Sigmund Freud

Personalities Chapter 2

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

founder of psychoanalysis, a controversial theory about the workings of the unconscious mind

Are Freud's theories autobiographical

at least partly autobiographical in that he based some of his major concepts on his childhood experiences, dreams, and sexual conflicts

Freud - Instinct

innate psychological representation of a biological need

Life instinct (Eros): promotes an individual's quest for survival through thirst, hunger, sexual need Death instinct (Thanatos): represent unconscious wish for death and destruction

types of instincts (Freud)

Life instincts
Death instincts

_________ instincts are the drive for ensuring the survival of the individual and the species by satisfying the needs for food, water, air, and sex

life

__________ instincts are the drives fo aggressive behaviors fueled by an unconscious wish to die or to hurt oneself/others

death

how are life instincts manifested?

manifested in a form of psychic energy called libido

libido

sexual desire

Three structures of personality

id, ego, superego

__________ is the biological component of personality, is the storehouse of instincts and libido

Id

The Id acts in accordance with the \___________ \__________

pleasure principle

What is the pleasure principle?

the seeking of immediate satisfaction of basic sexual and aggressive drives

the __________ strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.

Id

___________ is the rational component of personality

ego

Ego acts in accordance with the \__________ \__________

reality principle

reality principle

the tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet

Is the ego is mostly __________ (conscious/unconscious)

conscious

Is the id is ___________ (conscious/unconscious)

unconscious

is the superego conscious or unconscious?

both

Superego

Represents the conscience, holds rules, and values for socially acceptable behavior

the __________ is the moral side of the personality, consists of the conscience (behaviors for which the child is punished) and the ego-ideal (behaviors for which the child is praised)

superego

ego ideal

part of the superego that contains the standards for moral behavior developed from parental and social standards.

conscience

sense of right and wrong

the \__________ mediates among the demands of the id, the pressures of reality, and the dictates of the superego

the ego

What happens when the ego is pressured too greatly

ego

reality anxiety (objective anxiety)

fear of dangers in the real world

neurotic anxiety

the conflict between instinctual gratification and reality

moral anxiety

conflict between the id and the superego

do defense mechanisms operate unconsciously or consciously

unconsciously

__________ __________ in psychoanalytic theory, the EGO’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by **UNCONSCIOUSLY** distorting reality

Defense mechanisms

defense mechanisms

Strategies the ego uses to defend itself against the anxiety provoked by conflicts of everyday life.

Repression

Involves unconscious denial of the existence of something that causes anxiety

denial

refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

reaction formation

switching of unacceptable id impulses into their opposite of the one truly driving the person

projection

disguising ones’s own threatening impulses by attributing them to other

regression

retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage where some psychic energy remains fixated

\
i.e.: a second grader sucking their thumb when nervous

Rationalization

Involves reinterpreting behavior to make it more acceptable and less threatening

displacement

shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person

sublimation

Involves altering or displacing id impulses by diverting instinctual energy into socially acceptable behaviors

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development during which the ids pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

errogenous zone/ libido

special area of body that gives pleasure

Oral Stage (Freud)

10-18 months; Lips, Tongue and gums focus and sucking and feeding stimulating activities

Oral Stage (0-18 months)

pleasure centers on the mouth- sucking, biting, chewing

oral incorporative

dependency, gullibility, jealousy

oral aggressive

cruel, sarcastic, weaned too early

Anal Stage (18-36 months)

pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control

the \__________ \__________ involves the first interference with the gratification of an instinctual impulse

anal stage

at the __________ stage of psychosexual development, the child begins to toilet train, which brings about the child's fascination in the erogenous zone of the anus

anal

Oedipus complex (phallic)

a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Electra complex (phallic)

girls supposedly love their fathers romantically and want to eliminate their mothers as rivals

Phallic Stage (3-6 years)

pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings

\__________ develop castration anxiety

Boys

\__________ develop penis envy

Girls

castration anxiety

the fear in young boys that they will be mutilated genitally because of their lust for their mothers.

penis envy

the female desire to have a penis - a condition that usually results in their attraction to males.

How do boys resolve the Oedipus complex?

identifying with their father, adopting their father's superego standards, and repressing their sexual longing for their mother.

Girls being less successful in resolving their complex leads to them having poorly developed __________

superegos

Latency period (6 years to puberty)

the sex instinct is sublimated in school activities, sports, and friendships with persons of the same sex.

gential stage (puberty on)

maturation of sexual interests; marks the beginning of heterosexual relationships.

Fixation

a lingering focus of pelasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

Freud's image of human nature is \__________

pessimistic

__________ __________ is self-control and the self-regulation of impulses

ego control

__________ __________ is the ability to adapt flexibly and resourcefully to potential sources of stress

ego resiliency

Methods of personality assessment

1. self report
2. performance based
3. behavioral
4. free association
5. dream analysis

free association

patient spontaneously expresses ideas and images in random fashion

_________ according to Freud are deeply symbolic and have meaning

dreams

___________ content are the actual dream events

manifest

__________ content is the symbolic meaning of those events

latent