Psychoanalytic …
Accepts the importance of early childhood experiences and the unconscious mind.
Sigmund Freud
Primitive, Animalistic, Unconscious drives, motives and instincts
Carl Jung
Analytic psychology with emphasis on
“collective unconscious”
Alfred Adler
Less emphasis on (freud’s) biological drives of sex and aggressions and more on social relationships.
Basic tenets:
Constant struggles between desire to meet biological urge and realities of living.
Unconscious process influence behavior
Born in Moravia, on May 6, 1856
Lived 78 years practicing in
Vienna, Austria and established a private practice for the treatment of nervous disorders.
Youngest daughter, Anna, became an important child psychoanalyst.
Died of cancer of the jaw on
September 23, 1939, in London,
England.
Psychoanalytic personality theory emphasizes the roles of intrapsychic events (processes occurring in the mind), unconscious drives and early childhood development.
(1990, Liebert and
Spiegler, p. 43)
Childhood experiences, repressed erotic feelings, and unconscious conflicts can affect adult behavior.
(1999, Friedman and Schustack, p. 62)
Human nature is under the “dictatorship” of instinctual, unconscious, and irrational forces.
Human organisms are selfish beings, existing in a state of external and internal turmoil. (displaying aggressive and sexual excesses)
Dominated by forces outside of conscious control.
Humans are considered incapable of dealing with their own psychological problems.
All behavior is determined or caused by some force within the person.
Behavior has meaning (none occurs by chance).
Biological determinism vs.
Psychological determinism -
Freud emphasized psychological rather than biological
“consciousness knows nothing of.
. . neurons.”
What lies beneath the surface of the unconscious mind??
ID,
EGO, and
SUPEREGO
ID
• Operates according to the pleasure principle
• Primitive and unconscious part of personality
EGO
• Operates according to the reality principle
• Mediates between id and superego
SUPEREGO
• Moral ideals and conscience
According to Freud…
We are born with our ID
ID is an important part of our personality as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met.
ID is based on our pleasure principle id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation.
When the id wants something, nothing else is important.
The “ID” is the reservoir of instincts – powered by libido “sexual desire in the broadest sense.”
Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality (EGO) begins to develop.
EGO based on the reality principle. understands that other people have needs & desires, and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run.
Its the EGO's job to meet the needs of the
ID, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation
Ego serves as a bridge to reality (not totally conscious)
The ego calls on various defense mechanisms in order to regain control over threatening id instincts.
You need to get organized !
I’m talking to you
ID, are you listening?
No
By the age of five, or the end of the phallic stage of development SUPEREGO develops.
Superego is the moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on us by our caregivers.
Many equate the superego with the conscience as it dictates our belief of right and wrong.
Superego’s most important function – control id impulses, direct energy towards inhibiting id’s expression of sexual, aggressive and antisocial instincts.
Incorporates the norms and standards of society
Introjection – a process by which the personality incorporates the norms and standards of its culture
Morality principle -equivalent to conscience
Guilt – an intense feeling of regret over having done something wrong
Ego Ideal – pride and self respect through positive standards of internal representations of idealized parental figures
ORAL STAGE
ANAL STAGE
PHALLIC STAGE
LATENCY STAGE
GENITAL STAGE
Human being develop through stages based upon a particular erogenous zone.
During each stage, an unsuccessful completion means that a child becomes fixated on that particular erogenous zone and either over – or under-indulges once he or she becomes an adult.
Mouth = erogenous zone
Focus on Oral Pleasure = sucking
ID dominant personality structure
TRAUMA = eating/weaning problems – not enough or too much
Too much or too little gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities.
FIXATION OF PSYCHIC ENERGY = oral personality characteristics (eating, drinking, smoking, kissing, sucking on things)
Oral personality = childlike, dependent, gullible OR excessively aggressive (biting)
Anal region = erogenous zone
Pleasure = defecation
EGO plays role in delaying defecation desire through
TOILET TRAINING (fear). Parent either offers praise for successful eliminations or punishment for failures
FIXATION = ANAL PERSONALTIY (2 types)
Anal Expulsive: characteristics include being messy, cruel, destructive, overtly hostile
Anal Retentive: rigidity, obsessive style, and orderliness
(reaction against messiness of defecating)
In terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during this stage can result in an obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive)
On the opposite end of the spectrum, they may become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive).
Pleasure zone switches to the genitals.
The development of
Oedipus Complex (for boys)
• Freud believed that during this stage boys develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother.
• He becomes rivals with his father and sees him as competition for the mother’s affection.
• During this time, boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by castrating them.
Electra Complex (for girls)
• Penis envy
• Female desire for feelings of strength and self worth that men have by virtue of their male anatomy (penis)
ID, EGO, & SUPEREGO (personality structures) are fully developed by age 5
Sexual desires become dormant after resolution of the oedipus complex
Sex instinct is sublimated through school activities, hobbies, sports, same sex friendships, etc. during this time Sexual energy is channeled into such activities as going to school and making friends.
It’s during this stage that sexual urges remain repressed and children interact and play mostly with same sex peers.
Latency involves massive repression of sexual, as well as, anal impulses.
Erogenous zone = adult genital regions
The final stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened Development of sex-role identity
Through the lessons learned during the previous stages, adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex peers.
Development of adult social relationships
(“heterosexual”) if conflicts at all earlier stages were resolved and little libido was fixated there
CONFLICT = conformity to societal norms, but not a big deal and can be resolved through sublimation
Genital personality type = finding satisfaction in work and love
A defence mechanism is an unconscious way to protect the personality from unpleasant thoughts which may cause anxiety .
However, a defence mechanism can also lead to a neurosis if it causes a person to adopt ineffectual or inappropriate coping strategies.
Types of Defence Mechanism
Displacement
Introjection
Projection
Rationalisation
Reaction Formation
Regression
Repression
Sublimation
Displacement .
Redirecting emotion from a 'dangerous' object to a 'safe' object. For example punching a cushion when angry at your partner.
Introjection .
When an individual internalises the values or characteristics of another person, usually someone who is significant to the individual in some way.
Projection .
The opposite of introjection. Attributing one's own emotions or desires to an external object or person. For example saying others hate you when it's you who hates the others.
Rationalisation .
Inventing a logical reason after an emotional act is made.
Reaction formation .
A feeling is converted into its opposite, for example turning hate into love.
Regression .
Behaviour reverts to a previous age.
Repression .
Thoughts unacceptable to the Ego are moved into the unconscious where they cannot be easily accessed.
Sublimation .
A 'healthy' form of displacement, for example playing sport to relieve stress or anger.
According to Freud, In a healthy person …
EGO is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the ID Not upset the SUPEREGO, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation.
If the ID gets too strong impulses and self gratification take over the person's life.
If the SUPEREGO becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgmental & unbending in his or her interactions with the world.
Emphasizes the effects of patterns established early in life on personality development.
Attempts to understand unconscious forces.
Considers defense mechanisms as an essential aspect of personality.
Assumes multiple levels are operations in the brain.
Pessimistic overemphasis on early experiences and destructive inner urges
Relatively unconcerned with interpersonal relations or with the individual’s identity and adaptation throughout life
Difficult to test empirically
Many ideas have been discredited by more modern research on the brain
Assumes any deviation from heterosexual relation is pathological
Focuses on male behavior as the norm and female behavior as a deviation
Do you think Freud’s theory can help you understand yourself?
Do you think Freud really felt that females were inferior?
Do the strengths of Freud’s theory outweigh the weaknesses?
Do profound child experiences affect later personality development?
Allen, B.P. (2003). Personality Theories , 4 th
Bacon.
edition. Boston: Allyn and
Breger, L. (2000). Freud: In the Midst of Darkness. New York:John Wiley and
Sons, Inc.
Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (1999). Personality: Classic Theories and
Modern Research. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
•“ The Psychoanalytic Theory (Terms and Concepts)” www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4f70/terms.html
•“The Psychoanalytic Theory of Emotions” http://member.aol.com/donjohnr/sketch.html
•“Eddy M. Elmer Psychoanalytic Theory Personality Adjustment” www.3.telus.net/eddyelmer/Tools/freud3.html
•“Brief Introduction to Psychoanalysis” http://homepage.newschool.edu/~quiqleyt/vcs/psychoanalysis.html