Neo-Freudian Theorists Flashcards
THE NEO-ANALYTIC MOVEMENT: WESTEN
DREW WESTEN (1990)
- active proponent of contemporary psychoanalysis
- many of Freud’s ideas did not stand test of time
- some have aka. incorporated into contemporary psychoanalysis version
- modern psychoanalysis = built upon ideas inspired by Freud BUT modified/advanced by others
THE NEO-ANALYTIC MOVEMENT
- contemporary views continue to recognise importance of early development to personality formation BUT focus on childhood/adult relationships > id/ego/superego conflict
- cognitive unconscious = very dif from motivated unconscious described by Freud
- priming = unconscious beh influence example (bounded/rule-governed/specific)
- defence mechanisms retained/developed
CARL JUNG (1875-1961)
- Freudian dissenter
- analytic psychology; individual goals/motivations = just as important in determining life courses as sexual/aggressive drives
- teleological personality view; it develops throughout life influenced by future goals/past; end-point = self-realisation
- dominated by opposites principle; human experience consists of polarities that oppose/balance each other
- unconscious/universal archetypes
- extravert/introvert personality types
ERIK ERIKSON (1902-1994)
- emphasised social > sexual development
- lasting contribution = identity notion as important developmental achievement in personality
REAPPRAISAL OF THE EGO - teleological approach (ego works -> goals)
- ego’s main job = establish/maintain identity sense
PERSONALITY ACROSS LIFESPAN - identity crisis = focal point for each development stage
ALFRED ADLER (1870-1937)
- individual psychology
- didn’t accept Freud’s personality model as compromising of competing structures; saw essential unity in personality
- human motivations = ^ complex > Freud (sex/pleasure); firmly believed teleological/goal-directedness human nature importance
- stressed importance of social context in personality development
KAREN HORNEY (1885-1952)
- feminine psychology
- altered how psych views gender difs
- disagreed w/Freud’s view on women; countered w/penis envy aka. penis = social power > organ women desire
- disagreed w/belief that males/females born w/inherent personality difs; argued for societal/cultural explanation
FREUDIAN DISSENTERS’ DISAGREEMENTS
NEGATIVITY
CHILDHOOD
THE UNCONSCIOUS
NEGATIVITY ARGUMENT
- pessimistic/deterministic human nature picture
- people largely controlled by instincts/unconscious forces
- later theorists emphasised teleological explanations; beh = goal directed > biologically/unconsciously determined
CHILDHOOD ARGUMENT
- Freud said most adult personality = shaped by early childhood experiences
- Neo-Freudians argue that later adolescent/adulthood experiences = also important in shaping personality
THE UNCONSCIOUS ARGUMENT
- Freud overemphasised unconscious/instinctual influences on personality
- Neo-Freudian theorists incorporate social/cultural influences
- cognitive unconscious = quite dif from Freudian motivated unconscious
JUNG: ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY
- mind divided in 3:
1. CONSCIOUS EGO - similar to Freud’s
2. PERSONAL UNCONSCIOUS - grows via own unique experiences
3. COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS - made of archetypes
- prehistoric inherited unconscious content passed on from previous gens; contains collected primordial archetypes common across the species
JUNG: THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS
- made of archetypes aka. emotional symbols/primordial images inherited from ancestors
- collective unconscious influences personality as archetypes = inherited tendencies/emotional patterns predisposing us to view external world in certain way
- include: mother/father/God/snakes/animus/anima/persona/the shadow/the self/death
JUNG: THE ARCHETYPES EXPLAINED
ANIMUS
- the masculine female
ANIMA
- the feminine male
PERSONA/MASK
- compromise between true self/society expectations
SHADOW
- unconscious negative/dark personality
SELF
- unifying part of us all; balance
- works w/ego
JUNG: PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY CONTRIBUTION
- collective unconscious/archetype ideas not literally accepted as unconscious representations of ancestors but naturally born instincts
- shared view w/evolutionary theory of not being born blank slates; enter world w/predispositions inherited from past gens (evolved psychological mechanisms)
- extraversion-introversion personality trait theory resulted in Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (widely used personality inventory)
- influenced Eysenck etc.
EGO PSYCHOLOGY
- major modification to psychoanalysis concerns change in focus from id -> ego
- ego = “I” of a person
- Freud focused on id (esp. sex/aggression); later theorists felt ego deserved more attention as performed many constructive functions
- Anna Freud focused on ego strengths defending person from anxiety
- Erikson emphasised ego = powerful/independent personality part involved in mastering environment/achieving goals/establishing identity
- Horney emphasised cultural/social influences
ERIKSON: EGO PSYCH & IDENTITY CRISIS
- 8 stages of psychosocial development
- crisis/conflict occurs at each stage
- how we resolve each conflict determines direction of personality development
- each stage characterised by 2 dif ways to resolve identity crisis:
1. MALADAPTIVE
2. ADAPTIVE
ERIKSON: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT STAGES & THEIR CONFLICTS
INFANCY
- trust VS mistrust
EARLY CHILDHOOD
- autonomy VS shame/doubt
PRESCHOOL
- initiative VS guilt
SCHOOL
- industry VS inferiority
ADOLESCENCE
- identity VS role confusion
YOUNG ADULTHOOD
- intimacy VS isolation
ADULTHOOD
- generativity VS stagnation
OLD AGE
- ego integrity VS despair
ADLER: INFERIORITY
- we all begin life w/sense of inferiority
- strove throughout life to overcome inferiority sense
- striving for superiority = motivating life force
- if unsuccessful -> inferiority complex
- well-adjusted people express striving for superiority via social interest concern
ADLER: BIRTH ORDER
- research examining birth order effects doesn’t oft support Adler; far more complex than suggested
- order in which you’re born to family inherently affects personality
FIRST BORN - firstborns who later have siblings = worst fate
- “dethroned monarchs”
MIDDLE - easiest BUT depends on elder sibling’s reaction
YOUNGEST - ^ likely to experience personality problems during adulthood
- forever pampered; indulged baby of family
ADLER: PARENTING
- 2 parenting styles that can cause adulthood problems via “neurotic personality” path:
1. PAMPERING - overprotecting
- child ill equipped to deal w/reality
- may doubt abilities
2. NEGLECT - not protected from world; forced to face life’s struggles alone
- may fear world
- may have strong sense of mistrust for others -> difficulty forming intimate relationships
PARENTING: COMTEMPORARY APPROACHES
- 2 main parenting behaviour dimensions:
1. SUPPORT/RESPONSIVENSS
2. CONTROL/DEMANDINGNESS - 4 parenting styles:
1. AUTHORITATIVE - high support/control
2. AUTHORITARIAN - low support; high control
3. NEGLECTFUL - low support/control
4. PERMISSIVE - high support; low control
PARENTING STYLE & DEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITATIVE
- facilitates kid’s social/academic/personal competencies development
NEGLECTFUL
- associated w/negative outcomes ie. low self-esteem/delinquency/drug abuse
AUTHORITATIVE/PERMISSIVE
- assume intermediary position
HORNEY: FEMININE PSYCHOLOGY
- among first to stress cultural/social determinants of personality
- many gender roles defined by culture
- made important distinction; while bio determines sex, culture determines gender
- developed major psychoanalysis reconceptualisation which stressed social influences > bio; gave attention to interpersonal processes in mental disorder creation/maintenance
HORNEY: PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP
- emphasised importance of parent-child relationships/parenting
- adult personality/behaviour oft represent attempts to deal w/basic anxiety aka. disturbances in child’s relationship w/parents
- basic anxiety consequence caused via poor parenting = “real self” alienation
HORNEY: ASPECTS OF THE SELF
IDEAL SELF
- moulded by perceived inadequacies
DESPISED SELF
- caused by poor parenting
- based on others’ negative evaluations of us
REAL SELF
- inner personality core
- healthy personality = result of warm/loving/consistent parenting
HORNEY: NEUROSIS & RELATIONSHIPS
- neurosis = maladaptive/counterproductive way to deal w/relationships
- 3 neurotic styles each associated w/dif coping strategies for dealing w/basic anxiety/neurosis
- healthy personality adopts all 3 styles as appropriate -> adaptable/flexible nature
HORNEY: 3 NEUROSTIC PERSONALITY STYLES
PASSIVE
- moving toward people
- intense need to be liked/accepted by others
AGGRESSIVE
- moving against people
- demanding/selfish/forceful/cruel
WITHDRAWN
- moving away from people
- indifference to others to protect from hurt
OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY: EXTENDED
FREUD, A., KLEIN & WINNICOTT
- expanded aspects of Freud’s personality theory:
- superego develops from identifications made in childhood w/important people
- through transference mechanism people repeat psych patterns learnt in childhood in new relationships
- emphasise importance of each childhood experiences/interpersonal relations (esp. mother/child) in personality
- self = socially constructed via interpersonal interactions > emerging naturally via biology
- object relations theorists move away from individual inner psyche -> relations w/others
- essence of who we are cannot be understood w/o significant others
OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY
- object = person
- object relations = mental representations of significant others
- child develops unconscious inner representation of significant objects in environment
- how child internalises parent’s image w/attachment kind to parents influences ability to develop meaningful attachments w/partners as adults
- springboard for Bowlby’s attachment theory
SCIENTIFIC STATUS OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
- most research doesn’t explicitly test is BUT much is of relevance
STEPHEN PINKER (1997) - cognitive psych provided much evidence showing that most of mind = unconscious
- mind is made of “mental modules”
WESTEN (1990) - character traits associated w/anal (ie. stinginess/orderliness/rigidity)/oral (ie. smoking/biting nails/sucking thumb) personality are correlated
! NEO-FREUDIAN APPROACHES: SUMMARY !
- Neo-Freudians revised Freudian theory to understand society/culture/gender difs/lifespan development
- developed it to deal w/emerging insights into social self/social world identity as well as personal
- many ideas ie. inferiority complex/psychic archetypes/mastery striving/sibling rivalries/basic anxiety/mother-infant relations permeate modern child-rearing/family/human nature ideas
WESTEN’S 5 PROPOSITIONS
WESTEN (1998_)
- reviewed large research; proposed 5 firmly established beliefs (not accepted by all):
1. Much of mental life = unconscious.
2. Mind does many things at once; conflict in itself; beh reflects compromises in conflicts between mental processes ie. emotions/motivations/thoughts.
3. Childhood events = important in shaping adult personality esp. attachments/social relations.
4. Relations formed w/significant others (ie. parents) form patterns that repeat in life w/others.
5. Psych development involved not just regulating sexual/aggressive feeling but moving from immature/self-centered/socially dependent relatability -> mature/independent style.
