psychodynamic-motivational level (exam 2)

Sigmund Freud

1856-1939; began in medicine (cocaine research), used hypnosis for "nervous disorders" like hysteria; developed theory from clinical observations in Vienna

Motivational determinism

Freud's assumption that behavior is never accidental; it is psychologically determined by mental/motivational causes

Freud's view on self-reports

Don't take people's reports about themselves at face value; interpret what they say

Conscious

What is in one's attention at a given moment

Preconscious

Material that can easily be brought into attention (background music, old memories)

Unconscious

Material not responsive to deliberate recall; main focus of Freud's work

Dreams (Freud)

Express the hidden fulfillment of a desire we avoid experiencing consciously

Free association

Patient reclining on a couch says everything that comes to mind, however irrational, to make the unconscious conscious

Id

Unconscious; everything inherited (life and death instincts); basic impulses of sex and aggression; operates on the pleasure principle

Pleasure principle

Id seeks immediate gratification and tension reduction regardless of consequences or safety

Ego

Predominantly conscious; outgrowth of the id in contact with the external world; executive mediating between id and superego; operates on the reality principle

Reality principle

Ego makes decisions according to reality, delays gratification, concerned with safety

Superego

Both conscious and unconscious; morals and standards of society internalized from parents; the "conscience"; strives for perfection

Ego strength

Ego must be flexible: too weak → too impulsive; too strong → too rigid/moralistic

Libido

Energy produced by the id's life (sex) instincts

Life and death instincts

Id's drives toward sex/survival/pleasure (life) and aggression (death)

Psychodynamics

Interaction and conflict among id, ego, and superego

Psychic conflict

Conflict between id (pleasure) and ego (reality)/superego; unresolved conflicts turn into problems

Defense mechanisms

Strategies the ego uses to reduce anxiety caused by conflicts

Denial

Defense used mostly when one cannot escape or attack; appears early

Repression

Type of denial; inhibiting impulses and forgetting upsetting/threatening memories

Hysterical anesthesia

"Loss of sensation"; diverting impulses into apparently physical symptoms

Behavioral signs (Freud)

Behaviors are indirect signs of disguised, unconscious motives rooted in early experience (e.g., compulsive cleanliness = reaction against anal impulses)

Freudian slip

"Mistake" that betrays an unconscious wish (e.g., "insort" instead of escort = wish to insult)

Condensation

Combining two ideas into one (insult + escort = "insort")

Association of opposites

Unconscious wish expressed through its opposite (declaring a meeting "closed" when opening it)

Symbolism

One thing stands for another (getting theater tickets too soon = marrying too soon)

Conversion into visual imagery

Abstract wish shown as an image (breaking vows = breaking an arm)

Amygdala as id

Biological parallel: "hot" system for intense fearful and appetitive impulses

Prefrontal cortex as ego

Biological parallel: cool, rational thinking and executive functions

Moral emotions as superego

Biological/evolutionary parallel: empathy, guilt, shame, affection have adaptive value in social groups

Psychosexual stages

Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Oral stage

0-1.5 yrs; pleasure centered on mouth (sucking, biting); fixation → gullibility

Anal stage

1.5-3 yrs; anus; toilet training/imposed control; fixation → stinginess

Phallic stage

3-5 yrs; genitals; Oedipus complex, penis envy

Latency stage

6-13 yrs; less overt concern with sexuality

Genital stage

13+ yrs; puberty; libido organized around genitals if no prior conflicts

Fixation

Unresolved conflict at a psychosexual stage that arrests development and affects later personality

Criticisms of Freud

Lack of empirical evidence; hard to operationalize/measure (libido, unconscious); too deterministic; sexist; pathologizes normal behavior; little room for change

Joel Weinberger's view

Freud is dead but his ideas live on in culture; many particulars wrong, broad outline vibrant; don't throw out the baby with the bathwater

John Kihlstrom's view

Classical Freudian psychoanalysis is scientifically dead; Freud was a "dead weight" on psychology; better studied as a writer than a scientist

Who supports Freud more

Clinicians tend to be stronger proponents than scientists

Neo-Freudians / post-Freudians

Anna Freud, Jung, Adler, Fromm, Erikson, Horney, Klein, Kohut, Bowlby; kept importance of unconscious and early childhood but diverged

Post-Freudian shifts

Less focus on id, instincts, intrapsychic conflict, earliest childhood, psychosexual stages; more on ego/self, social and interpersonal causes, lifespan development, culture and society

Ego psychology

Post-Freudian approach focusing on functions of the self/ego; more scientific methods; collaboration with neuroscience and cognitive psychology

Other post-Freudian developments

Social/cultural factors; gender, race, social standing; trauma and early attachment; shorter therapy

Attachment

Bond found in all species whose infants need care; first parent-infant, now also adult romantic partners

Imprinting

Konrad Lorenz; birds bond to the first moving object they see

Behaviorist view of attachment

Love/attachment is a learned response to having needs met

Harlow's monkeys

Infant monkeys preferred a soft cloth "mother" over a wire one with food; attachment is innate, not just about feeding

Bowlby

Attachment as an innate, evolutionary need for care; emphasized the primary caregiver

Multiple attachments

Schaffer & Emerson (1964); infants form attachments to many people (mother 95% → 81%, father 30% → 75% by 18 months); a "biological insurance policy"

Internal working models

Mental representations of self, others, and relationships formed from early caregiving that guide future experience

Proximity maintenance

Attachment function: staying near the caregiver, protesting separation

Safe haven

Attachment function: turning to caregiver for comfort and reassurance

Secure base

Attachment function: a base from which to explore the world

Strange Situation

Mary Ainsworth; ~18-month-old with mother and stranger across 7 episodes varying the mother's availability (present, absent, return)

Secure attachment

~60%; greets mother positively on reunion, seeks interaction, returns to play; mothers most responsive

Insecure-avoidant attachment

~25%; avoids mother throughout and at reunion; mothers unresponsive to bids for comfort but controlling/intrusive during independent play

Insecure-ambivalent (resistant) attachment

~15%; distressed when alone, hard to comfort on reunion; mothers inconsistent in responsiveness

Outcomes of secure attachment

More confident on hard tasks, cope better without parent, fewer negative peer interactions, cope with frustration, delay gratification longer

Secure adult style

Supportive, trusting families; tolerate separation; satisfied partners; give support; believe love can last

Avoidant adult style

Aloof, cold parents; fear intimacy and commitment; less supportive; cynical about love

Ambivalent adult style

Many short relationships; anxious about losing partners; change self to please; stressed by separation; love is easy but doesn't last

Hazan & Shaver (1987)

Adult attachment and loneliness; avoidant and ambivalent reported more trait and state loneliness than secure

Stability of attachment

Attachment often does not show long-term continuity; can change through new relationships, current motives, and mood

ECR-R

Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (Fraley et al., 2000); 36 items, 1-7 scale; does NOT determine attachment type

ECR-R anxiety subscale

Items 1-18 (attachment-related anxiety); reverse-code 9 and 11

ECR-R avoidance subscale

Items 19-36 (attachment-related avoidance); reverse-code 20, 22, 26-31, 33-36

Reverse coding (1-7 scale)

1→7, 2→6, 3→5, 4=4, 5→3, 6→2, 7→1

Psychodynamic basic units

Inferred motives and psychodynamics

Psychodynamic causes of behavior

Underlying stable motives and their unconscious transformations and conflicts

Psychodynamic favored data

Interpretations by expert judges (clinicians); responses used as indirect signs

Psychodynamic approach to change

Insight into motives and conflicts; making the unconscious conscious

Psychodynamic role of situation

Deliberately minimized or ambiguous