Theoretical Perspectives in Psychology: Psychoanalysis

Question 1

The most influential psychoanalytic theorist

Answer 1

Sigmund Freud

–A medical doctor in Austria first interested in how the ‘mind’ could influence physical symptoms of the body

Question 2

The Psychoanalytic Perspective

Answer 2

•Consists of a collection of theories that attempt to account for the deeper psychological dynamicsof human behaviour:
–Dynamics refer to things (forces) that motivate or drive us to act in specific ways
•The psychoanalytic (or psychodynamic) approach explores how the mind (especially the unconscious mind) is responsible for everyday behaviour

Question 3

Freud’s Topography of the Mind

•Three levels of the mind

Answer 3

–Conscious
–Pre-conscious
–Unconscious

Question 4

Conscious

Answer 4

–Deals with the here and now

•What we are aware of

Question 5

Pre-conscious

Answer 5

–Contains feelings, thoughts and experiences retrievable from memory with ease and brought to consciousness

Question 6

Unconscious

Answer 6

–Thoughts, feelings, desires, and impulses one is not consciously aware of
•Hard and sometimes impossible to retrieve

Question 7

Value of the Topography

Answer 7

•Freud’s topography became the framework for psychoanalysis
–A method of therapy that aims to help the patient gain deeper insight into their behaviour by exploring all three levels
•Especially the unconscious level
–Useful as an approach for thinking about what underlying motives, fears, experiences, desires and so on drive patient/client behaviour

Question 8

Instincts

Answer 8

•Freud viewed instincts as basic motivational drives underlying personality

Question 9

Life Instincts (Libido)

Answer 9

–Serves the need for survival and development and ensures the reproduction of the species
–The psychic energy manifested by life instincts is called libido

Question 10

Death Instincts

Answer 10

–Represent the destructive force of human nature
–Freud suggested that all people have an unconscious wish to die
•This wish to die is transformed into an aggressive drive in which individuals act out their aggression on others
–This implies that we all have the potential to be destructive

Question 11

Id

Answer 11

Innate sexual (libido) and aggressive instincts 
Based on the ‘pleasure’ principle which drives the desire for immediate satisfaction

Question 12

Superego

Answer 12

Morals and rules of society

Its main purpose is to prevent the id from expression by observing the rules and regulations of society

Question 13

Ego

Answer 13

The ‘reality principle’

Mediates between the id’s innate desires and superego’s moral standards

Question 14

Freud’s Structural Model of Personality

Answer 14

Can be said that the id, superego and ego represent impulsivity, morality and rationality, respectively

Question 15

Key Points on Psychoanalysis

Answer 15

•Behaviour is determined by repressed (pushed down) or underlying internal impulses:
–Freud singled out repressed sexual and aggressive impulses, repressed because they violate social norms
–It could also be other unconscious impulses, tendencies, or desires
•Take out:Unconscious impulses, desires, feelings and thoughts are influential to our behaviour
•Another take out: Your behaviour might not come from reason alone
–Think of how the advertising industry has appropriated this Freudian insight in this era of consumerism
–Think of someone with a phobic response to a range of physical and social situations
–Think of someone harbouring both feelings of love or appreciation and disappointment or rage towards a parent because of some early childhood experience

Question 16

Strengths of Psychoanalytic Approaches

Answer 16

•Acknowledges that unconscious desires influence behaviours
•Recognises childhood as a critical period of development, hence psychoanalytic approaches focusing on early childhood caregiver attachment
–Recognises that childhood experiences are critical to understanding adult behaviour

Question 17

Weaknesses of Psychoanalytic Approaches

Answer 17

•Some say Freud’s psychoanalytic concepts are unfalsifiable and lack scientific credibility
•Theories are post-hoc
–Based on historical reconstruction
•Freud’s theories were based on a very small, rather unique sample of people and so may lack generalisability
•Reductionist and deterministic in their own way, especially reducing behaviour to the deterministic powers of unconscious drives and impulses