ch 9: the intrapsychic domain - psychoanalytic approaches to personality

what is the basis of psychoanalytic theory?

instincts (provide energy)

→ libido (life)

→ thantos (death)

→ psychic energy

• source of energy in everyone that fuels motivation

explain the unconscious motivation and the mind

• conscious

• pre-conscious

• unconscious

what is id?

• primitive and dominant in infancy

• drives all urges

  • pleasure principle

  • primary process thinking

  • wish fulfillment

what is ego?

• contrains “id“ within reality

• develops around 2-3 yo

  • reality principle

  • secondary process thinking

what is super ego?

• internalizes values, morals (around age 5)

• the conscience

  • not necessarily reality-based → people can set their own standards

what are the dynamics in personality - anxiety?

• objective anxiety: real threat

• neurotic anxiety: id-ego conflict

• moral anxiety: id/ego & super ego conflict

the ego functions to minimize anxiety & cope with threats via defence mechanisms

what is repression?

preventing unacceptable thoughts, feelings, urges from reaching conscious awareness

what is denial?

insisting that things are not as they seem by refusing to see facts

what is displacement?

a threatening/unacceptable impulse is directed from its source to non-threatning target

what is rationalization?

generating acceptable reasons for outcomes that otherwise appear socially unacceptable

what is reaction formation?

to reduce an urge, one may show an opposite reaction

what is projection?

project own unacceptable desires, urges &/or qualities onto others

• related to false consensus effect

what is sublimation?

channeling unacceptable insticts into a socially desirable activity

how is psychosexual stages and personality determined?

• conflict resolution

• balance of pleasure vs. demands

• people’s defence mechanisms

• the (psychosexual) stages reached

→ occurs at human nature level

what are the psychosexual stages and personality?

what is psychoanalysis?

• form of psychotherapy used to treat mental health difficulties/disorders & to restructure personality by making the unconscious conscious

1st goal: identify unconscious thoughts/feelings

2nd goal: once patient is aware of this material, help them deal with it maturely/realistically

what are techniques for revealing the unconscious?

• free association: patients relax & say what is on their mind (unfiltered context)

• dream analysis: dream interpretation (content & meaning)

  • manifest content: actual content

  • latent content: what content means

how are projective tests used?

following the previous techniques

→ interpretation(s) - (by psychoanalyst)

→ insight (by patient)

→ cognitive understanding of one’s problems & corresponding intense emotional experience

what is the process of psychoanalysis?

as progress is made toward insight there might be…

• resistance: patient sets up unconscious obstacles that work against progress

• transference: reaction (displacement) toward therapists as if therapist were someone in patient’s life

what is the impact of freud’s contributions?

• led to “talk therapy” & more modern forms of psychological treatment

• his works have been integrated into society at large

• his works have guided many research questions in psychology

• among the few to develop a theory at the human nature level