Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality

Theories and Ideas by Freud + Neo-Freudians

Unconscious

= memories, all info pushed into the back of mind which you can’t recall

Preconscious

= info in memory that might shape behaviors, can recall

Conscious

= small part of mind, the info you’re aware of and can act on

ID

= immediate gratification

* pleasure principle

Ego

= balanced ID and Superego for safety and sanity

Superego

= The voice of society and the ego-ideal

Pleasure Principle

= the psychic force that motivates people to seek immediate gratification of instinctual, or libidinal, impulses, such as sex, hunger, thirst, and elimination

Immediate Gratification

the temptation, and resulting tendency, to forego a future benefit in order to obtain a less rewarding but more immediate benefit

Dream Wish Fulfillment

the idea that when wishes can't or won't be fulfilled in our waking lives, they are carried out in dreams

Reality Principle

the ego's control of the __pleasure-seeking__ activity of the id in order to meet the demands of the external world

Freudian Slips

an __unintentional__ error regarded as revealing __subconscious__ feelings

Erogenous Zone

a sensitive area on the body that causes sexual arousal when it is touched

Libido

the energy of the sexual drive as a component of the life __instinct__

Oral

Stage 1 of Psychosexual Development

= babies get sexual pleasure from chewing and sucking on things

Anal

Stage 2 of Psychosexual Development

= During this stage, Freud believed that the primary focus of the __libido__ was on controlling bladder and bowel movements

* The major conflict at this stage is toilet training—the child has to learn to control their bodily needs. Developing this control leads to a sense of accomplishment and independence

Phallic

Stage 3 of Psychosexual Development

= the primary focus of the libido is on the genitals.

\
several terms in this stage:

* Oedipus Complex in boys
* Castration Anxiety
* Electra Complex in girls
* Penis Envy

Oedipus Complex

* feelings of wanting to possess the mother
* competition and jealousy towards the father

\
* occurs during the phallic stage of psychosexual development

Electra Complex

a girl's sense of competition with her mother for the affections of her father.

* is comparable to the __Oedipus complex__ in males

Castration Anxiety

the fear that the father will retaliate against the child's hostile impulses by cutting off his penis.

Penis Envy

supposed envy of the male's possession of a penis,

* __postulated__ by Freud to account for some aspects of female behavior (notably the __castration__ complex)
* controversial among modern __theorists__

Latent

Stage 4 of Psychosexual Development

__Sexual Feelings Are Inactive__

= During this stage, the superego continues to develop while the id's energies are suppressed. (sexual energy is __repressed__ or dormant.)

* Children develop social skills, values, and relationships with peers and adults outside of the family.
* The development of the __ego__ and __superego__ contributes to this period of calm.
* The stage begins around the time that children enter school and become more concerned with peer relationships, hobbies, and other interests. \n

Genital

Stage 5 of Psychosexual Development

= onset of puberty causes the libido to become active once again

Age Range: Puberty to Death

* develops a strong sexual interest in the opposite sex
* Where in earlier stages the focus was solely on individual needs, interest in the welfare of others grows during this stage.
* ego and superego were fully formed and functioning at this point \n

Fixation

when you get stuck in a stage of psychosexual development

* the conflict with arise in your behavior

Projection

a type of defense mechanism

= people associate their negative thoughts with another person

\
ex. don’t get A’s → “oh, that teacher just doesn’t like me”

Regression

a type of defense mechanism

= individuals cope with stressors by acting in a childish, immature, or age-inappropriate manner

(go back in time)

\
ex. younger sibling starts crawling and gets a lot of attention, so older child (who already knows how to walk) starts crawling too

Reaction Formation

a type of defense mechanism

= people express the __**opposite**__ of their true feelings, sometimes to an exaggerated extent

\
ex. man who feels insecure about his masculinity might act overly aggressive.

ex. an alcoholic may extol the virtues of abstinence

Rationalization

a type of defense mechanism

= making excuses

= reassuring but incorrect explanations for one’s own thoughts

\
ex. fox kept not being able to reach grapes, so it thinks: “they’re probably sour anyways”

Repression

a type of defense mechanism

= forgetting

= Subconsciously blocking impulses/memories that are undesirable,

* can’t recall when asked

\
ex. Jacob cannot remember certain painful memories as a child.

To protect himself, he unconsciously represses these memories from his consciousness. Instead, he displays anxious behaviors toward other items that he associates with these original painful memories

Displacement

a type of defense mechanism

= kicking the dog

= transferring negative feelings from one person to another

Sublimation

a type of defense mechanism

= substitution

= redirects energy from an unacceptable impulse or emotion into a more socially acceptable one

* seen as a mature form of behavior and is used to cope with difficult situations

\
ex. you love hurting people (but that’s frowned upon) so you become a dentist (socially-acceptable, plus, you hurt people everyday! win-win)

Denial

a type of defense mechanism

= “no! that’s not true!”

= the refusal to acknowledge disturbing aspects of external reality

Inferiority Complex

= feeling of inadequacy and insecurity

\
leads to → compensation

Compensation

= a type of defense mechanism in which people overachieve in one area to compensate for failures in another

\
* caused by inferiority complex

Personal Unconscious

everything subliminal, forgotten, and repressed in an individual's life

* basically same as ID

Collective Unconscious

a form of the unconscious common to mankind as a whole and originating in the inherited structure of the brain

* (that part of the mind containing memories and impulses of which the individual is not aware)
* reservoir for instinctive “memories” like a genetic code

Archetype

= ancient images that reappear in art, folktales, literature universally

\
ex. animus and anima = the masculine and feminine sides of personality

ex. the shadow archetype = destructive and aggressive tendencies that we don’t want to acknowledge in our personalities

Complex

= system of related ideas / impulses that have a common emotional tone

* exert a strong but usually unconscious influence on the individual's attitudes and behavior

Basic Anxiety

= a sense of uncertainty and isolation

* developed by Horney

Erikson

= person who created the 8 stages of psychosocial development