Sigmund Freud: Theory of Psychoanalysis

Instincts

In Freud's system, mental representations of internal stimuli, such as hunger, that drive a person to take certain actions. They are the motivating forces that drive behavior and determine its direction.

Life instincts

The drive for ensuring survival of the individual and the species by satisfying the needs for food, water, air, and sex. They are oriented toward growth and development.

Libido

To Freud, the form of psychic energy manifested by the life instincts. It drives a person toward pleasurable behaviors and thoughts.

Cathexis

An investment of psychic energy in an object or person. Freud used the term to describe libido being attached to or invested in objects.

Death instincts

The unconscious drive toward decay, destruction, and aggression. Freud believed people have an unconscious wish to die.

Aggressive drive

The compulsion to destroy, conquer, and kill. Freud saw it as the wish to die turned against objects other than the self.

Conscious

It includes all the sensations and experiences of which we are aware at any given moment. Freud considered it a limited aspect of personality because only a small portion of our thoughts, sensations, and memories exists in conscious awareness at any one time.

Preconscious

This is the storehouse of all our memories, perceptions, and thoughts of which we are not consciously aware at the moment but that we can easily summon into consciousness.

Unconscious

The unconscious contains the major driving power behind all behaviors and is the repository of forces we cannot see or control. It is the focus of psychoanalytic theory and contains the instincts, wishes, and desires that direct our behavior.

Id

The id is the reservoir for the instincts and libido. It is a powerful structure of the personality because it supplies all the energy for the other two components.

Pleasure principle

The principle by which the id functions to avoid pain and maximize pleasure. Through its concern with tension reduction, the id functions to increase pleasure and avoid pain.

Primary-process thought

Childlike thinking by which the id attempts to satisfy the instinctual drives. The id can attempt to satisfy its needs through reflex action and wish-fulfilling hallucinatory or fantasy experience.

Secondary-process thought

Mature thought processes needed to deal rationally with the external world. These include perception, recognition, judgment, and memory.

Ego

To Freud, the rational aspect of the personality, responsible for directing and controlling the instincts according to the reality principle. It decides when and how the id instincts can best be satisfied.

Reality principle

The principle by which the ego functions to provide appropriate constraints on the expression of the id instincts. It allows the ego to postpone, delay, or redirect id satisfaction to meet the demands of reality.

Superego

To Freud, the moral aspect of personality; the internalization of parental and societal values and standards. It strives solely for moral perfection.

Conscience

A component of the superego that contains behaviors for which the child has been punished. It contributes to feelings of guilt or shame when a person violates the moral code.

Ego-ideal

A component of the superego that contains the moral or ideal behaviors for which a person should strive. It consists of good or correct behaviors for which children have been praised.

Anxiety

To Freud, a feeling of fear and dread without an obvious cause; reality anxiety is a fear of tangible dangers; neurotic anxiety involves a conflict between id and ego; moral anxiety involves a conflict between id and superego.

Reality anxiety

The first type of anxiety, the one from which the others are derived, is reality anxiety (or objective anxiety). This involves a fear of real dangers in the real world.

Neurotic anxiety

This neurotic anxiety is an unconscious fear of being punished for impulsively displaying id-dominated behavior. The conflict becomes one between the id and the ego.

Moral anxiety

Moral anxiety results from a conflict between the id and the superego. In essence, it is a fear of one's conscience.

Defense mechanisms

Strategies the ego uses to defend itself against the anxiety provoked by conflicts of everyday life. Defense mechanisms involve denials or distortions of reality and operate unconsciously.

Repression

A defense mechanism that involves unconscious denial of the existence of something that causes anxiety. It is an involuntary removal of something from conscious awareness.

Denial

A defense mechanism that involves denying the existence of an external threat or traumatic event. It is related to repression.

Reaction formation

A defense mechanism that involves expressing an id impulse that is the opposite of the one that is truly driving the person. The person actively expresses the opposite impulse to defend against a disturbing impulse.

Projection

A defense mechanism that involves attributing a disturbing impulse to someone else. Unacceptable impulses are seen as being possessed by other people, not by oneself.

Regression

A defense mechanism that involves retreating to an earlier, less frustrating period of life and displaying the usually childish behaviors characteristic of that more secure time. It usually involves a return to one of the stages of childhood development.

Rationalization

A defense mechanism that involves reinterpreting our behavior to make it more acceptable and less threatening to us. We excuse or justify a threatening thought or action by persuading ourselves that there is a rational explanation for it.

Displacement

A defense mechanism that involves shifting id impulses from a threatening object or from one that is unavailable to an object that is available. The original object of the impulse is replaced by an object that is not a threat.

Sublimation

A defense mechanism that involves altering or displacing id impulses by diverting instinctual energy into socially acceptable behaviors. For example, sexual energy can be diverted or sublimated into artistically creative behaviors.

Fixation

A portion of libido or psychic energy remains invested in that developmental stage, leaving less energy for the following stages. An individual is said to be fixated when unable or reluctant to move from one stage to the next because the conflict has not been resolved or the needs have been supremely satisfied.

Oral stage

The first stage of psychosexual development, lasting from birth until some time during the second year. The infant's principal source of pleasure is the mouth.

Oral incorporative behavior

The pleasurable stimulation of the mouth by other people and by food. Adults fixated at this stage become excessively concerned with oral activities like eating, drinking, smoking, and kissing.

Oral sadistic behavior

Behavior involving biting or spitting out that occurs during the painful, frustrating eruption of teeth. Those fixated at this level are prone to excessive pessimism, hostility, and aggressiveness.

Oral passive personality

An adult oral personality type predisposed to a high degree of optimism and dependency. Such people tend to depend on and expect others to gratify their needs.

Anal stage

The psychosexual stage in which toilet training becomes a major source of conflict between the child's instinctual gratification and parental demands. It involves pleasure derived from defecation and learning to postpone or delay this pleasure.

Anal aggressive personality

A personality type that may develop when a child defecates whenever and wherever the parents do not want them to, defying their attempts at regulation. To Freud, this was the basis for many forms of hostile and sadistic behavior in adult life.

Phallic stage

The psychosexual stage around the fourth to fifth year when the focus of pleasure shifts from the anus to the genitals. Children display considerable interest in exploring and manipulating the genitals and experience pleasure through the genital region and fantasies.

Oedipus complex

During the phallic stage (ages 4-5), the unconscious desire of a boy for his mother, accompanied by a desire to replace or destroy his father.

Castration anxiety

A boy's fear during the Oedipal period that his penis will be cut off.

Identification

The process in which the boy resolves the Oedipus complex by identifying with his father. He attempts to become more like his father by adopting his mannerisms, behaviors, attitudes, and superego standards.

Electra complex

The term some of Freud's followers used for the female phallic conflict. It involves the girl's shifting love from her mother to her father during the phallic stage.

Penis envy

A girl's belief that she has lost her penis and her resulting envy of males. Freud described it as a counterpart to a boy's castration anxiety.

Phallic personality

A personality type characterized by strong narcissism and difficulty establishing mature heterosexual relationships. Such individuals need constant recognition and appreciation of what they see as their attractive and unique qualities.

Latency period

To Freud, the period from approximately age 5 to puberty, during which the sex instinct is dormant, sublimated in school activities, sports, and hobbies, and in developing friendships with members of the same sex.

Genital stage

The final psychosexual stage of development, beginning at puberty. The body becomes physiologically mature, and sexual energy can be partially satisfied through socially acceptable substitutes and later through a committed adult relationship.

Genital personality type

A personality type able to find satisfaction in love and work. Work is considered an acceptable outlet for sublimation of the id impulses.

Fixation

A condition in which a portion of libido remains invested in one of the psychosexual stages because of excessive frustration or gratification.

Psychosexual stages of development

To Freud, the oral, anal, phallic, and genital stages through which all children pass. In these stages, gratification of the id instincts depends on the stimulation of corresponding areas of the body.

Free association

A technique in which the patient says whatever comes to mind. In other words, it is a kind of daydreaming out loud.

Catharsis

The expression of emotions that is expected to lead to the reduction of disturbing symptoms.

Resistance

Moments when a patient is reluctant to disclose painful experiences or memories. Freud believed these moments indicated that the analysis was getting close to the source of the patient's problems.

Dream analysis

A Freudian assessment method based on the belief that dreams represent, in symbolic form, repressed desires, fears, and conflicts.

Manifest content

The actual events in the dream.

Latent content

The hidden symbolic meaning of the dream.

Case study

A detailed history of an individual that contains data from a variety of sources.

Subliminal perception

Perception below the threshold of conscious awareness.

Unconscious

Psychological functioning and information processing that occurs without conscious choice or awareness.

Ego

The rational part of the personality that must control and postpone the id's demands, balancing them against the circumstances and demands of the real world.

Ego control

The amount of control we are able to exert over our impulses and feelings.

Under-controlled

Unable to restrain any impulses and feelings.

Over-controlled

Tightly inhibit the expression of our impulses.

Ego resiliency

Our flexibility in adjusting or changing our typical level of ego control to meet the daily changes in our environment.

Ego brittle

Unable to alter their level of ego control to meet challenges or difficult life situations.

Catharsis

The physical expression of an emotion by recalling a traumatic event, which often led to relief of the disturbing symptom.

Displacement

Shifting one's id impulses from a disturbing object that is not available to a substitute object or person.

Repression

A Freudian defense mechanism in which threatening experiences or memories are pushed out of conscious awareness.

Repressors

People who habitually repress bad experiences and memories.

Non-repressors

People who do not habitually repress bad experiences and memories.

Projection

Attributing one's negative traits and behaviors to someone else.

Defense mechanisms

Psychological mechanisms used to protect oneself from anxiety, threatening thoughts, or uncomfortable emotions.

Denial

A simple, low-level defense mechanism.

Identification

A more complex defense mechanism that is used considerably more by adolescents than by younger children.

Reaction formation

A defense mechanism that girls are more likely to use than boys.

Oral personality type

A personality type associated with preoccupation with eating and drinking.

Anal personality type

A personality type that tends to be hostile and can be expected to resist conformity.

Phallic personality type

A personality type for which there is little empirical evidence.

Freudian slip

What appears to be ordinary forgetting or a casual lapse in speech that is actually a reflection of unconscious motives or anxieties.

Repressed memories

Memories of experiences that have been pushed out of conscious awareness and may later be recalled.

False memories

Recollections of events that never occurred but can be made conscious and appear to be genuine.

Dreams

Emotional concerns and everyday experiences that may be reflected in dream content.

Oedipus complex

Freud's concept involving the behavior and attitudes of children toward parents of the same and opposite sex.

Castration anxiety

Anxiety reflected in some dreams and associated with Freud's Oedipal theory.

Penis envy

Freud's concept that girls experience feelings related to the lack of a penis.

Ego psychology

An extension of psychoanalytic theory that greatly expands the role of the ego.

Anna Freud

Freud's daughter who substantially revised orthodox psychoanalysis by greatly expanding the role of the ego.

Psychoanalysis

Freud's system of theory and therapy concerning personality, unconscious processes, and human behavior.

Moravia, 1856

Freud was born in?

Sigismund Schlomo Freud

Freud's full name

Josef Breuer

He worked with this physician to treat patients suffering from hysteria

Transference

The patient unconsciously projects feelings — often from early relationships — onto the analyst, revealing deep emotional patterns.