Psychoanalytic Theory Flashcards
Everything has a cause; No free will
Psychic determinism
Describe the components of Freud’s hypothesized “internal structure” of the mind and the features of each.
Id:
- Pleasure principle
- Basic drives and motivations
- Most unconscious
Superego:
- Morality, social norms
- Ideal behaviour
- More conscious
Ego:
- Reality principle
- Compromise between id and superego, mediator
- Conscious
How would Freud explain, for example, depression?
Too much psychic conflict
Limited mental energy that provides all energy for our life
Libido
Describe what Freud meant by “psychic conflict”
Continuous conflict between ego and superego, which uses energy
What happens when someone uses too much libido and how can this be counteracted?
Use too much = struggle
Identify source of struggle to decrease demands on the libido
Describe the situation surrounding evidence of Freud’s ideas
Reflections of Freud’s ideas can be seen in other theories/constructs (unconscious factors)
No evidence directly supporting Freud’s ideas or divided structure of the mind
Freud was often interested in identifying specific thoughts, etc. influencing causal paths and actions; What might the modern equivalent of this be?
Use imaging techniques (but still not do this exactly)
What were three specific impactful ideas Freud had?
The unconscious
Dream analysis
Influence of childhood experiences on adult behavior
What were four key issues with Freud’s ideas?
No control group
Not disprovable
Generally did not approach things from a scientific/empirical perspective (no testing)
Ideas generated from introspection/personal reflection
What were three central themes of Freud’s developmental theory?
Each stage is associated with an age and a body part
Each stage has a psychological theme that must be mastered to move on
Each psychological theme is associated with an adult character type or personality
According to Freud’s developmental theory, why do adult personality problems develop?
The psychological theme wasn’t mastered during the associated stage
What are the five stages of Freud’s psychosexual development theory?
Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital
What are three issues regarding Freud’s psychosexual development theory?
Not tested/scientific
Never studied children
Development ends at puberty
What were three methods Freud employed in order to reveal the unconscious?
Free association, dream analysis, hypnosis (some - eventually abandoned)
What would Freud claim to be the cause of forgetting?
An unconscious motivation/drive
Freud believed these indicated unconscious drives or incongruencies between one’s life and one’s desires
Freudian slips
What is a modern explanation for Freudian slips?
Linguistic similarities between words
According to Freud, why do we use defense mechanisms?
Conflict between id and superego drives anxiety in ego
If anxiety too extreme, we use defense mechanisms
What are two defense mechanisms discussed in class?
Repression
Reaction formation
What issue arises when considering the repression of upsetting memories?
Memories are constantly changing and malleable, so the question is whether something is a true memory or rather something that has been implanted due to the therapist/patient relationship and context
Defense mechanism in which one creates a persona that opposes the real self
Reaction formation
What were two issues with Freud’s theories specific to gender and culture?
Theories suggested women were inferior to men
No cultural considerations, Eurocentric
What were two results Freud considered to be “proof” he had found the source of a patient’s concerns? Describe why this is not true proof.
More disclosures in psychotherapy, decrease in symptomatology
Not falsifiable
What are four major contributions of Freudian psychoanalysis?
Sexuality as a major element of personality
Childhood experience impacts adult personality
The unconscious
Consideration of gender differences
What are four limitations of Freudian psychoanalysis?
Behaviour is driven by inner conflicts
Pessimistic, deterministic
Non-scientific, not falsifiable
Excludes many other influences on personality and behaviour
