Personality: Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards by Maria Fee

Sigmund Freud was born in

Austria in 1856 and died in London in 1939

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Frued was a

Medical doctor treating nervous disorders and his theory developed from clinical experience

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Frued was an

Influential figure of the 20th century

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Frued believed cause of illness may be

Psychogenic

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Origins of psychoanalytic thought

Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes- brutish nature of humans and also

Physics of Hermann Von Helmholtz-conservation of energy- energy will “seek” an outlet

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Basic assumption was that mind was in three parts

Conscious
Preconscious
Unconscious

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Mind in three parts was

Frueds view of the human mind- the mental iceberg

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Conscious level was

Thoughts and perceptions

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Pre conscious level was

Memories and stored knowledge

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Unconscious level was

Fears
Violent motives
Immoral urges
Selfish needs
Shameful experiences
Irrational wishes 
Unacceptable sexual desires

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Freudian personality theory involved

Structure
Dynamics
Development

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Structure of personality includes

Id
Ego
Superego

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The ID operates

To the pleasure principle

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Ego is

Reality principle

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Superego is

Morality principle-internalised code of conduct

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There is interaction between

Id, ego and superego

Dynamics of personality involves

Types of anxiety and defence mechanisms

What are the three types of anxiety?

Objective
Neurotic
Moral

What are the five defence mechanisms?

Repression
Denial
Projection
Displacement
Reaction formation

Development of personality is a

Series of stages and each stage involves a conflict

Adult personality depends if how

Child resolved conflicts- “the child is father to the man”

In development of personality, theory of infantile sexuality

Erogenous zones-become focus of sexual pleasure and frustration -failure to resolve conflict leads to fixation

What are the five psychosexual stages?

Oral stage- 0 to 18 months
Anal stage- 18 months to three years
Phallic stage- three to five years
Latency stage- six years to puberty
Genital stage- puberty to adulthood

Nature of freuds evidence: psychic determinism

Nothing happens by chance(motivated unconscious)
The psychopathology of everyday life
“Mistakes that betray”

What is parapraxis (Freudian slip)?

A minor error in speech or action Not random Fulfilment of unconscious wished, e.g to close the meeting (Freud did this)

Interpretations of dreams

Dreams as "loyal road to the unconscious" Manifest content vs latent content Ego uses symbols to represent meaning

Concerns about psychodynamic evidence

The problem of interpretation | Empirical evidence for Freudian concepts is mixed

Repression

The essence of repression lies simply in turning something away and keeping it at a distance, from the conscious... Freud, 1915

Testing freuds repression hypothesis: levinger and Clark (1961)

Participants shown negatively charged words-e.g quarrel, angry,fear And neutral words-e.g window, cow, tree Free association task

Psychodynamic formulations after Freud

Ego psychology (Anna Freud, Erikson, horney)- emphasis on skills and adaptive capacities of the ego Object relations theory (fairbairn, winnicott, Klein) Attachment theory (bowlby, ainsworth)

Ego psychology: hierarchy of defence mechanisms

Coping patterns (or adaptive styles) can be classified: Humour, suppression,altruism Repression, reaction formation projection, Hypochondria, emotional outburst denial, distortion

See slides for study

In photos

Contributions to psychodynamic approach

``` Theory remains controversial Opinions on theory differ dramatically Impressive in scope and influence Massive impact on psychology and beyond No shortage of general criticisms Also specific criticisms of theory ```