Psych 333 - Psychoanalytic Perspective

Controversy of Freudian

modern mainstream has made fun of him

but although he was wrong about stuff, he was also right about things that are named differently in modern psychology

Freud TRIED to provoke and react to his ideas

Psychoanalytic approach

The theoretical view of personality, based on the writings of Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes the unconscious processes of the mind

The introduction of a broader perspective called the psychodynamic perspective/psychology

Psychodynamic psychology

The theoretical view of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience.

This Encompasses psychoanalysis

• Examines relationship between conscious and unconscious

• Often considers the conflict of psychological processes/impulses/urges

Psychoanalysis

Essentially says we are the car our unconscious controls.

The importance of Freud (3)

The "talking cure"

"Disciples" went on to be incredibly influential themselves

The unconscious

The "talking cure"

Importance of Freud

Basically just talking about things will make the client feel better.

To deal with things, they have to be at the conscious level, so bring it to consciousness through allowing them to talk.

Freudians "disciples" went on to be incredibly influential themselves

Importance of Freud

Some of Freud's disciples either continued or broke off with Freud (ex. Carl Jung, or Adler)

The unconscious

Importance of Freud

We don't always know what we're doing.

A lot of the dual-process model had this as a driver.

Psychic Determinism

The assumption that everything that happens in a person's mind has a specific cause

• No miracles, free will, or even random accidents

• All ostensible contradictions can be understood by digging deep into the unconscious

Psychic Determinism

Psychic determinism: The assumption that everything that happens in a person's mind has a specific cause

• No miracles, free will, or even random accidents

• All ostensible contradictions can be understood by digging deep into the unconscious

Freud didn't think you could scientifically analyze psychodynamics. But was very up to date with science at the time.

Libido

Psychic (mental) energy, rooted in the drive towards creating, nurturing, and the enhancement of life (including but not limited to sex)

• Catharsis

Catharsis

Sometimes we're so frustrated but we can't just start punching strangers, our boss, etc. So you box, play COD, go to the gym, etc.

It actually doesn't work, but the general idea for Freud was you can do these as a secondary process.

Calling your partner your ex's name is an example of

Freud wouldn't say it's an accident. You are consciously thinking of you ex for that reason.

Another example is wanting a phone, then "accidentally" dropping your old phone to sabotage it. Even if it genuinely feels accidental.

The topographical model of the mind includes

conscious, preconscious, unconscious

Conscious

The topographical model of the mind

Think of this as the working memory from Cog. Psych

Preconscious

The topographical model of the mind

What we are not currently aware of but could easily be moved to the conscious.

Ex. being asked to remember what it was like being 13. You didn't have it consciously, but it was ready in the preconscious

Unconscious

The topographical model of the mind

Part of the mind not accessible to the conscious. But is STILL eliciting motivations

The _____ as the _____ motivator

Unconscious, primary

Desires, urges, feelings, memories, and ideas tied to anxiety, conflict, or pain

The whole point of psychodynamic therapy is that

Material in the unconscious are blocked from entering consciousness. Therapy is unblocking this through hypnosis or dreams.

We have to bring these to the conscious to properly deal with them.

The structural model of personality (Freud)

id, superego, ego

Id

The structural model of personality

The inherited, instinctive, primitive aspects of personality

The cartoon version of a cave person. simplistic, immediate gratification

The well of our psychic energy.

Pleasure principle

For the Id

all needs should be satisfied immediately.

Primary Process

For the Id

Formation of an unconscious image of an object or even that would satisfy a need

ex. Angry at someone = their bloodied face

Ego

As the Child develops, they realize not all needs can be met.

The structural model of personality

The rational part of the personality that deals pragmatically with reality

The reality principle

The Ego

The idea that actions must take into account the constraints of external reality

Not trying to stop the Id, just trying to fulfill its needs in a realistic way

Secondary Process

The Ego

Matching of the unconscious image of a tension-reducing object to a real object

Superego

The structural model of

personality

The embodiment of parental and societal values

the final structure to develop

Two subsystems: • Ego ideal: Rules for good behavior and standards of excellence

• Conscience: Rules about what behaviors the parents disapprove of and punish

• Strive for perfection and morals

Introjection

Superego

The absorption of values of the parents into the superego.

Angel and Devil on your shoulder

Id = DO IT, GET IT, IT'S YOURS (not evil per se, but does what it wants to do)

Superego = No that's not okay, you need to do what's right

The Id, Ego, and Superego can function _______ and this can cause conflict

Independently

Wonder why you acted a certain way when it made no sense or was in conflict with "who you are"?

The ego has to ______

balance everything

Ego Strength

The ego's ability to be effective despite trying to balance the impulses from the pleasure principle, the reality principle, and the societal expectations of the superego

Compromise formation

ex. sexual desire is high, but society says no, but also highlights values of raising a family. So the person withholds and gets married after. It fulfills their desire while being realistic

Or aggressivity with playing football/hockey

Freud's Iceberg

Freud used an iceberg as a metaphor for the typographical model of the mind and the structural model of personality

Parts above water for iceberg

part of the super-ego and ego

Parts below water for iceberg

Part of super-ego, ego, and Id

The _______ can be seen just below the water's surface, but the ____ is so deep you cannot see in the water

preconscious, unconscious

The biggest portion of the iceberg is the _____

super-ego

Oral Stage

(Birth - 18 months)

Physical focus: Mouth, lips, and tongue

• Relevant mental structure: Id

• Psychological theme: Dependence and passivity

• Adult character types (the oral character): Dependent or overly independent

• Otway & Vignoles (2006): Child that grew up to be narcissist tended to have parents that were too cold or showered with too much admiration

The Anal Stage

(18 months - 3 years) • Physical focus: Anus and organs of elimination

• Relevant mental structure: Ego

• Psychological theme: Obedience and self-control

• Adult character types (the anal character): Obedient and obsessed with order or antiauthority and chaotic

• Baumrind (1971; 1991): Authoritative parenting associated with better outcomes than authoritarian and permissive styles

The Phallic Stage

(3-5/7 years)

• Physical focus: Sexual organs

• Relevant mental structure: Superego

• Psychological theme: Gender identity and sexuality

• Love, fear, and jealousy

• Development of morality

• Adult character types (the phallic character): Over-or under-sexualized

Latency

(5/7 Years - Puberty)

• Physical focus: N/A

• Relevant mental structure: N/A

• Psychological theme: Learning and cognitive development

• Adult character types (the oral character): N/A

The Genital Stage

(Puberty - Adulthood)

• Physical focus: Sexuality in the context of a mature relationship

• Relevant mental structure: Id, ego, and superego are well balanced

• Psychological theme: Creation and enhancement of life

• Adult character types: A mature adult (seldom achieved)

• Freud's definition of mental health: "To love AND to work

Key task throughout the stages is to build _______

basic psychological structures

Regression

Return to a previous stage, often under stress or anxiety

Fixation

The libidinal energy that is left behind in development at a stage due to struggling with some issue

The life/sexual drive

Libido

a drive to create, protect, and enjoyment of life and with creativity, productivity, and growth

The Death Drive

Thanatos

Drive toward ___ and disorder

Doctrine of Opposites

Everything implies (even requires) its opposite

Extremes on opposite ends may be more similar to each other than those in between

Two kind of thinking

Primary and secondary process thinking

Secondary process thinking

what we ordinarily mean by the word "think"

Primary process thinking

The way the unconscious mind operates

Primary Processes don't contain the word _____ and may tie together ____ concepts

"no", disparate

May use displacement, condensation, and symbolization

Primary process thinking might come out through various conditions when the unconscious is _______

less guarded

Parapraxes

A leakage from the unconscious mind manifesting as a mistake, accident, omission, or memory lapse

AKA Freudian slip

Slips are often seen as a failure to suppress what one privately wishes to say

• Forgetting as a way to not remember painful events or to get out of events one may not want to participate in

ex. forgetting to meet with your friends/date Freud would suggest there's something suppressed at play.

Saying your ex's name by mistake suggests

Not necesarily you miss them, but perhaps that you miss how they treated you or something.

Denials of the substance of the paraprax suggest ______

more powerful impulses and urges

ex. if your partner hammers down that they meant nothing by accidentally saying their ex's name, it's worse.

Defense mechanisms come from coping with ____

anxiety

Defense mechanisms

The mechanisms of the ego that serve to protect an individual from experiencing anxiety produced by the id, superego, or reality

** This is not too much aligned with Sigmund Freud, but tends to be associated because of the extension of. Anna Freud did lots of the groundwork.

Free Association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

The more one protests or changes his thought process, the bigger issue it is.

Anxiety is the key ____ factor for so much of our behaviour

motivating

Anxiety in the Freudian sense

Not an unidentified fear, more one of neurosis, of discomfort. This is coming from different types of urges (Ex. sexual/aggressive, or Ego and Id not perfectly align, whatever combination of the three egos)

can come from external sources or sources within our minds.

Denial

Prevent perception of source of anxiety

"No! That's not possible"

You don't even acknowledge or attend to. You don't actually perceive it

Everyone who sees your friend in an abusive relationship except your friend is an example.

Everyone who sees your friend in an abusive relationship except your friend is an example of...

denial

Repression

Prevent recall of anything that might remind one of the source of anxiety

"I forgot"

The more painful, the harder to repress it.

Freud believed that lots of his patients suffered from abuse as a child, but they themselves can't remember. This is an example of...

Repression

Reaction Formation

Prevent recall of anything that might remind one of the source of anxiety

Repress something, then attack it.

Ex. Pastors who expressed anti-Gay-marriage sentiments but were also caught in homosexual acts. They didn't like their impulses, so they attacked it. "Pornography is the biggest menace to society there is!"

Reaction formation, Projection is likely also using ____

repression

Pastors who expressed anti-Gay-marriage sentiments but were also caught in homosexual acts is an example of

Reaction Formation

Projection

Attribute an unwanted impulse or attribute in oneself to other people

"I am surrounded by morons!"

Suppressing feelings of stupidity and incompetence by calling others stupid is an example of

Or having feelings for another, or cheating on a partner but accusing the partner of doing so

Projection

Rationalization

Create a seemingly logical reason for doing something shameful

"You have to be cruel to be kind"

Saying "it's a victimless crime" after getting caught stealing is an example of

Rationalization

Intellectualization

Trying to make it mechanic. Take away any emotional aspect to it. Just cold hard facts.

"After a prolonged period of discomfort, the patient expired"

"The operation caused collateral damage" to avoid the emotional weight of war plans causing death of civilians is an example of

Or no-naming patients who won't make it: "Patient 293..." "The arm patient"

intellectualization

Displacement

Redirect forbidden impulses onto a safer target

Ex. Professor dart boards

Not consciously thinking about this. You tend to have a shorter fuse.

Having a dart board with names of professors on them to take your anger out is an example of

Displacement

Sublimation

Convert base impulse into a noble cause

Socially accepted outlets for impulses.

High art, other occupational choices

Going to medical school to allow the opportunity to cut up people is an example of

Sublimation

Freud argued religion is an example of _____

sublimation

Defense Mechanisms (8)

Denial, Repression, Reaction Formation, Projection, Rationalization, Intellectualization, Displacement, Sublimation

Freud argued that most of what makes us anxious and unhappy is rooted in ______

unconscious conflicts

The only way to resolve them is to bring them into the open and only then you can address them rationally.

That's why he would do things like free association and hypnotism.

The length of Psychoanalytic therapy

A LONG time. Unconscious slips through here and there. And the therapist must know a LOT about the person.

"flight from health"

When we get close to becoming healthier, we regress, go back and become less healthy

Reason for flight from health

When you approach things you don't want to talk about, you feel worse.

Insight (For psychoanalysis)

An emotional re-experiencing of earlier conflicts in one's life during therapy

The goal is to reach this point. The therapist wouldn't give this insight, most often the best would be to get the clients to reach this themselves. It's actually dangerous for the therapist to impose these themselves.

Regardless, this needs a positive transference with the client/therapist

Transference

One of the most persistent ideas of Freud. The basis of attachment theory.

The process in which feelings toward other people in the patient's life are displaced onto the therapist

Positive Transference: Viewing the therapist in relation to a good model (ex. Good parental experience = good therapist)

Negative Transference:

Negative attitude of one to another (ex. bad parental experience, super judgmental = you might view the therapist as super judgmental)

Countertransference

It wasn't just the client transferring to the therapist, but vice versa

ex. the therapist might view the client as their children.

Is psychoanalysis effective?

For most of history, they concluded it might not be beneficial, at least in comparison to other practices

More complex research with more nuance has found that it's not great for depression/anxiety (use CBT for that), but it might be better for complex intertwined problems. Especially for Childhood trauma.

Freud wasn't concerned with _______ testing it or, later, its therapeutic technique

scientific

Was much more interested in a grand theory of human nature. Sought to understand why we are the way we really are.

He didn't even want science to test his theory because he thought it's not really testable.

Shortcomings of the Psychoanalytic Perspective

• Excessive complexity

- It's incredibly complex. Took prof an hour to read one page and really understand it.

- Science has the Occam's Razor approach. Science says this complexity is unnessary

• Case study method

- He didn't do experiments. Didn't think they were effective. That means we can't understand causation. Freud also had a very limited sample (in a sexually repressive culture).

• Vague definitions

- Ex. Libido as psychic energy AND sexual drive.

- Often because he's changed his understanding, but also didn't care so much about being specific and thought it was untestable. anyways

• Untestability

- How am I supposed to measure someone's Libido?

• Sexism

Freud's Sexism

A lot of his assumptions were that men were the the "normal"

Lots of the source of his weird theories.

- Ex. Oedipus Complex, Penis envy, etc.

Why Study Freud?

• Historical importance

- Generally not a great argument, but for Freud there's a difference.

3 Have fundamentally reshaped perspectives: Copernicus (earth isn't the center), Darwin (Humans aren't just creation), and Freud (Humans aren't just rational, conscious entities)

• He was right about some important things (to some extent)

- The unconscious mind.

- Early Childhood experience influences personality

- Instances and use of defense mechanisms (further developed by Anna Freud)

- Psychological conflicts affects mental health (urges aren't always congruent)

- The mind is not fully rational

- Talk therapy WORKS (to some extent)

• Importance in therapeutic process, even amongst strict non(anti)-Freudians

- Ideas of coming to talk about things, asking questions, and having the person to come to conclusions by themselves.

• Is the only one to put forth a complete theory of personality. Every other approach stops at something. He seriously wrote about damn near EVERYTHING. Something that prof thinks is lost today. People have their specialties and don't go outside of that.

• Pop culture and various elements of our broader culture

- Stereotypical view of therapy, referencing him, etc.

• Less seriously... It is actually quite fun (or it can be) to think about

Identification

taking on the values and the worldview of another person. Ex. of a parent

Condensation

Combining many ideas into one

Thanatos is likely alluding to

Entropy

Entropy

basic force towards randomness and disorder

The “terrible two’s”

the stage in the anal phase where kids test how much authority parents have by going one step past where they were told not to. Ex. pulling the cat’s tail after being told not to