Freud: The Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality

1. Freud: The Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality Dr. Kelley Kline FSU-Panama City

2. I. Freud—1856-1939 • An Austrian Neurologist who became fascinated with studying hysteria. • His clinical observations led him to form his controversial, but famous theory. • Freud’s lectures in US (Clark U.) had a huge impact on field of psychology.

3. II. Basic concepts of Psychoanalytic approach: • 1. We are motivated to satisfy instinctual needs (sexual)—libidinous energy. • 2. Unconscious conflicts are forcibly kept from awareness; this influences our behavior. • 3. Past events shape subsequent behavior. 4. Is a stage theory -Assumes one must pass each stage successfully to move on.

4. III. Levels of Consciousness: Iceberg theory • 1. Conscious mind – like the top of the iceberg, only a small portion of our mind is accessible to us. • 2. Preconscious mind – material that is unconscious, but can be easily brought into awareness. Moves back & forth easily between conscious & unconscious. • 3. Unconscious mind – is completely outside of our awareness (could produce anxiety if made conscious).

5. IV. Structures of Personality • 1. Id – unconscious impulses that want to be gratified, without regard to potential punishment. Is source of psychic energy (libido). • 2. Ego (primarily conscious) – tries to satisfy id impulses while minimizing punishment & guilt. • 3. Superego – the “moral” center of our personality which tells us right from wrong (somewhat conscious).

6. Life & Death Instincts: • 1. Eros – the “life” instinct. Motivates us to survive. • 2. Thanatos- Death wish. From moment of birth we are striving towards our death. • To release this tension, we externalize our aggression (act out toward others).

7. Personality Development • Freud argued that personality development- is result of conflicts we resolve in childhood. • We learn to satisfy id impulses while handling societal pressures.

8. V. Psychosexual Stages of development: • 1. Oral (birth to 1 yr)- needs to be gratified orally (sucking, chewing, biting). 2. Anal(2yr)-needs met- through elimination of waste. Either retaining or expelling feces. • 3. Phallic (3-5 yrs)-needs met through genital stimulation (self-stimulation). 4. Latency (6-12 yrs)-impulses dormant. • 5. Genital (13+)-needs met through intercourse.

9. During Phallic stage-2 complexes develop: • A. Oedipus complex: • Male child wants to kill father & replace him as mother’s sexual partner. • Boy fears father will castrate him (castration anxiety), so he rejects his mother & identifies with his father.

10. B. Electra complex • Freud argued that females believe they’ve been castrated because they lack a penis. • Girls interpret the clitoris as inferior to a penis (penis envy). • Girls transform desire from mother to father & become angry at mother for not protecting them from being castrated. • Girls ultimately reject father & identify with mother in healthy development.

11. What happens if stages aren’t resolved? • We become fixated at that stage & don’t move on to the next stage. • The concerns of that stage continue to dominate adult personality.

12. Handling Anxiety • Freud argued we need to reduce the anxiety associated with unpleasant thoughts. • To do this, we reject unpleasant thoughts from the conscious mind & force them into the unconscious mind. • The “ego” employs “defense mechanisms” to regulate anxieties.

13. VI. Defense mechanisms • 1. Repression: the suppression of unpleasant thoughts. We push unpleasant thoughts into unconscious so that we can’t access them. • E.g., a child who is molested, may suppress the traumatic event so that he/she has no memory for the event.

14. 2. Denial- refusing to believe something unpleasant has occurred. • We refuse to accept horrible news, even with evidence to the contrary. • E.g., you hear a friend has died & can’t believe it’s true.

15. 3. Rationalization – we justify the actions or events that have happened. • E.g., A student who decides to forgo studying for an exam the night before & goes out with friends.

16. 4. Displacement-you take out your anger & frustration on a person or object not the actual target of your anger. • E.g., After being grilled by your boss, you go home & yell at your partner or the dog/cat.

17. 5. Projection – You attribute your negative characteristics to another person. • When people project their own faults onto others, they generally do not deny that they themselves possess those faults. • E.g., Your partner tells you how selfish you are, when they are in fact selfish.

18. 6. Reaction Formation – acting the opposite of how you feel. • You do the opposite of how you feel to defend your own doubts. • E.g., A person who doubts his faith may act like a religious zealot to defend his religion.

19. 7. Sublimation – the transformation of an unacceptable impulse into an acceptable behavior. • E.g., Aggressive impulses are transformed into the urge to engage in competitive sports. • Most desirable way of dealing with unacceptable id impulses.

20. VII. Psychoanalysis (psychodynamic): • Unconscious thoughts & emotions are brought into awareness to be dealt with. • Psychological problems – the result of unconscious processes. • Bringing unpleasant unconscious thoughts into to consciousness, produces catharsis.

21. A. Psychoanalytic methods: • 1. Free Association – patient reports anything that comes to his/her mind. • The psychoanalyst listens for links & themes that might tie the patient’s fragmentary thoughts or remarks together.

22. B.Dream analysis: • Dreams have two types of content: • Manifest content- actual events in dream. • Latent content – hidden message in dream. • Freud thought that each dream represents a form of wish fulfillment. The wish may be disguised, but it is always there.

23. C. Transference • Feelings of love or other emotions (hatred) are expressed toward the therapist. • These feelings are actually unconsciously felt toward others; the patient is projecting these feelings onto the therapist. • This provides clues about the clients feelings about these other people.

24. Criticisms of Freud’s theory: • 1.   Freud had no scientific data to support his theories. • 2.   Freud’s theories (unconscious, libido, etc.) cannot be observed. • 3.   Theory explains behavior (post-hoc) after the fact. • 4.    Observations not representative of population.

25. Pros of Freud’s theory • 1. Argued that childhood experiences are important in personality development. • 2. Information outside of awareness does influence us. • 3. Defense mechanisms—good descriptions of some of our behaviors.