Psychology 2550A/B Chapter 9: Chapter 9 Text Notes.docx

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2550A/B
• Professor: James M Olson

Document Summary

Post-freudians went on to call attention to the diversity of human motives and to mental and emotional processes in personality development after early childhood that had been neglected before. Ego psychology - more attention is on the concept and functions of ego and self Ego has crucial functions that may be independent of underlying unconscious motives. With this growing role of the ego, the person is viewed as a more competent, potentially creative problem solver, engaged in much more than the management of instincts that press for discharge. Defense mechanisms are those through which the ego does much of its peacekeeping work -- tries to subordinate the impulses, test reality, and accommodate the demands of the superego in the lifelong war within the psyche. Defenses are designed to transform these wishes into an acceptable form for the ego -- energy is exchange and directed toward different objects, mediated by the mechanisms of defense.