The Psychology of the Person
Chapter 3
Psychoanalysis
Naomi Wagner, Ph.D
Lecture Outlines
Based on Burger, 8th edition
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Freud was a neurologist practicing in Vienna
(the Austrian-Hungarian Empire)
He had some patients that presented symptoms
that appear to be physical, but upon further
investigation no physical basis was found
Under hypnosis the patient were able to retrieve
their (lost…) physical functioning
First patient was Anna O (not her real name)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Picture shows face of Sigmund Freud
Anna O
Anna O. was the pseudonym of a patient
of Josef Breuer, who published her case
study in his book Studies on Hysteria,
written in collaboration with Sigmund
Freud. Her real name was Bertha
Pappenheim (1859–1936)disturbances of
vision, hearing, and speech, as well as
hallucination and loss of consciousness
Anna O
Anna O. was treated by Breuer for severe
cough, paralysis of the extremities on the
right side of her body, and disturbances of
vision, hearing, and speech, as well as
hallucination and loss of consciousness.
She was diagnosed with hysteria. Freud
implies that her illness was a result of the
resentment felt over her father's real and
physical illness that later led to his death
Freud Discovers the Unconscious
Anna O and other patients with similar
pseudo-physical symptoms were found to
have been molested in childhood
Freud interpreted their physical symptoms
as a result of a mental process that he
labeled “repression”
This was the foundation to the concept of
the unconscious
Components of Freud’s theory
The Topographical Model: The
“geography” of the mind, the terrain
Consists of the 3 levels of consciousness
The Structural Model: The 3 layers of
personality that are interacting with one
another
The 5 psychosexual stages of personality
development
The Topographical Model
Levels of Consciousness
The Conscious level: Being aware of
what is going on around you
The pre-conscious: Information that is
not currently in your awareness, but can
be prompted and retrieved
The Unconscious: Information that is
unavailable, but still affects our behavior
The Topographical Model
The levels of consciousness
Picture shows the iceberg model of personality with the 3 levels of
consciousness labeled.
The Structural Model and Psychodynamics
The Id: The part of our psyche that is
unconscious, reflects a wish for immediate selfgratification
Operates along the pleasure principle
The Ego: develops later as a result of interaction
with the social environment
Operates along the Reality Principle
The ego mediates between the wishes of the
Id and the constraints of society
It wishes to satisfy the Id in a socially-acceptable
way
The Structural Model (con-d)
The Superego: Develops even later, and
reflects the internalization of social values
and mores
The Superego reflects our sense of
morality
Psychodynamics: There is a constant
interactions among the 3 “structures” of
personality- each pulls to a different
direction
The Constant Interaction
(psychodynamics)
Closed “Hydraulic” Model
We have a finite (that is- NOT unlimited)
“amount” pf psychic energy
Our behavior is motivated by 2
unconscious drives, or instincts:
Libido: the Life drive
Thanatos: The Death Drive
In the normal personality, the death drives
is translated into aggression that is
directed outward
Defense Mechanisms
This is an important part of the Freudian
theory
Those are mental operations employed by
the go in order to protect us from the
emergence of unpleasant, unacceptable
urges or drives
Repression is the cornerstone of the
defenses
Note issue of “repressed memories”
The Defenses
Repression: A complete removal from
awareness
Sublimation: the only “positive” defense:
channeling mental energy into sociallydesirable direction
Displacement: Directing undesirable
feelings toward a target (person) that is
weaker that the original target (you are angry at
your boss and you hit your wife)
Defenses (cont-d)
Denial: You may remember the event, but
deny its meaning (someone spits on you and you claim it
is raining)
Intellectualization: You invest a lot of
mental energy in the intellectual analysis
of what had happened, until there is no
energy for the emotion
Rationalization: The fox could not reached
the grapes and claimed they were sour…
Defenses (cont-d)
Projection: You cannot accept your
negative traits, so you assign them to
someone else
Reaction Formation: You cannot express
negative feelings toward someone, so you
show him/her an exaggerated opposite
attitude
Identification with the Aggressor: The
Stockholm Syndrome
The Current Status of Repressed Memories
During the 1980’s there were several
cases of people (mostly women), who
sought therapy for emotional difficulties
and while in therapy recalled childhood
memories of being physically or sexually
abused by family members.
Cont-d
In almost all cases, the accused family
members fiercely denied that such abuse
had occurred. In virtually every case, the
patient had not been aware of any abuse,
and it has been suggested that the
therapist, either explicitly or implicitly made
this suggestion to the client
Famous Cases of “Repressed Memory”
In California, in 1990, George Franklin was
tried and convicted for the murder of a little girl
that had seemingly happened 20 years earlier.
Franklin was convicted on the basis of his
daughter’s repressed memory: She claimed that
while she was playing with her own daughter,
the image of her father killing her best friend
suddenly surfaced. Franklin was sentenced to
life in prison.
The Holly Ramona Case
A similar case took place in California in
the early 1990’s. Holly Ramona, age 22,
who was in therapy because of depression
and bulimia, started to have memories of
her father raping her. The father denied all
accusations. He was acquitted by the jury,
following the testimony of memory experts,
including Elizabeth Loftus.
Current Status of Repressed Memories
The concept of repression was the cornerstone
of the psychoanalytic approach
According to Freud, unacceptable drives,
agonizing memories, and traumas, have been
removed from consciousness by the ego, and
moved into the unconscious.
Another important aspect of the approach has
been the emphasis on early childhood as the
most formative period of life
How was the Whole Fiasco of Repressed
Memories possible?
First, because the strong Freudian
influence regarding the important of early
childhood in affecting later life
Second, because of the popularity of the
Freudian’s concept of repression
Third, because people who are in therapy
are distressed, very suggestible, and want
to find “reasons” for their conditions.
The 5 Psychosexual Stages of Development
Our personality develops during the first 5
or 6 years of life along five stages
During each of the stages, sexual energy
is tied to another area in the body:
Erogenous Zone
If needs are not appropriately met, fixation
occurs, and adult personality reflects it
Oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital
stages
The Oedipus and Electra Complexes
During the phallic stage (age 3-5)
Boy: Develops an erotic attraction to
mother and wants to eliminates father
Becomes afraid of father’s potential
punishment, develops castration anxiety
Resolves the conflict by starting to form
identification with father
Assumes father’s characteristics, including
the male gender role
(Cont-d)
Girl: Develops Penis Envy as she lacks
this organ and is jealous
Identifies with mother to get married, have
a baby
“Anatomy is Destiny” said Freud
No shred of empirical evidence for the
Oedipus and Electra Complexes.
How to get into the unconscious according
to Freud
Freud regarded the dream as the royal road to
the unconscious
The ego’s defenses are down when we sleep,
said Freud, and this enables the unconscious
material to surface
Each dream has a “manifest content” – the story
of the dream and a “latent content”- the
underling symbolic meaning
Most of the Freudian dream symbols have
sexual connotations
Getting to the Unconscious (cont-d)
Projective tests: They present ambiguous stimuli,
facilitating the “projection” of material from the
unconscious
Free Association: A technique introduced by Freud,
where a person is instructed to day whatever comes to
mind
Accidents: These are no accidents, but reflection of
unconscious material
Hypnosis: An altered state that facilitates the emergence
of unconscious material
Freudian slips: You Johnny “Jimmy” (your previous boyfriend)
Symbolic behavior: see textbook for example
The Oedipus Complex
Picture shows a woman holding a baby on her hands and a
man looking from behind
Application: Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a term used to describe
Freud’s theory of personality as well as his
method of psychotherapy
The goal of psychoanalysis is to bring
unconscious material to the surface
Techniques are free association, dream
analysis, analysis of resistance, and
analysis of transference
Strengths and Limitations
Freud was a pioneer in uncharted territory
He attempted to explore the human mind
He developed the first talk therapy
However, his concepts do not lend themselves
to empirical investigation
His ideas were based on case studies that may
have reflected a specific historical/cultural period
His theory portrayed a pessimistic view of
human nature.