PSYC 2130 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Weaning, Investment, Bisexuality

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2130
• Professor: Frank Marchese

Document Summary

Study notes: chapter #4 freud"s psychoanalytic theories. Dynamic -> refers to the exchange and transformation of energy within the personality. Like most later psychoanalysts, freud believed that the source of human motivation was psychic energy aka libidinal energy. Freud theorized that people have a fixed amount of psychic energy that is used for all psychological functions. Cathexis -> an investment of psychic energy. Psychic energy cannot actually be invested in (attached to) people or activities, but in the mind psychic energy can be cathected to mental representation in the form of thoughts, images, and fantasies. The strength of a cathexis is the amount of energy invested in it. The greater the amount of energy devoted to one cathexis, the less psychic energy available for other cathexes and mental activities. A young man who is constantly thinking of a woman friend has difficulty doing other things (e. g. a reading assignment)