Freud: Psychoanalysis

Flashcards about Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

Unconscious

The portion of the mind that contains drives, urges, and instincts beyond our awareness, yet motivates our words, feelings, and actions.

Dreams

A rich source of unconscious material that Freud believed could reveal childhood experiences, even if the dreamer has no conscious recollection.

Guardian or censor

Freud's analogy for the force blocking the passage between the unconscious and preconscious, preventing anxiety-producing memories from entering awareness.

Phylogenetic endowment

Unconscious images inherited from the experiences of our early ancestors that have been passed on through generations.

Preconscious

The level of the mind containing elements that are not conscious but can readily become conscious.

Conscious

The level of mental life in awareness at any given point in time, directly available to us.

Id

The most primitive part of the mind, unconscious and striving to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires; operates on the pleasure principle.

Ego

The region of the mind in contact with reality, growing out of the id during infancy; governed by the reality principle.

Superego

The moral and ideal aspects of personality, guided by moralistic and idealistic principles; has two subsystems: the conscience and the ego-ideal.

Guilt

The feeling that results when the ego acts contrary to the moral standards of the superego.

Inferiority

The feeling that arises when the ego is unable to meet the superego's standards of perfection.

Dynamic principle

The driving forces behind people’s actions, motivated to seek pleasure and reduce tension and anxiety.

Drives

A stimulus within a person that operates as a constant motivational force; grouped under sex (Eros) and aggression (Thanatos).

Impetus

The amount of force a drive exerts.

Source

The region of the body in a state of excitation or tension; a characteristic of every basic drive.

Aim

Seeking pleasure by removing excitation or reducing tension; a characteristic of every basic drive.

Object

The person or thing that serves as the means through which the aim of a drive is satisfied.

Libido

The psychic energy of the sex drive.

Primary narcissism

The condition in which infants are primarily self-centered, with their libido invested almost exclusively on their own ego.

Love

Love that develops when people invest their libido on an object or person other than themselves.

Sadism

The need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on another person.

Masochism

Experiencing sexual pleasure from suffering pain and humiliation inflicted either by themselves or by others.

Anxiety

A felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns the person against impending danger.

Neurotic anxiety

Apprehension about an unknown danger, originating from id impulses.

Moral anxiety

Anxiety stemming from the conflict between the ego and the superego.

Realistic anxiety

An unpleasant, nonspecific feeling involving a possible danger; closely related to fear.

Repression

The ego protecting itself against anxiety by repressing undesirable id impulses.

Reaction Formation

Adopting a disguise that is directly opposite an original impulse.

Displacement

Redirecting unacceptable urges onto a variety of people or objects.

Fixation

Remaining at the present, more comfortable psychological stage when the prospect of taking the next step becomes too anxiety-provoking.

Regression

Reverting back to an earlier stage during times of stress and anxiety.

Projection

Attributing unwanted impulses to an external object, usually another person.

Introjection

Incorporating positive qualities of another person into one's own ego.

Sublimation

Repression of the genital aim of Eros by substituting a cultural or social aim.

Infantile stage

The first 4 or 5 years of life, the most crucial for personality formation.

Oral Phase

The first infantile stage where the mouth is the primary source of pleasure.