The Psychoanalytic & Neoanalytic Perspectives

What was Freud’s conceptualisation of personality and how was it developed?

• Topographical model

• structural model

• Psychosexual stages

• developed from his observations of female patients

What are the applications of Freud’s work?

Psychoanalysis and techniques for tapping into the unconscious, such as projective personality assessment, dream analysis, hypnosis, etc

Who were the major Neo-Freudian theorists?

• Carl Gustav Jung: Analytic psychology

• Alfred Adler: Individual psychology

• Karen Horney: Feminine psychology

What are the strengths of the psychoanalytic

• Description

  • Good attempt to describe the origins of personality and the complexity of personality structure

• Explanation

  • Some concepts, such as defense mechanisms, offer explanations of behaviour which are observed

  • Broadly speaking the influence of early childhood experiences is widely accepted

• Empirical validity and testable concepts

  • Some research supports ideas, such as for dream content and defense mechanisms

• First comprehensive theory of personality

• Heuristic value

  • Set the direction for subsequent personality theory and research

• Applied value

  • Freud’s theory and work led to the treatment of people with mental disorders in a more humane manner

  • Psychoanalysis can be beneficial for some clients

What are the weaknesses of psychoanalytic

• Overly parsimonious: Is our behaviour really motivated by just two instincts? Human behavior is driven by a conflict between Eros (the life drive) and Thanatos (the death drive)

• Description:

  • Excessive complexity

• Empirical validity and testable concepts

  • Lack of scientific support (many concepts never tested) with vague definitions and untestable concepts

  • Reliance on case study method, predominantly among women.

  • Objectivity is questionable since content and meaning was filtered through Freud’s lens

• Explanation:

  • Explanation of development and the role of psychic energy is poor

  • Environment is overlooked

• Overemphasis on sex

• Pessimistic

  • The idea that personality is fixed early on in life

• Time-consuming and expensive therapy

• Sexist

What are the strengths of the neoanalytic

• Elaborated important psychoanalytic concepts

• Importance of social factors in personality formation and change

• Described development of personality beyond childhood years

• More optimistic view

• Introduced concepts such as inferiority complex, identity crisis, birth order etc.

• Stimulated research (e.g., Horney’s influence on attachment, parenting styles, feminine psychology)

What are the weaknesses of the neoanalytic

• Questionable evidence

• Use of case-study method

• A lot of data came from patients undergoing psychotherapy

• Often considered to be “incomplete” – many aspects of psychoanalytic theory simplified or ignored

Topographical model

• Conscious thought

• Preconscious mind

• Unconscious mind

Conscious thought

• Thought that you are aware of

• Verbalise our conscious experience

• logical manner

Preconscious mind

• Just below or conscious thought

• Memories and information that we can retrieve i.e. looking for car keys

Unconscious mind

• Not directly accessible

• thoughts, urges, feelings

• material here cannot be brought to immediate awareness

• responsible/influence behaviour

Structural model

Id, ego, superego

Id

• Operates in the unconscious

• Irrational or emotional part of the mind

• personality present at birth

• operates on the pleasure principle

• when there is an immediate object that we can’t have, the id uses wish fulfilment such as dreams

Ego

• Operates at all levels of consciousness

• the rational part of the mind

• Ego develops in response to the realisation that we can’t always get what we want

  • Operates on the reality principle

• Mediates the demands of the id and the superego

Superego

• Operates at all levels of consciousness

• Formed around 5 years of age.

• Thought of as the moral part of the mind

• Representation (internalisation) of society’s and parental standards and values.

• If superego is too strong/powerful, this can lead to moral anxiety (e.g., feeling persistent guilt)

• Superego tries to inhibit the Id and tries to get the Ego to act morally rather than just rationally

Defence mechanisms

• The ego operates to reduce anxiety.

• Neurotic anxiety occurs when unconscious thoughts (Id) are close to becoming conscious.

• The ego uses defense mechanisms to help deal with this anxiety.

• It was actually Anna Freud, Freud’s daughter who elaborated on the defense mechanisms.

• Relying on defense mechanisms (particularly certain ones) can be problematic (e.g., denial). Some mechanisms are more sophisticated than others.

Types of defence mechanisms

• Repression

• Sublimation

• Displacement

• Denial

• Reaction formation

• Intellectualisation

• Projection

• Phobic avoidance

• Rationalisation

• Regression

• Conversion reaction

Regression

• The most important

• The ego’s efforts to push material out of conscious awareness

  • Distressing memories, thoughts, desires

Sublimation

• The most productive of the defense mechanisms

• Channelling impulses into socially acceptable actions

Displacement

• Also channels impulses, but no social rewards

• Phobias were seen as symbolic displacements

Denial

Denial of reality (will not accept that certain facts exist)

Reaction formation

Acting in an opposite way to a threatening impulse (the reaction is exaggerated)

Intellectualisation

• Dealing with the threatening impulse in an unemotional manner

• Abstract thinking to avoid painful emotions

Projection

When we repress the source of anxiety and see them in others instead

Phobic avoidance

Extreme form of avoiding places and situations which arouse anxiety

Rationalisation

Constructing logical, socially approved justifications to explain away uncomfortable actions or mistakes, reducing anxiety

Regression

Returning to an earlier stage of life

Conversion reaction

Anxiety is converted into psychosomatic symptoms

Psychosexual stages

• Freud believed that personality formed during the first 5 to 6 years of life divided into stages.

• Major developmental task associated with each stage and this is a potential source for conflict.

• Some individuals may become fixated at a particular stage.

Psychoanalysis

• Therapy with a goal of uncovering the unconscious mind

• use of lots of different techniques

• is time consuming and expensive

• Development of resistance by client implies the therapy is in progression

• Development of transference

Transference

• Displacing of emotions associated with people from past situations onto the therapist

• Delicate and crucial part of the therapy process

Psychoanalysis techniques

• Free association

• dream interpretation

• Hypnosis

• Projective tests

Free association

speaking freely without any distractions to reveal previously hidden material (difficult)

Dream interpretation

• Contain manifest content (what the dreamer remembers) and latent content (what the dream is really about)

• Unacceptable images and thoughts can be expressed in our dreams

• Freud developed common dream symbols which are said to be representative of something else

Evidence of dream interpretation

• dream content may not be random as dreams are influenced by our thoughts and fears prior to sleep

• Evidence for the meaning of dream symbols is less clear. • Dreaming has some psychological benefits = better able to cope with anxiety

• REM sleep important

Hypnosis

• when the ego is suspended leaving a direct link to the unconscious.

• Neodissociation theory: Whilst part of the mind enters the ‘trance’ like state, there is always a hidden observer

• Sociocognitive models: emphasise motivation, expectancy and concentration effects.

• Not all individuals are equally responsive to hypnosis.

• If you score high on absorption (e.g., imaginative) you would likely be responsive to hypnosis

Projective tests

• Assessment is via projective tests

• Ambiguous stimuli which the person can project unconscious drives, motives, conflicts etc onto

• Examples include:

  • The Rorschach Inkblot Test

  • The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

• The test consists of a series of symmetrical blots where the subject states what they see.

• Less about what is actually seen and more about how individuals approach the task, which parts of the image they focus on or ignore, etc?

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• Designed to evaluate personality by interpreting the stories individuals create in response to ambiguous images.

• This process is believed to reveal underlying motivations, emotions, and interpersonal dynamics, as the narratives reflect personal experiences and perspectives.

Are projective tests useful?

• Rorschach Inkblot test has been researched the most

  • Questionable psychometric properties

    • Though some might argue it’s more of an interview and not a quantifiable assessment

  • More rigorous coding methods available now

• How can we assess the validity of unconscious assessment?

  • Is it measuring what it’s supposed to measure?

  • How do we know if we are tapping into someone’s unconscious?

• Useful for particular groups?

  • Children, law enforcement

• One source of information

Neo-analytic approach

• argued that later experiences are important for shaping personality

• Increased emphasis on social and cultural factors and less emphasis on sex

• Some had less of a focus on the unconscious

  • Emphasised the Ego = Adler and Erikson

• Personality assessment involves personal narratives

Personal narratives

Talk about key parts of life through a series of questions

Jung: Analytic psychology

• differing views on the role of the unconscious

• Jung thought that the role of the unconscious was overemphasised

• Jung thought that humans sought to seek higher self-development

• go = all conscious and involved with thinking, remembering etc (small part of psyche)

• Personal unconscious = Material now repressed or forgotten, but was once conscious

• Collective unconscious

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Collective unconscious

• Inherited images and experiences that result from common experiences to all humans (includes our prehuman ancestry as well). It also includes universal symbols which are responsible for responding in certain ways to certain things. These are called archetypes.

  • Mother, father, moon, sun, hero, God

  • Jung was influenced by archeology and mythology

Components of the personality Jung

• Attitude:

  • Does the psyche have an internal or external view of the world?

  • Reflective of introversion-extroversion

  • Energy flow inward / outward

• Four functions:

  • Thinking and feeling

    • Thinking = logic, reason

    • Feeling = emotions

• Sensation and intuition

  • Sensation = details

  • Intuition = big picture

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

k consists of eight preferences organised into four pairs of opposites. When you combine your preferences (E or I, S or N, T or F, J or P), they make up your psychological or personality type. There are 16 possible combinations of letters leading to 16 distinct MBTI personality types.

Adler: Individual psychology

• De-emphasised sexual motivation and emphasised:

  • Behaviour motivated by striving for superiority (we begin our lives with a sense of inferiority)

  • Argued that those who were psychologically healthy showed their striving for superiority through a concern for the interest of others

  • Importance of social interest, community, cooperation

  • Importance of parents

Adlerian personality types

• ruling type

• avoiding type

• getting type

• socially useful type

The ruling type

• Intense striving for personal superiority and power

• Lack of social interest

• Aggressive, dominating

The avoiding type

• Low striving and low social interest

• Attempt to escape problems by withdrawing and minimising engagement

• Lack of confidence to face challenges

• Avoid to maintain self-esteem

The getting type

• Passive

• Expect others to meet their needs

The socially useful type

• Healthy’ type

• Social interest and high level of constructive striving

• Align personal goals with community goals

Adler’s conceptualisation of the effects of birth order

• Firstborn children

  • Subjected to excessive attention from parents

  • Arrival of second child ends the pampering

  • Strong perception of inferiority

• Middle-born children

  • Develop a strong superiority striving

  • Highest achievers

  • Try hard to catch up with their older siblings

• Last-born children

  • Pampered throughout their childhood

  • Vulnerable to strong inferiority feelings

Horney: Feminine psychology

• saw the differences between men and women as resulting from social and cultural factors, rather than biological factors.

• Believed much of adult behaviour is based on efforts to overcome basic anxiety acquired in childhood:

  • fear of being alone and helpless in hostile world

  • fear leads to neurotic needs

  • minimised by being raised with trust, love, warmth and tolerance

Horney: Neurotic characteristics

• People who are neurotic are unable to interact with others in a manner which would help them to develop strong interpersonal ties.

• Neurotic individuals try and avoid experiences which may cause anxiety by adopting a particular style of dealing with people:

  • Moving toward people, moving against people or moving away from people

Compliant

Needs

• Need to fit in, for approval, belonging and affection

Moving towards people

Aggressive

Need power, believes the only way to survive is by winning and controlling others

Moving against people

Detached

Need self-sufficiency, sees themselves as self-sufficient, private and superior to others

Moving away from people

Healthy

Flexible interpersonal styles

style of dealing with people depends on situaition

Neo-Freudian assessment critique personal narratives

• Interviews are recorded and transcribed

• Judges code stories according to preset criteria

• Scores tend to be consistent over time

• Accuracy of the story and selective remembering of scenes by participants draws criticism