Psychology

							      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
Module 17: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives



   The Psychodynamic
      Perspective:
   Freud’s View of the
          Mind
           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
Module 17: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives



   The Psychodynamic
      Perspective:
    The Id, Ego, and
        Superego
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.
Module 17: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives




  The Psychodynamic
      Perspective:
  Defense Mechanisms
        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
Module 17: Psychodynamic and Humanistic Perspectives



  The Psychodynamic
     Perspective:
 Freud’s Psychosexual
        Stages
         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