Psych - Unit 1 – Ms. Shirley
Personality
Freud & Psychodynamic Theory
What do you need to know?
★ List & describe the 3 components into which
Freud divided the personality & indicate how
these are distributed across the 3 levels of
awareness.
★ Explain the role of internal conflicts in Freud’s
theory.
★ Describe the operation of defense mechanisms.
★ Outline Freud’s psychosexual stages of
development & their theorized relations to adult
personality.
Sigmund Freud (Psychodynamic) & B. F.
Skinner (Behaviorism):
Developed grand ideas with massive overall &
overarching reach.
Most psychological theories are very focused on singular
points of reference. However, Freud & Skinner have “Big
Picture” models.
Sigmund Freud - a famous scholar in world history.
But was VERY well known during his day. Probably would have won
the Nobel Prize,
if not for a letter written by a past Nobel winner Albert Einstein
who argued,
“He’s only a psychologist,
how can you give the prize to
him?”
If you asked a person today:
“Name a psychologist.”
The response would probably be...
Sigmund Freud.
Freud left Europe to escape the Nazi’s in
Germany. The Nazi leaders burned all of his
books & research.
Upon leaving he was asked by the Gestapo to sign
a letter saying that the Nazi Gestapo had never
harmed him.
He signed it & sarcastically wrote:
“The Gestapo has never harmed me in
any way. In fact, I can heartily
recommend the Gestapo for
everyone.”
Freud is incredibly controversial. Some despise
his ‘ridiculous theories’ - examples:
Penis Envy
Or
Architectural Phallic Symbols.
At the core of Freudian thought - set of claims
with immense importance:
The idea of the unconscious &
unconscious motivations & conflicts.
Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud believed psychological influences caused disorders.
1st comprehensive personality theory
Exploring the Unconscious
Unconscious Mind: filled with unacceptable thoughts, wishes,
feelings & memories.
Free Association: Freud’s technique to untap the unconscious by
having patients say whatever came to their mind.
He believed that Free Association Technique provides access
to the unconscious mind
Psychoanalysis Treatment Process:
Patients revealed painful, embarrassing thoughts in the unconscious
through free association.
Once these memories were retrieved and released... the patients then
would feel better.
YouTube: The Psychoanalysis of Sheldon - Big Bang Theory
This is just the
Tip of the
Iceberg!
Parts of the Mind
Analogy - the mind is like an
iceberg
Conscious - what you are
currently aware of
Preconscious - info not in
conscious but is able to be
retrieved when needed
Unconscious - Massive
amount hidden from view
This is just the
Tip of the
Iceberg!
Parts of the Mind
Analogy - the mind is like
an iceberg
Conscious - what you are
currently aware of
Preconscious - info not in
conscious but is able to be
retrieved when needed
Unconscious - Massive
amount hidden from view
Unconscious Influences:
Latent content of dreams
symbolic meaning of dream images, what
your unconscious mind is thinking
Freudian Slip:
“Slip of the Tongue”
not something you meant to say, but was
brought out through your unconscious
thought
Ahhhhhh..
.
Freudian Personality Development
The Pleasure Principle - Pure Id
Believed that the Id was basic &
foundational.
Present at birth, the ‘animal’ in you.
The Id is entirely stupid.
It wants. It wants it now. “Eat it! Get it! Go Now!”
Polymorphous Perversity: Pure desire for
pleasure
Quite “unconscious”
However, what you want isn’t always available,
so humans developed ways to deal with the id.
Either planning how to get what you want
constructively, or suppressing them entirely.
Freud Museum: Vienna,
Swtiz.
Freudian Personality Development
The conscious is the ego (self).
Reality Principle: How to make your way in
the world. How to satisfy your pleasures or how
to give up on them entirely.
Freudian Personality Development
3rd component - the Super Ego (internalized rules
of society & parents)
The Super Ego is also terribly stupid,
according to Freud.
The Super Ego is screaming, “Stop! You are
disgusting, you should be ashamed of
yourself!”
The Ego is between them.
The self decides what to do.
Freud Museum: Vienna,
Swtiz.
Personality Structure
Id, Ego, and Superego
Angel
Devil
Person
Superego
Ego
Id
How does the ego negotiate between
the id and the superego?
★ These clashes are called intrapsychic or psychodynamic
conflicts.
★ This process can cause stress and anxiety.
★ The ego tries to prevent anxiety, guilt and other unpleasant
feelings.
★ Sometimes the ego helps us negotiate situations well and
sometimes we use…
Defense Mechanisms
Personality Development
Freud believed that personality
formed during life’s first few years
divided into:
Psychosexual Stages
During these stages stages the id’s
(the devil) pleasure seeking energies
focus on pleasure sensitive body
areas called erogenous zones.
The Stages:
Oral, Anal, Phallic,
Latency & Genital
Freud Museum: Vienna, Swtiz.
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
1. Oral (0-1): Obtain pleasure from the
mouth via sucking, biting, swallowing.
2. Anal (1-3): Pleasure obtained by
learning to control bodily wastes.
3. Phallic Stage (3-5): In Greek
mythology - a phallic symbol is that of a
male genital and deal with incestuous
feelings.
4. Latency Stage (5-12) Suppress
sexual interest - play mostly with same sex
peers. (cooties!)
5. Genital Stage (adolescent & Up)
Adult sexuality. Feeling more comfortable
with the mature understanding of what sex
means and what is about. Comfort and
maturity in expressing with the sexual
feelings towards others.
Psychosexual Stages
Fixation - being stuck and struggling through a particular
psychosexual stage. You move on in life, but may have
‘issues’ that arise from the struggles during that stage.
If a traumatic event occurs... one can become “stuck.”
Could become an “oral” fixation where one had trouble
quitting cigarettes, overeats, nail biting or must constantly
have something in their mouth.
Psychosexual Stages
Oral Fixation: Seek expressive oral
contact through smoking, drinking,
eating.
Dependence, either passive or biting
sarcasm/act tough.
Anal Fixation or Anal retentive:
controlled & orderly
Anal expulsive: messy & disorganized
"Sometimes a Cigar Is Just a Cigar"
While the famous quote is often
repeated and attributed to Freud, there is
no evidence that he ever actually said
it. Freud was a lifelong cigar smoker,
smoking up to twenty a day according to
his biographer Ernest Jones.
As the story goes, someone once
asked Freud what the cigar he so often
smoked symbolized. The response is
meant to suggest that even the famous
psychoanalyst believed that not
everything held an underlying, symbolic
meaning.
In reality, the quote is most likely
the invention of a journalist that was
later mistakenly identified as a quote
by Freud.
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
In classical psychoanalytic theory, the child's
identification with the same-sex parent is the
successful resolution of the Electra complex and of
the Oedipus complex; his and her key psychological
experience to developing a mature sexual role and
identity. Fixation on this stage may lead to an
unhealthy identification with the opposite-sex parent.
Oedipus Complex - a boy would have
unconscious desire for mom & jealous/hatred for
dad.
Fears punishment if dad found out (castration) if
dad found out about his feelings.
Electra Complex - the female version of the
Oedipus Complex
(added later by Karen Horney (Horn-nay) &
Freud’s daughter, Anna)
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Identification: End of the Phallic Stage
Children cope with the threatening feelings by
repressing them and by identifying with the rival
parent.
The“if you can’t beat them, join them” approach.
Through this process of identification their superego
gains strength incorporating parents’ values.
Defense Mechanisms
Defense Mechanisms
Methods used by ego to unconsciously
protect itself against anxiety caused by
conflict between id’s demands and
superego’s constraints.
- only unhealthy when they cause selfdefeating behavior & emotional problems
{remember id=devil; super ego=angel}
Defense Mechanisms
Repression - we avoid painful thoughts by
forcing them into the back of our mind
- underlies all other defense mech.
- Example: witness a murder, don’t remember the
details when asked by police. (unconscious)
Regression - we retreat to behaving or thinking
like a child in order to avoid adult issues.
- throwing a temper tantrum.
Example: Blaming referees when you failed on the field.
Or soccer player pretending to be injured.
Defense Mechanisms
Displacement - divert sexual or aggressive
impulses to a more acceptable person or object.
Displaced aggression is a common example of this defense
mechanism. Rather than express our anger in ways that could lead to
negative consequences (like arguing with our boss), we instead
express our anger towards a person or object that poses no threat
(such as our spouse, children or pets).
Example: Angry at mom; take it out on the family dog. Or
Angry at boyfriend; get in argument with your mom.
Projection - disguise threatening impulses and
attributing them to others.
Involves taking our own unacceptable qualities or feelings and
ascribing them to other people. Projection works by allowing the
expression of the desire or impulse, but in a way that the ego cannot
recognize, therefore reducing anxiety.
Example - Want to break up with bf or gf, accuse him/her of
wanting to break up with you.
Defense Mechanisms
Sublimation - we expend energy on
prosocial activities in order to avoid
undesired activities.
Ex) you have anger issues. Instead of hitting
people on the streets, you train as an MMA fighter.
*sign of maturity that allows people to function normally
in socially acceptable ways.
Reaction formation - make
unacceptable impulses into their
opposite, acceptable form.
Ex) you really dislike your Psych teacher, but
tell everyone how much you LOVE them. Or you really
like another person, but instead of telling them, you
pretend to hate them.
Why do people behave this way?
According to Freud, they are using reaction formation as
a defense mechanism to hide their true feelings by
behaving in the exact opposite manner.
Defense Mechanisms
Rationalization - we try to
create logical explanations of
our behavior in order to justify it.
Ex) A person who is turned down for a
date might rationalize the situation by saying they were
not attracted to the other person anyway.
Or a student might blame a poor exam score on
the instructor rather than his or her lack of preparation.
Rationalization not only
prevents anxiety, it may also
protect self-esteem and selfconcept.
When confronted by success or failure,
people tend to attribute achievement to
their own qualities and skills while failures
are blamed on other people or outside
forces.
Defense Mechanisms
Denial - we refuse to perceive reality
in order to protect ourselves from it.
Often this is done in the face of
obvious truth.
Ex) You get a rejection letter from the school you
always wanted to go to. You don’t tell people that you were
rejected, but rather accepted.
Denial functions to protect the
ego from things that the individual
cannot cope with.
While this may save us from
anxiety or pain, denial also requires
a substantial investment of energy.
Because of this, other defenses are
also used to keep these unacceptable
feelings from consciousness.
Defense Mechanisms
(Unconscious)
Repression
Pushing unpleasant memories and
urges out of conscious awareness
Rationalization
Coming up with false but reasonable
excuses for actions or mistakes.
Projection
Putting your own unacceptable feelings
onto other people.
Reaction Formation
Acting the opposite of how you feel
Regression
Falling back to an earlier more infantile
stage of development
Sublimation
Converting unacceptable impulses
into socially acceptable ones – art,
sports, academics…
Displacement
Directing an impulse from an
unacceptable target to a less
threatening one, kicking the dog
Denial
Just saying it ain’t so.
“No defense mechanism here…”
Compensation
Trying to make up for perceived
deficits or fears
Evaluating the Psychodynamic Approach
★
★
★
★
★
★
Freud - incredible contributions to Western thinking and psychology
However, limited support for certain aspects of Freud’s theory
Only based on a few case studies
Weaknesses in Freud’s theory
Limited social and cultural universality
Does not take social interaction into account
There are two ways you can reject a scientific theory:
1. It is wrong. It doesn’t work.
2. The theory is so vague and all-encompassing that it can’t be tested.
“That guys work is crap, he’s not right. He’s not even wrong.”
- Wolfgang Pauli, a physicist who was asked about the work of a colleague
Astrology & Astrological predictions: It’s not that they are wrong. It’s that they can not
be proven wrong. They are too vague.
Freudian Theory is so vague that it can not be tested.
Yet, Freudian defenders say that it is proven through psychoanalysis. However, how
can that be tested?
Freud says to a patient,
“You hate your mother.”
The patient replies,
“Wow, that makes sense!”
Freud says,
“I am right!”
-OR-
Freud says to a patient,
“You hate your mother.”
The patient replies,
“No. I don’t. That’s disgusting! How dare you!”
Freud says, “Your anger shows this
idea is painful to you. You have
repressed it from consciousness.
I am right!”
“You have deep psychological problems.”
However, Freud’s theory pins itself to the unconscious
and there are MANY ways that the unconscious mind
plays a pivotal role in human behavior.
For example,
Language
Driving, chewing gum, shoelace tying -- all the
places where you quickly and instinctively operate in
the unconscious.
Subliminal impressions through messaging.
There is a LOT of empirical support for the power of
the unconscious in the areas of social psychology,
for example.
One area is the terrible initiation of hazing. It is
illegal, yet remarkably successful. The more you
pay for something, the more you enjoy it. The more
pain you go through, the more you like it.
The Neo-Freudians
Like Freud, Alfred Adler believed in childhood tensions, however these tensions were
social in nature & not sexual.
A child struggles with inferiority complex during growth & strives for superiority & power.
Founder of “Individual Psychology” (his term for personality).
Studied ‘inferiority complex’ and is recognized for making major breakthrough in that
area of Personality.
The Neo-Freudians
Like many who held opposing views with
Freud, Karen Horney (Horn-nay) felt that
sex and aggression were not the primary
constituents for determining personality.
Horney (Horn-nay) believed in the social
aspects of childhood growth and
development. Children were trying to
overcome a sense of helplessness.
She countered Freud’s assumption that women have weak
superegos and suffer from “penis-envy.”
Freud believed that boys had the power and were given
more opportunities. Freud believed that women envied those
opportunities.
Considered a founder of “Humanistic Psychoanalysis” &
“Feminist Psychology”
The Neo-Freudians
Carl Jung (Yung) collective unconscious which
contained a common reservoir of images
derived from our species’ past.
A psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung
proposed and developed the concepts of the extraverted and
the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective
unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in
the study of religion, literature, and related fields.
Jung's primary disagreement with Freud stemmed from their
differing concepts of the unconscious. Jung saw Freud's theory
of the unconscious as incomplete and unnecessarily negative.
Archetypes - universal symbolic images that
appear across cultures in myths, art, stories, &
dreams
Examples - Darth Vader vs. Superman
Archetype of Evil & Goodness