psychoanalytic approach

Question 1

what is psychic energy?

Answer 1

the energy by which the work of the personality is performed

the source of psychic energy is instincts

Question 2

what are instincts?

Answer 2

strong innate forces (purely biological response to stimuli)

2 categories of instincts: sexual and self-preserving instincts – they combine to form life instincts

Question 3

what are drives?

Answer 3

psychological processes induced by biological stimuli (e.g. drive to drink water)

trying to prevent a drive from being expressed only creates more pressure toward its expression

Question 4

what is catharsis?

Answer 4

the sudden release of emotional tension

occurs when the buildup of energy (from trying to prevent a drive) becomes so great that it can no longer be restrained

Question 5

what is motivational/psychic determinism

Answer 5

behavior is never accidental but is psychologically determined by unconscious motivational causes

Question 6

life/sexual instincts (eros)

Answer 6

the life forces, the drives and the passions that push for pleasure and reproduction and survival

generates libido: the finite amount of energy that freud assumed was within each person

Question 7

death instincts (thanatos)

Answer 7

reflect the unconscious human desire to return the inanimate state

includes the urge to destroy, harm or aggress against others or oneself

Question 8

the topographical model

Answer 8

the human mind consists of 3 parts
- unconscious: fears/doubts, needs, desires & aggression
- preconscious: memories, knowledge & fears/doubts
- conscious: thoughts & perceptions

Question 9

the structural model of personality

Answer 9

encapsulates the conflicting forces inside each of us involving wish and motive
3 separate subsystems: id, ego & superego

Question 10

id

Answer 10

the original and most primitive component of personality
consists of all biological urges & looks to reduce the tension caused by these urges
entirely unconscious

follows the pleasure principle
satisfies needs by the primary process

Question 11

what is the pleasure principle

Answer 11

all needs should be satisfied immediately
satisfaction now not later, regardless of the situation
unsatisfied needs create tension

Question 12

what is the primary process

Answer 12

forming an unconscious mental image of an object or event that would satisfy the need

Question 13

ego

Answer 13

tries to reconcile the id’s blind pleasure seeking with the demands of reality
mostly preconscious and unconscious
follows the reality principle
uses the secondary process
has no moral sense, only focused on getting by

Question 14

what is the reality principle?

Answer 14

taking into account external reality along with internal needs and urges

Question 15

what is the secondary process

Answer 15

matching the unconscious image of a tension-reducing object to a real object
until this object is found, the ego keeps the tension under control

Question 16

superego

Answer 16

emerges from within the ego; an internalized code of conduct
develops when an individual resolves a particular conflict during development
divided into 2 subsystems:
- ego ideal: rules for good behavior
- conscience: rules about bad behavior
ego ideal reflects the things you strive for and conscience reflects things to avoid
all levels of consciousness

Question 17

reality anxiety

Answer 17

arises from danger in the world
general fear anchored in reality

e.g. when you realize you’re about to crash your car or fail an exam

Question 18

neurotic anxiety

Answer 18

an unconscious fear that your id impulses will get out of control and make you do something that will get you punished

result of conflict between id and ego

Question 19

moral anxiety

Answer 19

the fear people have when they have violated (or about to violate) their moral code

result of conflict between ego and superego

Question 20

defense mechanisms

Answer 20

tactics the ego develops to help avoid anxiety
have 2 characteristics: can operate unconsciously & all distort or transform reality

Question 21

repression

Answer 21

unpleasant or unacceptable feeling or thought is pushed out from consciousness
an unconscious process, in its conscious its supression

Question 22

denial

Answer 22

refusal to believe an event took place or a condition exists
occurs when people are overwhelmed by a threatening reality

Question 23

projection

Answer 23

ascribing your own unacceptable qualities to someone else
projecting traits, impulses, desires or even goals to another person
e.g. married men who are cheating are more suspicious that their wives are being unfaithful

Question 24

rationalization

Answer 24

finding a rational explanation (or excuse) for a behavior that you did for unacceptable reasons
very common in response to success or failure - FAE

Question 25

intellectualization

Answer 25

thinking about threats in cold, analytical & emotionally detached ways

Question 26

displacement

Answer 26

when repressed urges find new and often disguised outlets that are more acceptable to the ego & superego
shifting an impulse from one target to another

e.g. a person who is angry at their boss may “take out” their anger on a family member by shouting at them

Question 27

reaction formation

Answer 27

when a person interprets their own feelings to actions in more acceptable terms
e.g. people who are outwardly very homophobic but are secretly gay

Question 28

sublimation

Answer 28

channeling unacceptable impulses into socially desired activities
e.g. chopping wood when angry

Question 29

regression

Answer 29

when an individuals personality reverts to an earlier stage of development
adopting more childish mannerisms

Question 30

isolation

Answer 30

when there is an unconscious separation of an unacceptable act or idea from its memory
e.g. someone saying ‘i was raped’ without any emotion
removes any emotional association from the memory which means it can no longer trigger anxiety

Question 31

undoing

Answer 31

when a person tries to cancel out or remove an unhealthy, destructive or otherwise threatening thought or action by engaging in contrary behavior

Question 32

psychosexual development

Answer 32

freud viewed personality as movement through a series of stages
each stage associated with an erogenous zone
stages are universal but the way conflict is handled at each stage differ
fixations can occur

oral, anal, phallic, latency period, genital

Question 33

the oral stage

Answer 33

birth - 18m
infant’s main interaction w the world occurs through the mouth
2 sub stages:
- oral incorporation (6 months)
- oral sadistic - starts w teething - sexual pleasure from biting & chewing

Question 34

the anal stage

Answer 34

18m - 3y
anus is key erogenous zone - pleasure from defecation
personality characteristics that arise from fixations here depend on potty training - rewarded vs shamed

Question 35

the phallic stage

Answer 35

3 - 5
focus shift to genitals
first sexual desires are autoerotic then shift to opposite sex parent
oedipus & electra complex

Question 36

oedipus complex

Answer 36

1. love for his mother transforms intro sexual desire & feelings for father shift towards hatred
2. father becomes rival for mothers attention
3. feeling toward father creates guilt and fear that his father will castrate him = castration anxiety
4. CA causes him to repress desire for mother & identify with father

Question 37

electra complex

Answer 37

1. abandon love for mother for a new one for father
2. happens when the girl realizes she doesnt have a penis and blames her mother = penis envy
3. draws her attention to her father who does have a penis
4. begins to identify with her mother