The Psychodynamic
Perspective:
Neo-Freudians
Neo-Freudians
•
Followers of Freud’s theories but
developed theories of their own in areas
where they disagreed with Freud
• Disagreed with Freud in his belief that:
1. Behavior is motivated by sexual urges
2. Personality is formed by early
childhood experiences
3. Human nature and society are
inherently driven by sex and
destruction.
Post-Freudian
Psychodynamic Theories
The Neo-Freudians
• Carl Jung’s collective unconscious
• Karen Horney’s focus on security
• Alfred Adler’s individual psychology
Carl Jung (Yoong)(1875-1961)
• Rejected Freud’s assertion that human
behavior is directed by sex &
aggression.
• Believed in general psychic energy that
pushes us to grow psychologically.
•Believed that humans share a collective unconscious—human
collective evolutionary history.
–“The whole spiritual heritage of mankind’s evolution born anew in
the brain structure of every individual.”
•Archetypes – Mental images of human instincts, themes and
preoccupations that are shared by all cultures.
•First to describe introverts and extraverts
Jung’s Collective Unconscious
• Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of
memory traces/experiences from our ancestors
• Information everyone knows from birth
• Archetypes – universal symbols found in stories,
myths, and art that deal with the human life cycle.
(powerful father, nurturing mother, witch, wise old
man, innocent child, death & rebirth, etc…)
– Anima – “feminine” side every man has
– Animus – “masculine” side every woman has
– To achieve psychological harmony, men & women must
accept these sides of the psyche.
Karen Horney (HORN-eye)(1885-1952)
• Believed cultural/social variables (especially parent-child
relationships) are the foundation of personality
development not sex like Freud.
• Found psychoanalysis negatively biased against women.
– Women didn’t have “penis envy” it was instead that they envied
men’s superior status in society.
– Instead said men have “womb envy” and compensate by making
creative achievements in their work.
Karen Horney
• Looked at anxiety related to security and social
relationships, especially parent-child relationships.
• Basic anxiety— “the feeling of being isolated and
helpless in a hostile world”
• Deal with this anxiety by.
– Moving Toward Other People – having an excessive need for
approval & affection
– Moving Against Other People – having an excessive need for
power over other people
– Moving Away from Other People – having an excessive need
for independence making them aloof and detached from
others.
• Felt that healthy personalities are flexible in balancing
these needs but unhealthy people are stuck in one of
ways of dealing with anxiety.
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
• Agreed with Freud on the importance of
early childhood but thought social
tensions were more important than
sexual tensions
• Believed psychological problems were the
result of feelings of inferiority
• Inferiority Complex - A condition that
comes from being unable to compensate
for normal inferiority feelings
Alfred Adler
• Most fundamental human motive is striving for superiority
• Arises from universal feelings of inferiority that are
experienced during childhood
• People compensate for their weaknesses by emphasizing
their talents and abilities or by working hard to improve
themselves.
• If unable to compensate or when feelings of inferiority
are too great a inferiority complex can result where
person feels inadequate, weak & helpless and are unable
to try to improve.
• If people overcompensate for their feelings of inferiority
then they develop a superiority complex where one
exaggerates achievements and importance to cover up
their own limitations.
Evaluating & Updating
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Evaluation of Psychoanalysis
• Evidence is inadequate— Freud’s data is developed from
a small number of upper class patients or from selfanalysis. (skewed sample)
– All of Freud’s data was from him so was he imposing his own
ideas onto his patients or seeing only what he expected to see?
• Theory is not testable—lack of operational definitions and
no way to measure results. Good at explaining the past
but not at prediction.
– Many psychoanalytic concepts impossible to disprove because
even contradictory information can be used to support Freud’s
theory.
• Sexism—believed that women were weak and inferior.
Used male psychology as basis for all people
– Said women were more vain, masochistic, and jealous than men
and influence more by their emotions and had a lesser moral and
ethical sense than men.
Humanistic Perspective
Carl Rogers
&
Abraham Maslow
The Humanistic
Perspective
Humanistic Perspective
• A perspective that focuses on the study of
conscious experience and the individual’s
self awareness and freedom to choose.
• Interested in the capacity for personal
growth
• Sees people as innately good.
• Studies fulfilled and healthy individuals
rather than troubled people
The Humanistic
Perspective:
Abraham Maslow and
Self-Actualization
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
• Humanistic psychologist who
developed the hierarchy of needs
• Believed that self-actualization is the
ultimate psychological need
Hierarchy of Needs
• Maslow’s pyramid of human needs,
beginning at the base with physiological
needs, proceeding through safety needs
and then to psychological needs
• Higher-level needs won’t become active
until lower-level needs have been satisfied.
Self-Actualization
• According to Maslow, the need to live up
to one’s fullest and unique potential
• Characteristics include:
– Self aware and self accepting
– Open, spontaneous, loving, and caring
– Not paralyzed by other’s opinions
– Focused on a particular task
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
of Needs
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
of Needs
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
of Needs
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
of Needs
Maslow’s
Hierarchy
of Needs
The Humanistic
Perspective:
Carl Rogers and the
Person-Centered
Approach
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
• Humanistic psychologist who stressed
the importance of acceptance,
genuineness, and empathy in fostering
human growth
Carl Rogers
• Actualizing tendency—the most basic
human motive that is the innate drive to
maintain and enhance the human organism
• Self-concept—set of perceptions you hold
about yourself
• Positive regard—conditional and
unconditional – the sense of be loved and
valued by other people.
Conditional Positive Regard
• Person is valued and loved only when the
he/she behaves in a way that is acceptable
to others.
• Can lead to incongruence – a state in
which a child’s self-concept conflicts with
their own experience.
• Rogers did not believe in permissive
parenting. He said parents can disapprove
of a behavior without completely rejecting
the child.
Unconditional Positive Regard
will help to create…
• Congruence – A person’s sense
of self is consistent with their
emotions & experiences.
Criticisms of Humanism
• Difficult to test or validate
scientifically
• Tends to be too optimistic,
minimizing some of the more
destructive aspects of human nature