Exam 1 Review: Ch3 - Psychoanalytic Approach (Freudian Theory)

personality theory

states that there are 3 levels of consciousness

Name and describe the levels of consciousness:

• Conscious - thoughts you’re currently aware of; flow/stream of consciousness

• Preconscious - information your not currently thinking about; can bring to mind easily

• Unconscious - largest/most significant aspect; no immediate access to this material; denied wishes

According to Freud what level of consciousness is the most important?

Unconscious because it holds the most information

Name the personality characteristics

• id

• ego

• superego

id

• only character present at birth; selfish part of you; operates on the Pleasure Principle; engages in Primary Process Thinking

  • Pleasure Principle - wants immediate satisfaction for its urges

  • Primary Process Thinking - irrational, illogical, unrealistic thinking

In the id, what are the sources of psychic energy (libido)?

• Eros - life instinct

• Thanatos - death instinct

ego

• gradually develops during 2nd year of life; decision maker; finds appropriate times/places to satisfy urges; operates on Reality Principle; engages in Secondary Process Thinking

  • Reality Principle - looks for appropriate time to urge satisfaction

  • Secondary Process Thinking - logical, rational, reality-orienting thinking

superego

• formed at about age 5

• conscious/ego ideal

• how we ought to behave/society’s values and standards

• primary weapon is guilt

defense mechanisms

• used by our unconscious to reduce anxiety

• includes: repression, regression, reaction formation, rationalization, displacement, sublimation, and projection

repression

• most basic, widely used defense mechanism

• keeping information buried in the unconscious

• most likely to bury unpleasant/traumatic information (especially if it happened in the first 5-6 years of life)

• we’re not aware of this repression at all (we usually only find out something is repressed through psychotherapy)

regression

• revert back to immature behavior

  • Ex. an adult throwing a tantrum

reaction formation

• act opposite of true feelings

  • Ex. a cheating husband accuses wife of cheating

rationalization

come up with an excuse for unacceptable behavior

displacement

when you direct emotions from an original source onto a substitute target

sublimation

• express an unacceptable impulse in a more socially acceptable way

  • Ex. an aggressive guy becomes a football player

projection

project thoughts and feelings onto someone else

What are the stages of psychosexual development?

1. oral

2. anal

3. phallic

4. latent

5. genital

oral stage of psychosexual development

first 18 months of life; primary erogenous zone = mouth, lips, and tongue; gratifying activities = nursing, eating, swallowing (mouth movement)

• Fixation - insufficient and forceful feeding

• Symptoms - chewing on your cheek, biting a pencil, etc

anal stage of psychosexual development

18-36 months old; primary erogenous zone = anal; gratifying activities = retention & elimination; major event = toilet training

• Fixation - anal-expulsive personality (lenient parents) and anal-retentive personality (strict parents)

anal-expulsive personality vs anal-retentive personality

• anal-expulsive personality - lenient parents

• anal-retentive personality - strict parents

phallic stage of psychosexual development

3-6 years old; primary erogenous zone = genitals; gratifying activities = masturbation & genital fondling; Oedipus complex (boys with their moms); Electra complex (girls with their dads); identification process

• Fixation - phallic fixation

  • For men: guilty feelings about sex; narcissistic

  • For women: Freud argued that women never make it past this stage

latency stage of psychosexual development

6 y/o to puberty; no primary erogenous zones; suppressed sexual feelings; a time of learning; adjusting to social environment; same-sex friends

• No fixation

genital stage of psychosexual development

puberty on; primary erogenous zone = genitals; gratifying activities = masturbation and heterosexual relationships; renewed sexual interest

• No fixation

psychoanalysis

• involves ways to access/explore the unconscious mind (the key to someone’s personality)

• includes: hypnosis, dreams, projective tests, free association, Freudian slips, resistance, and transference

hypnosis

• get directly at the unconscious mind

• temporary state of heightened suggestibility

dreams

• “royal road to the unconscious”

• major outlet for unconscious wishes

• provides the id with a stage for expression

• represents what we would like to have

• manifest vs latency content

manifest content vs latency content

• Manifest content - the story line of the dream; what happened; produced by the dreamer

• Latent content - symbolic meaning; produced by the therapist

• Ex. dreaming about a queen and king (MC) really means you’re thinking about your parents (LC)

projective tests (and examples)

subjects are given ambiguous stimuli and asked to respond; no right/wrong answers; responses indicate what’s going on deep inside the mind

• Ex.s: Rorschach Inkblot Test; Thematic Apperception Test (TAT); Human Figure Drawing Test

free association

• spontaneously saying whatever comes to mind

• produces a chain of thought leading into patient’s unconscious mind

• alternative = word association

Freudian slips

misstatements

• ex. “Your mind is your breast feature”

resistance

• patient wants to stop therapy

• early signs that therapy’s progressing

transference

displace emotions onto therapist

Strengths vs weakness of Freud’s theory

• Strengths

  • 1st comprehensive theory of human behavior and personality

  • 1st system of psychotherapy

  • Use of therapeutic techniques (ie hypnosis, dreams, projective tests, etc)

• Weaknesses

  • No experimentation

  • Heavy reliance on case studies

  • Personality shaped during first few years of life

  • Hypotheses are difficult to test