Psychological positivism

Sigmund Freud

-father of psychoanalysis

-concerned with functional disorders vs organic disorders 

Organic disorder: where we can explain what is causing behaviour 

Functional disorder: has no identifiable cause

Functional disorders tend to be the result of painful memories which have been pushed out of a person’s memory, the memories appear through symptoms 

When recalled then it goes away

Anna O

-developed a bad cough the speech difficulty, then she went mute then when she got her voice back she spoke in English (she originally spoke german)

-no physical cause was found 

-she expressed painfully memories with despair from her past with freud and her symptoms went away 

3 levels of the mind:

conscious 

• What we are aware of at any given time, current feelings and what you are thinking about right now

Preconscious 

• Contains memories and thoughts that you are not currently thinking about but can easily bring them to mind 

Unconscious 

• Contains memories, fears, desires but are not easily available and accessible and are not in our current awareness 

• Influence our behaviour 

Theory of personality

Id

• Entirely unconscious

• Contains urges, desires and wants 

• Hedonistic 

• Operates on the pleasure principle 

• Example: baby 

Ego

• Develops at age 3

• Ego is fully conscious 

• Operates on the reality principle

• Meets desires of the Id but also takes into consideration the real world situation

Superego 

• Develops around age 5

• Child learns what is right and wrong 

• Operates on the morality principle 

• Operates on both unconscious and conscious 

• Morals and values were aware of -conscious level

• We don’t do certain things cause it does not feel right -unconscious level 

 Stages of psychosexual development 

1. Oral stage 

• 0 -1 years old 

• Breast feeding or feeding a child through a body

• Unsuccessful people can face a oral fixation or addiction 

2. Anal stage 

• 1-3

• Control of bladder and bowel movements 

• Unsuccessful people are controlling,messy and disorganized 

3. Phallic stage 

• 3-6 years old 

• Oedipus complex, boys desire their moms, 

• Unsuccessful people can have an inferiority complex 

4. Latent stage

7-13

5. Genital stage 

Puberty to death 

 Libido becomes active again 

How can we reveal the content of the unconscious?

1. Free association 

• Client is going to say everything and anything that comes to mind no matter how relevant it is or embarrassing 

• With no boundaries it allows unconscious thoughts to rise to the surface 

2. Dream analysis 

• Dreams can reveal unconscious desires 

• Manifest: apparent meaning 

• Latent meaning: hidden meaning 

3. Freudian slip

-you mean to say one thing but your unconscious mind influences your mind to say what you actually feel

4. Hypnosis 

5. Transference 

-when a patient transfers their feelings onto a therapist but does not realize they are doing this 

6. Projective tests 

• 2 types 

1. Rorschach tests 

-patient is presented with an image and without hesitation must say what they see 

-therapist analyzes what they say

2. Thematic apperception tests

• Individual is presented with a image and are to make up a story on what is happening in the image 

Explanations of crime

According to Freud, crime is a result of a weak ego because it will fail to Id’s impulses and urges, leads to poor decision making 

Crime is a result of an overdeveloped superego, this may cause excessive guilt and may commit crime with the intention of wanting to be caught or punished 

According to August Aichorn crime is a result of an underdevelopment superego, if a child was raised where the parents were absent, they would not form attachments but also know what is right and wrong therefore they would engage in crime without guilt