Psy 206: Chapter 2

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Father of Psychoanalysis

I. Structure
A. 3 Mental Life / Level of Consciousness

Unconscious

Description
Unacceptable, undiscovered sexual and aggressive drives,
urges, and instincts that motivate our words
Where Deepest part of the psyche
Can be
conscious
Dreams, Freudian slips, wit, neurotic symptoms
Seen as relatively pleasant, nonthreatening experiences
Primary censor Must be disguised
Final censor Watches the passageway
between the conscious
and the preconscious
Origins
Repression Block out our anxiety
ridden experiences as
defense against pain of
anxiety
*due to punishment and
suppression
Phylogenetic Endowment Inherited experiences that
lie beyond an individuals
personal experiences

Preconscious
Description Middle ground
Not in awareness
Origins Conscious perception Perception is conscious
for a period until it passes
into the pre-conscious
when focus of attention
shifts
Unconscious Ideas can slip past the
vigilant censor and enter
in a disguised form
Can be
conscious
Quite easily / with some level of difficulty memories,
stored knowledge

Conscious Mental elements in awareness at any given point in time
Description Only level that is directly available to us
Origins Perception conscious Turned toward the outer
world; medium for the
perception of external
stimuli
Mental structure Nonthreatening ideas from
the preconscious and
well-disguised images
from unconscious




B. 3 Provinces of the Mind hypothetical not anatomical, but can be parts of the
brain according to neurological doctors

ID Core of personality
Completely unconscious
Basic instinct newborn baby (illogical, unorganized, amoral
Principle Pleasure, seeks satisfaction of instinctual needs
Purpose Too seek pressure without regard for what is proper or
just
Primary
process
No contact with reality (use ego to do so)

EGO Persons sole communication with the external world
Principle Reality
Purpose Mediates id, superego, reality; decision making/
executive branch of personality
Functions Pleasure and pain experience of parental rewards or
punishment, will learn what to do next
SUPEREGO Has no energy of its own
Internalized parental voice in our psyche
Principle Perfection not concerned for the happiness of ego
Moralistic and idealistic
Primary
process
Repository of your ego-ideal, ideal self (what should you
do)
Unrealistic in the demands for perfection
Conscience Lives and is responsible for the experience of guilt (what
you should not do)
Figure 1





Figure 2






II. Process People are motivated to seek pleasure and to reduce tension / anxiety
A. Dynamics of Personality

Instincts/Drives Internal drive/ impulse as a constant motivational force
Originates from the id ! stays under control of the ego

Impetus Amount of force the instincts exerts
Sources Region of the body in a state of excitation/
tension
Aim Seek of pleasure by removing the state of
excitation and tension
Object Satisfies the claim
Homeostasis Tensions are resolved and continues to seek
activities that can reduce original tension
Tension Reduction Sex (Eros) Fuel libido (I
Model desire) preserves the
life through
reproduction
Aim pleasure
Flexible Erogenous
zones
Final aim reduction
of sexual tension
Aggression/
Destruction (Thanatos)
Death drive
Aim return to an
ultimate inorganic
condition, death
Final aim self
destruction
Flexible

Anxiety Felt, affective, unpleasant state by physical sensation
Only the ego feels
Birth Trauma Most extreme form of anxiety separated from
mothers
Fear of the
unknown
Change from an environment of complete
security to one which is less predictable
Neurotic Not giving into id
Exists in the ego
Moral Outgrowth of conflict
between
Realistic Related to fear
Ego-preserving
mechanism
Signals us from upcoming danger

Sex All pleasurable activity leads to the sexual drive
Flexibility disguise of Eros that can be transformed or displaced
Not limited to genital pleasure
Aim cannot be changed (either passive or active) or temporarily inhabited
Erogenous Zones Regions of the body that is capable of producing
pleasure
Mouth, Anal, and Genital
Narcissism Excessive love or admiration of ones self
Primary (self- love) infants excessively on their
ego
Secondary (moderate self-love) puberty
Love Healthier form
Libido on an external person/object
Reciprocal side of attraction
Natural desire for incest aim-inhabited
original aim is repressed
First sexual interest mother
Overt sexual love for members family is
repressed
Narcissistic tendencies ideal of what they
would like to be
Sadism Need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or
humiliation to others
Must seek and find another person to inflict
Dependent
Common need
Masochism Need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain by
themselves or others
Self inflicted pain
Sexual Perversion S and M taken to an extreme
Life and death instinct to a extreme
Aggression Death drive bring organism to a calm or non-existence
Mortido Federn
Destrudo Weiss
Flexible because of its many forms
Must submit themselves to the demands of the real world sex, aggression

B. Defense Mechanism egos purpose to avoid dealing with sexual and
aggressive implosives and defend itself against the anxiety
Protects ego VS. anxiety

Repression Primary defense mechanism
Ego is threatened by the id
Motivated forgetting Forces threatening feelings into the
unconscious
Examples Traumas, phobias
Repressed 1. Remain unchanged in the unconscious
2. Force their way into consciousness in
an altered form creating more anxiety
3. Expressed in displaced forms to
deceive the ego (physical symptoms,
outlet)
Reaction
Formation
Repressed impulses comes into the unconscious through adopting a
disguise in opposition with the original form
Reactive behavior 1. Exaggerated character
2. Obsessive and compulsive form
Displacement
(Project Man)
Redirecting an impulse onto a substitute target symbolic so the original
impulse is concealed
Sexual drive Object can be displaced onto a variety of other
objects including self
Replacement of a
neurotic symptom
Ex: Masturbation displaced in excessive hand
washing
Dream Formation Ex: Dreamers destructive urges toward a
parent are placed onto a dog or world
Fixation

Permanent attachment of the libido onto earlier stage of development
Remains at a current pleasurable activity next step is too anxiety provoking
Demand a more or less permanent expenditure of psychic energy
Universal
Regression Reverting back to the earlier stage after libido passed a developmental step
Threatening anxieties
Temporary expenditure of psychic energy
Infant Reverting back to being breastfed after
younger brother is born
Adults Reaction to anxiety-producing situation is to
revert to earlier, more secure patterns of
behavior
Investment of libido to primitive, familiar objects
Projection Seeing in others unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in
ones own unconscious
Placing an unwanted impulse onto an external object
Paranoia Powerful delusions of jealousy and persecution
Repressed homosexual feelings toward a
persecutor
Causes When an internal impulse provokes too much
anxiety, ego reduces it through projection
Introjection People incorporate positive qualities of another person into their own ego
Adopt mannerisms, values, or lifestyle
Identification higher esteem of 100%
Oedipus Complex Prototype young child introjects the authority
and values of one or both parents (sets the
superego)
Sublimation Repression of the genital aim of Eros by substituting a cultural or social aim
Direct expression of Eros and result in a kind of balance
Productive form
Aim Help both individual and the social group
cultural accomplishments
Denial Blocking of external events from awareness refuses to experience it
Denial in fantasy childrens imagination
Undoing Ego attempts to get rid of unpleasant experiences and their consequences
through compulsive ceremonial behavior
Intellectualization Removing the emotional content from the thought before allowing it into
awareness
Rationalization Cognitive distortion of facts to make an event or an impulse less
threatening
Presents an explanation logically consistent / ethically unacceptable

C. Psychosexual Stages

Infantile
(4-5 years old)
Most crucial for personality formation
Possession of sexual life ! pre-genital sexual development
Interest in genitals, delight in sexual pleasure, and manifest sexual
excitement
Not capable of reproduction (Autoerotic)
Oral Phase
(Birth-18 months)
First organ to provide with pleasure
Life-sustaining nourishment and act of sucking
Aim Receive the nipple
(object-choice)
Oral-receptive Satisfied with
minimum anxiety
Oral-sadistic Escalated anxiety
scheduled feedings,
time lapses and
weaning
ambivalence toward
the mother and
budding ego to
defend itself
Biting, cooing,
closing their mouth,
smiling and crying
First autoerotic Thumb sucking,
experience sexual and not
nutritional needs
Positive Trust, security,
optimism, vitality
Negative Mistrust, insecurity,
pessimism
Anal Phase
(2-4 years old)
Anus
Anal-sadistic aggressive behavior through
excretory function
Either gender can develop an active (masculine
of dominance and sadism) or passive (feminine
of voyeurism and masochism) orientation
Early Destroying/ losing
objects
Sadistic drive is
stronger
Toilet training
aggression
Late Friendly interest
toward their feces
Erotic pleasure of
defacating
Anal character Keeping, possessing
objects, excessively
neat and orderly
Overly resistant to
toilet training, holding
back feces
Anal triad Orderliness,
stinginess, and
obstinacy
Anal eroticism Penis envy in phallic
envy and expressed
in giving birth
Penis = baby = feces

Phallic Phase
(3-4 years old)
Genital area
Dichotomy between male and female development anatomical differences
between sexes (account for many psychological differences)
Anatomy is destiny understanding of girls and women was incomplete
Masturbation Second, more crucial stage
Universal but suppressed by parents
Oedipus complex Loving, hostile wishes toward their parents
Male Oedipus complex Seeing the father as a rival, desire to have his
mother
Once repressed, superego develops and
identifies with his father
Complete Oedipus
complex
Feminine disposition + masculine tendency =
affection and hostility coexist of one or both
unconscious feelings
Castration complex Fear of losing the penis
Aware of the absence of penis of girls
parental threats of punishing the boy
Dreaded possibility
Represses his impulses toward sexual activity
(including seduction of his mother)
Boys ego is mature enough
Female Oedipus
complex / Electra
complex
Incestuous feelings for the mother, but turns
into hostility (blame for not having a penis)
Libido is turned to the father satisfy her wish
for a penis and giving her a baby
Penis envy Envious, cheated,
and desire to have a
penis
Powerful force in the
formation of girls
personality
May last for years
Wish to be a boy,
desire to have a
man/baby
Acknowledgement
of castration
(Hostility)
1. Give up their
sexuality
and develop
hostility for
the mother
2. Cling to their
masculinity
and
fantasize
being a man
3. Develop
normally
father as a
sexual
choice and
undergo
Oedipus
complex
Resolution Gives up
masturbatory
activity, surrenders
sexual desire for her
father, identifies with
her mother
BOYS VS. GIRLS Boys Girls
Stronger superego Weaker superego,
more flexible, less
severe
Castration anxiety
follows Oedipus
complex
Oedipus complex
follows castration
anxiety do not
experience shock or
trauma
Faster resolved More slowly
dissolved

Latency Period Dormant psychosexual development
(4-5
th
year before
puberty)
Parents attempts to punish or discourage sexual activity in their young
children
Superego starts to development
Learned to sublimate the libido , thanatos, and internal feelings (shame,
guilt, and morality) by constant parent suppression
Sexual drive still exists
Children form groups or cliques
Phylogenetic endowment prohibition of sexual activity
Genital Period
(11-12 to 18-21
years old)
Time of sexual reawakening
Eros remains unchanged continue to be repressed, sublimated, expressed
in masturbation and/other sexual acts
Diphasic sexual life Give up autoeroticism to a more fruitful
relationship
Reproduction
For girls Penis envy same status or power as the
penis
Uses their feminine to overpower men
For boys Female organ is more sought-after object
rather than a source of trauma
Sexual instinct Complete organization and the component
drives that had operated somewhat
independently during the early infantile
period gain a kind of synthesis during
adolescence
Perversion Mouth, anus pleasurable-producing areas
Main satisfaction Genitals
Maturity Never conceptualized
Ego is the strongest controls the superego and id
A balance of the three mental images
Physical and psychological maturity (seldom) earlier developmental
periods in an ideal manner
Ego ideal is realistic
Id has no traces of shame or guilt
Superego beyond parental identification and control with no incest
Consciousness minimal need to repress sexual and aggressive urges
Libido tender and sensual love

III. Applications of Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychopathology overusing your defense mechanisms / too much psychic energy

Unresolved issues in psychosexual development
1. Overgratification
2. Undergratification
..when a child encounters a traumatic experience and excessive amount of
satisfaction causing to use more psychic energy

Children must resolve a crisis, passing through psychosexual stages
Personality operates on the libido and it gets used up when there is a need to resolve
Meaning more psychic energy as adults

Techniques that use up psychic energy
1. Fixation tying up to fix
2. Regression there is little psychic energy
3. Cathexis relationship or connection between a need and an object that will satisfy the
need
4. Anti-cathexis inhibiting the impulse by either a superego/ego

Anxiety ! Neuroticism

Psychic energy cannot be replenished, can only be STRENGTHENED, REGAINED, RELEASED

A. Early Therapeutic Technique

Seduction theory
(Active approach)
Extracts the repressed childhood memories confession of childhood
seduction by an adult
Neurotic symptoms were related to childhood fantasies and adopted a more
passive approach

B. Late Therapeutic Technique transforming the unconscious to what is
conscious
Purpose: To strengthen the ego, to make more independent the superego and to widen
the perception and enlarge the organization of the id

Free association Patients verbalize every thought that comes to their mind (even irrelevant)
Purpose Arrive at the unconscious by starting with a
present conscious idea and follow with a train
of associations
Successful Libido must be freed to work in the service of
the ego
Transference Strong sexual and aggressive feelings (+/-)
that patients develop toward their analyst
Does not interfere with the process of
treatment
Powerful ally to the progress
(+) (-)
Relive childhood
experiences within
nonthreatening
climate
Form of hostility and
overcome
resistance

Limitations 1. Psychoses constitutional illnesses
(phobias, hysterias, obsessions)
2. Not all memories should be brought
into the consciousness
3. A patient, even once cured may later
develop another psychic problem
Dream Analysis To transform manifest (surface meaning) content to the latent (unconscious
material)
Dreams are in the unconscious but work hard to get into the conscious
Royal road most
Wish fulfillments Most dreams are latent, some are manifest
Belongs in the unconscious
Repetition compulsion Patients undergoing a trauma (Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder)
Condensation Manifest content is not as extensive as latent
dream has been condensed before reaching
the manifest content
Use of symbols
Displacement Dream image is replaced by some other idea
only remotely related to it
Use of symbols
Methods First Ask patients to
relate their dream
no matter how
illogical
Dream symbols Discover the
unconscious
underlying the
manifest content
Anxiety dreams Belongs to the preconscious
Dream of
Nakedness
Shame or
embarrassment at
being naked or
improperly dressed
Death of a Beloved
Person
Death of a younger
wish for
destruction
Older person
Oedipal wish for the
death of a parent
Sorrow affects
have been changed
or reversed
Failing an
examination
Already had been
successfully passed,
or never one that
was failed
Anticipation of a
difficult task
(nothing to worry
about)

Freudian slip Fehlleistung (German) or faulty function
Parapraxes
Reveal the unconscious intention of the person supplant the weaker
intention of the preconscious, reveals persons through purpose
Remain hidden from consciousness