Psychoanalysis & instincts

Question 0

Instincts

Answer 0

In Freud’s system, mental representations of internal stimuli, Such as hunger, That drive a person to take certain actions

-a form of energy-transformed physiological energy-that connects the body’s needs with the mind’s wishes

-hunger/thirst instincts are internal. When a need like this is aroused in the body, it generates a condition of physiological excitation/energy
Mind transforms this bodily energy into a wish

Wish=physiological need=instinct or driving force that motivates the behavior of a person in a way that satisfies their need

Instinct isn’t the bodily state, it’s the bodily need transformed into a mental state, a wish

When body is in a state of need it experiences tension or pressure, instinct seeks to satisfy the need and relieve tension

Freud’s theory can be called a homeostatic approach because it suggests that we are motivated to restore and maintain a condition of physiological equilibrium, or balance, to keep the body free from tension

Believed we’re always experiencing instinctual tension and we must continually act to reduce it.
Not possible to escape physiological needs

Instincts are always influencing behavior in a cycle of need leading to reduction of need

Ways to satisfy needs: sex drive=heterosexual or autosexual behavior, or channeled in other behavior form

Thought that psychic energy could be displaced to substitute objects (important in determining an individual’s personality)

Instincts are the exclusive source of energy for human behavior, resulting energy can be invested in a variety of activities. (Helps explain diversity we see in human behavior)

All the interests, preferences, and attitudes we display as adults were believed by Freud to be displacements of energy from the original objects that satisfied the instinctual needs.

Question 1

Psychoanalysis

Answer 1

Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality and system of therapy for treating mental disorders

Question 2

Life instincts

(Types of instincts)

Freud grouped the instincts into 2 categories: life instincts and death instincts

Answer 2

The drive for ensuring survival of the individual and the species by satisfying the needs for food, water, air, and sex.

Serve the purpose of survival of the individual and the species by seeking to satisfy the needs for food, water, air, and sex.

Oriented toward growth and development

The psychic energy manifested by the life instincts is the libido, and can be attached to objects (cathexis)

The life instinct Freud considered most important for the personality is sex, which he defined in broad terms
-didn’t refer only to erotic behaviors but included almost all pleasurable behaviors and thoughts.
He described this vies as enlarging or extending the accepted concept of sexuality

Freud regarded sex as our primary motivation
Erotic wishes arise from the body’s erogenous zones: mouth, anus, and sex organs. He suggested people are predominately pleasure-seeking beings, and much of his personality theory revolves around the necessity of inhibiting or suppressing our sexual longings

Question 3

Libido

Part of life instinct

Answer 3

To Freud, the form of psychic energy, manifested by the life instincts, that drives a person toward pleasurable behaviors and thoughts

Can be attached to or invested in objects (cathexis)

Example: if you like your roommate, Freud would say that your libido is cathected to him or her

Question 4

Cathexis

Part of the life instincts and libido

Answer 4

An investment of psychic energy in an object or person

If you like your roommate, Freud would say that your libido is cathected to him or her

Question 5

Death instincts

Freud grouped the instincts into 2 categories: life instincts and death instincts

Answer 5

The unconscious drive toward decay, destruction, and aggression.

Freud proposed that people have an unconscious wish to die.

One component of the death instinct is the “aggressive drive”

Freud developed the notion of the death instinct as a reflection of his own experiences (late in his life), when he had cancer

Question 6

Aggressive drive

Part of the death instinct

Answer 6

The compulsion to destroy, conquer, and kill.

The wish to die turned against objects other than self

Freud considered aggression as compelling a part of human nature as sex