Module 2: Psychoanalytic Theory Flashcards
What is the most famous personality theory?
Psychoanalysis
Who is the main proponent of psychoanalysis?
Sigmund Freud
How many years was psychoanalysis subject to revision?
Last fifty years of Freud’s life
What can psychoanalysis not be subjected to?
Eclecticism
What is the method of deriving ideas from broad and diverse range of sources?
Eclecticism
What is eclecticism?
It is the method of deriving ideas from broad and diverse range of sources.
What makes the psychoanalytic theory interesting?
Sex and aggression, going far beyond its origins through passionate followers, and Freud’s persuasive writing
What did Freud’s persuasive writing enable him to do?
It enabled him to present theories in a stimulating and exciting manner.
What was the human personality based on in the psychoanalytic theory?
It was largely based on Freud’s experiences with patients,
What did Freud do to those who departed from his way of research?
He ostracized them.
What did Freud rely on to create the psychoanalytic theory?
He relied on deductive reasoning.
What were Freud’s observations made to be?
They were made to be subjective on a relatively small number of participants.
What did Freud not do to make his research?
He did not quantify his data or make observations under controlled conditions.
What did Freud do to make his research?
He utilized the case study approach almost exclusively and formulated hypotheses after the facts of the case were known.
What are the two levels of mental life that is discussed in most textbooks?
Unconscious and conscious
What are the two different levels of the unconscious for Freud?
The unconscious proper and preconscious
What level of mental life contains all the drives, urges, or instincts that are beyond our awareness?
The unconscious
What does the unconscious contain?
All the drives, urges, or instincts that are beyond our awareness.
What does the unconscious constantly strive to be?
The conscious
What does the unconscious motivate in us?
It motivates most of our words, feelings, and actions.
When can the unconscious only enter the consciousness?
It can only enter the consciousness when it has been disguised, distorted, or filtered to be more acceptable as to not trigger anxiety.
What are the early childhood memories that create high levels of anxiety?
Repression
What refers to the inherited unconscious images from the experiences of our early ancestors?
Phylogenetic Endowment
What is repression?
It is the early childhood memories that create high levels of anxiety.
What is phylogenetic endowment?
It refers to the inherited unconscious images from the experiences of our early ancestors.
What are the two sources of unconscious processes?
Repression and phylogenetic endowment
What contains elements that are not conscious but can become conscious – either readily or with some degree of difficulty?
The preconscious
What is the preconscious?
It is the storehouse of memories, perceptions, and thoughts that we are not consciously aware of, but can become conscious – either readily or with some degree of difficulty.
What can be easily summoned into the consciousness?
The elements stored in the preconscious.
What serves as the storehouse of memories, perceptions, and thoughts which we are not consciously aware of?
The preconscious.
What are the sources of preconscious processes?
Conscious perception and unconscious
What is the preconscious process wherein individuals are only aware of the elements that they perceive for a short period of time?
Conscious perception
What is the preconscious process wherein unconscious elements can enter the preconscious once the censor has been bypassed?
Unconscious
What is conscious perception?
It is the preconscious process wherein individuals are only aware of the elements that they perceive for a short period of time.
What is the unconscious preconscious process?
It is wherein unconscious elements can enter the preconscious once the censor has been bypassed.
What is the conscious?
It is the only level of mental life that is available to us and which plays a relatively minor role in psychoanalytic theory.
What are the sources of conscious elements?
Perceptual conscious system and within the mental structure.
What is the only level of mental life that is available to us?
The conscious
What plays a relatively minor role in the pscyhoanalytic theory?
The conscious
What is the conscious element that we perceive through our sense organs and enters the consciousness provided that it is not threatening?
Perceptual conscious system
What is the conscious element wherein non-threatening ideas from the preconscious and menacing but well disguised images from the unconscious enter?
Within the mental structure.
What is the unconscious process which covers the fear of death and same sex relations?
Phylogenetic endowment
What is the conscious element that covers defensive behaviors and dream elements?
Within the mental structure
What is the level of mental life which covers the use of defense mechanisms?
The unconscious
What is the large entrance hall in the analogy of the entrance hall?
The unconscious
Why is the unconscious a large entrance hall in the analogy of the entrance hall?
It is because many diverse, energetic, and disreputable people are usually milling about at the large entrance hall, crowding one another and striving to escape to a smaller adjoining reception room (the preconscious).
What is the representation of the unconscious images in the analogy of the entrance hall?
People in the entrance hall
Who protects the threshold in the analogy of the entrance hall?
Watchful guards
What is the representation of the preconscious in the analogy of the entrance hall?
Small reception room
What is the representation of the preconscious ideas in the analogy of the entrance hall?
Inhabitants of the small reception area
What is the representation of the conscious mind in the analogy of the entrance hall?
An important guest.
What is the representation of the primary sensor in the analogy of the entrance hall?
Doorkeeper
What are the three levels of mental life?
The ego, superego, and the ID
What are the levels of mental life?
The only model of the mind Freud has presented.
What is the only conflict in the levels of mental life concept?
The only conflict was between the unconscious and conscious forces.
What was the only model of the mind which Freud had presented?
The levels of mental life.
What are the components of the ego?
The unconscious, preconscious, and conscious components.
What are the components of the superego?
The preconscious and unconscious components.
What are the components of the ID?
The unconscious components completely.
What level of mental life has the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious components?
The ego.
What level of mental life has the preconscious and unconscious components?
The superego.
What level of mental life has the unconscious components only?
The ID.
What is the level of mental life that is “not-yet-owned component of the personality” or “the it”?
The ID.
What is the secondary-process thought?
It refers to the mature thought processes needed to deal rationally with the external world and which functions through to the ego.
What is the primitive component of the mind?
The ID
What are the characteristics of the ID?
No awareness of reality, illogical and entertains irrational ideas, amoral (no morality), operates on pleasure principle, houses the basic drives, operates through the primary-process thought, needs secondary-process thought
What is the primary-process thought?
It is a thought process that is characterized by a child-like thinking wherein the ID blindly seeks satisfaction of the pleasure principle.
What is the thought process that is characterized by a child-like thinking wherein the ID blindly seeks satisfaction of the pleasure principle?
The primary-process thought
What is the personification of the ID?
A newborn infant.
Why is the ID’s personification that of a newborn infant?
It is because it seeks gratification of needs without the regard of the possible (ego) or what is proper (superego).
What is the level of mental life that is called “the I” or the rational master of the personality?
The ego.
What is the only region of the mind in contact with reality?
The ego.
What is the ego?
It is the only region of the mind in contact with reality.
What is the reality principle?
It is the functions of the ego that provide appropriate constraints on the expression of the ID.
The ego is never independent of what?
The ID.
The ego is responsive to what?
The ID’s demands.
What is the decision-making component of personality?
The ego.
What is the functions of the ego that provides appropriate constraints on the expression of the ID?
The reality principle.
What does the ego serve?
The ID, reality, and the superego.
What does the ego operate on?
It operates on the moralistic and idealistic principles.
What is the internalization of the ego?
Parental and societal values and standards.
What is the level of mental life that is the “over-I” or the moral aspect of personality?
The superego.
What is the purpose of the superego?
It is to completely inhibit the pleasure seeking demands of the ID through repression.
What are the two subsystems of the superego?
The conscience and ego ideal.
What is the conscience as a subsystem of the superego?
A product of experiences with punishments for improper behavior.
What does the conscience as a subsystem of the superego tell us to do?
It tells us what we should not do.
What is the guilt?
It is a function of the conscious.
When does the conscious as a subsystem of the superego arise?
It arises when the ego acts contrary to the moral demands of the superego.
What is the ego ideal?
It is a result from experiences of reward.
What does the ego ideal tell us to do?
It tells us what we should do.
What is the main function of the conscience?
Guilt.
What is the main function of the ego ideal?
Inferiority
What is inferiority?
It is a function of the ego-ideal.
When does the ego ideal arise?
It rises when the ego cannot satisfy the superego’s demand for perfection.
What will happen if the ego does not check the ID?
People may be rapists, serial killers, pathological liars, or may exhibit suicidal tendencies.
What is the constant motivational force behind people’s actions?
Drives
What is the German word for drives?
Trieb
What is Trieb?
The German word for drives.
Why do the internal drives differ from external ones?
It is because they cannot be avoided through flight
What is the amount of force that the drive exerts?
Impetus
What is the region of the body that is in a state of excitement or tension?
Source
What is the element that seeks pleasure or reduces tension?
Aim
What is the person or object serving as the means to satisfaction?
Object
What is the basic drive characterized by?
An impetus, source, aim, and object.
What are the two major drives?
Sex or eros (life instincts) and aggression, destruction or thanatos (death instinct)
What is the major drive that is responsible for ensuring survival of the individual and the species?
Sex or eros (life instincts).
What is the unconscious drive toward decay, destruction, and aggression?
Aggression, destruction or thanatos (death instinct)
What is the component of the sex or eros (life instincts) drive?
Libido
What is the component of the aggression, destruction or thanatos (death instinct) drive?
Aggressive drive
What is the psychic energy that characterizes the sex drive?
Libido
What is the aim of the libido?
It is to give pleasure to the person and is not only limited to the genital satisfaction.
What are the erogenous zones?
It is the other parts of the body that are capable of producing sexual pleasure.
Where is the pleasurable activity traceable to?
The sexual drive.
What are the other parts of the body that are capable of producing sexual pleasure?
The erogenous zones.
What is narcissism?
It is the act of being self-centered.
Where is the libido mostly focused on when the person is narcissistic?
The libido is focused mainly on their own ego.
What is the redirection of the libido back to one’s ego during adolescence?
It is the secondary narcissism.
What is the universal condition during infancy wherein the libido is primarily invested to one’s egoistic needs?
It is the primary narcissism.
What is primary narcissism?
It is the universal condition during infancy wherein the libido is primarily invested to one’s egoistic needs.
What is secondary narcissism?
It is the redirection of the libido back to one’s ego during adolescence.
What kind of narcissism does the person have when the person does not give consideration to others?
Primary narcissism.
What kind of narcissism does the person have when the person becomes preoccupied with personal appearance?
Secondary narcissism.
What develops when individuals invest their libido on an object or person other than themselves?
Love
What is the need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on another person?
Sadism
What is the need to experience suffering and humiliation inflicted by either themselves or by others to experience sexual pleasure?
Masochism
What is the aim of the aggressive drive?
It is to return the organism to an inorganic state – self-destruction or death.
What are the different forms that the aggressive drive may take in?
Teasing, gossip, sarcasm, humiliation, humor, and enjoyment in people’s suffering
True or false. The aggressive tendency is present in everyone.
True.
What kind drive does war, religious persecution, and atrocity cover?
The aggressive drive.
What does the aggressive drive explain?
It explains the need for barriers people erected to check aggression.
What is anxiety?
It is the fundamental component to the development of all neurotic and psychotic behavior.
What is the first experience of anxiety and the root of all trauma?
Birth trauma.
Where does the birth trauma come from?
It comes from being secured, safe, and comfortable inside the womb to being bombarded with various stimuli outside the womb.
What are the types of anxiety?
Neurotic, moral, and realistic anxiety.
What anxiety is the result of the ego’s dependence towards the ID?
Neurotic anxiety
What anxiety is the result of the ego’s dependence to the superego?
Moral anxiety
What anxiety is the unconscious fear of being punished for impulsively displaying ID-dominated behavior?
Neurotic anxiety
What anxiety refers to the fear of one’s conscience?
Moral anxiety
What anxiety is the result of one’s expression of an instinctual impulse contrary to one’s moral code?
Moral anxiety
What is the purpose of anxiety?
To be an ego-preserving and self-regulating mechanism as it allows the ego to be alert for signs of threat and danger.
What are the strategies of the ego that is used to defend itself against the anxiety provoked by conflicts of everyday life?
Defense mechanisms.
True or false. Defense mechanisms are usually used in one form.
False
What will happen if defense mechanisms are used constantly?
It may lead to neurotic, compulsive, and repetitive behavior.
What are the characteristics of defense mechanisms?
They are denials or distortions of reality and they operate unconsciously.
What are the types of defense mechanisms?
Repression, denial, reaction formation, projection, regression, rationalization, displacement, and sublimation
How many types of defense mechanism are there?
Eight.
What is the unconscious denial of the existence of something that causes anxiety?
Repression
What will happen to ego when it is threatened by undesirable ID impulses?
It will force these threatening feels into the unconscious.
What involves denying the existence of a threat or traumatic event?
Denial.
What is the expression of an ID impulse that is the opposite of the one that is truly driving the person?
Reaction formation.
What involves attributing a disturbing impulse to someone else?
Projection
What involves retreating to childish behaviors?
Regression
What involves shifting ID impulses from a threatening object that is unavailable to them to one that is available to them?
Displacement
What involves altering or displacing ID impulses by diverting instinctual energy into socially acceptable behaviors?
Sublimation
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Bill witnesses a crime, but can no longer remember the criminal’s face or the order of events that had happened.
Repression
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Clara is in denial that her partner is abusive.
Denial
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Gertrude still keeps her late mother’s belongings at their original place.
Denial
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Kevin is an avid crusader against pornographic materials even if he, himself, is aroused by watching porn.
Reaction formation
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Sophia accuses her friend for being a flirt when she is teased by her peers for being a flirt.
Projection
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Ellie likes to retreat to her bedroom to hug her teddy bear which makes her feel safe when she doesn’t feel OK.
Regression
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Even though Dylan is lazy at doing his job anyway, he still blames to company to be not supportive and too strict.
Rationalization
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Matthew, a buff bully who is neglected by his parents, channels his inner frustrations on Justine, a fellow student who is shorter and scrawny.
Displacement
Identify what defense mechanism is being used here: Julia decides to become a subject of a nude painting.
Sublimation
When is adult neurosis formed?
Formed in the early years of life.
What is neurosis?
Mild personality disorders characterized by one or more of the following: anxiety, hysteria,
phobias, obsessive-compulsive reactions, depression,
chronic fatigue, and hypochondriacal reactions.
What is each stage in the psychosexual stages of development characterized by?
A specific erogenous zone
In Freud’s perspective, when does a person’s unique character type develop?
Childhood.
For Freud, at what age is the adult personality firmly shaped?
5 years old.
Why must the conflict of each stage need to be resolved?
It needs to be resolved so that the child may proceed to the next stage of development.
What will happen to the child if he or she has failed to move on to the next stage?
The child will not want to move on to the next stage and will be strongly fixated on one stage.
What is the condition wherein a portion of the libido remains invested in one of the psychosexual stages because of the excessive frustration or gratification?
Fixation
What is the central theme of the psychosexual stages of development?
The infant’s sex drive
How many stages of the psychosexual stages of development are there?
Five
What are the stages of psychosexual development?
- Oral Phase
- Anal Phase
- Phallic Phase
- Latency Period
- Genital Period
What period does the oral phase occur in?
The infantile period.
What is the first stage of psychosexual development?
The oral phase.
What are the phases that overlap with one another?
The three infantile phases
What is the erogenous zone of the oral phase?
Mouth
What is the object of pleasure of the oral phase?
Nipple
Who becomes the primary object of the infant’s libido (or sexual drive)?
Mother or caregiver.
What are the two types of behavior involved in the oral phase?
Oral-receptive behavior and oral-sadistic behavior.
What is the behavior that occurs first and which involves the pleasurable stimulation of the mouth?
Oral-receptive behavior
What is the oral-passive personality?
It is the result from overindulgence in infancy wherein people tend to become dependent and hold high expectations for others to satisfy their needs.
What is the fixation of the oral-receptive behavior?
Excessive concern for oral activities (e.g. eating, kissing, oral hygiene, etc.)
What behavior occurs during the painful eruption of teeth?
Oral-sadistic behavior
What is the first masturbatory experience?
The learning of how to suck one’s thumb.
When do infants learn to view their mother with hatred?
During the oral-sadistic behavior phase.
What do infants think once they have associated their mother is responsible for everything that the infant experiences?
They think that she too must experience pain.
What is the second stage of psychosexual development?
The anal phase.
How is satisfaction gained through the anal phase?
It is gained through aggressive behavior and excretory functions.
What is the age span of the oral phase?
Birth to 2 years
What is the age span of the anal phase?
18 months to 3 years
The anal phase is also a period of what?
Toilet training
What is the erogenous zone of the anal phase?
Anus
What is the object of pleasure of the anal phase?
Defecation
What does the child learn during toilet training?
The child learns to postpone or delay the pleasure of the anus.
What is an aggressive behavior during the anal phase?
Defying excretory regulation by defecating whenever and wherever.
What are the two anal sub-phases?
Early anal period and late anal period.
What is characterized by satisfaction derived through destroying or losing objects?
Early anal period.
What is characterized by a budding interest from the erotic pleasure of defecation?
Late anal period.
What will happen if the child is accepted and praised when he or she presents his or her feces as gifts to his or her parents?
The child will grow into a generous and easily forgiving individual.
What will happen if the child is dismissed and punished when he or she present his or her feces as gifts to his or her parents?
The child will adopt another method of satisfying needs for anal pleasure such as withholding defecation until the pressure becomes painful and erotically stimulating.
What are the two types of anal phase behaviors?
Anal aggressive and anal retentive.
What is characterized by the child’s refusal to his parent’s attempt at excretory regulation?
Anal aggressive behavior.
What is the basis of many forms of adult hostility and sadistic behavior?
Anal aggressive behavior.
What is the fixation of the anal aggressive behavior?
Disorganized.
What is the anal-aggressive personality?
It is a personality wherein individuals tend to have different relationships, considering them as trophies.
What is the anal retentive behavior?
It is a behavior characterized by holding back excretory processes or fecal retention.
What is characterized by holding back excretory processes or fecal retention?
Anal retentive behavior.
What is the fixation of the anal retentive behavior?
Stubbornness, stinginess, tendency to hoard or retain things
What is the third stage of psychosexual development?
The phallic phase.
What is the phallic phase marked by?
Dichotomy of female and male development.
What was not provided in the first two phases of the infantile period?
The distinction between male and female.
Why is the distinction between male and female not mentioned during the first two phases of the infantile period?
It is because differentiation between sexes only occurs at the puberty age when the focus of sexual urges focus on the different genitalia.
What helps shape the foundation of the child’s psychosexual development?
Suppression of masturbation.
Why are phallic conflicts the most complex to resolve?
Individuals shy away from talks of genitals and masturbation.
What is the age span of the phallic phase?
4 to 5 years of age
What is the erogenous zone of the phallic phase?
Genitals
What is the object of pleasure of the phallic phase?
Genital fondling and fantasies
What is the oedipus complex?
It is the basic conflict of the phallic stage that features the intense fear of castration which forces a boy to repress sexual feelings for his mother.
What does the oedipus complex center on?
The unconscious desire of the child for the parent of the opposite sex.
What is the oedipus complex accompanied by?
The unconscious desire to destroy or replace the parent of the same sex.
Who is the love object in the oedipus complex?
The mother.
What is the castration anxiety?
A boy’s fear during the Oedipal period that his penis will be cut off by his father as punishment.
What is the boy’s fear during the Oedipal period that his penis will be cut off by his father as punishment called?
Castration anxiety.
What is the oedipus complex resolution?
It is characterized by a boy’s identification with his father and a replacement of sexual longing towards his mother with a more acceptable affection.
Who is the love object of the elektra complex?
The father.
Why does the elektra complex arise?
It arises from the discovery of girls that they do not have a penis.
What does the female child do when she finds out she does not have a penis according to Freud?
She blames her mother for her inferior condition which leads her to love her mother less.
Why does the female child begin to envy the father during the phallic phase?
It is because the father possesses the highly valued organ.
What is the root cause of a lot of feminine reactions?
Penis envy
What is characterized by the envy the female feels toward the male for having a penis?
Penis envy
Can the elektra complex be fully resolved?
No. According to Freud, the elektra complex can never be fully resolved which leads to poorly developed superegos in women.
What do girls identify and repress in the elektra complex?
Girls learn to identify with their mother and repress sexual feelings for the father.
What do the phallic conflicts and resolution determine?
It determines the adult’s relations with the opposite sex.
What is the fixation of the phallic personality?
Lingering forms of castration anxiety and penis envy.
What is the phallic personality strongly characterized with?
Strong narcissism
What is the difficulty that is experienced during the phallic phase?
Difficulty establishing mature heterosexual relationships.
What do children need during the phallic phase?
Constant appreciation and recognition
What is the male phallic personality characterized with?
A brash, vain, and self-assured personality – the male child grows up asserting and expressing masculinity through repeated sexual conquests.
What is the female phallic personality characterized with?
It is characterized by an exaggeration of femininity as they use talents and charms to overwhelm and conquer men.
What is repressed in both males and females during the phallic stage?
Tense drama.
What level of mental life does the phallic phase motivate us?
Unconscious level.
