Module 45 - Psychoanalytic Perspective Flashcards
Personality:
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving.
Most psychologists appreciate that there are different personalities.
Sigmund Freud:
- Became interested in patients with conditions that defied neurological explanation: “glove paralysis”- entire hand is numb (not arm)
- His imagination took off: began to think symptoms could be the result of hidden (unconscious) motives
Unconscious mind:
- Made up mostly of unacceptable thoughts, feelings, wishes, and memories (larger than conscious mind)
- Believed psychological disorders arise mostly from conflicts within the unconscious mind.
Structure of the Mind:
In Freud’s mind, the mind was made of 3 structures
- ID
- Super Ego
- Ego
ID
A hedonistic, self-satisfying element that operates entirely by the pleasure principle seeking immediate gratification for all it desires (sex, aggression, food, etc.)
Largely unconscious and provides energy that drives behavior.
Super Ego
Moral part of the mind. Only wants to do what is right. Learned conscience. Mostly Unconscious.
Ego
Conscious executive that decides how to behave in ways that satisfies Id without overtly violating the super ego’s principles… Ego defends itself in a number of ways (if they violate the Super ego)
go employs defense mechanisms:
tactics that protect itself from unconscious desires and traumatic events hidden in unconscious. Often leads to distortions of reality.
Repression:
Unacceptable desires from Id are forcibly kept out of the conscious mind (held down into the unconscious mind) by the ego because they are too hard to bear consciously and would produce anxiety.
Reaction Formation:
Ego unconsciously makes unacceptable impulses look like their opposite.
Projection:
Disguise your own (unthinkable) desires while attributing them to others…
Rationalization:
Ego contrives self-justifying explanations to hide the true reasons for an action…
Displacement:
Re-direct impulses toward a more acceptable target, rather than one producing feeling.
Denial:
Refuse to accept facts that would be unbearable. There is no way she loves him. She only married him for the money.
Regression:
When faced with a threat, person retreats to an earlier (more comfortable) stage of development.
Fixation:
Can get stuck at any stage (trauma, conflict).
Oral Personality:
Act like a needy child, demanding to be consoled, or (through reaction formation) be oppositional or sarcastic.
Anal Personality:
Uptight, always trying to control things or apathetic (through reaction formation)
Phallic:
Sexual obsessions or (through reaction formation) despise all sex.
Determinism:
- Freud believed nothing occurred by chance.
- All behavior is caused by unconscious motives
- Even seemingly innocent mistakes in pronouncing words (slips of the tongue) reveal the unconscious.
Methods Used: (Determinism)
- Free Association
2. Analysis
Frees Association:
- Patient told to relax and say whatever
came to mind, however trivial (or embarrassing)… Go On. - Look for signs of resistance (getting closer) Dream
Analysis:
“Royal road to the unconscious.”
Projection Tests (after Freud): 2 kinds of tests
Tests involving interpretations of an ambiguous stimulus in order to access unconscious mind.
- Thematic Apperception Test
- Rorschach (Inkblot) Test
Thematic Apperception Test:
Asked to make up a story about an ambiguous scene (picture)
Rorschach (Inkblot) Test:
Shown a series of 10 “inkblots” asked to indicate what they look like to you.
Freud’s defense: (What he brought attention too)
1) Drew attention to unconscious processing Unconscious process in;
1. right hemisphere (split brain)
2. implicit memories occur (conditioning)
3. priming of emotion (unconscious processing)
2) Some evidence for (some) ego defenses:
Denial and Projection
Evaluating Psychoanalytic Perspective
Major Criticism
1) Repression of traumatic events: No support. Exhaustive review of trauma studies.
2) Scientifically Unsound: Theory cannot be tested. Cannot generate testable hypotheses.
