Freud: Psychoanalysis
Psychology of Personality
Lecture, Chapter 1

Psychoanalysis
Freud’s theory has perhaps become the most famous of all personality theories.
Freud’s theory was developed by observing his clients and using data from those observations to develop his model.
Freud publicly held that his theory could not be subjected to eclecticism, insisting that his supporters take an all-or-nothing approach.
Main constructs of interest in his theory are sex and aggression.

Freud’s life
Lived most of his life in Vienna, was the oldest of 8 children in a Jewish family, and was said to be his mother’s favorite.
Received a degree in medicine, although his interests were in physiology and human nature.
Motivated by the drive to achieve fame and respect through a revolutionary discovery.
Had a series of failed friendships with male colleagues that turned rocky upon professional disagreements.
Used analysis of himself and his relationship to both of his parents to develop much of his theoretical view of dreams.

Levels of Mental Life
Freud believed that people are primarily motivated by drives, of which they have little, if any, awareness.
Conscious
    Perceptual conscious
    Preconscious

Unconscious
    Primary censor
    Final censor

Some unconscious processes have been passed down from early ancestors through hundreds of generations of repetition, called phylogenetic endowment.

People can communicate with each other on unconscious mental levels.

Provinces of the Mind
Id = the personality’s core; completely unconscious portion of the mind driven to seek pleasure via the pleasure principle.

Ego = the only portion of the mind in contact with reality; reality principle.

Superego = the portion of the mind that strives toward perfection, judging the actions and intentions of the ego through the moralistic principle

    Conscience
    Ego-ideal

Development of the 3 provinces varies greatly among individuals
    Id-dominant:
    Superego dominant:
Fluctuations between ego and superego
Ego dominant: manages demands of both id and superego

Dynamics of Personality
People are motivated by psychical and physical energy that are used to seek pleasure (drives) and reduce anxiety.

Drives are constant motivational force classified as either sexual or aggressive and contain all of the following:
    Impetus
    Source
    Aim
    Object

Drives:
Sex – the first primary drive; involves pleasure motivated through the sexual drive
   
Aggression – the second primary drive, the final aim of which is self-destruction.
   

Anxiety is the felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns a person of impending danger; types of anxiety are as follows:
   

Defense Mechanisms
Defense mechanisms are normal and universally used to avoid dealing directly with sexual and aggressive impulses and their resulting anxiety.
    Repression
    Reaction formation
    Displacement
    Fixation
    Regression
    Projection
    Introjection
    Sublimation

Stages of Development
Infantile phase lasts from birth to age 4-5 and assumes that infants go through a period of pregenital sexual development:
    Oral phase – gaining pleasure through feeding, sucking, biting, cooing, thumb sucking
    Anal phase – gaining pleasure through aggressive behavior and the excretory function
    Phallic phase – gaining pleasure through stimulation in the genital area
       
Latency period lasts from 4-5 years until puberty and is usually characterized by dormant psychosexual development.

Genital period lasts through puberty and beyond and is characterized by directing libido toward others, possibility of reproduction, increased acceptance or “status” of the vagina, and synthesis of pleasure-producing areas, which center upon the genitals.

Psychological maturity occurs when a person has ideally met the challenges of the earlier stages.

Therapeutic Techniques
    Free association
    Transference
    Dream analysis
    Condensation
    Displacement
    Parapraxes (“Freudian slips”)

Conclusion
What was Freud’s view of gender?
Did Freud use science in his theory development? Was his theory able to generate research, be falsified, organize data, guide action, be internally consistent, and be parsimonious?
Where does Freud’s theory fall on the basic issues concerning the nature of humanity?
    Determinism vs. free choice
    Pessimism vs. optimism
    Causality vs. teleology
    Conscious vs. unconscious
    Social vs. biological influences
    Uniqueness vs. similarities