3 Psychodynamic theories 2: Freud and unconscious processes

Question 1

What is the conscious, selon Freud?

Answer 1

The conscious refers to that of which we are aware

Question 2

What is the unconsious, selon Freud?

Answer 2

The unconscious refers to that of which we are not aware, but the existence of which we are nevertheless ready to admit on account of other proofs or signs (Freud, 1912)

Question 3

What, says Freud, is the difference between conscious and unconscious mental states?

Answer 3

Unconscious mental states are unknown

Question 4

In Freud’s first topography - The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900 - he described the psychical apparatus as consisting of what two systems?

Answer 4

1) The unconscious

2) The pre-conscious and conscious

Question 5

Of what does the unconscious consist?

Answer 5

The unconscious consists of material that has been actively repressed and has, therefore, been denied access to the pre-conscious-conscious system. So the unconscious is indistinguishable from the repressed.

Question 6

What heralded in Freud’s second topography?

Answer 6

In “The Ego and the Id” (1923), Freud proposed that intrapsychic life consists of an id, an ego and a superego. The distinct break between conscious and preconscious-conscious is rejected.

Question 7

The id is the unconscious expression of what?

Answer 7

Instincts and instinctual desires. It’s the reservoir of libido and psychical energy generally.

Question 8

Does the id have any sense of morality?

Answer 8

Hell no

Question 9

If id is not satisfied, how does it express itself?

Answer 9

In symbols and images –in dreams through displacement and condensation

Question 10

What principle does the id follow?

Answer 10

The pleasure principle

Question 11

Is the ego conscious or unconscious?

Answer 11

Mostly unconscious, but also pre-conscious-conscious

Question 12

What is the function of the ego?

Answer 12

To handle the id’s strivings in acceptable ways

To repress id’s desires to shield oneself from anxiety

Question 13

How is the ego organized?

Answer 13

According to secondary process thought – attention, judgement, reasoning, planning, controlled action –logical, reality-oriented types of cognition

Question 14

At what age does the superego develop?

Answer 14

Around the age of 5, when the Oedipal crisis is being resolved

Question 15

Is the superego conscious or unconscious?

Answer 15

It’s both

Question 16

What is the superego constituted from?

Answer 16

The internalisation of parental prohibitions and demands –thus modeled on parents’ superego

Question 17

What happens to superego if Oedipal crisis is not resolved?

Answer 17

The superego does not develop; person becomes less moral

Question 18

How is the Oedipus complex resolved?

Answer 18

Through identification with the same-sex parent

Question 19

How does the concept of reification apply to Freud’s tripartite model?

Answer 19

Freud reifies the id, ego and superego. He talks of them as though they are discreet entities instead of different kinds of cognitive relations between different neurological structures and the external world.

Question 20

Is unconscious material verbal?

Answer 20

Nope, it’s all preverbal. Putting it into words makes it conscious. It can be examined by imagery, though.

Question 21

How can a therapist access unconscious material?

Answer 21

Through verbal reports, mainly. So the therapist must infer unconscious material from what is said.

Question 22

What evidence is there for the existence of unconscious material?

Answer 22

• various types of amnesia
• hypnotic suggestion
• dreams
• psychopathology of everyday life (slips of the tongue)
• formation of symptoms
• resistance/repression
• defence mechanism

Question 23

What is repression?

Answer 23

An unconscious force which pushes disturbing material/wishes/desires/thoughts (that would incur the risk of provoking “unpleasure” to self and/or other) out of consciousness

Question 24

Why does repression occur?

Answer 24

Because unconscious material can be threatening. Recognising it can cause us to feel:
Shame
Guilt
Unwantednedness

We only know what we can bear to feel

Question 25

Too much repression leads to what?

Answer 25

Too much repression leads to anxiety

Question 26

What is “the return of the repressed”?

Answer 26

When repressed material reappears in slips of the tongue, dreams etc.

Question 27

What does repression do?

Answer 27

PUSHES disturbing material out of consciousness

Question 28

What does resistance do?

Answer 28

KEEPS disturbing material out of consciousness. It’s the force which keeps pathogenic experiences out of consciousness.

Question 29

What’s the difference between repression and resistance?

Answer 29

Repression pushes disturbing material out of consciousness; resistance keeps it there.

Question 30

What is projection (defence mechanism)?

Answer 30

When the subject attributes thoughts/desires etc. to others that he refuses to recognise in himself

Question 31

What percentage of mental acts occur outside of conscious awareness? (Bargh and Chartrand, 1999)

Answer 31

Around 95%, apparently

Question 32

How are Freud’s claims about the unconscious supported (or not) by more recent findings?

Answer 32

The general claim for ubiquitous unconscious activity has been supported,

BUT…

while there is much cognitive processing outside conscious awareness, this does not mean that unconscious motivational and emotional factors shape conscious mental life.