Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

• Founder of psychoanalysis

• Proposed the first complete theory of personality

• A person’s thoughts and behaviors emerge from tension generated by unconscious motives and unresolved childhood conflicts.

Neurologist, not a Psychologist

• Freud was not a psychologist. At the time he received his education, there were only one or two “psychology” programs in the world.

• Freud was trained as a neurologist and treated mostly women for what were called “neuroses”.

• The so-called neuroses typically had a sexual component because the Victorian social norm of sexual inhibition was popular when Freud began practicing medicine.

Psychoanalysis

• Freud’s theory of personality

• Also a therapeutic technique that attempts to provide insight into one’s thoughts and actions

• Does so by exposing and interpreting the underlying unconscious motives and conflicts

Psychodynamic Perspective

• View of personality that retains some aspects of Freudian theory but rejects other aspects

• Retains the importance of the unconscious thought processes

• Less likely to see unresolved childhood conflicts as a source of personality development

The Psychodynamic Perspective:

Freud’s View of the Mind

Module 17: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives

Free Association

• Method of exploring the unconscious in which the person person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

Conscious Mind

• The thoughts and feelings one is currently aware of

Preconscious Mind

• Region of the mind holding information that is not conscious but is retrievable into conscious awareness

• Holds thoughts and memories not in one’s current awareness but can easily be retrieved

Unconscious Mind

• Region of the mind that is a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories

The Mind According to Freud

The Psychodynamic Perspective:

The Id, Ego, and Superego

Module 17: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives

90% of the Iceberg Rests Beneath the Surface of the Water.

• Freud believed that people were like icebergs – only allowing a bit of their personalities to be seen and hiding the rest from others.

• Do you, yourself, show your true self to others?

– Do you feel others around you know “the real you”? Why or why not?

– What types of things do people keep hidden from casual friends & acquaintances? Why?

– What types of things DO you share? Why?

Freud’s Concept of the “Id”

• The part of personality that consists of unconscious, psychic energy

• Strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives

• Operates on the “pleasure principle” - demanding immediate gratification

• Is present from birth

Freud’s Concept of the “Superego”

• The part of personality that consists of internalized ideals and standards

• One’s conscience; focuses on what the person “should” do

Freud’s Concept of the “Ego”

• Largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality

• Operates on the reality principle - satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

Brother Cartoons

• Devil = the id• Angel = superego• Character = ego

• Each would give the character advice, and that character would have to choose to whom it would listen. The devil, the id, encourages more licentious behavior; the angel, representing the superego, advises obedience to moral and ethical principles. The character, the ego, must take in both types of advice and make the most realistic decision.

Examples • A Simpsons episode features Bart suffering from a moral dilemma,

complete with good and bad angels; the good angel knocks out the bad angel by throwing its halo like Captain America's shield, at which point Bart remarks, "It figures that my conscience would suffer from mood swings".

• In Disney's version of Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket is hired by the "Blue Fairy" to act as Pinocchio's conscience. Note that "Jiminy Cricket" has the same initials as "Jesus Christ." This is intentional, as at the time this was the acceptable replacement term.

• Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End gives Jack Sparrow two smaller Jacks that appear to come out of his hair. Instead of the traditional good and evil, the dilemma is between rum and immortality without rum, at least until they point out to him that having rum once every ten years for eternity is still more rum than having it every day of a normal lifetime.

• The 30 Rock episode "Black Tie" played with this in a rather surreal way. Pete is about to cheat on his wife when Kenneth pops in through a vent and tells him not to. Then Tracy pops through another vent, so that he's framed above Pete's other shoulder, and argues with Kenneth. Finally, Pete turns to dramatically declare "I'm sorry, I can't do this - I love my wife!"

• http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/#clip120030• The Cat in the Hat Group Activity and then individual assignment,

psychoanalyzing someone.

The Psychodynamic Perspective:

Defense Mechanisms

Module 17: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives

Defense Mechanisms

• In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Repression

• Puts anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories into the unconscious mind

• The basis for all other defense mechanisms

Regression

• Allows an anxious person to retreat to a more comfortable, infantile stage of life

Denial

• Lets an anxious person refuse to admit that something unpleasant is happening

Reaction Formation

• Reverses an unacceptable impulse, causing the person to express the opposite of the anxiety-provoking, unconscious feeling

• Ex: if you are interested in someone who is unavailable, you find yourself feeling a curious dislike (instead of fondness).

Projection

• Disguises threatening feelings of guilty anxiety by attributing the problems to others

• Ex: I don’t trust him becomes “I don’t trust myself”, or the thief thinks everyone else is a theif.

Rationalization

• Displaces real, anxiety-provoking explanations with more comforting justifications for one’s actions

• Ex: the smoker rationalizes that she just smokes “to look older”, or “only when I’m with my friends.”

Displacement

• Shifts an unacceptable impulse toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person

• Ex: the company owner becomes upset and yells at the manager, who yells at the clerk, who goes home and yells at the kids and the kids kick the dog. All have been displacing (except the dog).

Defense Mechanisms

The Psychodynamic Perspective:

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

Module 17: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives

Psychosexual Stages

• In Freudian theory, the childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasure seeking energies focus on different parts of the body

• The stages include: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital

• A person can become “fixated” or stuck at a stage, leading to problems as an adult

Oral Stage

• Pleasure comes from chewing, biting, and sucking.

• Weaning can be a conflict at this stage.• 1-18 months• The person weaned too early would

show signs of oral fixation later in life – always putting objects in the mouth, chain smoking, or overeating.

Freud’s Stages of Development

Anal Stage

• Gratification comes from bowel and bladders functions.

• Potty training can be a conflict at this stage.• 18-36 months• Fixation occurs in one of two ways: 1) if potty

training occurs too early, a person can become anal retentive (overly neat and fussy about organization and details) and 2) if potty training is not encouraged or allowed to happen haphazardly, the person can become anal-expulsive (overly messy)

Freud’s Stages of Development

Phallic Stage

• The pleasure zone shifts to the genitals.• Boys cope with incestuous feelings toward their

mother and rival feelings toward their dad (Oedipus conflict).

• Freud based his theory on the case study of a little boy named Hans. Five-year-old Hans had developed a fear of horses, which Freud believed was actually a displaced fear of his father. In addition, he had developed castration anxiety, a fear of having his penis cut off because his parents had told him if he continued to play with it, it would be cut off. He had noticed that his sister lacked a penis, so he concluded that his parents had cut her penis off.

Freud’s Stages of Development

Latency Stage

• Sexual feelings are dormant.• Child identifies with and tries to mimic the

same sex parent to learn gender identity.• Instead of fearing the same-sex parent, girls

and boys start to “buddy up” to Mom and Dad, respectively. Freud called it the “identification process”. This theory offers one explanation of gender identity, which is our sense of what it means to be either male or female.

Freud’s Stages of Development

Genital Stage

• Begins at puberty with the maturation of sexual interests

• Freud believed that unresolved conflicts in any of the psychosexual stages could cause problems later in life.

Freud’s Stages of Development