Psychoanalytic Theory Flashcards
Dual Instinct Theory
- Freud
- 2 basic Instincts: Eros & Thanatos
Structural Theory of Mind
- Freud proposed it
- He believes that personality of an individual is a 3 tier structure: Id, Ego, Superego
Eros (Life Instincts)
- Serves purpose of survival
- manifested in the form of psychic energy called as ‘libido’.
Cathexis
-the process of allocation (or attachment) of mental or emotional energy to a person, object, or idea
Libido
-Psychic energy or drive associated with sexual instinct
but also with other instinctive desires/drives
Thanatos (Death Instinct)
- Unconscious drive towards decay, destruction, and aggression.
- Aggressive Drive* : compels us to destroy, conquer and kill. (component of Thanatos)
Id
Primarily pleasure seeking instinct
- present since birth
- illogical/infantile/
- gratification seeking
- Detached from reality
Ego
- Primarily functions on reality principle
- Mediates between Id and Super Ego
- Operates mainly at conscious level but also preconscious level
Super Ego
- Primarily deals with morals and ethics
- develops by 3-5yrs (phallic stage)
- Consists of conscience and ego ideal
Levels of Personality
Freud opined that personality was divided into 3 levels: Conscious, Preconscious and Unconscious.
Conscious
- Contains all of the thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware at any given moment.
- It’s the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about rationally.
- It includes our memory, which is not always part of consciousness but can be retrieved easily and brought into awareness.
Preconscious
- Storehouse of memories, perceptions, and thoughts of which we are not consciously aware at the moment
- We can easily summon it into consciousness
Unconscious
- It is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness.
- It contains contents that are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict that direct our behaviour.
- Major Driving force of behaviour
- Repository of forces we can’t see or control.
Identifying the Unconscious
- 2 ways to identify unconscious:
a. Freudian Slip
b. Dreams - They are representative of the unconscious wishes/desires.
Psychosexual Stages of Development
- Conceptualised by Freud
- Children pass through a series of stages of psychosexual development defined by erogenous zones
Oral Stage
- Occurs form 0-1 years
- Oral Incorporative: Involves pleasurable stimulation of the mouth by other people and food. Adults fixated at this stage-excessively concerned with oral activities-eating, drinking, smoking, kissing.
- Oral Aggressive: Occurs during painful eruption of teeth; infants start viewing mother with hatred as they believe her to be responsible. *Adults who are fixated at this stage-pessimistic, aggressive, hostile.
Anal Stage
- Occurs during 1-3 years
- Toilet Training major issue- either child learns to
a. Holding on to feces: resulting in Anal Retentive Personality-Rigid, compulsively neat, obstinate, and overly conscientious.
b. Letting go of feces wherever: resulting in Anal Expulsive Personality-hostility, sadistic behaviour, cruelty, destructiveness, temper tantrums
Phallic Stage
- Occurs during 4-5 years
- Basic Conflict: Unconscious attraction/desire of the child towards the parent of the opposite sex
a. Oedipal Complex: Boy’s unconscious sexual desire for mother; resentment towards father. (Boys develop castration anxiety)
b. Electra Complex: Girls unconscious sexual desire for Father; resentment of Mother. (Girls develop penis envy)
Latency Stage
- 5 yrs to Puberty
- Sex instinct sublimated in school activities, sports, friendships with people of the same sex.
Genital Stage
- Occurs during adolescence & adulthood
- Final stage of dev
- Conflict during this period is less intense than in other stages according to Freud.
Freud’s Assessment Techniques
- Free Association
- Dream Analysis
Free Association
- Client spontaneously expresses ideas/images in a random fashion
- Resistances: Experiences/Memories that are too painful to talk about
Dream Analysis
- Analysed 2 aspects of dreams:
- Latent Content: the hidden, symbolic meaning of dreams
- Manifest Content: refers to actual events in the dreams