Personality 1

Flashcards on Freud and Psychodynamic Approaches

Psychoanalysis

A therapeutic approach, often associated with Freud, where patients discuss repressed memories and experiences from their childhood.

Oedipus complex

A concept in Freudian theory where a child develops feelings of desire for the opposite-sex parent and jealousy towards the same-sex parent.

Conscious

The part of the mind that contains thoughts and perceptions one is aware of at any given time.

Unconscious

The part of the mind that contains unacceptable sexual desires, fears, irrational wishes, shameful experiences, selfish needs, violent motives, and immoral urges, according to Freud.

Rorschach test

A projective psychological test using inkblots to analyze a person's personality and unconscious by interpreting their perceptions of the blots.

Hysteria

A catchall term used to describe a range of mental disorders with symptoms such as loss of feelings in limbs, inability to drink water, medically unexplained pains, paralysis, muscular twitches, and hallucinations.

Hypnosis

A state of consciousness in which a person is highly responsive to suggestion, used by Freud to access the unconscious mind.

Topographic Model

Freud's model of the mind consisting of three levels: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

Preconscious

The level of the mind containing memories and stored knowledge that are not currently in awareness but can be easily retrieved.

Latent content

According to Freud, the unconscious, underlying meaning of a dream.

Manifest content

According to Freud, the surface-level, literal content of a dream.

Freudian slip

An unintentional error in speech or action that reveals unconscious thoughts or feelings.

Structural Model

Freud's model of the psyche, divided into the id, ego, and superego.

Id

The primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.

Ego

The realistic part of the mind that mediates between the desires of the id and the superego, operating on the reality principle.

Superego

The moralistic part of the mind that incorporates societal and parental standards of conduct, inducing feelings of guilt if its rules are violated.

Pleasure principle

The driving force of the id that seeks immediate gratification of all needs, wants, and urges.

Eros

In Freudian theory, the life instinct, which drives people toward survival, reproduction, and pleasure.

Thanatos

In Freudian theory, the death instinct, which drives people toward aggression, destruction, and death.

Reality principle

The governing principle of the ego, which seeks to satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways.

Defense mechanisms

Unconscious psychological strategies used by the ego to protect itself from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.

Developmental Model

Freud's theory suggesting that personality develops through a series of psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

Oral stage

The first psychosexual stage (0-2 years) where pleasure is centered around the mouth, and the conflict is weaning from the mother's breast.

Anal stage

The second psychosexual stage (2-4 years) where pleasure is centered around the anus, and the conflict is toilet training.

Phallic stage

The third psychosexual stage (4-6 years) where pleasure is centered around the genitals, and the conflicts are the Oedipus and Electra complexes.

Castration anxiety

In Freudian theory, a boy's fear during the phallic stage that his father will castrate him as punishment for his sexual feelings toward his mother.

Penis envy

In Freudian theory, a girl's desire during the phallic stage to possess a penis, leading to feelings of inferiority and rivalry with her mother.

Oedipus complex

A boy's unconscious sexual desire for his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for his father.

Electra complex

A girl's unconscious sexual desire for her father and feelings of rivalry with her mother.

Fixation

In Freudian theory, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

Anal retentive

A personality type characterized by excessive orderliness, neatness, and control, thought to result from fixation at the anal stage.

Anal expulsive

A personality type characterized by recklessness, disorganization, and a lack of control, thought to result from fixation at the anal stage.