Week 2 Freud

Question 1

Freud’s theories (3)

Answer 1

• Levels of consciousness
• Personality development
• Defence mechanisms

Question 2

Adler’s theories (3)

Answer 2

• Inferiority/superiority
• Birth order and parenting behaviours
• Personality types

Question 3

How did freud view personality?

Answer 3

A dynamic flow of mental energy

Question 4

How did Freud interpret dreams?

Answer 4

“The interpretation of Dreams is the royal road
to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of
the mind”

Question 5

What views did Freud challenge at the time? (2)

Answer 5

• Rationalist viewpoints
• Unconscious ideas were weaker than conscious ones

Question 6

What methods did Freud use to analyse the unconscious? (4)

Answer 6

1) Dreams
2) Slips of the tongue
3) Works of art
4) Free association

Question 7

what model did Freud develop?

Answer 7

Developed a topographical and structural model of personality

Question 8

What is the topographical model (Freud)

Answer 8

1) The conscious
2) Preconscious
3) Unconscious
4) repression

Question 9

‘The conscious’

Answer 9

everything we are aware of
e.g, our current thoughts are perceptions

Question 10

‘the preconscious’

Answer 10

below the surface of consciousness but can be accessed
e.g, old phone number

Question 11

‘Unconscious’

Answer 11

Socially unacceptable or shameful memories, urges and fantasies

Question 12

‘repression’

Answer 12

active process keeping unacceptable material hidden

Question 13

Structural model (freud):

Answer 13

1) The id
2) The ego
3) The superego
4) The ego ideal

Question 14

The id: (5)

Answer 14

1) Born with our Id- allows us to get basic needs met
2) Based on the pleasure principle
3)The Id speaks until its needs are met (instant gratification)
4) irrational, acts on impulse
5) No consideration of consequences, what is possible, desirable or acceptable

Question 15

The ego: (5)

Answer 15

1) Develops around age 2 to 3
2) Based on the reality principle
3) Planning, thinking, and organising (executive part of personality)
4) The mediator between child and world
5) Say ‘please and thank you’

Question 16

The superego: (4)

Answer 16

1) Develops around age 5
2) Equated with conscience
3) Child adopts many values of same sex-parent (identification)
4) Partly conscious, partly unconscious and consists of conscience and ego-ideal

Question 17

The ego ideal: (6)

Answer 17

1) Part of the superego
2) The ‘ideal self’
3) Ego ideal- formed via reward
4) Conscience- formed via punishment
5)Reward/punishment parallels with modern day behaviour training
6) Super nanny: ‘naughty- step’ and ‘reward jars’

Question 18

Psychosexual development ( The development of personality) (5)

Answer 18

1) Oral stage
2) Anal stage
3) Phallic stage
4) Latency stage
5) Genital stage

Question 19

The oral stage (7)

Answer 19

1)0-18 months
2)Infants explore items using lips, mouth,
tongue (life sustaining libido)
3)Develop an attachment to the caregiver
4)Children may experience problems at
this stage (e.g., due to rapid weaning)
5)Oral receptive’ adults: very dependant
on others
6)‘Oral aggressive’ adults: hostile and
domineering
7)Fixation: oral behaviour e.g. smoking,
chewing nails or eating

Question 20

The anal stage

Answer 20

1) 18 months- 36 months
2)Involves anal area as main source of libido
(need satisfying libido)
3)This is the stage at which toilet training
occurs
4) ‘Anal retentive’ personality: mean, stubborn,
orderly
5)‘Anal expulsive’ personality: resist attempts
from others to control them, disorganised,
disregard rules
6)Fixation: orderly, obstinacy, meanness

Question 21

The phallic stage (6)

Answer 21

1) 3 years - 6 years
2)Libido focuses on the genitalia
3)Child develops an attraction to the parent of the opposite
sex
4)As they realise that the parent of the opposite sex is
unavailable, they model the behaviour of the same sex
parent
5) Phallic personality
* For men, vain self-assured
* For women, fight for superiority over men
6)Fixation: Vanity, recklessness, promiscuous

Question 22

Latency stage (6)

Answer 22

1) 6 years- puberty
2)Resting period
3) Girls and boys view their sexual feelings
with shame or disgust
4)Use defence mechanisms to repress
those feelings and engage in school
work or sport
5)No adult fixations occur at this stage
6) Infantile amnesia occurs

Question 23

Genital stage (4)

Answer 23

1)Main source of pleasure is the
genitals (sexual libido)
2)Focus is on sexual pleasure
with another person
3)Genital character in
adulthood
4) Such people are mature and
able to be loved

Question 24

The oedipus complex for boys

Answer 24

1)About age 5 – boys desire
their mother and fear their
father
2)They fear that their father
may make a pre-emptive
strike at the root of the
conflict - the boy’s penis
3)Leads to ‘Castration
anxiety’
4)Resolved by becoming like
father

Question 25

The oedipus complex for girls (5)

Answer 25

1)For girls, the centre of the
conflict is the penis, or lack
of it
2)Girls blame mother for
their lack of a penis
3)Desire father but envy his
penis
4)Leads to ‘Penis envy’
5)Resolved by the desire for
a child

Question 26

Freudian defence mechanisms

Answer 26

1)Developed at the Latency Stage
2) Conflict between Id and Super Ego (Ego Ideal) creates
anxiety for the Ego
3)Defence Mechanisms protect us from pain (self-esteem)
4)Some protect us from the internal impulses of the Id
5) Others protect us from external threats
6)Anna Freud ‘The Ego and the mechanism of defence’ (1936)
7) A psychoanalyst needs to assess the contribution of defence
mechanisms to a patient’s symptoms

Question 27

10 common defence mechanisms

Answer 27

1) Repression
2) Regression
3) Denial
4)Projection
5)Reaction-formation
6)Undoing
7) Displacement
8) Rationalisation
9) Isolation
10) Sublimation

Question 28

1) Repression

Answer 28

A constant active effort by ego to push threatening material our of consciousness

Question 29

2)Regression

Answer 29

When faced with a situation we can’t resolve, we regress to an earlier stage of development

Question 30

3)Denial

Answer 30

Simply refusing to believe an unpleasant reality

Question 31

4) Projection

Answer 31

Attributing our own negative impulses to someone else

Question 32

5) Reaction-formation

Answer 32

Suppressing unacceptable impulses and adopting an opposite course of action

Question 33

6) Undoing

Answer 33

Attempting to negate feelings of guilt using ritual or kindness

Question 34

7) Displacement

Answer 34

If we are unable to respond to unpleasant situations we may transfer our impulses onto another object or person

Question 35

8)Rationalisation

Answer 35

Finding logical reasons for unacceptable behaviour or thoughts

Question 36

Isolation

Answer 36

Separating the anxiety-provoking aspects of an event from other thoughts and behaviours

Question 37

Sublimation

Answer 37

Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable actions

Question 38

Strengths of Freudian theory (4)

Answer 38

1)First systematic theory
of personality
2.) Adult personality
depends of childhood
experiences
3.) Some of the
personalities proposed
do seem to exist
4. )Comprehensive theory

Question 39

Weaknesses of Freudian theory( 7)

Answer 39

1. Not empirically testable
2. Hard to establish what childhood
   experiences a person has had
3. Implies personality develops in a
   more orderly way than it does
4. Adult personality depends more on
   heredity and on experiences in
   adolescence than Freud assumed
5. No observations of children
6. Minimises traumatic experiences
7. Androcentric

Question 40

Post-freudian theorists (6)

Answer 40

Dissenters of Freud:
* Collaborated with Freud at some point
* Challenged the accepted notion of unconscious
* Disagreed about fundamentals of theory,
including
* Rigidity of theory
* Reliance on sexual urges
* Chauvinistic view of women