6 - Psychodynamics

what does the psychoanalytic theory encompass?

• childhood experience influence adult bhv

• dreams r meaningful

• talking abt probs can help solve them

who is Sigmund Freud?

• viennese neurologist who dev first comprehensive theory of personality

  • medical doc

  • left austria when Hitler came to power

  • believed war proved that people have an aggressive, destructive urge

  • became a psychiatrist

• used free association

  • say word, n you say what comes to mind

  • the talking cure (talking helps elliviate probs)

• believed the first step in studying psych is trying to understand your own mind

• influenced by patients

  • rich white women

why study Freud?

• influence on modern concepts of the mind

• infleunce on the practice of psychotherapy - “talking cure”

• many idea sin pop cultre

• revival of Freudian thought in research

• proposed the only comp. theory of personality

controversy

• moral: dislike emphasis on sex n sexual energy

• scientific: theory is unscientific

what does psychoanalytic theory encompass?

• mind’s struct

• unconscious mind

• catharsis

• id, ego, superego

• defence mechas

what is psychic determinism?

• miracles, free will, and random accidents do not exist

• seeming contradictions of thoughts and bhv can be resolved

• leads to the idea of the unconscious

what are the lvls of consciousness?

• conscious mind

  • least important

  • some of the ego

• preconscious

  • ideas we have not currently aware of, but can bring to mind

• unconscious

  • all of the id, nearly all of superego, and most of ego

  • most important

  • difficult to bring to surface

what is the struct of morality?

3 components:

1. Id

   • basic instincts, operates on pleasure principle

   • toddler in brain

2. ego

   • principal decision maker

   • make rules

3. superego

   • sense of morality + ethics

what is the concept of psychic conflict n compromise?

• mind in conflict w/ itself

  • ID say do it, ego say no

• compromise formation → ego’s job

  • results is conscious thought n bhv

• superego is NOT decision maker

what is mental energy?

• assumption → mind needs energy

• mental energy = libido

• amount of energy is fixed n finite

• some implications not supported by research: expression of anger

• modern thought: info processing capacity is lim rather than energy

what did Freud believe in terms of stages of psych dev?

• we pass thru stages, each of which has a physical focus

• each also has a psych theme

• individuals who get fixated on a stage have difficulty moving on- fixation can occur bc of too much OR too lit gratification - this can create an adult character type

the stages of psychosexual dev?

• oral

  • physician focus: mouth, lips, tongue

  • psych theme: dependency, passivity

    • overly independent bc don’t get enough from parent or

    • passive bc too much gratification

• anal

  • physical focus: anus and organs of elimination

    • potty training

  • psych theme: self control n obedience → falls to listening to parents

  • adult character : overcontrolled vs. under controlled

    • kid in midst of potty training n holding on instead of peeing become overcontrol OR

    • undercontrol → become impulsive

• phallic

  • psych theme: gender identity, sexuality, love, fear, and jealousy, oedipal crisis

  • adult character

    • rigid moral code vs. lack of moral code

    • asexual vs. promiscuous

• latency

  • psych theme : learning/cog dev

• genital

  • physical focus : learning abt self thru relationships

  • psych theme: maturity, creation and enhancement of life (bc can create it)

  • adult character: mature adult, psych healthy vs. not

    • mental health = ability to “love and work”

what is Freud’s Oedipus crisis/complex?

1. little boys (3-6) engage in genital self-satisfaction accompanied by images of sexual interactions / their moms

2. at the same time, they feel envy n anger for dad - whose place they want to take

3. fearful that dad will punish their lust by removing penis

4. castration anxiety keeps impulsion in check - this battle = oedipus complex

   • so dont pursuit sexual desires w/ mom

5. in order to pass thru dev stage successfully, child must resolve relationship w/ parents. if does so, may go on to form normal adult heterosexual relationships

modern take on oedipus complex?

1. mental energy directed at mom

2. likely w/o sex, just want to be most important

3. just no

4. no

do girls have oedipus complex?

• yes

• similar to boys for dad, but have desire for penis as well

  • modern : jealousy towards men’s rights at the time bc they didnt have that

• conflict resolved resolve when relationship, sex n have baby

  • modern: maybe women be fulfilled when this happens

what is Freud’s analogy to moving thru stages?

• analogy: army conquering hostile territory

• battles occur when there is opp

  • at every stage

• troops are left at battle sites: fixation

• retreat to previous stronghold: regression

• victory is reaching the genital stage w/ most of the army (energy) intact

what did Freud believe abt dreams?

• dreams lead to the unconscious

  • unconscious wishes express themselves in disguised form

• dreams cannot be understood from the surface, or manifest content

  • look beneath surface to find the real meaning, or latent content

• wish fulfillments based on unconscious wishes

• wishes mix images from the day (day residue) w/ dream symbols

• many dream symbols are universal

  • some t individual

• use of free association as part of talking cure to uncover hidden meanings of dreams

  • could get to root of prob n solve it (assumption)

links bet. dreams n personality?

• high neuroticism: more nightmares

• low in neuroticism n high openness: more dreams abt flying

• high in openness: more strange and diff people n more likely to rmb dreams

• highly agreeableness: more people in their dreams

what are freudian slips?

• actions/words caused by unconscious thought

• from beleif in determinism

  • reason for everything

forgetting for freud?

• usually the result of repression

what are regular slips?

• often in speech, but also in action

• more likely when a person is tired, not paying attention, in a hurry, or excited

relationship bet. anxiety n defence?

• anxiety from outside world, from psychic conflict

• prevent anxiety w/ defence mechanisms

what is denial?

• func is prevent perception of source of anxiety

• example: “no! that not possible”

what is reaction formation?

• func: protect against a forbidden thought or impulse by instigating the opp

• e.g., "someone into porn, but in public say “pornography is the biggest menace to humanity there is”

what is projection?

• attribute an unwanted impulse or attribute in oneself to other people

• e.g., “I’m surrounded by morons”

what is sublimation?

• redirect forbidden impulse onto a safe target

• convert base impulse into a noble cause

• e.g., like playing w/ fire so becomes firefighter

what is the psychoanalytic therapy setting like?

• hidden intrapsychic conficts

• free association, dream analysis

• transference

  • would sit behind patients to prevent transference

  • transference = transfer of feelings towards Dr. bc reminds them of the person they talking abt

    • can be good/bad feelings

how does psychoanalysis work as a therapy?

• resolve probs by bringing unconscious conflicts to the surface so the ego can deal w/ them

  • wants to unpack

• takes time n can be painful

• patients must be comforted and guided thru this process

  • esp if comes from childhood

  • therapeutic alliance, with power thru transference

    • relationship bet. therapist + patients → it feels safe play part in successful therapy

criticism for psychoanalysis as therapy?

• low cure rate and length of treatment

  • low cure rate: probs don’t go away, just like that even td

    • learn to deal with them

  • length of treatment: no expiration date, need it forecer

    • td: want sum in middle, not too much or too lil

• rather than a therapy, psychoanalysis can be thought of as a tool for understanding human nature and culture

  • uncover conflict, key to dev adult personality

overview of critiques?

1. excessive complexity

   • lots of stuff going on

2. case study method

   • theories are based on introspection and insight from specific cases → based on how he felt

   • high likelyhood of bias → rich women w/ daddy issue

   vague definition

3. vague definitions

   • concepts not defined in terms of operational definitions

4. untestability: cannot be proven false

5. sexism:

   • males are considered to be the norm

   • females are considered as aberrations or deviations from the male model

   • was a product of his time

6. focused on ideas that r underemphasized or ignored elsewhere

   • did not pay attention to things around him