Week 4: Freud and post-Freudian theorists Flashcards
Which two people and their theories were big influences for Freud?
- Charles Darwin and his view on humans not being fundamentally different from animals
- Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzche who focused on the unconscious and irrational and primitive forces
List the main emphases of Psychoanalytic theory
- intra-psychic events
- unconscious drives
- early childhood
List Freud’s major theories
- instincts
- topographic model
- structural model
- stages of psychosexual development
- defence mechanisms
Describe Freud’s instincts
- Eros: the life instinct - sexual reproduction, creativity, generativity
- Thanatos: the death instinct - destruction, war
Describe Freud’s topographic model
- Things we are conscious of at the surface, the middle is preconscious, and the bottom is unconscious - think top to bottom of ice berg
Describe Freud’s structural model
- Superego: internalised rules, dogmatic
- Ego: the balancing force between the superego and the id
- Id: destructive, primitive force, animalistic part of the self
Describe Freud’s stages of psychosexual development
Freud posited that as infants grow, they go through different sexual fixations at different stages, with key conflicts at each stage
Describe Freud’s defence mechanisms
Defence mechanisms are processes that help defend against assaults to your personality
What are some popular criticisms of Freud’s theories?
- overemphasis on sexual urges
- heterosexist and offensive to women
- focus on early childhood
- virtually impossible to test
- cultural generalisability?
- restricted sample: unhappy middle class females
- no real time data - wrote from memory
List Freud’s 6 main contributions to psychology
- unconscious mental life affects conscious experience
- dynamic components of the mind in conflict
- past experiences (early childhood) affect our current perception
- transference can occur
- defence mechanisms
- observable psychological and psychosomatic symptoms
Define transference
The tendency to transfer problems from one close relationship to areas that mirror it
What were Erik Erikson’s main views on personality?
- it continues to develop throughout the lifespan
- it is buit up over time
- emphasised the impact of culture, society and history
Erik Erikson’s childhood
- born in Germany
- father abandoned family before birth
- rejected by school peers, dropped out to travel and paint, trained in psychoanalysis
List the 8 stages of Erikson’s stage model
- oral sensory
- muscular-anal
- locomotor
- latency
- adolescence
- young adulthood
- middle adulthood
- maturity
What was the main premise of Erikson’s stages?
We go through each stage and have conflicts that we have to deal with. Successful handing of conflicts leads us into the next stage in a positive way
What is the age and basic conflict of the oral sensory stage?
- 0-12/18 mo
- Trust vs. mistrust (hope)
What is the age and basic conflict of the muscular-anal stage?
- 18mo - 3 years old
- Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
What is the age and basic conflict of the locomotor stage?
- 3-6
- Initiative vs. guilt (purpose)
What is the age and basic conflict of the latency stage?
- 6-12
- Industry vs. inferiority (competence)
What is the age and basic conflict of the adolescence stage?
- 12-18
- Identity vs. role confusion (fidelity)