5. Alternative explanations for aggression - Freud

Who is Freud?

• Father of psychoanalysis.

• He developed his theories in the late 19th century and considered that the mind and the body were two separate entities - the mental and then physical.

• He believed that psychological difficulties could manifest themselves physically.

• This was the birth of the psychodynamic approach.

• Freud produces a brand new way of looking at the human mind of psyche.

• Instead of the normal idea that our mind is just the collection of all our thoughts, memories and feelings, Freud suggested that the psyche is divided into different parts.

• These 3 parts develop over the first 5 years of life, which is why for Freud, early childhood is the most important stage in human life'; it is the stage when our psyche forms and it shapes everything we think and do for the rest of our lives.

What are the underpinning principles of this theory?

• Freud believed there were 2 innate drives that motivate human behaviour.

• Our behaviour as an adult is predetermined by what happens to us in our first 5 years of life.

What is Eros? (also known as libido)

• This is the life force and is focused on the preservation of life, both individual and of the species.

• This drive compels people to engage in actions that sustain their own lives, such as looking after their health and safety.

• It also exerts itself through sexual drives, motivating people to create and nurture new life.

What is Thanatos?

• This is the drive towards death and destruction.

• Freud believed that people typically channelled this death drive outward which manifests as aggression towards others.

• People can direct this drive inward, however, which can result in self-harm or suicide.

What is the Consious?

• The conscious mind is the part of the mind that we are aware of.

• Contains thoughts we are currently thinking at any given moment.

• It makes up a small part of the whole psyche.

What is the Preconscious?

• The part of the mind we are occasionally aware of.

• It contains remembered dreams, feelings that haven’t been put into words and memories that can be recalled into the conscious mind without help.

What is the Unconcious?

• The unconscious mind is the rest of the psyche that we are totally unaware of.

• It contains instincts and desires, fears, motives, most of our dreams and memories that have been repressed because they are too painful.

• These can only be accessed by some sort of psychoanalysis.

What is the ID?

• The ID is the most basic part of the psyche.

• The ID is the part that develops first in babies.

• It is also known as the pleasure principle.

• It consists of urges and desires.

• The ID isn’t rational or reflective, it is made up entirely of feelings.

• The ID needs satisfaction straight away.

• When the ID becomes too strong it can lead to impulsive behaviour - aggression.

What is the Ego?

• The ego is the second part of the psyche that develops in toddlers.

• It is the thinking, decision making part of the mind.

• The ego has no desires of its own.

• Its job is to find a way to grant the desires that come from the ID whilst balancing needs of the superego.

What is the Superego?

• The final part of the psyche to develop is the super-ego, which forms between the ages 4-6.

• The super-ego straddles the conscious and the unconscious mind, we’re partly aware of it partly not.

What are Defence mechanisms?

• The ego is caught in the middle of a conflict between the demands of the ID and the restrictions of the superego.

• It solves this by setting up defence mechanisms to protect itself.

• These mechanisms either restrict the ID’s demands, or else transform them so that they no longer offend the superego.

• The ego also has to deal with the real world and all its problems.

• Defence mechanisms can also block out parts of reality that the ego finds overwhelming or which offend the superego or frighten the ID.

What is Repression? - Defence mechanism

• A psychological defence mechanism that involves keeping certain thoughts, feelings, or urges out of conscious awareness.

• The goal of this form of defence is to keep unacceptable thoughts or desires out of the conscious mind in order to prevent or minimalize feelings of anxiety.

• Repression is an unconscious defence mechanism employed by the ego to keep disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious.

What is Denial? - Defence mechanism

• The psychological process of refusing to accept or acknowledge a painful reality, thought or feeling.

• Denial shields a person from threatening stimuli by blocking the conscious awareness of negative or threatening elements of their experience.

What is Displacement? - Defence mechanism

• A psychological defence mechanism in which a person redirects a negative emotion from its original source to a less threatening recipient.

• This way the person avoids confronting the actual cause of the emotion and protects their self-esteem.

• A common example of displacement is displaced aggression, where a person vents their anger or frustration on someone or something that is not the real source of their problem.

What is Projection - Defence mechanisms

• A defence mechanism where an individual recognises their unacceptable traits or impulses in someone else to avoid recognising those traits or impulses in themselves subconsciously.

How can the Eros explain aggression?

• Aggression might be caused by the libido being misapplied or not properly controlled.

• For example, aggression is produced by the ID becoming frustrated, by the ego trying to get what the ID wants or by the super-ego directing you to get into situations where you may be punished.

How may Thanatos explain aggression?

• Thanatos is responsible for aggression.

• Unless we engage in cathartic activities, this may be expressed in a violent way towards others or ourselves.

How does Repression explain aggression?

• Aggressive urges that are repressed drain the libido, eventually there is not enough energy to keep the aggression repressed, and it explodes out.

How does denial explain aggression?

• The conscious mind refuses to admit what it is doing.

How does Displacement explain aggression?

• The ID’s urges are acted upon, but they are directed at different targets - this often happens with aggression, which can be targeted at someone or something else rather than the real cause of your anger.

How does Projection explain aggression?

• The superego’s hostility is directed towards other people who seem to be acting on those same feelings.

What is Catharsis?

• If Freuds theory was correct, it means we would all have aggressive drives which we could act upon quite easily.

• As we don’t go around being uncontrollably aggressive, this means that we satisfy our aggressive needs and violent urges by engaging in other activities.

• Freud called this catharsis.

• These activities give us a chance to express our violent and aggressive urges in a more ‘channelled’ way so that they are satisfied and not directed towards others or inward.

What is a weakness of the theory in terms of Falsifiability?

• Synoptic A03

• As the ID, ego and superego are abstract concepts, they cannot be scientifically tested.

• This means we cannot ‘prove’ that they do or do not exist.

• Theory is not scientific.

• Unfalsifiable.

What is a weakness of the theory in terms of Experimenter bias?

• Freud created his theories and then tried to find case studies to fit what he was suggesting.

• Not surprisingly, he chose cases that ‘proved’ that he was right in what he was saying.

• This means that his theories are extremely biased - experimenter bias and so we need to be careful how we use these explanations.

How is Determinism a strength and weakness of the theory?

• Synoptic A03

• The psychodynamic approach suggests that we are a product of our personalities that develop in our childhood.

• Therefore, what happens to us in our childhood will shape our personality and if this is negative, the theory would suggest that this leaves the potential for an imbalance which can lead to aggressive or destructive behaviour.

• However, what does happen in our childhood could be a result of social or environmental experiences.

• therefore this approach considers innate factors and how these interact with external factors, therefore it can be considered a more holistic approach.

• ID = nature.

• Ego + superego = nurture.

• Makes it holistic as it considers nature and nurture (doesn’t make it reductionist)

What is a strength of this theory in terms of Application?

• The main application of Freuds theories is the therapy called psychoanalysis

• Psychoanalysis can help treat emotional problems by exploring their unconscious causes.

• The psychoanalyst helps the client explore their own dreams and childhood memories and work out what they mean.

• Hopefully, the client will learn about the defence mechanisms they are using and the unresolved conflicts gong on in their unconscious.

• They may come to a better level of self awareness.

• If Freuds theory was correct, it means we would all have aggressive drives which we could act upon quite easily.

• As we don’t go around being uncontrollably aggressive, this means that we satisfy our aggressive needs and violent urges by engaging in other activities.

• Freud called this catharsis

• These activities give us chance to express our violent and aggressive urges in a more 'channelled' way so that they are satisfied and not directed towards others or inward.

• Reduces aggression - psychological knowledge in society by showing the importance of catharsis