interpreting dreams.

Question 4

Briefly talk about the history of psychopathology

Answer 4

• Middle ages: Patients are considered prisoners.
• Possession by bad spirits treated via trephination or exorcisms.
• 18th Century: Still brutal and patients were neglected. Mental illnesses are caused by moral insanity. Mental hospitals are tourist attractions.
• 19th century: Conditions improved a lot. Syphilis was found to be a cause of insanity which was revolutionising. Could be biological causes and could be treated via medication maybe.

Question 5

What are the problems with the medical model?

Answer 5

Many disorders don’t have biological causes
It can be over-simplistic
Mental disorders can’t be ‘fixed’ as such
Led to eugenics

Question 6

Discuss eugenics?

Answer 6

It was developed by Galton. It’s the self direction of human evolution that aims to create elite humans. This was the basis of Nazis. Many scientists backed this up and it led to people being discriminated for not being elite.

Question 7

Discuss Freudian psychoanalysis

Answer 7

• It was ground breaking at the time.
• Personalities arise from attempts to resolve conflicts between unconscious impulses and societal demands. This contrasts the biological claims at the time.
• The main unconscious drives are sexuality and aggression and when they break through to consciousness, they’re called Freudian slips.
• Personality develops in childhood in 5 stages; oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. When fixation occurs, one doesn’t progress from one of the stages which can affect adult personality. For example, being stuck in the oral phase can result in obesity.
• Anaclitic identification is the initial stage of identification and it’s grounded in the dependency of one’s guardian.
• Transference is when one has an unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another, usually to the therapist.
• The reality principle is when one assesses reality and acts on it accordingly. This involves ignoring the pleasure principle.
• The ID, ego and superego. Healthy personalities keep them in balance but there’s a constant conflict.
• Internal conflicts pose a threat to the ego which can result in anxiety. To protect the ego, one has defence mechanisms.
• There are many types of defence mechanisms, e.g. regression or suppression.
• He believed in catharsis; dissipation of psychological energy via a harmless activity. Sometimes this doesn’t happen and the energy can then manifest in neurotic symptoms.
• Dreams are repressed memories that are transformed and concealed. The therapist should then bring this into consciousness and interpret them.

Question 8

What are the epistemological criticisms with Freud’s psychoanalysis?

Answer 8

There aren’t any scientific approaches
There’s many methodological issues
There’s theoretical incoherence
Data was manipulated

Question 9

Name 2 Freudian psychologists that studied analytical psychology. Describe their research.

Answer 9

Jung: Collective unconscious, introversion, extroversion, individuation; balancing opposite aspects of personality (good and evil).
Rorschach: Ink blot test.

Question 10

Name 2 Freudian psychologists that studied interpsychic theories. Describe their research.

Answer 10

Adler: Inferiority complex; expectation of failure resulting in pessimism, motivation only exists as a drive to be superior, the effects on children when parents pamper; lack of independence, and when parents neglect; unable to be intimate. Birth order affects personality, e.g. last born is spoilt and irresponsible.
Sullivan: Significant others, social insecurity and anxiety, the self system, loneliness; the most painful human experience, six stages of personality development.

Question 11

Name 1 Freudian psychologists that studied object (people) relations. Describe their research.

Answer 11

Klein: Children construct internal objects and project them on to others. This can be used to interpret relationships. Children learn to integrate the good and bad side.

Question 12

Name 2 Freudian psychologists that studied ego psychology. Describe their research.

Answer 12

Anna Freud: The ego is trained socially and can transform unacceptable impulses.
Erikson: Identity crisis, ego is a servant to the ID, psychosocial virtues are associated with crises.

Question 13

Name 4 Freudian psychologists that studied psychoanalytic social psychology. Describe their research.

Answer 13

Reich: Body psychotherapy, bioenergetic analysis, explored fascism, neurosis and social conditions, Marxist influences.
Fromm: Marxists influences, dynamic view of society, society suppresses as well as creates human nature, humans have a fear of freedom.
Horney: The effect of parental indifference towards children.
Winnicott: Transitional objects, the sense of being is primary, cycles of doing try to conceal the absence of being.

Question 14

Discuss contemporary psychology in relation to Freud

Answer 14

The cognitive unconscious like procedural memory, automatic processing.
The emotional unconscious like prejudice and selective attention.
Parallel mental processing allowing us to have contrasting opinions at the same time.
Childhood is important in terms of developing personality.
We have to regulate sexual and aggressive feelings.

Question 15

Discuss Carl Rogers

Answer 15

He researched humanistic psychology. Contrasted Freud, the therapist isn’t the expert, the client is.

Question 16

Discuss Maslow’s work

Answer 16

He created the hierarchy of needs; the most important is physiological needs and the least important is morality and creativity.