[WEEK-04] Theories of Development - Psychoanalytical Theories Flashcards

Psychoanalytical theories of human development including psychosocial and psychosexual theories.

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1
Q

What are the four types of theories within human
development?

A
  • Psychoanalytic theories.
  • Learning theories.
  • Cognitive theories.
  • Biological/Ecological theories.
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2
Q

Who originated the psychoanalytic school of thought?

A

Sigmund Freud.

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3
Q

How would psychoanalytic theory explain why babies often put various things in their mouths?

A

Psychoanalysis would suggest that infants derive more physical pleasure from mouthing objects than from manipulating object with other body parts.

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4
Q

What do psychoanalysts think influences behaviour?

A

Internal drives and emotions influence behaviour.

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5
Q

What did Freud call an internal drive for physical pleasure?

A

Libido.

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6
Q

“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?

A

True.

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7
Q

What three parts of personality did Freud identify?

A

The id.
The ego.
Th superego.

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8
Q

What is the function of the id?

A

The id functions at the unconscious level and contains the libido - a person’s sexual and aggressive impulses (present at birth).

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9
Q

What is the function of the ego?

A

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).

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10
Q

What is the function of the superego?

A

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.

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11
Q

When is the ego believed to be first developed in a person?

A

Around 2-3 years of age.

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12
Q

When is the superego believed to be first developed in a person?

A

Around age 6, near the end of early childhood.

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13
Q

Why is the ego important in terms of the personality triad(id, ego, superego)?

A

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).

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14
Q

According to psychoanalysis, how would they explain the reasoning behind someone’s stress/poor mental health?

A

They would consider the idea that any of the three components are experiencing tension with another, causing psychological stress in the person.

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15
Q

What may the ego sometimes produce when wanting to reduce stress when in a certain situation?

A

Defence mechanisms

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16
Q

How do you define defence mechanism?

A

An unconscious strategy produced by the brain to protect the individual from heightened stress and anxiety during certain interactions and events.

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17
Q

How did Freud argue an individual’s repressed memories affected a person?

A

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.

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18
Q

What was Freud’s goal with psychotherapy?

A

To help patients uncover their repressed memories and guide them in dealing with their emotions and thoughts around the memories.

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19
Q

What did Baddeley (1998) find that goes against psychoanalysis?

A

They had found that most individuals will retain vivid memories of traumatic childhood events.

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20
Q

What did Ceci & Bruck (1993) suggest in terms of psychoanalysis?

A

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.

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21
Q

What is the purpose behind Freud’s idea of psychosexual stages of development?

A

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.

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22
Q

What is the first psychosexual stage and its bodily focus?

A

This is the oral stage which occurs from birth to age one and there is a focus on the mouth, lips and tongue.

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23
Q

What is the major developmental task during the oral stage of development?

A

Weaning.

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24
Q

What are some characteristics of an adult fixation in the oral stage?

A

Oral behaviour which includes smoking, overeating, passivity and gullibility.

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25
Q

What is the second psychosexual stage and its bodily focus?

A

This is the anal stage which occurs from age one to 3 - here the bodily focus is the anus.

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26
Q

What is the major developmental task during the anal stage of development?

A

Toilet training.

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27
Q

What are some characteristics of an adult fixation in the anal stage?

A

Includes orderliness, obstinacy or messiness, disorganisation.

28
Q

What is the third psychosexual stage and its bodily focus?

A

This is the phallic stage which occurs around three to six years of age and has a bodily focus on the genitals.

29
Q

What is the major developmental task during the phallic stage?

A

Resolving Oedipus/Electra complex.

30
Q

What is an Oedipus/Electra complex?

A

This is where a child experiences a sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent (a boy experiences a conflict between his attraction to his mother and his fear of his father, while for a girl she experiences the a conflict between her bond with her father and the fear of losing the love of her mother).

31
Q

What are some characteristics of adult fixation during the phallic stage of development?

A

Vanity, recklessness, sexual dysfunction, deviancy.

32
Q

What is the fourth stage of psychosexual development and its bodily focus?

A

The genital stage which occurs from 12 years old and onwards and its focus of libido is the genitals.

33
Q

What is the major developmental task of the genital stage?

A

To achieve mature sexual intimacy.

34
Q

What are some characteristics of adult fixation during the genital stage?

A

Successful integration of earlier stages should result in sincere interest in others and mature sexuality - failure of this will result in dysfunction.

35
Q

What process did Freud believe existed when the child was between 6 and 12 years of age?

A

He called this period the latency period. He did not believe this to be a psychosexual stage as it did not have a specific libido focus on the body, however this period of time involves developing defence mechanisms and identifying with same-sex peers.

36
Q

Did Freud think that adult fixation could occur during latency?

A

No.

37
Q

What is Erikson’s psychosocial theory?

A

This is the idea that development in a person results from the interaction of internal drives with cultural demands, thus referring to psychosocial stages rather than sexual stages.
Erikson further believed that development continued throughout our whole lives.

38
Q

What did Erikson believe an individual was to do to achieve a healthy personality?

A

The individual must successfully resolve a crisis at each of the eight stages of development, which can result in the emergence of a positive or negative character trait.

39
Q

How did Erikson believe individuals experienced his eight psychosocial stages?

A

They occurred through changes in social demands that accompany changes in age (age does not correlate with the adult stages).

40
Q

How many stages did Erikson identify in his psychosocial crises theory?

A

Eight.

41
Q

What is the first psychosocial crisis and its characteristics?

A

This is the ‘trust vs mistrust’ crisis which occurs from birth to age one. It includes learning to trust the primary caregiver as well as trusting one’s own will to make things happen (secure attachment).

42
Q

What positive characteristic is gained from healthy development during the first psychosocial (trust) crisis?

A

Hope.

43
Q

What is the second psychosocial crisis and its characteristics?

A

This is the ‘autonomy vs shame and doubt’ crisis and occurs in children one to three years of age. It includes developing new physical skills that allow demand for more choices as well as confidence in disagreeing with the caregiver - the child also learns self-care skills such as toileting.

44
Q

What is a positive characteristic that is gained from healthy development during the second psychosocial (autonomy) crisis?

A

Will.

45
Q

What is the third psychosocial crisis and its characteristics?

A

This is the ‘initiative vs grit’ crisis and occurs from ages three to six. It includes learning how to organise activities around certain goals, assertiveness and aggressiveness.

46
Q

What positive personality characteristic can be gained from healthy development during the third (initiative) crisis?

A

Purpose.

47
Q

What is the fourth psychosocial crisis and its characteristics?

A

This is the ‘industry versus inferiority’ crisis and it occurs from ages six to twelve. It includes learning cultural skills and norms which include school skills and tool use.

48
Q

What positive characteristic can be gained from healthy development within the fourth psychosocial (industry) crisis?

A

Competence.

49
Q

What is the fifth psychosocial crisis and its characteristics?

A

This is the ‘identity vs role confusion’ crisis and occurs from ages 12 to 18. It includes adapting to self and pubertal changes, considering future choices, achieving a mature sexual identity and searching for new values.

50
Q

What positive characteristic can be gained from healthy development during the fifth psychosocial (identity) crisis?

A

Fidelity.

51
Q

What is the sixth psychosocial crisis and its characteristics?

A

This is the ‘intimacy vs isolation’ crisis and it occurs from ages 18 to 30. It includes the development of intimate relationships beyond adolescent love (can include move to parenthood).

52
Q

What positive characteristic can be gained from healthy development during the sixth psychosocial (intimacy) crisis?

A

Love.

53
Q

What is the seventh psychosocial crisis and its characteristics?

A

This is the ‘generativity vs stagnation’ crisis and occurs from 30 into our elder years. It includes rearing children, focusing on creativity or occupational achievements, training the next generation and doing more things for others than for the self.

54
Q

What positive characteristic can be gained from the seventh psychosocial (generativity) crisis?

A

Care.

55
Q

What is the eighth psychosocial crisis and its characteristics?

A

This is the ‘ego integrity vs despair’ crisis which occurs during our elder years. It includes reflecting on our whole lives, integrating earlier stages, come to terms with basic identity (developing self-acceptance).

56
Q

What positive characteristic can be gained from healthy development during the eighth psychosocial (ego integrity) crisis?

A

Wisdom.

57
Q

Erikson believed that the foundation of adult personality is formed from the four childhood stages.
True or false?

A

True.

58
Q

What did Erikson argue that an adolescent must achieve before developing a mature sexual and occupational identity.

A

Erikson found that all adolescents must examine their identity and integrate a sense of self, of what they want to do, be, and their sexual role.

59
Q

Why can it be difficult for an adolescent to mature properly between ages 12 and 18 according to Erikson?

A

Adolescents will experience confusion during this time due to the influx of various roles opening up to them during these years.

60
Q

How does Erikson define intimacy?

A

A fusion of identities within a relationship.

61
Q

What is a strength of Freud’s psychosexual theory?

A

Freud’s theory emphasises the importance of experiences during infancy/early childhood as well as providing psychological explanations for mental health.

62
Q

What is a weakness of Freud’s psychosexual theory?

A

It has been found that sexual feelings are not as important during personality development as Freud claimed.

63
Q

What is a strength of Erikson’s psychosocial theory?

A

Erikson’s theory explains the role of culture in personality development, suggests that development continues into adult life which has made the path for lots of new research while also having an effective description of different themes during different stages of personality development.

64
Q

What is a weakness of Erikson’s psychosocial theory?

A

Describing each stage as a single crisis can be considered an oversimplification of the actual events.

65
Q

What are general strengths of psychanalytical theories?

A
  • Emphasises the importance of a child’s earliest relationship with a caregiver.
  • Suggest a child’s needs change with age.
66
Q

What is a general major weakness of psychoanalytical theories?

A

They contain rather complex concepts such as the id, ego, and superego which are not easy to measure and detect the presence of.