Transcript Freud: The Psychoanalytic Approach to Personality

Freud: The Psychoanalytic
Approach to Personality
Dr. Kelley Kline
FSU-Panama City
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.
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.
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).
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).
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).
Personality Development

Freud argued that personality developmentis result of conflicts we resolve in
childhood.

We learn to satisfy id impulses while
handling societal pressures.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.