The Psychodynamic
Perspective on Personality
Who was Sigmund Freud?
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Psychiatrist from Vienna, lived from 1856 to 1939
His theories are referred to as “Classical
Psychoanalytic Theory” or “Classical
Psychodynamic Theory”
Believed that mental disorders result from
unconscious conflicts in the individual
Created theories of the structure of the mind, as well
as the development and dynamics of personality
The Unconscious Mind
(the basic principle of Freudian theory)
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Personality differences lie in the nature of the unconscious
drives behind our conscious thoughts and behavior.
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Our conscious minds create false rationalizations for behavior
with roots in the unconscious.
The job of the therapist is to analyze speech and behavior for
clues to the nature of the unconscious mind.
Illogical speech and behavior, such as slips of the tongue, free
associations, and the content of dreams can be the best clues to
the unconscious.
Sexual impulses that are kept in check by society emerge as
aggressive ones.
“Defenses” work to keep unacceptable thoughts out of the
conscious mind.
The Structure of the Mind
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The mind (or psyche) has three parts: the Id, the Ego,
and the Superego.
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The Id
• Present at birth, the energy center of the mind.
• Composed of basic biological drives: food, water, elimination of
waste, warmth, affection, and sex.
• This psychic energy is called the libido.
• Operates on the “pleasure principle” – when the Id has an
unsatisfied drive, tension is produced and the person must act to
resolve this tension.
• As the child is socialized, the Id is quickly made part of the
unconscious, below the level of awareness.
The Structure of the Mind
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The Ego
• Develops during the second 6 months of life, and is primarily conscious.
• Operates on the “reality principle” – the realization that relying on the
pleasure principle is not the most effective way of surviving. The Ego must
mediate between reality and the demands of gratification made by the Id.
• The Ego derives its energy from the Id, and yet must also direct it.
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The Superego
• An entirely conscious part of the mind that develops throughout childhood.
• As children discover that certain behaviors are not acceptable to their
parents, they “introject” parental values as their own to gain parental
approval.
• The Superego serves as a “parental voice” advocating for the most societally
acceptable behavior and producing feelings of guilt.
• The Superego is also mediated by the Ego.
The Iceberg Model of the Mind
Psychosexual Development
Freud believed that the personality develops in a series of four psychosexual stages. At
each stage a different part of the body is most sensitive to sexual excitation and
therefore most capable of providing satisfaction to the Id.
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Stage
Age
Source of Pleasure
Oral
Birth- 18 months
Lips, Mouth, and Tongue. Demands of the Id are
satisfied by feeding. Conflict over weaning.
Anal
18 months- 3 years
Anus. Demands of the Id are satisfied during this
period by retaining and expelling feces. Conflict
over toilet training.
Phallic
3 years to 5-6 years
Genitals. Demands of the Id are satisfied by
genital stimulation. Oedipus/ Electra Complex.
Latency Period 6 to puberty
In these years, the demands of the Id are
repressed. Same-sex friendships develop.
Genital
Genitals. Development of adult sexual interests
and intimate relationships.
puberty and on
Psychosexual Development
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During each stage, the person must resolve the conflict between
the Id’s demands and what they can realistically do in their
environment. How this is accomplished determines the
personality characteristics that will last throughout a person’s life.
What may result if, at a particular psychosexual stage, a child
receives excessive or deficient amounts of gratification?
Fixations- when development
goes wrong
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A “fixation” at a particular stage may result if a child receives
excessive or deficient amounts of gratification. In periods of
stress, the person is then likely to regress back to behaviors
related to this stage.
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Oral Fixation - As adults they are often preoccupied with giving and
taking. Smokers, overeaters, pencil-chewers, nail-biters, etc.
Anal Fixation - As adults, they are often excessively neat (“analretentive”) or excessively messy (“anal-expulsive”).
• “Does ‘anal retentive’ have a hyphen?”
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Phallic Fixation (Disturbance) - As adults, they often reject authority.
Also, Freud cites this fixation as the cause of homosexuality
Psychosexual Development
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Perhaps the most important stage is the phallic stage, when the
child must resolve the Oedipus complex or the Electra complex,
in which they must overcome desire for the opposite-sex parent
and learn to identify with the same-sex parent..
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Oedipus Complex - Boys desire their mothers (because of their early bond,
but, because they fear that their fathers will castrate them if they find out,
they suppress sexual feelings for their mothers into their unconscious.
Electra Complex - Girls, because of penis envy, become angry at their
mothers (because they believe their mothers have castrated them) and they
become attracted to their fathers. But, fearing the loss of maternal love,
they eventually identify with her mother, and suppress sexual feelings for
their fathers into their unconscious.
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
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Anxiety results when the conscious Ego encounters the often socially unacceptable
(or dangerous) drives of the unconscious Id. To relieve this anxiety, a defense
mechanism is often used to distort reality and prevent ego anxiety.
Defense mechanisms = one of the most well-accepted of Freud’s ideas today.
From an evolutionary perspective:
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defense mechanisms : anxiety :: endorphins : pain
We’ll examine each of the defense mechanisms using the “case of Karen”:
Karen is in love with her best friend’s boyfriend.
How can Karen use each defense mechanism to banish the anxiety that these
feelings are producing, and keep her friendship? (Remember, defense mechanisms
are behaviors.)
What are the negative effects of each defense mechanism (to self, to others)?
Is
the defense mechanism ever healthy?
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
• Repression
• Denial
• Projection
• Displacement
• Rationalization
• Reaction Formation
• Regression
• Sublimation
• Intellectualization
• Identification with Aggressor
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
REPRESSION
= “forgetting about” (pushing into the unconscious) an anxiety-producing situation or
dangerous feeling
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Considered the “major” defense mechanism, and is the most widely accepted.
Probably operates to some extent with all defense mechanisms.
Examples:
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Child sexual abuse victim reports having no memory of abuse.
war trauma “forgotten”
(Freudian) being in love with a parent.
In Karen’s case?
Karen unconsciously holds back her feelings about her friend’s boyfriend.
(How do we know? Perhaps she uses Freudian slips, like when she tells her friend,
“I know you love him” she instead says “I know I love him…”)
Negative effects of repression? Is repression ever healthy?
(usually unhealthy)
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
DENIAL
= keeping objective events from conscious awareness
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A person simply refuses to acknowledge the realities of an anxiety-producing situation or
dangerous feeling.
Often goes unrecognized as a defense mechanism.
All defense mechanisms require some degree of denial.
How different from repression? You don’t let the reality into consciousness in the first place.
Examples:
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A smoker denies that smoking causes cancer.
After a loved one dies, denying that they are really dead.
Creating a fantasy in order to deny reality, e.g., a young boy says he is a heavyweight champion
because he fears his father’s strength.
In Karen’s case?
When her best friend says “I know you love him,” Karen responds “What the hell are you
talking about?!”
Negative effects of this defense mechanism (to self or others)? Is this defense mechanism
ever healthy?
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
PROJECTION
= projecting one’s own feelings onto someone else
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You attribute your own thoughts/feelings as coming from someone else (because it makes you
feel too much anxiety to recognize them in yourself).
We tend to use projection when we feel inadequate. (Blame failure on others… can lead to
paranoia!)
Examples:
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Someone who hates members of a racial group believes that it is they who hate him.
Anger -- You think everyone is angry with you, because you are the angry one.
Jealousy -- You say your boyfriend is jealous and give him a hard time about it, but really you are
the jealous one.
In a relationship, you want to break up but you fear it, so you create problems with your partner.
Homosexuality -- You exhibit homophobia in order to avoid confronting our own sexuality.
In Karen’s case?
Karen tells her friend, “I think our friend Amy likes your boyfriend.” (Remember, Karen
really would believe this, if she is projecting her feelings onto Amy.) Or, Karen says she
thinks her friend’s boyfriend is coming on to her.
Negative effects of this defense mechanism (to self or others)? Is this defense mechanism
ever healthy?
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
DISPLACEMENT
= deflecting feelings from their original target to someone else
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Feeling is targeted at wrong person because you don’t want to confront the real problem.
If you displace onto a group, it is scapegoating.
Even animals can exhibit displacement.
Often displacement is confused with projection.
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Examples:
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Reality: You feel emotion toward person Y.
Projection: Person Y feels emotion toward you. Or, it’s Person X, not you, who feels that emotion
towards Y.
Displacement:You feel emotion toward person Z, not Y.
Anger -- A child gets angry at a parent and then acts angrily to a friend.
Father can’t yell at boss, so comes come and yells at son, son yells at sister, sister yells at the dog…
Scapegoating, e.g. Jews in WWII
In Karen’s case?
Karen feels deep love for the boyfriend’s brother.
Negative effects of this defense mechanism (to self or others)? Is this defense mechanism ever healthy?
A little displacement is probably OK, but might avoid true problem that will only get worse w/o facing it,
and might hurt “innocent bystanders.”
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
RATIONALIZATION
= offering socially acceptable explanations for unconsciously motivated behavior.
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“explaining away” a problem so as not to accept the blame
Making up excuses for one’s behavior rather than face the real reasons, the anxiety-producing
ones.
Unconscious excuses often used in explaining one’s mistakes.
Examples:
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“sour grapes”
You think you failed a test because you didn’t sleep well the night before. (Real reason: you didn’t
study!)
You think you forgot to make a phone call because you got distracted. (Real reason: you don’t want
to talk to the person because the last time you did, they upset you.)
A person beats a child out of their own sadistic anger, and then claims it was to “build character.”
In Karen’s case?
Karen tells her best friend she only flirted with the boyfriend because she was drunk.
Karen seeks help from the boyfriend because he’s the only one she knows who can fix a car.
Negative effects of this defense mechanism (to self or others)? Is this defense mechanism ever healthy?
Can be overused to “explain away” own behavior with negative consequences-- the negative
consequences are still there, and might happen again.
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
REACTION FORMATION
= transforming unacceptable wishes and impulses into their opposite
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Process of expressing the opposite of what we really feel.
Examples:
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Girl has new baby brother, is jealous, doesn’t like the baby, but understands mom will not love her if
she doesn’t love the baby. So she loooooves the baby.
A man hates his mother, knows he should love her, and goes overboard doing nice things for her.
“grade school example”: Little boy likes little girl but “shows it” by being mean.
Father in “The Sound of Music,”being strict to cover up his fear of loving.
Someone who doubts him/herself, has low self-confidence, is the class clown.
A person with sexual feelings for children leads a campaign against child sexual abuse.
In Karen’s case?
Karen just HATES her friend’s boyfriend; she can’t stand him!
Negative effects of this defense mechanism (to self or others)? Is this defense mechanism ever healthy?
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
REGRESSION
= returning to earlier, childish state of development
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Examples:
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Temper tantrum
Pouting
Sulking
Name-calling
Student is afraid of not understanding the material in class so he/she acts immature and makes the
class laugh.
My freshmen students who visit their teachers at middle school. (Not necessarily a problem, but if
it’s every day…!)
In Karen’s case?
Karen talks baby-talk-ish around the boyfriend, sits on his lap-- all seemingly innocent!
Negative effects of this defense mechanism (to self or others)? Is this defense mechanism ever healthy?
Everyone does regression to some extent; Abnormal if it interferes with development.
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
SUBLIMATION
= transforming an unacceptable impulse into a socially acceptable behavior
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Continuing a childhood impulse, but in a way that is socially acceptable and therefore
subliminal.
Often used with aggressive or sexual impulses.
Sublimation is like displacement, but in a relatively creative and healthy way, one that is
valued by society.
Examples:
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A teen with a lot of aggression takes up the sport of boxing.
It’s time to give up your security blanket! So you use a stuffed animal, then a favorite shirt.
Dan channels his frustration in other aspects of his life into writing songs.
A highly aggressive, competitive person becomes a trial lawyer.
(Freud suggested) Leonardo da Vinci’s fascination with painting Madonnas was a sublimation of his
desire for his mother, which had been frustrated by his separation from her.
In Karen’s case?
Karen writes poetry? (This mechanism might not apply to her, actually.)
Negative effects of this defense mechanism (to self or others)? Is this defense mechanism ever healthy?
Sublimation is generally regarded as a particularly healthy defense mechanism.
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
• Repression
• Denial
• Projection
• Displacement
• Rationalization
• Reaction Formation
• Regression
• Sublimation
(Use the defense mechanisms shown as possible answers in the
sample problems.)
Defense Mechanisms of the Ego
•Other defense mechanisms:
•Intellectualization
= process of removing our feelings about an event; discussing
an emotional situation in a coolly rational, unemotional way
•Ex.: new widow, or sexual assault victim
•Problem if it goes on too long, don’t deal with emotions
(which are still present).
•Identification with Aggressor
= taking on characteristics of someone who has mistreated you
in order to psychologically avoid the abuse
•Ex.: POWs, kidnapping victims treating captors as their
friends (“Stockholm syndrome”), child of abusive parent
becomes abusive
Psychoanalytic Therapy Techniques
The Goal of Psychoanalytic Therapy is to allow the patients to recognize
their unconscious wishes, memories, and impulses. This releases mental
energy that had previously been used by defense mechanisms. The
patients must eventually learn to perform this analysis on themselves.
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Free Association
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Patients must report all images and words that enter their
consciousness in response to word cues.
Dream Analysis
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Manifest Content - Patient’s report of the dream (disguised content)
Latent Content - Meaning of the dream in terms of the unconscious
Freudian symbols - Universal disguises of meaning in dreams,
common to all people
Psychoanalytic Therapy Techniques
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Analysis of Resistance
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A clue that therapy is going in the right direction, and is getting
close to important areas of the unconscious
Resistance can be through refusal to talk, “drawing a blank”,
forgetting to come to therapy, or changing the topic.
Analysis of Transference
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By remaining a shadowy figure, the analyst encourages the
patient to respond to him or her in ways that the patient has
previously responded to other important figures in life.
What do you think?
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Take a minute to write down:
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What are some ways in which Freudian theory has
influenced both contemporary psychology and the larger
world? (Think about the arts, terminology, etc.)
What are some criticisms of Freudian theory?
Freud’s Impact
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On contemporary psychology
• The unconscious -- behavior is shaped by unconscious thoughts
• Defense mechanisms
• Children are (in some sense) sexual creatures (follow pleasure principle,
seeking immediate gratification to senses)
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On modern culture
• Freudian terms in everyday language, e.g.: ego, unconscious, denial,
penis envy, anal-retentive
• Freudian impact on the arts, e.g.: Salvador Dali’s surrealist paintings,
Woody Allen films
Some criticisms of Freud
• Little empirical evidence
– How do you verify the existence of the Oedipus complex, etc.?
– Psychoanalytic theory can interpret both positive and negative reactions to
the theory as support… If a patient vociferously protests a diagnosis, that
just shows the threatening nature of a repressed desire!
• Little predictive power
– Explains personality characteristic or behavior after the fact, but does not
predict an individual’s problems ahead of time.
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Overemphasizes importance of early childhood
Overemphasizes biological instincts over social factors
Overemphasizes sex
Anti-female bias
– Penis envy? Men have stronger superegos? Karen Horney, Nancy
Chodorow believe Freud simply assumed men superior, without empirical
observation. If women are envious of men, it’s probably due to men’s
advantages in society.
• Horney: men have womb envy!
• Negative tone
Who were the Neo-Freudians?
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Carl Jung
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Karen Horney
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Focused on the feelings of security in parent-child relationships as a prediction of
security in future relationships.
Alfred Adler
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Theory of the Collective Unconscious - In addition to our personal
unconscious mind, we all possess a collective unconscious, which contains
information from the social history of all humankind.
Focused on personal accomplishments as a way of overcoming feelings of
inferiority.
Erik Erikson
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Created a theory of psychosocial development with alternative conflicts to
Freud’s.