Unit 7C Test Part 1 - The Psychoanalytic Perspective

Psychoanalysis

Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious desires

Free Association

Exploring the unconscious by saying whatever comes to mind

Freud’s Definition of the Unconscious

A reservoir of unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories

Today’s Definition of the Unconscious

Info processing that we’re unaware of

Id

Unconscious self that seeks to satisfy sexual and aggressive drives; pleasure principle

Ego

Largely conscious part of personality that mediates between the id and the superego; reality principle

Superego

Conscience - internalized ideals and judgments

Psychosexual Stages

Oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, genital stage

What can happen if you have an unresolved conflict in a psychosexual stage?

Fixation

Fixation

A lasting, pleasure-seeking focus on a particular psychosexual stage

Oral Stage

Birth to 1 year; baby sucks breast or bottle (fixations: anything involving the mouth)

Anal Stage

1 to 3 years; holding or releasing urine or feces (fixation: cleanliness or messiness)

Phallic Stage

3 to 6 years; Oedipus Complex is formed, then refuted, resulting in the superego

Latency Phase

6 to 11 years; sexual instincts die down, superego keeps developing, social values

Genital Phase

Puberty and after; sexual desires reappear