Religion Is A Product Of The Mind Flashcards
Freud fundamentals
- beloved normal people repressed their unconscious desires as theyre socially unacceptable
- they can be substituted satisfaction in dreams (wish fulfilment)
- he was close to his mum and possibly jealous of his father, thought it was universal so named it the Oedipus complex
- believed region was a psychological obsession
Why is religion an illusion ?
Because there is no empirical evidence for the existence of God; religion can’t be proven + incomparable with what we know
Freud said all features of a religion can be explained in terms of what?
Wish fulfilment
What did Frued say in the book Totem and Taboo ?
All religious attitudes of primitives are similar to neurotic obsessions therefore concluded religion is a universal neurotic obsession
Religion is create in the mind to help us overcome; inner psychological conflict, conflict between nature and civilisation, helplessness and fear of natural forces
Freud said religion creates a blissful hallucinatory…?
Confusion
Structure religion as a neurosis ?
Religions is illusion/ empirical talk
Wish fulfilment
Totem and Taboo
Blissful hallucinatory confusion
Development of the human mind and personality lead to deeper inner conflict invariably sexual in nature, minds solution to such trauma = lock it away which then re-emerges later in life as religion
Religion provides reason to submit to authority- religion explains our need for suffering (obeying omni God) which promises after life salvation (reward) and makes society seem bearable
Sublimation occurs when our most natural outlet is forbidden which forces libidos to other areas which then occurs in forms of religion and art
What is a neurosis ?
Mental illness
Symptoms = obsessions
Causes are opted in the mind
Why is religion a collective neurosis ?
Because is affects all people
Freud worked with patients with hysteria, what did Freud come to believe as a result of this ?
- the mind contains unconscious parts
Unpleasant memories are trapped in the unconscious in a form neurotic behaviour… example a condition of this ?
OCD
Why did Freud relate what he found in studying hysteria to religion? And what did he then conclude ?
Saw similarity in behaviour of his patients and religious people
Concluded religion is a neurosis caused by trauma deep in the mind which includes conscious and unconscious components
Religion is an infantile neurosis
Just a Freud quote
Explain the Oedipus complex ?
Child is used to having mother’s sole attention, when their libido is transferred to the penis there is already a rival = father = jealousy and hatred to kill father
This hatred = guilt, can’t carry out murder so represses conflict and guilt to subconscious
- desire for mother and ambivalence for father = Oedipus complex
How is Oedipus complex linked to religion ?
Belief in God is just a way of compensating for the negative feelings towards the father so religion is made up to help people come to terms with the Oedipus complex
Explain Little Hans ?
5 Year old boy who was scared of a horse biting off his Weaner
- Freud concluded Hans fear of horses was a subconscious symbol for his dad who would chemically castrate him if he knew about his incestuous desire for his mum
- Hans phobia was an expression of the Oedipus complex
What did F say about the psycho sexual stages ?
During the phallic stage 3-6 yo develops intense sexual love for mum and sees dad as threat so wants to rid of him
Father is bigger and stronger so kid creates
‘ identification with the aggressor’ and try’s to adopt their mannerisms so father sees him as similar and won’t act hostile towards him
Critical evaluation of little Hans
- supports Oedipus C
- social desirability bias (father new of friends work)
- case studies lack population validity so may prove the OC exists but not how common it it
Primal horde ?
F used Darwin’s work to speculate that in primitive societies the social unit was the ‘primal horde’
Primal horde was where
- groups of people arranged around single dominant male such as Johnnie, who has aim over all the females
Such power lead to
- feeling of ambivalence towards him
- eventually group killed the male but the ambivalent feeling was so strong he became idolised and transformed into the town of the group
Significance ?
- shows Oedipus complex isn’t just a permanent trauma but affected all societies at a historical level
- F said when suffering from extreme guilt the minds defence mechanism is to create totems to which and individual can redirect a feeling of guilt onto e.g prayer
What are 3 things we are helpless about ?
Nature - natural disasters
Humans instincts- sexual desires conflicting with society rules
Longing for father- all humans face conflict between liking society and hating it, it protects us but doesn’t let u express desires = conflict = neurosis = helplessness = religion helps by saying god is watching over u and heaven will make it pay off
Reaction agaisnt helplessness ?
- religion
- when you grow up you loose authority figure = father so make one up= God helps us believe we’re not powerless against natural forces
- desire to believe cancels out any doubt
Scholar support for Freud ?
David Hume said humans constructed religion to help us deal with the misery of life
Feuerbach- stares religion is a childlike condition
Explain redirection if guilt complexes ?
Ego uses range of defence mechanisms to deal with life’s problems
Ego is driven by Id which is confined by the superego to bring about harmony upon all the forces
Defence mechanisms from the ego are normal but when they get out of proportion neurosis develops, what are the 2 main defence mechanisms ?
Displacement
- redirection of impulse onto powerless substitute target e.g frustrated by his superiors may go home and kick the dog
Sublimation
- same as displacement but knot constructive activity e.g maybe putting out aggression into the gym
Who supported the idea of redirection of guilt complexes ?
Carl Roger and Ellis
