Freud and Psychoanalysis

What are the main features of Freud’s approach to psychology?

• Biological basis of explanation

• Determinism (behavior is caused, not random)

• Pessimistic view of human nature

• Idiographic approach (detailed case studies, e.g., dream analysis over years)

What drives personality according to Freud?

Basic instinctive drives that cannot be influenced.

What is Fechner’s psychophysics concept and how did Freud apply it?

Organisms aim for homeostasis—ideal low excitation; Freud believed the nervous system seeks to reduce internal stimulation to near zero.

• its an instinctual drive to reduce this arousal to zero

How does Freud define pleasure?

Discharge of energy and reduction of tension, not altruistic motives → instead internal drive to reduce arousal

What was Freud’s early scientific project about?

Neurophysiology—studying how the nervous system eliminates internally generated stimulation.

Describe the Id.

Innate, irrational, gratification-oriented; operates on pleasure principle; no reality awareness; newborns are entirely Id.

• biological

• can never achieve full satisfaction

Describe the Ego.

Rational, reality-oriented; develops from Id; operates on reality principle; mediates desires with external world.

Describe the Superego.

Moral censor; develops through resolution of Oedipal conflict.

What are Freud’s psychosexual stages and their age ranges?

• Oral (0–1.5): pleasure from feeding

• Anal (1.5–3): pleasure from toilet training

• Phallic (3–5): focus on genitals

• Genital (12–18): sexual maturity; dormant during puberty then reactivated

Give examples of adult fixations from childhood stages.

• Oral overindulgence → smoking, overeating

• Harsh potty training → hoarding, stinginess

Name and define four defence mechanisms.

• Repression: Blocking awareness of drives - we don’t acknowledge them

• Projection: Attributing own feelings to others

• Sublimation: Channeling drives into socially acceptable outlets (e.g., art) → culture is the expression of our true desires

• Reaction Formation: Acting opposite to true feelings (e.g., resentment of mother masked by anxiety of mother leaving the house)

We develop these defence mechanisms as we are embarrassed by our unconscious biological drives

What methods did Freud use to access the unconscious?

• Dream interpretation → subconscious awareness

• Free association (quick responses reveal unconscious)

• Principle of determinism: no accidents, all behavior has a cause

What is the Oedipus complex?

A psychosexual neurosis rooted in childhood attraction to the mother and rivalry with the father; discovered by Freud in his self-analysis.

What was Freud’s therapeutic goal?

Replace abnormal unhappiness with normal unhappiness.