Sigmund Freud

The person whose genius created psychoanalysis. Born in Freiburg, Austria, in 1856. As a psychiatrist, he initially used hypnosis as his primary form of treatment. Was impressed during medical school by how patients who relive painful experiences can work through emotional events suppressed for years.

 Began using a process called free association to help his patients remember long-forgotten important events and thoughts. Utilized free association to explore the unconscious minds of his patients. Began to stress the importance of the unconscious in understanding personality. Thus was born psychoanalysis.

View of Human Nature/Personality The Freudian view of human nature is dynamic. The transformation and exchange of energy within the personality drives behavior. Freud focused his techniques on: Levels of Consciousness (topographic) The formation of personality (structural) Id, Ego, Superego Psychosexual Development (genetic) Defense Mechanisms

Levels of Consciousness
For Freud, human nature can be explained in terms of: A Conscious Mind A Preconscious Mind An Unconscious Mind

Conscious Mind
Attuned to events in the present and an awareness of the outside world.

Preconscious Mind
An area between the conscious mind and unconscious minds; it contains aspects of both. Hidden memories or forgotten experiences can be remembered in this area if given the proper cues.

Unconscious Mind
Beneath the preconscious mind. The most powerful and least understood part of the personality. The instinctual, repressed, and powerful forces of the personality exist here.

Formation of Personality
Freud hypothesized that the personality is formed from the interaction of three developing strucutres. The Id confined to the unconscious The Ego operates primarily in the conscious but also in the preconscious and the unconscious. The Superego confined to the unconscious.

The Id
The id is the source of all energy. Comprises the basic inherited givens of the personality and is present from birth. It is amoral, impulsive, and irrational. Pleasure principle it pursues what it wants because it cannot tolerate tension.

The Id
The id contains:
Basic life energy and life-preserving instincts collectively known as eros. The psychic energy that accompanies them known as libido. Basic death instincts known as thanatos.

Primary Process
Operates through drives, instincts, and images (e.g. dreaming, hallucinating, and fantasizing) a process known as primary process. May bring temporary relief but ultimately unsatisfying.

The Ego
The second system to develop after the id and before the superego. A strong ego is essential to healthy functioning. Moderates the wishes and desires of the id and superego to keep the person from being too selfindulgent or too morally restrained. Reality principle it devises ways to achieve appropriate goals, obtain energy for activities from the id, and keep the person in harmony with the environment.

Secondary Process
The egos way of thinking is known as the secondary process. Rationally thinking through situations.

The Superego
It is the moral branch of the mind and operates according to what is ideal. Contrasts with the id. Functions according to the moral principle strives for perfection and arises from parental & societal moral teachings.

The Superego
Ego Ideal rewards those who follow parental and societal dictates. Conscience part of the superego that punishes by inducing guilt when you act against what you have been taught. By striving for perfection, the superego sometimes forces a person into restrained or no action when facing a dilemma.

 Freud believed that the interplay of id, ego, and superego is of crucial significance in determining behavior. Often, inner conflicts arise because the three subsystems are striving for different goals. These conflicts are called intrapsychic conflicts and, if unresolved, lead to mental disorder.
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Psychosexual Stages of Development Freud hypothesized that personality developed through a sequence or invariant stages. Most development occurs prior to age 6. Stages based on the location of id energy Oral stage Appropriate gratification is Anal stage key to healthy development Phallic stage Overindulgence or Latency stage deprivation leads to fixation Genital stage (id energy gets stuck)
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Oral Stage
The first stage. Oral incorporative Oral aggressive Children up to 18 months. Obtain basic gratification from sucking and biting.

Anal Stage
The second stage. Children between the ages of 18 months ang 3 Delight in either withholding or eliminating feces. First really significant conflict between the childs internal instincts and external demands.

Phallic Stage
The third stage. Children between the ages of 3 and 5 attempt to resolve their sexual identities. Members of both sexes must work through their sexual desires. Oedipus Complex / Electra Complex Freud thought that the basic ingredients of the adult personality had formed by the end of this stage.

Oedipus Complex / Electra Complex

Oedipus Complex a boy must work through a desire to possess his mother sexually. Castration anxiety Electra Complex a girl blames her mother for the fact that she has no penis. Penis envy

Latency
Children between the ages of 6 and 12. Energy is focused on peer activities and personal mastery of cognitive and learning and physical skills. Little manifest interest in sexuality.

Genital Stage
The fourth and final stage. If all has gone well, around puberty each gender takes more of an interest in the other and normal patterns of interaction appear. If there were unresolved difficulties in the first three stages (pregenital stages), Freud believed two difficulties could arise: Excessive frustration Overindulgence

Defense Mechanisms
Protect a person from being overwhelmed by anxiety through adaptation to situations or through distortion or denial of events. Are normal and operate on an unconscious level. Fixation at different stages can result in different patterns of usage and emphasis

Common Defense Mechanisms

Denial of reality. Protecting the self from an unpleasant reality by the refusal to perceive or face it. E.g. A smoker concludes that the evidence linking cigarette use to health problems is scientifically worthless. Fantasy. Gratifying frustrated desires by imaginary achievements. E.g. A socially inept and inhibited young man imagines himself chosen by a group of women to provide them with sexual satisfaction.
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 Repression. Preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering consciousness. E.g. A mother's occasional murderous impulses toward her hyperactive two-year-old are denied access to awareness. Rationalization. Using contrived explanations" to conceal or disguise unworthy motives for one's behavior. E.g. A fanatical racist uses ambiguous passages from Scripture to justify his hostile actions toward minorities.
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 Projection. Attributing one's unacceptable motives or characteristics to others. E.g. An expansionist-minded dictator of a totalitarian state is convinced that neighboring countries are planning to invade. Reaction formation. Preventing the awareness or expression of unacceptable desires by an exaggerated adoption of seemingly opposite behavior. E.g. A man troubled by homosexual urges initiates a zealous community campaign to stamp out gay bars.
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 Displacement. Discharging pent-up feelings, often of hostility, on objects less dangerous than those arousing the feelings. E.g. A woman harassed by her boss at work initiates an argument with her husband. Emotional insulation. Reducing ego involvement by protective withdrawal and passivity. E.g. A child separated from her parents because of illness and lengthy hospitalization becomes emotionally unresponsive and apathetic.
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 Intellectualization (isolation). Cutting off affective charge from hurtful situations or separating incompatible attitudes by logic-tight compartments. E.g. A prisoner on death row awaiting execution resists appeals on his behalf and coldly insists that the letter of the law be followed. Undoing. Atoning for or magically trying to dispel unacceptable desires or acts. E.g. A teenager who feels guilty about masturbation ritually touches a doorknob a prescribed number of times following each occurrence of the act.
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 Regression. Retreating to an earlier developmental level involving less mature behavior and responsibility. E.g. A man whose self-esteem has been shattered reverts to childlike "show-off" behavior and exhibits his genitals to young girls. Identification. Increasing feelings of worth by affiliating oneself with a person or institution of illustrious standing. E.g. A youth-league football coach becomes excessively demanding of his young players in emulation of an authoritarian pro football coach.
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 Overcompensation. Covering up perceived weaknesses by emphasizing a desirable characteristic or making up for frustration in one area by over gratification in another. E.g. A dangerously overweight woman goes on eating binges when she feels neglected by her husband. Sublimation. Channeling frustrated sexual energy into substitutive activities. E.g. A sexually frustrated artist paints wildly erotic pictures
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 Splitting. Viewing oneself or others as all good or bad without integrating positive or negative qualities into the evaluations; reacting to others in an "all or none" manner rather than considering the full range of their qualities. E.g. A conflicted manager does not recognize individual qualities or characteristics of her employees. Instead, she views them as all good or all bad, seeing most of them as all bad.
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 Acting out. Engaging in antisocial or excessive behavior without regard to negative consequences as a way of dealing with emotional stress. E.g. An unhappy, frustrated sales representative has several indiscriminate affairs without regard to the negative effects of the behavior. Fixation. Attaching oneself in an unreasonable or exaggerated way to some person, or arresting emotional development on a childhood or adolescent level. E.g. An unmarried, middle-aged man still depends on his mother to provide his basic needs.
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Impact of the Psychodynamic Perspective

the psychoanalytic perspective replaced brain pathology with exaggerated ego defenses as the suspected cause of at least some men disorders. Freud greatly advanced our understanding of both normal and abnormal behavior. Many of the original concepts have become fundamental to critical thinking about human nature and behavior. Two Freud's contributions stand out as particularly worthy.

1. He developed techniques such as free association and dream analysis for becoming acquainted with both the conscious and unconscious aspects of mental life. The data thus obtained led Freud emphasize (a) the dynamic role of unconscious motives and ego-defense processes, (b) the importance of early childhood experiences in later personality adjustment and maladjustment, and (c) the importance of sexual factors in human behavioral mental disorders.
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 Although, as we have said, Freud used the term sexual in a much broader sense than usual, the idea struck a common chord, and the re of sexual factors in human behavior was finally brought out into the open as appropriate for scientific investigation.

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2. He demonstrated that certain abnormal men

phenomena occur in the attempt to cope with difficult problems and are simply, exaggerations of normal ego-defense mechanisms:' This realization that the same psychological principles apply to both normal and abnormal behavior dissipated much of the mystery and fear surrounding mental disorders. Patients could be mentally disordered, but could also have dignity as human being~
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Criticisms of psychoanalytic theory

The psychodynamic perspective has come under attack from many directions-from other perspectives as well as from theorists within the psychodynamic tradition. Two important criticisms of psychoanalytic theory center around its failure as a scientific theory to explain abnormal behavior.
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 it fails to recognize the scientific limits of personal reports of experience as the primary mode of obtaining information. Second, there is a lack of scientific evidence to support many of its explanatory assumptions or the effectiveness of its therapy. Freudian theory in particular has been criticized for an overemphasis on the sex drive; for undue pessimism about basic human nature; for an exaggeration of the role of unconscious processes; and for failing to consider motives toward personal growth and fulfillment.
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 today's psychodynamic therapies have been criticized for neglecting the role of cultural differences in shaping behavior and because they frequently take months, and even years, to complete, which is very expensive for a client.

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