Psychodynamic Approach: Basics and (Neo-) Freud

What does psychodynamic approach posit

That people are high AND low on certain traits (ex. Narcissism and confidence)

Psychological Determinism

No behavior is random —> determined by conscious and unconscious drives, needs, wishes, and fears

Unconscious

• sexual and aggressive drives

• Repressed content

• These contents want to come out!

Techniques/instances when the unconscious comes to the surface

• Freudian Slips: i don’t think we’ve been properly seduced

• Projective techniques (Rorschach tests)

Intrapsychic conflict

Conflicts between id, ego, and superego determine behavior

Id

• all drives and urges

• The pleasure principle

Ego

• constrains the Id to reality

• Reality principle

Superego

• internalized values

  • Moral standards of parents and society

Dreams, the unconscious, and Freud

• dreams are the “royal road to the unconscious”

• “Wishes suppressed during the day assert themselves in dreams” (desires present themselves in dreams)

• Not held up in modern day, memories are just a process of memory consolidation

What are defense mechanisms

• resolve conflict and reduce anxiety

• Explain seemingly inexplicable aspects of our behavior

• Freud says Personality = set of defense mechanisms

Types of defense mechanisms

• repression

• Denial

• Displacement

• Rationalization

• Reaction formation

• Projection

• Sublimation

• Intellectualization

Repression

Unpleasant thoughts and feelings are pushed out of awareness

Denial

Refusal to accept reality

Displacement

Threatening impulse/desire is redirected elsewhere

Rationalization

Generating logical reasons for outcomes that otherwise would not be acceptable

Reaction formation

To block an impulse, the exact opposite behaviors/desires are displayed

Projection

Projecting one’s own unacceptable qualities onto others

Sublimation

Convert unacceptable desire onto acceptable behavior

Intellectualization

Translate anxieties into theories or jargon that put emotions at a distance

What is adult personality built on

Early childhood

• foundation for developmental psychology

• Continuity of personality from childhood to adulthood

• No support for Freud’s theory of psychosexual development

• One of freud’s main theories (importance of early childhood experiences)

Attachment theory

• Caregiver is central in how attachment styles form

  • Maternal deprivation —> anxiety, anger, depression

• Attachment as the basis of love

• Children learn lessons from early experiences with adult caregivers

What are the different attachment styles

• anxious

• Avoidant

• Secure

Anxious attachment

I want to be extremely emotionally close with others but they abandon me

Avoidant

It is very important that I feel independent and self sufficient

Secure

I don’t worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me

According to Freud, intrapsychic conflict happens between

Id, ego, superego