Social Psychology L2

Question 1

It is important to remember that while Freud did get a lot of things right…

Answer 1

He also got a lot of things wrong.

Question 2

Freud was the first to draw attention to…

Answer 2

. The study of the unconscious
. The developmental aspects of personality
. Talking cures

Question 3

What is Freud’s evaluation of the human condition?

Answer 3

If left alone, humans would blindly seek pleasure and gratification.

Question 4

According to Freud, the morality, values, and beliefs of society are…

Answer 4

Internalized during childhood.

Question 5

What would Freud say about human impulses?

Answer 5

That they can be repressed, but never eliminated. This creates a constant conflict between societal expectation and primitive desire.

Question 6

What are the Freudian subsystems which are involved with conflict?

Answer 6

Id
Ego
Superego

Question 7

Describe the ID

Answer 7

Contains most basic urges (eat, drink, warmth etc)
Most importantly pursues sex.
Operates on the pleasure principle

Question 8

What is the pleasure principle?

Answer 8

The ID demands immediate satisfaction regardless of consequence.

Question 9

Describe the Ego

Answer 9

Tries to satisfy the ID pragmatically in accordance with societal norms.
Works on the reality principle.

Question 10

Describe the superego

Answer 10

Represents internalized rules of parents and society acting as a moral policeman. Makes you feel guilty when you break these moral rules.

Question 11

What dynamic exists between the superego and the ID?

Answer 11

The impulses of the ID are always repressed by the demands of the superego.

Question 12

What are the four defense mechanisms?

Answer 12

1. Displacement
2. Reaction formation
3. Projection
4. Isolation

Question 13

Describe the displacement mechanism

Answer 13

Impulses redirected into a safer course. Freud particularly thought that physical behaviors (ie running) are re-directions of sexual impulses.

Question 14

Describe the reaction formation mechanism

Answer 14

The original desire is supplanted with the opposite. You claim to hate that which you really like.

Question 15

Describe the projection mechanism

Answer 15

You project your urges onto other people.

Question 16

Describe the isolation mechanism

Answer 16

People separate themselves from the emotions of traumatic events. A sort of survival mechanism.

Question 17

Where does unconscious conflict originate?

Answer 17

Childhood

Question 18

What are the stages of childhood from which unconscious conflicts arise?

Answer 18

Oral stage (0-2)
Anal stage (2-4)
Phallic stage (4-6)
Latency stage (6-12)
Genital stage (12+)

Question 19

When does the Oedipus complex arise?

Answer 19

Phallic stage

Question 20

What is an Oedipus complex?

Answer 20

Boy wants to sleep with mum, fears that father may find out and castrate him. This results in castration anxiety. To resolve this anxiety, males decide to emulate their fathers in the hopes that they will one day get to pursue a relationship with a woman who is like their mother.

Question 21

Describe an Electra complex

Answer 21

A girl realizes that she does not have a penis and regards this as a catastrophic castration. She then develops penis envy and develops lust for the dad in the hopes that he will give her a baby as a form of substitute penis. She develops anxiety over these desires, which she then resolves by identifying with her mother.

Question 22

What are some examples of oral fixations?

Answer 22

Smoking, thumb sucking

Question 23

What are some examples of anal fixations?

Answer 23

Very frugal
Obstinate
Likes painting

Question 24

What are some examples of phallic fixations?

Answer 24

Unresolved castration anxiety can lead to homosexuality

Question 25

What are some of the problems with Freudian psychoanalysis?

Answer 25

. He never actually studied children
. His ideas are not falsifiable (Freudian theory has an explanation for everything)
. Little experimental evidence to support his ideas

Question 26

What are some issues surrounding experimental evidence and Freud?

Answer 26

Most data is more appropriately explained through other ideas
Experiments that support Freud’s claims are often flawed.

Question 27

Describe experiments which explore Freud’s idea of repression.

Answer 27

Bruner and Postman had participants read out a word which would be flashed across a monitor. Participants took longer to read out aggressive or sexual words.

Question 28

What are some problems with Bruner and Postman’s experiment?

Answer 28

The results could be explained in other ways…

• Participants could simply be embarrassed
• Participants could be doubtful that they were reading the words correctly.