week 3 - Freudian/psychoanalytic theory

Primary assumptions of psychoanalytic theory

1. Human nature is determined by unconscious motivation, instincts & impact of early life on later development

2. Exploration and interpretation of past experiences

3. Repetitive patterns are key to treatment

4. Relationship factors are critical

5. Resistance, defenses, and transference

   1. Transference is based on distortion

Id

all the untamed drives or impulses that might be likened to the biological component

It lacks organization and is blind, demanding, and insistent

The id never matures

The pleasure principle

[the id is] aimed at reducing tension, avoiding pain, and gaining pleasure, the id is illogical, amoral, and driven to satisfy instinctual needs

Ego

attempts to organize and mediate between the id and the reality of dangers posed by the id’s impulses (it mediates between the instincts and the surrounding environment)

The reality principle

the ego does realistic and logical thinking and formulates plans of action to satisfy needs

Superego

internalized social component, largely rooted in what the person imagines to be the expectations of parental figures (perfection principle)

includes a person’s moral code, the main concern being whether an action is good or bad, right or wrong. It represents the ideal rather than the real and strives not for pleasure but for perfection

The rewards are feelings of pride and self-love; the punishments are feelings of guilt and inferiority

psychosexual stages - are the accurate?

The oral, anal, and phallic stages. If you can't overcome one, you won't overcome the next. NOT accurate.

Where does transference come from?

Comes from unresolved or unsatisfying childhood experiences with parents or others. Can be positive or negative

Projection vs. Displacement vs. Transference vs. Projective Identification

Projection = Attributing to others one’s unacceptable desires and impulses

Displacement = Directing energy toward another object or person when the original target is inaccessible

Transference = form of projection that distorts the relationship

PI = identifying with a projection (Stanford Prison Experiment)

Projections in relationships (LeBron James, Scarface)

The partners may have been chosen because of their willingness to carry parts of self that we DON’T like or IDEALIZE.

“What you cannot stand in yourself, you locate and attack (or nurture) in the other”

Theory of Repetition Compulsion/Theory of Templates

We do competitively interact with others despite their unhealthy components

The compulsion of the human psyche to repeat traumatic events over and over again

Familiarity is comfortable even if it's maladaptive