Psychoanalytic Approach Flashcards
What are the four key idea of psychoanalysis?
Psychic Determinism, Internal Structure, Psychic Conflict and Mental Energy
What is Psychic Determinism?
The assumption that everything psychological has a cause that is identifiable
What is the internal structure assumption of the mind according to Freud?
The mind has an internal structure made of parts that can function independently. They are the id, ego and superego
What is the id, the ego and the superego?
The id is the unconscious part of the mind that wants everything, now.
The ego is the rational part of the mind that mediates between the id, the superego and reality.
The superego is the individual’s system of internalized rules of conduct, the morality
What is the assumption of psychic conflict?
The conflict of the parts of the mind.
What is compromise formation?
Tenet of thought that says the ego has the job of a moderator, finding the middle ground between the superego and the id by making compromises.
What is mental energy?
An assumption in psychoanalysis that the mind needs energy, psychic energy or libido, and only a fixed and finite amount is available at any given moment.
What are the controversies around psychoanalysis?
It changes with the time, before it was too “dirty”, now it’s considered too “unscientific”. A lot of people just don’t like psychoanalysis and Freud.
What is Thanatos?
Thanatos was the term given to the drive toward death and destruction by Freud. Opposite to libido.
What is the doctrine of opposites?
Freud believed that everything implies or contain its opposite, and the opposites are more similar than the middle ground.
What is Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?
It’s Freud’s theory on how the libido, life energy, becomes invested and then redirected over an individual’s early years. The focus point of psychic energy is what determines the phase.
What are the phases of Freud’s psychosexual development theory?
Oral (birth to 18 months), anal (18 months to 3.5 years), phallic (3.5 years to 7 years), latency (7 years to puberty) and genital (puberty through adulthood).
What are the aspects of the stages of psychosexual development?
Physical focus: where energy is concentrated and gratification is obtained
Psychological theme: Demands on the child from the outside world during development
Adult character type: Resulting personality from being fixated on that stage.
What is the physical focus, the mental structure, psychological theme and adult type associated with the oral phase?
Mouth, lips and tongue
Id
Dependence and passivity
Dependent or overly independent
What is the physical focus, the mental structure, psychological theme and adult type associated with the anal phase?
Anus and organs of elimination
Ego
Self-control and obedience
Obedient, obsessed with order or messy and anti-order
What is the physical focus, the mental structure, psychological theme and adult type associated with the phallic phase?
Sexual organs
Superego
Sexuality and gender identity
Over or under sexualized.
What is the latency stage?
Stage until puberty where the child is focused on learning and cognitive development.
What is the physical focus, the mental structure, psychological theme and adult type associated with the genital phase?
Sexuality, in a mature relationship, sexual organs not just as a physical organ, but as reproduction.
All are well-balanced
Creation of life, maturity
A mature adult, adulthood is not a phase, but an achievement.
How does Freud defines mental health?
To be able to love and work
What is a good metaphor used by Freud to explain psychosexual development?
The mind progressing through the development is like an army conquering hostile territory, periodically it encounters opposition and battle ensues. To secure the ground, some troops are left behind, if the battle was particularly bitter, and if the local resistance remains strong, a larger part of the army must stay behind. Moreover, if the main army encounters severe problems later, it is likely to retreat to a stronghold at the site of former battle.
What is fixation and regression?
Fixation is leaving libidinal energy behind at an earlier psychosexual development stage.
Regression is the retreat to a psychosexual development stage when under stress.
What is primary and secondary process thinking according to Freud?
Primary is the way the unconscious mind operates, thinking without negatives, qualifications, sense of time or danger. Its only goal is the immediate gratification of every desire. Hard to prove because it only exists in consciousness in really young kids, dreams or schizophrenics.
Secondary is the rational, practical thinking, that can delay gratification.
What is the topographic model?
Three levels of consciousness, the smallest, the conscious mind that you can observe, the preconscious mind, that is hidden but can be brought to the surface and the unconscious mind which houses most of the mind.
What are defense mechanisms? List them.
A short-term solution for the ego to control the anxiety caused by the mind’s conflict.
Denial, repression, reaction formation, projection, rationalization, intellectualization, displacement and sublimation.
What is the therapeutic alliance? What is transference?
The bond between patient and therapist.
The tendency to bring ways of thinking, feeling and behaving that developed toward one important person into a later relationship with a different person.
What are the five important shortcomings in the psychoanalytic field?
Excessive complexity, case study method, vague definitions, untestability and SEXISM!
What is the problem with the case study method in the psychoanalysis field?
Freud and psychoanalytic psychologist had, and have, the tendency to formulate theories based on specific cases, patients. These cases are confidential, which poses a problem for analyzing the theory, as the proof might be biased or simply misremembered
What is an example of a vague definition by Freud?
Energy as libido.
Why do we still study Freud?
Comprehensive theory
Compelling
Influence on culture
Right about some things
What are the ideas underlying Freud’s theory?
Psychic energy, instincts and doctrine of opposites
what are the principles of the structures of the mind?
Id- Pleasure principle
Ego- Reality principle
Superego- ego ideal and conscience
what are the characteristics of the psychosexual theory?
1- erogenous zone
2- theme
3- barriers to completion of the stage, fixation and regression
4- adult personality depends on successful or unsuccessful negotiation of the stage
what are parapraxes?
leakage from the unconscious mind, forgetting, slips, dream, jokes, due to unresolved impulses.
What are the 7 things Freud got right?
Unconscious mind
Sexual and aggressive impulse’s influence on behaviour
Behaviour is often a compromise
Childhood experience
Mental representation of other guide our relationship with them
Personality development involves movement from socially dependent to mature independent way of relating to other
Talk and insight can be helpful in solving psychological problems
What came after Freud?
Neo-Freudians: retain a lot of the key ideas but made some innovations
Ego-psychology: Focuses more on the conscious rational processes and the development of the ego.
Objects-relation: Focuses on interpersonal relationships, how we relate to others based on our inaccurate mental image and how that can be shaped by earlier experiences.
