Freud summary

Unconscious motivation

The importance of motivations that are not consciously recognized but still influence behavior.

Hysteria

A treatable disorder with both psychological and organic origins, according to Freud.

Catharsis

The release of tension that often occurs when a patient openly discusses their problems.

Transference

When a patient responds to a therapist as if they were an important person in the patient's life.

Countertransference

When a therapist becomes emotionally involved with the patient.

Free association

A primary means of studying the unconscious, according to Freud.

Instincts

The driving force behind personality, according to Freud.

Eros

The collective term for life instincts, according to Freud.

Libido

The energy associated with life instincts, according to Freud.

Thanatos

The death instinct responsible for aggression and self-destructive tendencies, according to Freud.

Provinces of the mind

Id

Ego

Superego

id

the part of our mind we share with lower animals and is governed by the pleasure principle

ego

the executive of the personality and is governed by the reality principle

superego

the moral component of the personality and consists of the conscience and the ego ideal

wish fulfillment

the id creates a mental image of an object that will satisfy a physiological need when it arises

secondary processes

problem-solving skills of the ego used to seek out real objects in the environment that will actually satisfy that need because wish fulfillment cannot

primary processes

wish fulfillment and reflex action

cathexis

The investment of psychic energy in the image of an object that will satisfy a need

anxiety

desired object conflicts with the values of the superego

reality anxiety

the fear of actual dangers in the environmen

antithexis

when a desired object conflicts with the values of the superego and the ego resists the id’s attempt to invest energy in its image

neurotic anxiety

the fear of being punished for impulsive, animalistic actions

moral anxiety

when a value internalized in the superego has been violated

ego-defense mechanisms

unconscious processes that reduce anxiety by distorting or falsifying reality

repression

keeps anxiety-provoking thoughts in the unconscious mind and thus out of a person’s awareness and is the most basic ego-defense mechanism because all the other ego-defense mechanisms first employ repression

displacement

substitutes a nonanxiety-provoking goal for one that does cause anxiety

identification

affiliating oneself with someone or something that will enhance one’s feelings of worth

denial

the refusal to accept the reality of some event because to do so would cause anxiety

projection

seeing in other people, objects, or events qualities that are true about oneself but would cause anxiety if recognized

rationalization

giving “logical” explanations for behavior that would cause anxiety if it were not explained away

intellectualization

a potentially anxiety-provoking idea is stripped of its emotional component by the intellectual (rational) analysis of the idea

regression

returning to a stage of development where fixation had occurred when stress is encountered

erogenous zone

an area of the body that is associated with maximum pleasure

fixation

either too much or too little gratification occurs during a psychosexual stage making an adult person possess traits characteristic of that stage

anatomy is destiny

gender differences are ultimately biological in origin

1st: oral stage

Fixation at the oral stage results in either an oral-incorporative character or an oral-sadistic character

2nd: anal stage

Fixation at the anal stage results in either an anal-expulsive character or an anal-retentive character.

3rd: phallic stage

determines sexual preferences

4th: latency stage

sexual interests are repressed and displaced to other activities such as learning and peer group activities

final: genital stage

the individual emerges as the adult he or she is destined to become after various experiences during the preceding psychosexual stage

Sigmund Freud

Classical psychoanalysis