Unit 7C Test Part 2 - The Psychoanalytic Perspective

Defense Mechanisms

Repression, regression, reaction formation, projection, rationalization, displacement, sublimation, denial

Repression

Anxious thoughts, feelings, or memories are hidden

Regression

Anxious people revert to a more infantile stage

Reaction Formation

The ego switches our unacceptable impulses with the opposite

Projection

Our unacceptable impulses are attributed to others

Rationalization

We justify our scary actions to make them seem less threatening

Displacement

Sexual or aggressive impulses are redirected toward a more socially acceptable target

Sublimation

People rechannel their unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities

Denial

Refusing to believe painful realities

What are is the difference between Freud’s beliefs and the beliefs of the Neo-Freudian/Psychodynamic Theorists?

They accepted Freud’s basic ideas, but put more emphasis on the conscious mind’s role and doubted that sex and aggression are people’s main motivations

Freud’s Basic Ideas

Id/ego/superego, unconscious, personality is shaped in childhood, defense mechanisms

Alfred Adler

Social - not sexual - tensions, inferiority complex

Karen Horney

Social - not sexual - tensions, countered penis envy

Carl Jung

Focused on the unconscious, collective unconscious, archetypes

Collective Unconscious

A shared reservoir of memory from humanity’s history