AP Psychology: Unit 9 Topic 5

Intro to the Psychoanalytic Perspective

personality

an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

free association

saying whatever comes to mind

psychoanalysis

Freud’s theory of personality that focuses on internal conflicts and desires

psychodynamic approach

explains human behavior, emotions, and mental health as products of the unconscious mind, childhood experiences, and interpersonal relationships

Sigmund Freud

founded psychoanalysis, a method for treating mental illness by exploring the unconscious mind

unconscious

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware

id

our baby-like self, pleasure principle, libido, irrational

ego

the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality, rational

superego

moral center - “should”, “should not”

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

oral stage (0-18 months)

pleasure centers on the mouth—sucking, biting, chewing

anal stage (18-36 months)

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

phallic stage (3-6 years)

pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings

latency stage (6-puberty)

a phase of dormant sexual feelings

genital stage (puberty on)

maturation of sexual interests

oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

electra complex

a young girl's (ages 3–6) unconscious sexual competition with her mother for the possession of her father

freudian slip

a verbal, written, or behavioral mistake that reveals a hidden, unconscious thought, desire, or conflict

identification

the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos

fixation

a lingering focus on an earlier psychosexual state where conflicts were unresolved

defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

repression

exclude painful thoughts or feelings without realizing

compensation

a defense mechanism—often unconscious—whereby an individual covers up weaknesses, frustrations, or feelings of inadequacy in one life area by overachieving or emphasizing excellence in another

regression

revert to childlike behavior

reaction formation

a person copes with anxiety-inducing, unacceptable thoughts or feelings by acting in the exact opposite manner

projection

attributing own feelings on others

rationalization

providing a justifying explanation for your behavior

displacement

redirection of repressed motives or feelings onto substitute objects.

sublimation

transforming repressed motives or feelings into more socially accepted forms

denial

refusal to acknowledge a painful or threatening reality