PSYC 330 Lecture 7: Psychoanalytic Approaches
28 Jun 2018
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Freud's model of human nature - psychic energy that exists within each person.
Works on the law of conservation of energy: the amount of psychic energy an individual
possessed remained constant throughout his lifetime
Personality change = redirection of person's psychic energy
Strong innate forces that provided all the energy in the psychic system - instincts
Self-preservation instincts
Sexual instincts
Later he collapsed them both into one category - life instinct and made another category called death
instinct
Life instinct - Libido (sexual), any need-satisfying, life sustaining, or pleasure-oriented urge
Death instinct - Thanatos, any urge to destroy, harm, or aggress against others or oneself
Human Mind
Conscious mind: Contains all the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that you are presently
aware of
Preconscious mind: Vast number of memories, dreams, and thoughts that you could easily bring
to mind if you desired
Unconscious mind: unacceptable information, hidden from conscious view. Troubling memories,
thoughts, and feelings that are so tasteful that even being aware of them would make a person
anxious
Psychic Determinism: Everything we do, say, and feel is an expression of the mind - the conscious,
preconscious, or unconscious mind
Anna O. - Reminded her of experiences that could be tied to her symptoms of hysteria and as soon as
she faced and considered them, her symptoms reduced
Freud and Breuer believed that physical symptoms were a result of repressed emotional memories and
by recalling the traumatic incident, an emotional catharsis or release can be achieved by expressing
feelings associated with the memory
Freud believed in "talking cure"
Combined symptom formation and talking cure with the ideas about unconscious, repression,
etc. and formulated his grand theory of personality
Blindsight - when a patient with cortical blindness is shown something he cannot see, but his
unconscious is aware that it exists
Deliberation without awareness - sleep on it effect, when faced with a difficult decision, the conscious
mind can choose to put it out for a few hours but the unconscious still deliberates on it and when the
person wakes up, there is usually a solution formed by the unconscious
Subjects had to decide which was the best car out of 4 different cars
Subjects divided into two groups: simple (judge based on 4 attributes of car) and complex (judge
based on 12 attributes of car)
Half of the subjects were in conscious deliberation (decide within 4 mins) and the other half
were in unconscious deliberation (distracted for 4 mins by asking to solve puzzles and immediately
after, asked to tell best car)
In simple group, subjects who did conscious deliberation made the best choice
In complex group, subjects who did unconscious deliberation made the best decision
Thus, it would benefit the individual to think consciously about simple matters and delegate thinking
about complex matters to the unconscious
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Structure of Personality:
Id:
oMost primitive part of the human mind
oSource of all drives and urges
oOperates according to the pleasure principle - desire for immediate gratification and
does not obey logic
oId is dominant in infancy
oOperates with primary process thinking - thinking without logical rules of conscious
thought
oIf an urge from the id is not satisfied, the id may create a mental image of it for
temporary satisfaction. This is called wish fulfillment.
Ego:
oIt constraints the id to reality
oDevelops within the first two or three years of life
oOperates according to reality principle - understands that ids urges are often in conflict
with social and physical reality
oEgo works to postpone ids urges until an appropriate situation arises
oEngages in secondary process thinking - development of strategies for solving problems
and obtaining satisfaction
Superego:
oDevelops around age of 5
oSuperego internalizes the values, morals, and ideals of society
oFreud indicates development of superego linked to a child's identification with his
parents
oPart of personality that makes us feel guilty, ashamed, or embarrassed when we do
something wrong and make us feel pride when we do something right
oIt sets moral goals and ideals and defines our judgement about what is right and wrong
-- called the conscience
oMain tool of superego to enforce right and wrong is guilt
oPeople with low superego might feel no guilt about anything whereas people with high
superego might have unrealistically high moral standards and suffer from chronic level of
shame
The three parts interact with each other to solve internal conflicts. A well balanced mind has a powerful
ego that does not face anxiety when the id and superego conflict. However, if either the id or the
superego overwhelm the other, it can lead to anxiety
Ego Depletion:
Participants came in for a taste test and were told to skip the meal prior to coming
Divided into three rooms to wait for a bit where two rooms had radishes and cookies, third was
control
oThe first group was asked to eat 2-3 radishes but no cookies
oSecond group was asked to eat 2-3 cookies but no radishes
oThird group was showed no food
All participants were given puzzle to solve and they could stop solving whenever they wanted
First room where subjects were told not to eat cookies had a difficult time solving the puzzle and
gave up sooner than the subjects allowed to eat the cookies
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Freud"s model of human nature - psychic energy that exists within each person. Works on the law of conservation of energy: the amount of psychic energy an individual possessed remained constant throughout his lifetime. Personality change = redirection of person"s psychic energy. Strong innate forces that provided all the energy in the psychic system - instincts. Later he collapsed them both into one category - life instinct and made another category called death instinct. Life instinct - libido (sexual), any need-satisfying, life sustaining, or pleasure-oriented urge. Death instinct - thanatos, any urge to destroy, harm, or aggress against others or oneself. Conscious mind: contains all the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that you are presently aware of. Preconscious mind: vast number of memories, dreams, and thoughts that you could easily bring to mind if you desired. Unconscious mind: unacceptable information, hidden from conscious view.
