Psychodynamic theories of personality

psychology 1.2

Freud’s Reasoning: What is Freud’s reasoning behind symptoms that are not physiological?

A: Freud proposed that if symptoms are not caused by physical problems and patients consciously want to stop the behaviour but cannot, this indicates the presence of unconscious counter-will. In other words, the unconscious mind exerts influence that can override conscious intentions, showing that internal psychological conflicts drive behaviour even without awareness.

Flashcard 2: Psychodynamics
Q: How does psychodynamic theory explain human behaviour?

A: Psychodynamic theory explains behaviour as the result of conflicts among psychological forces, such as wishes, fears, and intentions. These forces have both direction (where they push or pull the person) and intensity (how strong the force is), and the observed behaviour is the outcome of these dynamic conflicts.

Flashcard 3: Carl Jung’s Contributions
Q: What are Carl Jung’s key contributions to psychology?A: Jung, initially a collaborator of Freud, developed several influential concepts:

A: Jung, initially a collaborator of Freud, developed several influential concepts:

1. Collective unconscious

2. Archetypes: Universal symbolic patterns

3. Introversion vs. extraversion:
   Jung’s work influenced personality assessment, notably the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Flashcard 4: Freud’s Models of Personality
Q: What are Freud’s models of personality and their purpose?

Freud sought to answer why unconscious processes exist and what drives destructive or dysfunctional behaviour. He developed models of personality and psychodynamics, culminating in the structural model of the mind:

• Id: The instinctual, pleasure-seeking part of the mind.

• Ego: The rational part that mediates between id and reality.

• Superego: The moral conscience.
  These models were derived from clinical observations of patients and helped explain how unconscious conflicts influence behaviour.

Flashcard 5: Freud’s Methodology and Criticism
Q: What methodology did Freud use, and what are its criticisms?

Freud mainly used case studies of patients to observe behaviour and infer unconscious processes. Criticisms include:

• Limited reliability: Case studies are hard to replicate.

• Subjectivity: Observations can be biased by the researcher.

• Limited generalisability: Findings from one patient may not apply to others.
  Despite these flaws, case studies were valuable for generating hypotheses and identifying phenomena like unconscious processes.

Flashcard 6: Unconscious Processes and Behaviour
Q: How do unconscious processes influence behaviour according to Freud?

A: Unconscious processes, though not consciously acknowledged, are not inactive. They can leak into conscious behaviour in ways that are unexpected or unwelcome, such as in slips of the tongue or dreams. Freud also distinguished between:

• Manifest content: The surface storyline of a dream.

• Latent content: The underlying, symbolic meaning of the dream.
  This framework illustrates how hidden desires and conflicts shape behaviour and mental life.

Flashcard 1: Conflict and Ambivalence in Psychodynamics
Q: What is the role of conflict and ambivalence in Freud’s psychodynamic theory?

A: Freud emphasized that ambivalence — holding conflicting feelings or motives — is central to human psychology. From childhood, we interact with important people who provide both pleasure and frustration, teaching us both love and rage. Excessive ambivalence or conflict among competing motives can lead to psychological symptoms, negative emotions, and even physical health problems.

Flashcard 3: Ambivalence vs. Conflict in Predicting Depression
Q: How do ambivalence and conflict around goals relate to depression?

A: Research (Kelly et al., 2011) found that high ambivalence around goals, even with low conflict among competing motives, was strongly associated with depression. Ambivalence had a more significant negative impact on distress symptoms and psychological pathology than the mere presence of conflict between goals.

Flashcard 4: Compromise Formations
Q: What are compromise formations in Freud’s theory?

A: Compromise formations are behaviours or thought patterns that reflect solutions to conflicts among multiple and often opposing motives. People develop ways to partially satisfy conflicting desires simultaneously. Compromise formations occur in both normal and abnormal functioning.

Flashcard 5: Example of Compromise Formations
Q: How do compromise formations manifest in everyday life?

A: A common example is balancing self-accuracy and self-esteem. Knowing oneself accurately is adaptive, but excessive self-reflection can threaten self-esteem. People compromise by creating a slightly distorted self-view that allows them to feel competent while maintaining a positive self-image.

Flashcard 1: Freud’s Drive (Instinct) Model
Q: What is Freud’s drive model, and how does it explain human motivation?

A: Freud’s drive or instinct model focuses on the internal forces that motivate behaviour. Influenced by Darwin, Freud proposed that humans are motivated by basic drives, like other animals. He identified two primary drives:

1. Sexual drive (libido): Broader than just sexual intercourse; includes pleasure seeking, sensuality, love, daydreaming, close friendships, and mate selection.

2. Aggressive drive: Expressed socially acceptably (sports, competition) or unacceptably (violence).
   These drives explain why humans regulate and censor expressions of sex and aggression, similar to content restrictions in media.

Flashcard 2: Freud’s Developmental Model
Q: What is Freud’s developmental model, and what does it focus on?

A: Freud’s developmental model emphasizes psychosexual stages — stages of personality, sexuality, and motivation development. The model shows how libidinal energy (libido) focuses on different erogenous zones over time, reflecting both pleasure-seeking behaviour and the child’s growing awareness of social limitations. Each stage carries potential conflicts that, if unresolved, may lead to fixations influencing adult personality.

Flashcard 3: Oral Stage (0–18 months)
Q: What occurs during the oral stage, and what are potential outcomes of fixation?

A: During the oral stage, infants explore the world through their mouths. Sucking provides nourishment and social closeness. Psychologically, children develop wishes and expectations about dependence. Fixations can result in:

• Excessive dependency and clinginess

• Exaggerated need for approval, nurturance, and love

• Behaviours like thumb sucking, nail biting, or excessive oral habits

Flashcard 4: Anal Stage (2–3 years)
Q: What are the key features of the anal stage, and what are the outcomes of fixation?

A: The anal stage is dominated by conflicts over toilet training, representing broader issues of order, compliance, and control. Fixations may produce:

• Anal-retentive traits: excessive neatness, punctuality, and rigidity (if training is too strict or early)

• Anal-expulsive traits: messiness, stubbornness, disorganisation (if training is too lax)

• Regression: reverting to earlier behaviours under stress, such as thumb sucking or soiling

Flashcard 5: Phallic Stage (4–6 years)
Q: What happens during the phallic stage, including the Oedipus and Electra complexes?

A: Children derive pleasure from touching genitals and become aware of sex differences. Key developments:

• Identification with same-sex parent: adopting values, attitudes, and behaviours

• Oedipus complex (boys): desire for exclusive relationship with mother, fear of father (castration complex), leading to superego formation

• Electra complex (girls): desire for father, later identifying with mother; development of penis envy, metaphorically representing perceived societal inferiority
  Fixation can lead to adult preoccupations with relationships, sexual attraction, or gender stereotypes.

Flashcard 6: Latency Stage (7–11 years)
Q: What characterizes the latency stage, and what are its outcomes?

A: Sexual impulses are repressed, and children continue identifying with the same-sex parent. Libido is sublimated into socially acceptable activities like school, sports, or art. Fixations may result in asexuality or difficulties in forming intimate relationships in adulthood.

Flashcard 7: Genital Stage (12+ years)
Q: What defines the genital stage, and what is its significance?

A: The genital stage marks the resurgence of conscious sexuality. Genital sex becomes the primary goal of sexual activity, and individuals develop the capacity for mature relationships and adult responsibilities (work, parenting). Earlier oral and anal tendencies are integrated into sexual behaviour. Freud believed that personality is largely firmly established by this stage, with later changes requiring effort.

Flashcard 8: Psychosexual Stages Overview
Q: How do Freud’s psychosexual stages collectively contribute to personality development?

A: Each stage focuses on a specific erogenous zone and associated psychosocial conflicts. Successful resolution allows healthy personality development, while unresolved conflicts lead to fixations that influence adult behaviour. Collectively, the stages explain how libido and social learning interact to shape personality, morality, and adult relationships.

Flashcard 1: Structural Model Overview
Q: What is Freud’s structural model, and how does it explain psychological conflict?

A: Freud’s structural model describes conflict between desires (what we want) and moral constraints or reality (what we believe is right or possible). Unlike his earlier topographic model (conscious vs. unconscious), the structural model focuses on conflicts among the id, ego, and superego, with psychological distress arising when desires conflict with morality or reality.

Flashcard 2: The Id
Q: What is the id, and what are its characteristics?

A: The id is the reservoir of sexual and aggressive energy, operating according to the pleasure principle. It seeks immediate gratification and operates unconsciously using primary process thinking, which is wishful, illogical, and associative. The id drives impulses without regard for consequences.

Flashcard 3: The Superego
Q: What is the superego, and what role does it play in personality?

A: The superego acts as the moral conscience, incorporating parental and societal ideals. It regulates the id’s impulses by promoting ethical behaviour and internalized standards of right and wrong. The superego develops through identification with authority figures during childhood.

Flashcard 4: The Ego
Q: What is the ego, and how does it mediate conflict?

A: The ego balances the id’s desires, superego’s morality, and reality. Operating according to the reality principle, it uses secondary process thinking — rational, logical, and goal-directed thought — to manage impulses, solve problems, and regulate emotions. The ego is responsible for creating compromise solutions when desires and moral constraints clash.

Flashcard 5: Example of Structural Conflict
Q: How does the structural model explain conflict in real-life behaviour?

A: Example: A junior partner wants to give a poor performance review to a colleague (id’s aggression). Their conscience (superego) forbids unfairness. The ego mediates by giving the poor review framed as a lesson on work ethic, satisfying both aggression and moral constraints. This demonstrates how the ego uses compromise formation to manage conflict.

Flashcard 6: Defence Mechanisms Overview
Q: What are defence mechanisms, and why do we use them?

A: Defence mechanisms are unconscious mental processes that protect against unpleasant emotions, especially anxiety, or bolster positive emotions. They help manage conflict and regulate emotions by distorting or redirecting reality in psychologically protective ways. Using defences is normal and adaptive to some degree.

Flashcard 7: Key Defence Mechanisms – Repression and Denial
Q: What are repression and denial?

• Repression: Keeping threatening thoughts or memories out of conscious awareness.

• Denial: Refusing to acknowledge external realities or emotions (e.g., ignoring a serious health risk).
  Both prevent anxiety but may lead to maladaptive behaviour if overused.

Flashcard 8: Key Defence Mechanisms – Projection and Reaction Formation
Q: What are projection and reaction formation?

• Projection: Attributing one’s own unacceptable feelings or impulses to others (e.g., seeing others as greedy when one is).

• Reaction formation: Overemphasising the opposite of an unacceptable impulse (e.g., excessively praising a sibling while feeling resentment).

Flashcard 9: Key Defence Mechanisms – Sublimation and Rationalisation
Q: What are sublimation and rationalisation?

• Sublimation: Converting sexual or aggressive impulses into socially acceptable activities (e.g., turning competitive aggression into sports achievement).

• Rationalisation: Explaining actions logically to avoid guilt or shame (e.g., justifying plagiarism as serving a greater goal).

Flashcard 10: Key Defence Mechanisms – Displacement, Regression, Passive Aggression
Q: What are displacement, regression, and passive aggression?

• Displacement: Directing emotions toward a substitute target (e.g., punching a bag instead of confronting a partner).

• Regression: Reverting to earlier developmental behaviours under stress (e.g., name-calling under pressure).

• Passive aggression: Indirect expression of anger (e.g., delaying work to frustrate others while avoiding direct conflict).

Flashcard 11: Adaptive and Maladaptive Use of Defence Mechanisms
Q: Are defence mechanisms always unhealthy?

A: No. Some distortion helps maintain positive self-view (e.g., optimism, perseverance). However, maladaptive use, such as in trauma or chronic stress (e.g., North Korean refugees), can lead to enhanced anxiety, PTSD, or depression. Adaptive interventions can improve coping and emotional regulation.

what is analytical psychology

Analytical psychology or Jungian psychology is based on experience, incorporating both experience from the outer world and from the inner world of fantasies, symbols and dreams. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of the extroverted and introverted personality, archetypes and the collective unconscious. The aim of Jungian psychotherapy is to focus on the relationship between the unconscious and the conscious, while incorporating what is happening in everyday life.

object relations theories

Object relations theories focus on interpersonal disturbances and the mental processes that underlie the capacity for relatedness to others. Relational theories argue that for all individuals adaptation is primarily adaptation to other people.

Flashcard 1: Assessing the Unconscious
Q: How can psychodynamic psychologists study processes that are unconscious?

A: Psychodynamic theory assumes that many personality processes are unconscious, making them inaccessible to direct observation. To assess these processes, psychologists use indirect methods that reveal patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaviour, such as life history methods and projective tests, which infer personality characteristics from narratives, behaviours, or interpretations of ambiguous stimuli.

Flashcard 2: Life History Methods
Q: What are life history methods in psychodynamic assessment?

A: Life history methods are qualitative approaches aimed at understanding the whole person in the context of life experiences and environment. They involve:

• Case studies of individuals over extended periods

• Information from psychotherapy sessions, interviews, biographical, or historical sources

• Analysis of how life events, environment, and relationships shape personality
  These methods provide in-depth insight into unconscious motives and patterns.

Flashcard 3: Projective Tests
Q: What are projective tests, and how do they work?

A: Projective tests present participants with ambiguous stimuli and ask them to interpret or define them. The key idea is that when faced with ambiguous situations, people project their characteristic thoughts, feelings, and emotions onto the stimuli, revealing aspects of their personality, including unconscious processes.

Flashcard 4: Rorschach Inkblot Test
Q: How does the Rorschach inkblot test assess personality?

A: Developed by Hermann Rorschach in 1921, the Rorschach test presents participants with inkblots and asks them what each resembles. Responses are interpreted to reveal:

• Emotional conflicts

• Thought patterns

• Ways of perceiving and regulating emotions
  Example: A teenager experiencing parental divorce saw an inkblot as a person being torn in half, reflecting their own sense of conflict and ambivalence during parental separation.

Flashcard 5: Key Takeaways on Assessing Unconscious Patterns
Q: Why are life history and projective methods important in psychodynamic psychology?

A: These methods allow researchers and clinicians to study unconscious processes indirectly, providing insight into personality dynamics, emotional conflicts, and behavioural patterns that cannot be accessed through standard self-report measures. They complement theory-driven observations with contextualised, qualitative evidence.