[WEEK-04] Theories of Development - Psychoanalytical Theories Flashcards
Psychoanalytical theories of human development including psychosocial and psychosexual theories.
What are the four types of theories within human
development?
- Psychoanalytic theories.
- Learning theories.
- Cognitive theories.
- Biological/Ecological theories.
Who originated the psychoanalytic school of thought?
Sigmund Freud.
How would psychoanalytic theory explain why babies often put various things in their mouths?
Psychoanalysis would suggest that infants derive more physical pleasure from mouthing objects than from manipulating object with other body parts.
What do psychoanalysts think influences behaviour?
Internal drives and emotions influence behaviour.
What did Freud call an internal drive for physical pleasure?
Libido.
“Freud worked with the childhood memories of adults with mental disorders and had found that conscious and subconscious processes influence our behaviours.”
True or False?
True.
What three parts of personality did Freud identify?
The id.
The ego.
Th superego.
What is the function of the id?
The id functions at the unconscious level and contains the libido - a person’s sexual and aggressive impulses (present at birth).
What is the function of the ego?
The ego is the conscious, thinking function of personality and primarily ensures that the id is satisfied. (e.g. when a person is hungry, the id is demanding food; it is the ego’s job to acquire the food).
What is the function of the superego?
This part of personality functions as a moral judge and contains our moral compass and what we consider to be right and wrong within society.
When is the ego believed to be first developed in a person?
Around 2-3 years of age.
When is the superego believed to be first developed in a person?
Around age 6, near the end of early childhood.
Why is the ego important in terms of the personality triad(id, ego, superego)?
It is the ego’s role to ensure balance and harmony amongst all the components - it must satisfy the needs and demands of both the id and the superego (achieving gratification while satisfying social moral ethics).
According to psychoanalysis, how would they explain the reasoning behind someone’s stress/poor mental health?
They would consider the idea that any of the three components are experiencing tension with another, causing psychological stress in the person.
What may the ego sometimes produce when wanting to reduce stress when in a certain situation?
Defence mechanisms
How do you define defence mechanism?
An unconscious strategy produced by the brain to protect the individual from heightened stress and anxiety during certain interactions and events.
How did Freud argue an individual’s repressed memories affected a person?
A person may sometimes repress memories of extremely traumatic events, causing them to be pushed into the subconscious where it causes emotional distress in the person.
What was Freud’s goal with psychotherapy?
To help patients uncover their repressed memories and guide them in dealing with their emotions and thoughts around the memories.
What did Baddeley (1998) find that goes against psychoanalysis?
They had found that most individuals will retain vivid memories of traumatic childhood events.
What did Ceci & Bruck (1993) suggest in terms of psychoanalysis?
They pointed out the potential of the therapist unintentionally creating a false memory of a traumatic experience however this does not deny the existence of repressed memories.
What is the purpose behind Freud’s idea of psychosexual stages of development?
These were a fixed sequence of stages that a child moves through depending on their level of maturation - each stage is centred around a different part of the body.
What is the first psychosexual stage and its bodily focus?
This is the oral stage which occurs from birth to age one and there is a focus on the mouth, lips and tongue.
What is the major developmental task during the oral stage of development?
Weaning.
What are some characteristics of an adult fixation in the oral stage?
Oral behaviour which includes smoking, overeating, passivity and gullibility.
What is the second psychosexual stage and its bodily focus?
This is the anal stage which occurs from age one to 3 - here the bodily focus is the anus.
What is the major developmental task during the anal stage of development?
Toilet training.