Psychoanalytic Theory

Question 1

Everything has a cause; No free will

Answer 1

Psychic determinism

Question 2

Describe the components of Freud’s hypothesized “internal structure” of the mind and the features of each.

Answer 2

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

Question 3

How would Freud explain, for example, depression?

Answer 3

Too much psychic conflict

Question 4

Limited mental energy that provides all energy for our life

Answer 4

Libido

Question 4

Describe what Freud meant by “psychic conflict”

Answer 4

Continuous conflict between ego and superego, which uses energy

Question 5

What happens when someone uses too much libido and how can this be counteracted?

Answer 5

Use too much = struggle

Identify source of struggle to decrease demands on the libido

Question 6

Describe the situation surrounding evidence of Freud’s ideas

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Freud was often interested in identifying specific thoughts, etc. influencing causal paths and actions; What might the modern equivalent of this be?

Answer 7

Use imaging techniques (but still not do this exactly)

Question 8

What were three specific impactful ideas Freud had?

Answer 8

The unconscious

Dream analysis

Influence of childhood experiences on adult behavior

Question 9

What were four key issues with Freud’s ideas?

Answer 9

No control group

Not disprovable

Generally did not approach things from a scientific/empirical perspective (no testing)

Ideas generated from introspection/personal reflection

Question 10

What were three central themes of Freud’s developmental theory?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

According to Freud’s developmental theory, why do adult personality problems develop?

Answer 11

The psychological theme wasn’t mastered during the associated stage

Question 12

What are the five stages of Freud’s psychosexual development theory?

Answer 12

Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital

Question 13

What are three issues regarding Freud’s psychosexual development theory?

Answer 13

Not tested/scientific

Never studied children

Development ends at puberty

Question 14

What were three methods Freud employed in order to reveal the unconscious?

Answer 14

Free association, dream analysis, hypnosis (some - eventually abandoned)

Question 15

What would Freud claim to be the cause of forgetting?

Answer 15

An unconscious motivation/drive

Question 16

Freud believed these indicated unconscious drives or incongruencies between one’s life and one’s desires

Answer 16

Freudian slips

Question 17

What is a modern explanation for Freudian slips?

Answer 17

Linguistic similarities between words

Question 18

According to Freud, why do we use defense mechanisms?

Answer 18

Conflict between id and superego drives anxiety in ego

If anxiety too extreme, we use defense mechanisms

Question 19

What are two defense mechanisms discussed in class?

Answer 19

Repression

Reaction formation

Question 20

What issue arises when considering the repression of upsetting memories?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Defense mechanism in which one creates a persona that opposes the real self

Answer 21

Reaction formation

Question 22

What were two issues with Freud’s theories specific to gender and culture?

Answer 22

Theories suggested women were inferior to men

No cultural considerations, Eurocentric

Question 23

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.

Answer 23

More disclosures in psychotherapy, decrease in symptomatology

Not falsifiable

Question 24

What are four major contributions of Freudian psychoanalysis?

Answer 24

Sexuality as a major element of personality

Childhood experience impacts adult personality

The unconscious

Consideration of gender differences

Question 25

What are four limitations of Freudian psychoanalysis?

Answer 25

Behaviour is driven by inner conflicts

Pessimistic, deterministic

Non-scientific, not falsifiable

Excludes many other influences on personality and behaviour