Lesson 11 - Freud

Question 1

Name the 2 main contributions of the rise of psychoanalysis

Answer 1

It allowed the unconscious to be of importance, and the treatment of mental illness

Question 2

Name the 3 main precursors of Freud’s theories

Answer 2

Leibniz and his monads
Friedrich Herbart and the psychic mechanics of the appecerptive mass
Fechner and the experimental testing of the threshold

Question 3

What were the 2 perspectives of the 19th century about mental illnesses?

Answer 3

Somatogenic (physical causes) - caused the overuse of asylums

Psychogenic (psychological) - was a revolt against somatogenic and the use of asylums, brought the rise of mesmerism and hypnosis

Question 4

What was the zeitgeist of the 19th century?

Answer 4

The unconscious was popular both in psych and in mundane culture

Breakdown of the sublimation of sex (growing interest in sex and literature)

Question 5

Who was Joseph Breuer’s patient?

Answer 5

Anna O - she was having symptoms of hysteria after the death of her father

Breuer was able to make links between her past and her hysteria during hypnosis

Question 6

What did Breuer develop after treating Anna O?

Answer 6

The cathartic method / “talking cure”

By recalling traumatic events there was an emotional release, and the pathogenic ideas / maladaptive thoughts that caused the physical symptoms of hysteria lost power

Question 7

What event marked the start of psychoanalysis?

Answer 7

When Breuer and Freud wrote about Anna O in “Studies on hysteria”

Question 8

What was the fundamental theory of psychoanalysis?

Answer 8

The origin of neuroses and the method for curing them are rooted in childhood trauma. The goal of the psychoanalyst is to delve into these experiences (depth psych)

Question 9

How does the analogy of the iceberg represents psychoanalysis?

Answer 9

The unconscious is dynamic and influences our conscious experience (motives/conflicts)

Consciousness is the tip of the iceberg and is quite small (pre-conscious = small/medium ideas)
Unconscious is enormous

Question 10

What method did Freud use to tap into the unconscious?

Answer 10

Free association: asked to remember the first symptoms of their illness, and Freud noted when there was a blockage in their train of thoughts (indicator of repression)

Question 11

What is the analysis of transference method?

Answer 11

Freud would act with his patient as if he was someone else (their father for ex)

Question 12

How does Freud define “defence hysteria”?

Answer 12

The symptoms of hysteria are a result of an incompatibility of an idea with the ego. The ego then resorts to a mechanism of defense: a somatic conversion of psychological pain (symptoms of hysteria) and a displacement of emotion

Question 13

What was the origin of hysteria according to Freud?

Answer 13

A traumatic childhood sexual experiene, real or imagined

Question 14

What were the 2 main characteristics of defence mechanisms?

Answer 14

There is a distortion of reality

They operate unconsciously

Question 15

Define the defence mechanism of repression

Answer 15

When we keep disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious

Question 16

Define the defence mechanism of displacement

Answer 16

Satisfying an impulse with a substitute object (ex: being frustrated with boss, displacing it on your kids back home)

Question 17

Were all defence mechanisms pathological according to Freud? Give examples

Answer 17

No; sublimation was considered healthy (channeling a sexual goal into a non-sexual one) (ex: turning frustration into art)

Question 18

What are dreams composed of according to Freud?

Answer 18

Manifest content: what the dream is actually about (ex: a snake climbing on you)
Latent content: what this content means (ex: a penis)

Dreams were considered as symbolic representations of repressed thoughts

Question 19

What is a Freudian slip (parapraxis)? Give an example

Answer 19

The unconscious peeking through

Ex: calling your partner your dad’s name

Question 20

Define the Id, the Ego and the Superego

Answer 20

Id: (the “it”) - deep in the unconscious, responsible for primary processes (governed by the pleasure principle)

Ego (the “I”) - part of the conscious and pre-conscious, involved in secondary processes (decision-making component of personality), governed by the reality principle (matches the wishes of the Id with the physical world)

Superego (the “over I”) - Made up of the conscience and the ego-ideal
Conscience: moral code, can punish the Ego through guilt
Ego-Ideal: ideal self or how you ought to be

Question 21

What is the libido?

Answer 21

The Id’s governing instinct (pleasure principle) - made up of Eros and Thanatos

Eros: sexual component (sex drives)
Thanatos: life-death struggle within us, survival instinct, leads to aggression and harm if turned outwards

Question 22

What are Freud’s 3 types of anxiety?

Answer 22

Objective anxiety: objective threat to the person, or conflict between the Ego and the external world (extreme = psychosis)

Neurotic anxiety: conflict between the Id and the Ego, and the Ego cannot contain the Id (extreme = hysteria)

Moral anxiety: conflict between the Ego and the Superego, when we are about to violate an internalized value

Question 23

What is the principle upon which Freud’s psychosexual stages theory is developped?

Answer 23

Kids are polymorphously perverse; they can derive sexual pleasure from any part of their body

Question 24

Name and describe the 5 psychosexual stages of development

Answer 24

1- Oral stage: pleasure from the mouth (sucking mom’s breasts for milk), staying stuck can result in an oral character

2- Anal stage: potty training (pleasure from witholding or expelling feces)

3- Phallic stage: phallus = erogenous zone, sexual attraction to the mother (Oedipus complex), girls blame their mother for their lack of penis, and wants to share her father (Electra complex)
Freud believed we are born bisexual and those conflicts allow us to move towards the opposite sex

4- Latency stage: sexual expression takes a pause, focus on peers (6 to puberty)

5- Genital stage: sexual desires become too strong to be repressed and can be expressed (focus on marriage)

Question 25

What was used to treat soldier’s Shell Shock (PTSD)?

Answer 25

Psychoanalysis - this confirmed Freud’s theories and made them popular

Question 26

What did Neo-Freudians modify to the Ego?

Answer 26

They conceptualized it as being independent of the Id, having its own energy which is free of conflict from the Id. It developed capacities to function in the world (Ego functions). Its development occurs as a result of meeting basic needs.

Led to Ego-Psychology

Question 27

Anna Freud added 2 defence mechanisms to the ones of her father. Name them and define them

Answer 27

Altruistic surrender: when someone gives up their dreams in order to identify with another
Identification of the aggressor: when a victim identifies with their abuser (Stockholm Sydrome)

Question 28

Define Jung’s analytical psychology

Answer 28

Focused on inner growth
The libido was a generalized life energy (sex was only a part of this)
No place for Oedipus complex
Personality was not fully determined by age 6

Question 29

How did Jung divided the unconscious?

Answer 29

In the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious
Personal unconscious: Freud’s preconscious and unconscious - not very deep and houses the material that was once conscious but now forgotten/repressed - the experience in the personal unconscious are grouped into complexes

Collective unconscious: deepest level, most powerful component of personality, contains inherited experiences of human and pre-human species, and the archetypes

Question 30

What are archetypes?

Answer 30

Concepts common amongst all people

3 main areas:
Shadow: unconscious (parts of a person that they don’t like to admit)
Anima/animus: represend the side of the opposite gender
Self: a character that represents the unification of the conscious and the unconscious (the ultimate destination)

The process of reaching the self = individuation

Question 31

What are attitudes according to Jung?

Answer 31

Reflect the direction of life energy (libido), can be extroverted or introverted

The mature person is in the middle - ambivert

Question 32

What are functions accroding to Jung?

Answer 32

The way we orient ourselves to the external and internal world:

1-Thinking
2-Feeling
3- Sensing
4- Intuiting

Paired with introversion/extroversion, they form 8 personality types (MBTI)

Question 33

What was the zeigeist after Freud?

Answer 33

Would allow anthropology, sociology, and social psych to develop
Many believed that behaviour came from social conditioning (Freud’s theories were therefore less popular due to their individualistic nature)

Question 34

What is Alfred Adler’s main contribution?

Answer 34

He was one of the first psychoanalyst to develop a theory in which social interactions play a major role

Question 35

According to Adler, what did the battle between the Id and the Ego corresponded to?

Answer 35

A battle between feelings of inferiority and striving for superiority

Inferiority complex: a condition that develops when a person is unable to compensate for typical feelings of inferiority

Question 36

According to Adler, how do we build our lifestyle?

Answer 36

We plan a future from our worldview; it is something we can work towards, and we build our lifestyle around it

Adler believed that this lifestyle needed to include social interest

Question 37

Explain Adler’s concept of the creative self

Answer 37

Life is inherently meaningless: however one is free to invent meaning and then act as if it was true (we are essentially creating ourselves)

Question 38

What was Karen Horney’s main problem with Freud?

Answer 38

She did not agree that women psychology was written from a male perspective, and she did not agree with the phallic envy theory

She was one of the firsts to discuss toxic masculinity and challenged the idea that women are passive in their sexuality

Question 39

Where did Karen Horney believe anxiety came from? What were the ways to cope?

Answer 39

Anxiety came from parents not responding to a child’s basic need for emotional security, and the child developing hostility towards its parents for that reason

3 ways to cope:
1-Compliant stance: seek security thgough ingratiating themselves with others, seek other’s approval
2- Aggressive stance: bully others to avoid being hurt themselves
3-Withdrawn stance: isolate themselves to be protected from harm

Question 40

Where do neuroses in adulthood come from according to Horney?

Answer 40

From the coping mechanisms learned in childhood

Question 41

What is the “Tyranny of the Shoulds”? (Horney)

Answer 41

Tension between the real and ideal self - unable to attain the ideal self

We need to leave room for personal growth and self-realization to relieve this anxiety

Question 42

Define transference

Answer 42

When a patient interacts with their therapist as if the therapist was someone in their life (like their father, for example)

Question 43

Define countertransference

Answer 43

When the therapist begins developing feelings for their patient