Psychoanalytic Perspective Flashcards
Freud: Topographical Model
Conscious: contains thoughts you are currently aware of
Preconscious: large body of retrievable information that can be brought to your conscious
Unconscious: vast majority of thoughts reside here. You have no immediate access to it. You cannot bring unconscious thoughts into consciousness except under extreme conditions.
Freud: the Structural Model
Id: the only personality structure present at Ruth. Operates based on the pleasure principle. Also uses wish fulfilment to satisfy its needs (ie dreams). Buried entirely in the unconscious.
Ego: reality principle, primary job is to satisfy id impulses through compromise. Keeps id impulses in the unconscious. Mediates the demands of the id and the superego.
Superego: represents society’s values and standards. Forms around 5 years of age. Moral anxiety (ever-present feeling of shame and guilt for failing to reach standards no human can meet).
Freud: Psychic Energy
Freud suggested that everyone is born with a certain amount of psychic energy
This powers our psychological functions
We have a finite amount. However, it can be redistributed as needed
If we expend a lot of energy repressing the desires of the id, for example, the ego has little energy left for other function (leads to poor mental wellbeing).
Defence mechanisms
The ego has many techniques at its disposal to deal with unwanted thoughts and desires - defence mechanisms.
The ego tries to reduce anxiety. Neurotic anxiety occurs when unconscious thoughts are close to becoming conscious.
The ego uses defence mechanisms to help with this anxiety.
Anna Freud elaborated on defence mechanisms.
We all use defence mechanisms, but relying on them (particularly certain ones) can be problematic
Repression
The most important
The ego’s efforts to push material out of conscious awareness
Sublimation
The most productive of the defence mechanisms
Channelling impulses into socially acceptable actions
Displacement
Also channels impulses, but no social rewards
Instead of being angry at an abuser, angry at children or coworkers.
Phobias were seen as symbolic displacements eg boy afraid of horses was actually afraid of his father
Denial
Denial of reality, will not accept that certain facts exist
One of main defence mechanisms in children
Reaction formation
Acting in a manner opposite to our unconscious desires.
Eg daughter always says she loves her mum actually masking strong unconscious hatred for the mother
Intellectualisation
Dealing with the threatening impulse in an unemotional manner.
Projection
When we attribute an unconscious impulses to other people instead of to ourselves
One of main defence mechanisms in children
Phobic avoidance
Extreme form of avoiding places and situations which arouse anxiety
Rationalisation
Providing a logical reason which reduces anxiety
Regression
Returning to an earlier stage of life
Conversion reaction
Anxiety is converted into psychosomatic symptoms
Personality development: Freud
Freud believed that personality formed during the first 5-6 years of life divided into psychosexual stages
Major developmental task associated with each stage and this is a potential source of conflict
Some individuals may become fixated at a particular stage
Oral stage
0-18 months
Mouth, lips, and tongue are the primary erogenous zones, source of pleasure.
Traumatic weaning or feeding problems can result in fixation and the development of oral personality (dependency, need for oral satisfaction)
Anal stage
18 months - 3 yrs
Anal region becomes the primary erogenous zone
Toilet training
Traumatic toilet training can result in an adult anal personality (orderly, stubborn, or generous)
Anal-retentive: perfectionism
Anal-expulsive: overly generous, messy
Phallic stage
Age 3-6
Genitals - according to Freud, children develop sexual attraction for their opposite sex parent (Oedipus complex) which is never fully resolved, but rather repressed
Boys develop castration anxiety and girls develop penis envy
Reaction formation leads to identification with the same-sex parent. Important for the development of the superego
Latency stage
6 years - puberty
No specific erogenous zone, libido energy is sublimated
Focused on social interactions
Genital stage
Puberty ->
Genitals - mature sexual intimacy (unless large amounts of libido are fixated at earlier stages)
Uncovering the unconscious
Unconscious impulses leak out in everyday life
Eg,
Parapraxes: forgetting, slips of the tongue (Freudian slips), accidents
Humour/Wit: a ‘leak’ occurring in a controlled manner
Psychoanalysis
It is the goal of psychoanalysis therapy to bring the unconscious material to consciousness so that it can be examined and resolved
Psychoanalytic therapists use various techniques to reveal unconscious drives and conflicts
Resistance: resist help, skip appointments
Transference: transfer anxieties onto therapist
Free association
Psychoanalytic technique
Speaking freely without any distractions to reveal previously hidden material (difficult)
Dream interpretation: Freud
Dreams provide id impulses with a stage for expression
Contain manifest content (what the dreamer remembers) and latent content (shah the dream is really about)
Unacceptable images and thoughts can be expressed in our dreams
Freud developed common dream symbols which are said to be representative of something else
Evidence has suggested that dream content may not be random as dreams are influenced by our thoughts and fears prior to sleep
Evidence for the meaning of dream symbols is less clear
Dreaming has some psychological benefits (better able to cope with anxiety)
Hypnosis: Freud
In Freud’s model, Hypnosis is when the ego is suspended leaving a direct link to the unconscious, but there are other views
Neodissociation theory: whilst part of the mind enters the ‘trance’ like state, there is always a hidden observer
Others emphasise motivation, expectancy, and concentration effects
Not all individuals are equally responsive to hypnosis. If you score high on absorption you would likely be responsive to hypnosis
Personality assessment
Assessment is via projective tests
Ambiguous stimuli which the person can project unconscious drives, motives, conflicts etc onto
Eg the Rorschach Inkblot Test, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the Draw a Person Test and the Sentence Completion Test
Are projective tests useful?
Rorschach Inkblot Test has been researched the most
Questionable psychometric properties (is it an interview?)
More rigorous coding methods available now
Content of dreams
Men tend to dream about male characters twice as often as they dream about female characters
Some researchers think this is evidence of men’s preoccupation with other men, a holdover from unresolved Oedipal impulses
Discovery of REM sleep
Allowed investigators to better examine the function of dreams
Dreaming may help the sleeper work through ongoing problems
Freud - Humor
Argued that sexual and aggressive themes underlie much of what we find funny
People think hostile humor is funnier when it is aimed at someone they don’t like
Hostile humor reduces the likelihood of aggression, as Freud predicted
Some studies find the opposite however: the more tension people experience before recovering a lunch line, the funnier they find the joke
