Psychoanalytic Theory
Core Concepts:




1. Psychic Determinism
2. Unconscious Motivation
3. Child development
4. Conflict
Sub-Theories:



Economic/Drive Theory ( Dual Instinct )
Topographic ( UNC, Preconscious, CON )
Structural ( ID, EGO, SUPEREGO )
Instincts:

Eros (libido)

Thanatos (death/aggression)

Love and Death (Creation and Destruction)


Cathexis (investment of psychic energy)
Fixation (getting stuck)
Structures of the Mind
Id
instinctual gratification
Pleasure Principle / Primary Process

Ego
reality testing
Reality Principle / Secondary Process


Superego
Psychosexual Development
Oral (0-18 mo.)
Pleasure zone: mouth;
Activities: sucking, mouthing, biting etc.
 Anal (18-36 mo.)
Pleasure zone: anus
Activity: elimination & retention of feces (control)
 Phallic (3-6 yo)
Oedipus Complex


Latency

Genital

Personality fixed by the end of Phallic stage
Anxiety and Defense

Repression
Defense Mechanisms
Examples:
Projection, Displacement, Reaction Formation,
etc.


Character
Fixed patterns of conflict and defense.
Criticism of Freud






Overemphasis on unconscious processes
Overemphasis on “sexual” development
Neglect of interpersonal environment and
social learning
Overemphasis on early development
Difficult to operationalize and test
Biased by era and culture
Post-Freudian Theories
Evolution of the theory
 Move away from primary focus on instincts and
more toward ego capacities
 Greater emphasis on social/interpersonal
relations
 Development as on-going process
Similarities:
Dynamic UNC, Conflict, Stages of Development
Jung

Collective UNC

Archetypes

Anima/Animus
Introversion/Extraversion

Adler

“Individual Psychology” unique individuality and
unified strivings of the whole person

Ego functions
Social environment




Inferiority/Superiority
Compensatory Motivation
Inferiority Complex
Erikson
Psychosocial Development
8 stages, development throughout the lifespan
 Crises
1.Trust
2. Autonomy
5. Identity
6. Intimacy

OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY

Interpersonal relations and the development
of the SELF

Internalized “object” representations
Fundamental role of ATTACHMENT as
primary need

Klein
Stages:
 1. (Schizoid) Fusion “Mommy and I are one”
 2. (Paranoid) Good bad splitting
similar to “bi-polar representations” (Kernberg)
 3. (Depressive) Integration ambivalence &
compromise

“good enough mothering”
Attachment

MAHLER, BOWLBY, AINSWORTH,
KERNBERG etc.

responsive parenting
secure/anxious/avoidant attachments

Kohut

SELF PSYCHOLOGY

Self-objects
Functions
Mirroring


Horney

psychosocial and sociocultural factors

“womb envy”
ASSESSMENT

tip of the iceberg

ambiguous stimuli
Projective Testing

Rorschach
TAT
Murray’s Needs


“higher order motives”
Interrater/Interjudge reliability
Empirical evidence

Criticism

superficial
isolated
artificial


Empirical evidence
1. UNC processing
Automaticity
2. UNC motivation
Nisbet & Wilson (unconscious behavior)
Silverman (subliminal activation)
3. Repression
Mixed results
Repressed Memory Debate
Eyewitnesses reconstruct their memories
when questioned about the event.
Group A: How fast were the cars going
when they hit each other?
Group B: How fast were the cars going
when they smashed into each
other?
A week later they were asked: Was there
any broken glass? Group B (smashed into)
reported more broken glass than Group A
(hit).