Lecture 3 Psychodynamic Approaches Flashcards
Levels of consciousness
Conscious thought, preconscious mind, unconscious mind, repression, no clear division, but different degrees
- dreams, stressful times, in symptoms of illness or psychological disturbance, alcohol or drugs
The unconscious and dreams
- Preserve sleep by representing wishes as being fulfilled
- Manifest content of dreams
- Latent content of dreams
Primary and Secondary processes
Primary - irrational thinking/dreams, the Pleasure Principle
Secondary - rational thought, the Reality Principle
Freud and the nature of human beings
Structure and development of personality underlies human nature and motivation
Libido?
- Child born with fixed amount of mental energy
- Adult sex drives
Motivation?
- To satisfy basic instinctual drives
- Sexual drives
- Life-preserving drives
- Thanatos (self-destructive, death instinct)
Structure of human personality according to Freud?
Super ego, Ego, and Id
Id?
- Raw, uninhibited instinctual energy
- Source of impulses and mental energy
- Also drives for basic survival needs, and sex, aggression and self-destruction
Ego?
- Planning, thinking and organizing
- Mediator between child and world
- Reality principle and secondary processes -> social factors
Superego?
- Conscience (internalized parental attitudes etc.)
- Acts in opposition to the Id
- Also regulation of the ego…
Theory of Psychosexual development
Oral stage (birth to 1) -> Anal stage (18months - 3yrs) -> Phallic stage (3-5) -> Latency stage (5-12) -> Genital stage (12-18)
What can go wrong in Psychosexual development?
Fixation can occur at any stage, internal resistance to transferring libidinal energy to new objects
What can go wrong with Personality components?
Conflicting demands of Id, Ego and Superego, Intrapersonal anxiety, can occur at any stage, Latency phase -> defence mechanisms
Defence Mechanisms?
Regression, Repression, Denial, Displacement, Phobic avoidance, undoing, sublimation… difficult to test
Who are the three Neo-Freudian theorists?
Adler, Jung & Horney
Adler’s Individual Psychology overview
Inferiority feelings:
- Experienced from birth - helpless infant
- Strive for mastery to fulfil potential
Birth order:
- Unique treatment of each child
- Individual experience of the family
‘Style of life’ developed from family experience
When inferiority is not compensated for - Neurotic personality develops
What is Teleology? (Adler)
- Contrast with deterministic approach
- Overarching goal of superiority/mastery
- Driving achievement and maximizing potential
- Goal is fictitious -> never achievable
Basic concerns in development of personality types (Adler)
Three generalized concerns; work, friendship, love
Role of parents? (Adler)
- Provide accurate conceptualizations
- Introduction to “social life”
- Interactional relationships
- “Equality” - both parents have crucial roles
Effects of birth order: Eldest child
Child: ‘dethroned monarch’, understands status
Adult: conservative, respect authority, maintains status quo, intellectual attainment
Second child
Child: competitive, reacts to behaviour of older sibling
Adult: demanding of themselves, unrealistic goals
Youngest child
Child: babied by family, attention and pampering
Adult: high dependency, desire to excel, need for praise
Only child
Child: without ‘rivals’, likely to be pampered (by mother)
Adult: need for approval, difficulty with criticism/dislike, intellectually able and high achieving
Alderian Personality Types: Ruling Type
- Lacks social interest
- Intense striving for power
- Emotionally manipulative
- Possibly result of addiction, delinquency or domineering adulthood
Avoiding Type (Adler)
- Lacks confidence
- Head in sand approach
- Deny problems exist
- Deny accountability
- Blame others
Getting Type (Adler)
- Passive
- Little problem-solving
- Use personal charm
- Parasitic state
- Unhealthy
Socially Useful Type (Adler)
- Faces life confidently
- Positive social interest
- Prepared to co-operate
- Contribution to welfare of others; healthy approach
Jung and the human psyche
-Life-process energy:
*motivating force for behaviour
*broader than Freud’s focus
-3 Guiding principles:
*of opposites
*of equivalence
*of entropy/balance
Jung and the development of personality
-Throughout lifespan (teleology)
-Via self-realisation
Structure of the human psyche according to Jung
Ego (self)
Conscious
Personal unconscious (similar to Freud’s unconscious)
Collective unconscious
Archetypes
What is the ego according to Jung?
Unifying force - responsible for feelings of identity and continuity as human beings
Collective unconscious and archetypes according to Jung?
Origins in human evolutionary development - innate
Repository of inherited instincts, universal symbols/themes beyond personal experience (e.g. fear of the unknown, dark death, etc.)
Jung’s development of personality types - Attitudes/Interactional style with the world
*Analysis of Freud vs Adler dispute (+clinical evidence)
*Extraversion-external focus
*Introversion-internal focus
*Conscious and unconscious components
Jung’s personality types - Relational style
*Sensing - Experience without evaluation
*Thinking - Interpretation with reason and logic
*Feeling - Evaluation of desirability/worth
*Intuitive - Minimum of reason, use hunches or premonitions
*Judging and perceiving added by later work (Thorne & Gough, 1991)
Jungian personality types - Extraverted Sensing
-“Reality” oriented
-Prefer to act not think
-Likes the “good life”
-More typical of men?
Introverted Sensing
-Very sensitive; easily overstimulated
-May overreact to comments
-Generally calm and passive
-May be artistic
Extraverted Thinking
-Tries to be objective & guided by facts
-Represses emotions
-Adheres to rules
-May ignore spiritual & aesthetic side of life
-May neglect relationships
Introverted Thinking
-Very private
-Socially ill at ease
-Intellectually driven
-May repress emotions, expresses with difficulty
-Can appear cold, aloof
-Focus on inner world
Extraverted Feeling
-Conventional; respects authority & tradition
-Sociable, influenced by other’s expectations
-More typical of women?
Introverted Feeling
-Can be quiet, thoughtful & difficult to get to know
-Disengaged, mysterious
-May be better with animals than people
-Feels intensely
-Also more female typical?
Extraverted Intuitive
-Creative, excited by novelty
-Keen to explore opportunity
-Follows hunches, not facts
-Politicians, speculators & wheeler-dealers typical
Introverted Intuitive
-Uninterested and withdrawn
-May be a dreamer
-Unusual innovative ideas
-Communicate poorly
-Judgement functions may be fairly repressed
Horney (1977) on human nature
-Positive view of human nature
-Warm, loving, consistent parenting
-Child is respected and supported-healthy personality development
-Potential to become their “real self”-ultimate expression of abilities and talents
-If not experienced - neurotic personality develops
Basic anxiety -> Neurotic needs -> Ideal self
‘Tyranny of Shoulds’
Neurotic needs examples
-need for personal achievement
-affection and approval
-self-sufficiency and independence
-power
-personal admiration
-a ‘partner’ to take over one’s life
perfection and unassailability
-to exploit others
-social recognition and prestige
-restrict one’s life within narrow boundaries
What are Horney’s 4 Personality Types?
Compliant, Aggressive, and Detached -> all 3 is a healthy personality - secure in identity
Compliant personality type
-Desperate need for others
-Desire to fit in
-Self-deprecating
-Submissive
-Cannot tolerate criticism
-Rigid boundaries to feel safe
Aggressive personality type
-Need for power
-Believe others are hostile & untrustworthy; survival of the fittest
-Appear ‘tough’ and unemotional
-Poor at relationships
Detached personality type
-Need self-sufficiency
-Perfectionist
-Secretive & solitary
- Keep aloof; lack of others’
understanding
Horney’s Defence Mechanisms
-Similar to Freud’s concepts/operation
-Additional defences (neurotic personality)
*Blind spots (can’t see contradictions in the world around them)
*Compartmentalisation
*Rationalisation
*Excessive self-control
*Arbitrary rightness (have to be right about everything)
*Elusiveness (never express an opinion that can be pinned down)
*Cynicism (believe in nothing)
Why is Horney’s feminine psychology legacy important?
-Freud’s dismissal of women’s role
-Focus on concepts of penis envy and masochism
-Source of schism between Freud and Horney
What? - her legacy
-Observation of male “domination” in the field
-Influence of culture
-Metaphorical penis envy; envy of societal male attributes
-Equality within psychological frameworks
