Module 45 - Psychoanalytic Perspective

Question 1

Personality:

Answer 1

An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving.
Most psychologists appreciate that there are different personalities.

Question 2

Sigmund Freud:

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

Unconscious mind:

Answer 3

• 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.

Question 4

Structure of the Mind:

In Freud’s mind, the mind was made of 3 structures

Answer 4

1. ID
2. Super Ego
3. Ego

Question 5

ID

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Super Ego

Answer 6

Moral part of the mind. Only wants to do what is right. Learned conscience. Mostly Unconscious.

Question 7

Ego

Answer 7

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)

Question 8

go employs defense mechanisms:

Answer 8

tactics that protect itself from unconscious desires and traumatic events hidden in unconscious. Often leads to distortions of reality.

Question 9

Repression:

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

Reaction Formation:

Answer 10

Ego unconsciously makes unacceptable impulses look like their opposite.

Question 11

Projection:

Answer 11

Disguise your own (unthinkable) desires while attributing them to others…

Question 12

Rationalization:

Answer 12

Ego contrives self-justifying explanations to hide the true reasons for an action…

Question 13

Displacement:

Answer 13

Re-direct impulses toward a more acceptable target, rather than one producing feeling.

Question 14

Denial:

Answer 14

Refuse to accept facts that would be unbearable. There is no way she loves him. She only married him for the money.

Question 15

Regression:

Answer 15

When faced with a threat, person retreats to an earlier (more comfortable) stage of development.

Question 16

Fixation:

Answer 16

Can get stuck at any stage (trauma, conflict).

Question 17

Oral Personality:

Answer 17

Act like a needy child, demanding to be consoled, or (through reaction formation) be oppositional or sarcastic.

Question 18

Anal Personality:

Answer 18

Uptight, always trying to control things or apathetic (through reaction formation)

Question 19

Phallic:

Answer 19

Sexual obsessions or (through reaction formation) despise all sex.

Question 20

Determinism:

Answer 20

• 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.

Question 21

Methods Used: (Determinism)

Answer 21

1. Free Association

2. Analysis

Question 22

Frees Association:

Answer 22

• Patient told to relax and say whatever
  came to mind, however trivial (or embarrassing)… Go On.
• Look for signs of resistance (getting closer) Dream

Question 23

Analysis:

Answer 23

“Royal road to the unconscious.”

Question 24

Projection Tests (after Freud): 2 kinds of tests

Answer 24

Tests involving interpretations of an ambiguous stimulus in order to access unconscious mind.

1. Thematic Apperception Test
2. Rorschach (Inkblot) Test

Question 25

Thematic Apperception Test:

Answer 25

Asked to make up a story about an ambiguous scene (picture)

Question 26

Rorschach (Inkblot) Test:

Answer 26

Shown a series of 10 “inkblots” asked to indicate what they look like to you.

Question 27

Freud’s defense: (What he brought attention too)

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Evaluating Psychoanalytic Perspective

Major Criticism

Answer 28

1) Repression of traumatic events: No support. Exhaustive review of trauma studies.
2) Scientifically Unsound: Theory cannot be tested. Cannot generate testable hypotheses.