Chapter 3 - Lecture on the Psychodynamic Theory by Professor Andrea Nave PDF

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Lecture on the Psychodynamic Theory by Professor Andrea Nave...

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Chapter 3

01/30/2015

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Psychodynamic Theory

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Sigmund Freud -the first to offer a comprehensive view of personality

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-Neurologist- hysteria: disorder characterized by loss of physical

function w/o neurological explanation  -father of psychoanalysis  -prolific author  studies in hysteria 

the interpretation of dreams

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Basic Assumptions -Psychic Determinism: behavior does not just happen by chance;

everything has purpose or meaning  slips of the tongue, jokes, dreams  -Influence of the Unconscious mind: thoughts, ideas, desires, impulses that are threatening, shameful, or unacceptable  must be expressed  Automatic processing o Quick, low effort, unintentional  -Dynamic: several different elements working together  homeostasis: balance among personality aspects -Closed System:  libido: fixed amount of energy that is moved around depending on need

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Regions of the Mind

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-Conscious: sensory awareness, limited capacity, and has little

influence on behavior  -Preconscious: can be made conscious when needed, “storage bin”, little influence on behavior  secondary censorship: keeps threatening info out of awareness  -Unconscious: unacceptable memories, urges, desires, impulses, unlimited capacity, unlimited duration (Largest, most influential region)  primary censorship: threatening information is prevented from being expressed (going to preconscious)     

Instincts and Psychic Energy -Instinct: mental representation of a physical or bodily need -instincts motivate personality  reduce tension and satisfy desires -4 basic characteristics  aim: to reduce the need  pressure: the degree of influence of need  object: the thing that reduces the need 

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source: where the instinct is on the body -Life instincts: preserving the organism (food, sex, safety, sleep,

company)  -Death instincts: desire to return to simpler state, dark side of man, become tension free   Structural Elements: 

Id: core of personality, present and fully functional at birth, located in

the unconscious (basic instincts and drives)

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Pleasure principal: tendency of id to seek immediate gratification Primary process: mechanism by which state of immediate

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gratification is achieved *need not ever usually satisfied because only daydreaming

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Ego: meets needs and wishes of the id by serving as buffer with

reality, located in all three regions  Reality principal: ego follows rules of reality  Delayed gratification: postponing satisfaction until a realistic

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method can be achieved  Secondary process: more sophisticated need gratification Superego: center of moral standards, makes sure ego stays within

society/s moral standards when dealing w/ the id, located in all 3 regions  Ego ideal- rewards good behavior (increased self esteem)  Conscience- punishes all wrong behavior (guilt)  

Balancing the three regions Appropriate balance= adjusted personality

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Imbalance= maladaptive personality

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-psychic warning sign the ego is in danger -3 types:  reality: danger in the real world, helps ego to plan and cope  neurotic: possible conscious expression of id impulses, triggered by

Anxiety

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superego when ego has lost control (no actual physical danger) moral: triggered by superego when ego wants to break the rules

(guilt or shame) Defense Mechanisms: unconscious actions taken by ego to

immediately reduce anxiety and maintain psychic balance

-do not affect external reality, but often distort perception of reality Repression: removing threatening impulses, desires and memories from conscious awareness. May come out when hypnotized or intoxicated, most basic defense mechanism Denial: distorting reality to make dealing with threatening impulses and information easier Reaction Formation: dealing with unacceptable impulses by expressing just the opposite feeling Projection: attributing one’s negative characteristics to others Displacement: shifting expression of an impulse from unacceptable to a safer target Rationalization: making up “logical” explanations for unacceptable (bad behavior) behavior Regression: coping with threatening situations by retreating to earlier, less mature behavior patterns Undoing: making amends for unacceptable feelings of actions Sublimation: converting unacceptable impulses into more socially acceptable actions, only completely successful one (society and individual both benefit) *can be used consciously too healthy use: using many defense mechanisms to a modest degree unhealthy use: just using one or two to an extreme degree Psychodynamic Personality Development: -learning to cope with psychic conflicts and life crises -we resolve a series of conflicts during childhood  Importance of early childhood for developing successful coping  Psychosexual Stages  5 Stages: oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital  Each stage has: psychosexual conflict, erogenous zone

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Psychosexual Conflict: release of concentrated psychic energy (tension

reduction) vs. constraints against releasing energy  Erogenous zone: region of the body containing concentrated psychic energy Fixation: occurs when conflict is not resolved successfully (over or under gratification of desires)  Put a lot of psychic energy into resolving a particular conflict o The more energy spent on the conflict, the less available for   

resolving later ones Increases chance of regression to that stage when coping with later

conflicts 1) Oral Stage -birth  18-24 months

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-erogenous zone= oral region -source of pleasure= breast -conflict= weaning  too abrupt  frustration  too prolonged  dependency

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-Early fixation: Oral incorporative personality: cope in oral manner ex:

eating  -Later fixation: Oral aggressive/sadistic personality: cope in orally aggressive manner ex: yelling  -emerging ego: learning individuation   2) Anal Stage  

-age 23 -erogenous zone= anal region

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-source of pleasure= elimination

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-conflict= potty training -holding back too much: anal retentive personality: cope with conflicts

by being extremely clean and orderly  -getting angry: anal sadistic personality: explosive anger  -emerging superego: learning delayed gratification   3) Phallic Stage  -age 4-5  

-erogenous zone= genitals -source of pleasure= touching genitals

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-parallel, but different processes for boys and girls -superego (conscience) and sex-role behavior

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Boys: -conflict: competing with father for pleasure from mother  father has larger penis

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-castration anxiety  fear that father will cut off penis to eliminate competition

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-Oedipus complex  love triangle  boy wants pleasure from mother… but could lose her in competition

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with father -successful resolution  identification with the aggressor  boy takes on fathers values, attitudes, and behaviors

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-unsuccessful resolution  weak superego, more feminine sex-role

behavior  Girls:  -Penis envy: realize boys have penises, girls do not  girls are denied genital pleasure: mom cant help  

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-conflict: competing with mother for pleasure from father’s penis -Electra complex  girl wants pleasure from fathers penis… but could lose the pleasure she can get from mom in the competition process -successful resolution  girl takes on mothers values, attitudes,

behaviors  eventually woman must give birth to a son  -unsuccessful resolution  phallic personality  enduring penis envy  very domineering aggressive towards men, symbolically castrates 

them having sex with many men to symbolically obtain a penis

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4) Latency Period

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-age 6-13 -reduction in overall level of psychic energy -spend time with same-sex peers

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-practice conforming to societal sex-roles “boys only” “girls only” 5) Genital Stage

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-onset of puberty (12-14)  adulthood -erogenous zone= genitals (again)  secondary sex characteristics: breasts, public hair (due to

hormones) -source of pleasure = opposite sex peers  opposed to opposite sex parents  first strong emotions for opposite sex peers -learn that by giving pleasure, one receives pleasure -conflict= releasing psychic energy in socially acceptable manner -successful resolutions  genital sexuality  satisfying sexual, emotional needs  marriage, emotional commitment   

-unsuccessful resolutions  only capable of lust, not love commitment Object Relations Theory: Melanie Klein

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-more recent development in psychodynamic thinking -motivation force= desire for interpersonal relationships & human

connection  -object= a significant other ex: parent, teacher  -mental representations of self and early caregiver figures  formed in childhood, carried forward to adulthood  -whole and part objects (hand, breast and its functions) 

-working representations

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influence thoughts and feelings about relationships, interactions

with others -similar to Freud… importance of early experiences and identifying with

significant others  -in contrast to Freud… focus on interpersonal nature of relationships, development of personal identity   

Psychoanalysis -therapeutic technique based on Freud’s theory

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-problem: unresolved unconscious conflicts -solution: achieve insight to resolve conflicts -methods:  “psychoanalytic situation”: environment  free association: telling the analyst what comes to mind  dream analysis o manifest content: what you remember from dream specifically o latent content: true meaning behind the dream, reflects

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unconscious motifs and desires Evaluating Psychodynamic Theory

Strengths:  Comprehensiveness: explains everything  Internal consistency: how well test measures  Attention to complex behavior  Development of innovative techniques: ex: dream analysis  Enduring impact on psychology: first modern theory

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Weaknesses:  Negative view of human nature: we’re all pleasure seekers  Ambiguous terms and explanations: how do u measure superego?  Potential for biases o Both analyst and client  

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Methodology to determine basics Negative view of women

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