Module 39: Psychoanalytic Perspective

1. Module 39:Psychoanalytic Perspective General Psychology 2 February 5, 2004 Class #4

2. I’m just the messenger… • To the women in our class, don’t take it out on me… • Freud’s views are considered by many to be sexist in nature but lets try to find both the good and bad in his theories and maybe come to some conclusions when we’re finished…

3. THE ASSAULT ON FREUD • Watson commonly referred to as “The Father of Behaviorism” spent much of his career attacking Freudian views… • In 1930, he predicted “20 years from now Freudian Theory will be placed on the same plane as a phrenologist?” • Well, here it is the year 2003 and although bloodied by his legion of critics, Freudian views are probably still the most discussed in psychological circles

4. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Background Information • 1881: At age 25, earned MD and went into private practice specializing in neurological disorders • Became interested in hidden aspects of personality when he found himself confronted with patients whose apparent disorders made no neurological sense • Example: Anna O.

5. Classic Freudian Setting • What is the classic setting? • Why this set-up? • Used hypnosis and then free association • Classic Freudian setting and Iceberg Theory of the Mind • Our access to what goes on in our mind is very limited • The majority is in our unawareness • Freud felt nothing was accidental – dreams, slips of tongue, slips of pen, etc.

6. Freud’s Life • 1884: Began to experiment with cocaine • Felt that this “magical substance” relieved depression • Deeply scarred by this “cocaine episode” • 1885: He bounces back and gets grant to study hysteria and hypnosis under Jean Charcot in Paris • Major break in his career • All of psychology might be different today • These five months changed his life and maybe ours forever

7. Freud’s Life • 1902: Vienna Wednesday Psychoanalytic Society • Initially took place in Freud’s apartment • Founded officially in 1910 and Alfred Adler became first president • After a dispute with Freud, Adler resigned and Freud took over as president of the Society until 1938

8. Agree or be uninvited next week… • Freud saw himself as the leader, teacher, and prophet of this group of intellectuals

9. Freud’s Life • 1906 • Begins correspondence with Carl Jung • From “crown prince” to traitor • Freud couldn’t deal with Jung’s belief in mythology and the collective unconscious and ghosts • 1913 • Breaks all ties with Jung and his followers • 1918 • Loses entire fortune which was tied up in Austrian State Bonds

10. Freud’s Life • 1923 • The first signs of Freud’s oral cancer are detected • 1920’s • Honors, honors, and more honors • 1930 • A heart attack forces him to give up smoking (for awhile anyway) • 1930’s • More honors • 1939 • Freud dies

11. Freud’s Personality Structure • For Freud, personality was composed of three interacting systems: id, ego, and superego

12. Freud’s Personality Structure • Id • Operates on the “pleasure principle” • Immediate gratification • Ego • Operates on the “reality principle” • Seeks to gratify id’s impulses in realistic ways that will bring long-term pleasure rather than pain and destruction • Superego • Operates on the “ideal principle” • What is morally correct

13. Freud’s Personality Development:The Psychosexual Stages • Freud’s analysis of his patient’s problems and memories convinced him that personality is decisively shaped in the first few year’s of life • He felt that his patient’s symptoms stemmed from unresolved conflicts that originated in early childhood • He concluded that children pass through a series of psychosexual stages of development – stages during which the Id’s pleasure-seeking energies are focused on pleasure-sensitive areas of the body called erogenous zones

14. The Psychosexual Stages • Oral • Anal • Phallic • Latency • Genital

15. Freud’s Oral Stage • About first 12-18 months of life • Focus: sucking, biting, etc. • According to Freud, a fixation here causes which problems as an adult?

16. Freud’s Anal Stage • Approx. 18 months to three years of age • Anal region is focus • Toilet-training, etc. • Fixation causes???

17. Freud’s Phallic Stage (3-6yrs old) • Children realize anatomical difference – up to this point Freud feels that children thought that the other had the same “equipment” they did… • Boys: • Initially think girls are hiding penis; then think its been cut off (ouch!) • According to Freud, at this point in the phallic stage the boy has discovered masturbation and wants to direct this phallic activity towards his mother

18. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Boys • At this point, boys enter Oedipus complex and are in a “sexual love” with mother and want to kill father and marry mother • They want sole sexual possession • “Castration anxiety” ends this… • Fear of their father creates the superego • Desires for mother goes deeply into unconscious and creates strong superego • He identifies with dad and incorporates many of his values

19. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Boys • Basically, he abandons the incestuous desires of the Id (under the threat of castration) and subdues the pleasure principle… • He does however understand that his time will come…he’ll get a woman someday hence he just has to wait to fulfill his libidinal urges

20. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Boys • This ends the Oedipus complex for boys… • Their desires for mom go deeply into the unconscious…later on in life other unfulfillable and inexpressible wishes will follow into this repressed area – like prohibitions on behavior from parents, teachers, police, religious authorities, etc.

21. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls • The path for girls is less clear: • First of all, Freud believes that all girls suffer from “penis envy”… • She has seen it, and knows that she is without it, and she wants to have it…

22. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls • Freud feels that girls try to deal with these feelings in three possible ways: • Denial – she persists in her thinking (at least for awhile) that she has a penis and this leads to psychosis later in life • I’ll get one somehow – she may somehow fixate on the idea that she will someday get a penis by whatever means possible • The normal route – accept the fact that she has been castrated

23. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls • According to Freud, many girls believe they have been castrated, probably as a punishment for masturbating… • Well, regardless of the route taken… • Inferiority complex develops which carries into adulthood • Furious with mother • Anger and hatred for not giving her a penis • Contempt for entire female sex • Also, she feels the clitoris is inferior to the penis…so much so that she gives up masturbation entirely…even the idea disgusts her

24. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls • Ok, so what happens next… • Her father becomes a love object… • Since I can’t get a penis – I’ll have dad’s baby instead • At this point, Freud announces, “the girl has turned into a little woman” • Mother is rival • The mother becomes solely the object of jealousy and rivalry

25. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls • So then, how does the Oedipus (Electra) complex end for girls??? • Freud struggles with explanation… • Basically, somehow (???) its repressed • But not deeply into unconscious… • Girls don’t ever develop strong superego • Thus, they are not as moral as men • Aren’t suitable to be leaders, rulers (someone better tell Hillary)

26. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls • Basically, girls never formed the strong superego – its not anchored like the boys and thus their unconscious wishes are more likely to rise up into consciousness during adulthood

27. Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls • Many girls stay in Oedipus complex forever… • Nothing really ever ended it for them • Marry guys like dad

28. Latency Period(Age 6 to puberty) • Now, with sexual feelings are repressed we see sexually-dormant children playing mostly with same-sex friends

29. Genital Stage(Puberty) • Youths begin to experience sexual feelings towards others

30. Freud’s Authoritarianism • Freud was authoritarian and paternalistic… • Unable to tolerate disagreements • Examples: Adler, Jung, Ferenczi, and others • They were his children, his disciples, and they were to accept what he said without question • Disagreements were an act of treason

31. Rigid Authoritarianism • This problem of Freud’s has been well documented • He was intolerant of others opinions and refused revision of his theories • He never accepted any significant suggestions for change in his theoretical work • Either one had to be completely in favor of his theory or it was taken as a personal attack on him

32. A drastic example… • Sandor Ferenczi was a loyal pupil of Freud who at the end of his life mentioned to Freud certain beliefs concerning therapy • He felt the patient needed to feel that the therapist really cared about him • Freud became increasingly impatient and warned that Ferenczi was “on dangerous ground” and was departing from the fundamentals of psychoanalysis

33. Discussion over!!! • Freud felt that all this will do is cause the patient to become dependent on the therapist – “your ideas are wrong” • The interview ended with Freud ready to blow a gasket • Ferenczi was hurt by this reaction and held out his hand in an affectionate adieu • Freud disgustedly turned his back and walked out of the room

34. Freud’s Defense Mechanisms • Freud believed we protect ourselves from anxiety by using these: • Repression • Projection • Rationalization • Reaction Formation • Regression • Displacement • Sublimation

35. Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts • Carl Jung (1875-1961) • Alfred Adler (1870-1937) • Karen Horney (1885-1952)

36. Jung’s Unconscious • Carl Jung made the exploration of the unconscious his life's work • He was equipped with a background in Freudian theory and with an apparently inexhaustible knowledge of mythology, religion, and philosophy

37. Instant friends… • Long an admirer of Freud, he met him in Vienna in 1907 • The story goes that after they met, Freud canceled all his appointments for the day, and they talked for 13 hours straight, such was the impact of the meeting of these two great minds! • Freud eventually came to see Jung as the “crown prince of psychoanalysis” and his heir apparent • In 1911, the two teamed up to do a series of lectures in the United States

38. But not lifetime ones… • Around that time their relationship began to cool… • They were entertaining themselves by analyzing each others' dreams, when Freud seemed to show an excess of resistance to Jung's efforts at analysis • Freud finally said that they'd have to stop because he was afraid he would lose his authority! Jung felt rather insulted

39. The two soon broke apart… • One fundamental reason was that Jung did not subscribe to Freud's thought that all aspects of one's personality stemmed from his or her own sexuality • Jung saw no real proof for this theory • Carl, being headstrong and a true individual, could not be controlled or overly influenced by Freud • Finally, in 1912, all ties between the two were severed

40. Jung: Neo-Analytic Psychology • The Personal Unconscious • Repressed, forgotten, or subliminally perceived experiences make up the personal unconscious • The Collective Unconscious • Ideas that are beyond our personal experiences and that originate from the repeated experiences of our ancestors become part of our collective unconscious • Collective unconscious images are not inherited ideas, but rather they refer to our innate tendency to react in a particular way whenever our personal experiences stimulate an inherited predisposition toward action

41. Jung: Neo-Analytic Psychology • Jung dreamt a great deal about the dead, the land of the dead, and the rising of the dead • These represented the unconscious itself -- not the "little" personal unconscious that Freud made such a big deal out of, but a new collective unconscious of humanity itself • This was an unconscious that could contain all the dead, not just our personal ghosts • Jung began to see the mentally ill as people who are haunted by these ghosts • He felt that if we would understand these ghosts, we would become comfortable with the dead, and heal our mental illnesses • Criticisms • Critics have suggested that Jung was ill himself when he developed this theory

42. Alfred Adler • Adler became a charter member of Freud's organization and its first president • However, personal and professional differences between the two led to Adler's departure from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1911 • Adler soon after founded his own group, the Society for Individual Psychology

43. The invite from Freud… • In 1902, when Adler was one of the few who reacted favorably to Freud’s book on dream interpretations • Freud sent him a hand-written postcard suggesting he join the circle which met weekly in Freud's home to discuss newer aspects of psychopathology • At that time Adler had already started collecting material on patients with physical handicaps, studying both their organic and psychological reactions to them • Only when Freud had assured him that in his circle a variety of views, including Adler's, would be discussed did Adler accept the invitation

44. No longer invited… • Adler had never accepted Freud's original theories that mental difficulties were caused exclusively by a sexual trauma, and he opposed the generalizations when dreams were interpreted, in each instance, as sexual wish fulfillment • He felt that childhood social tensions (not sexual traumas) were crucial for personality formation • After prolonged discussions, during which each of the two men tried to win the other over to his point of view--attempts doomed to failure from the start-- Adler left Freud's circle in 1911 with a group of eight colleagues and formed his own school • After that, Freud and Adler never met again

45. Karen Horney • Agreed with Adler on importance of childhood social interactions • Challenged Freud on “penis-envy” topic • She suggested there may be a male counterpart to penis envy – “womb envy” -- in some men who feel envious of a woman's ability to bear children