Personality - Mechanisms and psycho-sexual stages

mechanisms and psycho-sexual stages

ID

Part of human personality that is made up of all our biological urges that seek out immediate gratification - Pleasure principle

( early as newborn )

Ego

Largely conscious “executive” part of the personality that mediates among the demand of the ID, superego, and reality.

Super Ego

Part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement ( the conscience ) and for future aspirations - Morality principle ( 4-5 years old)

Defense mechanisms

Ego protects itself with tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety by distorting reality.

Repression

Acts to keep information out of conscious awareness ( it is thought that these repressed feelings/desires come out in dreams symbolically )

Displacement

involves taking out our frustrations, feelings, and impulses on people or objects that are less threatening

projection

involves taking our own unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to other people

regression

when confronted by stressful events, people sometimes abandon coping strategies and revert to patterns of behavior used earlier in development.

Denial

Functions to protect the ego from things with which the individual cannot cope

Rationalization

involves explaining an unacceptable behavior or feelings in a rational or logical manner, avoiding the true reasons for the behavior.

reaction formation

reduces anxiety by taking up the opposite feeling, impulse, or behavior. EX: a young boy who bullies a young girl because, on a subconscious level, he's attracted to her

Psycho- sexual stages

childhood stages of development ( oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital ) during which according to Freud the IDs pleasure seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones.

sexuality

desire of sensual pleasure of any kind

Oral

( 0-1/2 ) Mouth - transition from being breastfed to solid food.

OUTCOMES: Overeating, smoking, over dependence or sarcasm

Anal

( 2-3) anus - toilet training, reality based expectations of behavior

OUTCOMES: Obsession over neatness and orderliness, messiness, rebellious, and hostile personality.

Phallic

( 3-6) Genitalia - attachment to opposite sex parent and identification with same sex parent

OUTCOMES: Oedipus complex/ Electra complex, castration anxiety, penis envy

Latency

(6- puberty ) sexual desires repressed into unconscious - focus on intellectual and social development.

Genital

( puberty - adulthood ) Genitalia - development of initmate relationships outside of family

OUTCOME : Normal sexual desires

Oedipus/ Electra complex

Child’s sexual desires towards their opposite sex parent and feelings of jealousy and hatred for same sex parent ( during phallic stage ) Children eventually cope with threatening feelings

castration anxiety

boy's fear of loss of or damage to the genital organ as punishment for incestuous wishes toward the mother and murderous fantasies toward the rival father.

Penis Anxiety

young girls experience anxiety upon realization that they do not have a penis. Freud considered this realization a defining moment in a series of transitions toward a mature female sexuality.

Free association

aims to deepen your self-understanding by looking at whatever thoughts, words, or images come freely to your mind.This technique is intended to help the patient learn more about what he or she thinks and feels, in an atmosphere of non-judgmental curiosity and acceptance. EX: a person might produce an incoherent stream of words, such as dog, red, mother, and scoot. They may also jump randomly from one memory or emotion to another

unconscious

mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories

identification

the process of associating the self closely with other individuals and their characteristics or views.

Fixate

a persistent focus on an earlier psycho-sexual stage. When one's desire is tied to an object of desire connected to an earlier phase in one's psycho-sexual development.

EX: if a child has issues during the weaning process, they might develop an oral fixation

sublimation

the channeling of unacceptable feelings, desires, and impulses – often of a sexual or aggressive nature – into positive, socially approved activity.