Social Psychology - Lecture Two

Question 1

Freud’s view on basic human condition

Answer 1

Seething cauldron of pleasure seeking instincts

Question 2

Freud’s view on the external restraints of society

Answer 2

Internalised during children where parents spanked children, later the children internalised parental/societal standards of right and wrong

Question 3

Impulses

Answer 3

Forbidden impulses could never be ruled out, impulses can be denied but will always return and reassert themselves

Question 4

Subsystems of the conflict between instincts and the demands of society

Answer 4

ID
Ego
Superego

Question 5

ID

Answer 5

Contains the most basic urges e.g. eat, drink, rest, seek comfort and works on the pleasure principles where we want something now, not later e.g. gain sexual pleasure

Question 6

Ego

Answer 6

Works on the reality principles which tried to satisfy the ID pragmatically in accordance with societal norms

Question 7

Superego

Answer 7

Acts as a moral policeman and is essentially our conscious that represents internalised rules of parents and society. If rules are broken, the superego metes out punishment that leads to intense anxiety, guild and self-reproach

Question 8

Defence mechanisms

Answer 8

Displacement, reaction formation, projection and isolation

Question 9

Displacement defence mechanism

Answer 9

Impulses redirected into a safer course

Question 10

Reaction formation defence mechanism

Answer 10

Original wish is supplanted with the opposite

Question 11

Projection defence mechanism

Answer 11

Urges are projected onto others

Question 12

Isolation defence mechanism

Answer 12

Awareness of memories but not emotions

Question 13

Unconscious conflicts

Answer 13

Results of childhood experiences

Question 14

Oral stage

Answer 14

0- to 2-years-old

Question 15

Anal stage

Answer 15

2- to 4-years-old

Question 16

Phallic stage

Answer 16

4- to 6-years-old

Question 17

Latency stage

Answer 17

6- to 12-years-old

Question 18

Genital stage

Answer 18

12+ years old

Question 19

Phallic stage in terms of Oedipus complex

Answer 19

Boys develop an Oedipus complex where they want to sexually possess their mother and therefore hate their father. The boy fears that the father may find out and castrate him, this leads t castration anxiety. The boy then decides to give up and instead become like his father in hopes to find an erotic partner like his mother

Question 20

Electra complex

Answer 20

Girl realises that she does not have a penis which she considers as a catastrophe, within this anger she develops penis envy and turns to her father in hope that he will give her a penis substitute in the form of a baby. The girl turns her sexual attention towards her father and therefore hates her mother, she develops anxiety over her desires and decides to identify with her mother

Question 21

Difficulties at the oral stage

Answer 21

Lead to oral fixation, smoking and thumb-sucking

Question 22

Difficulties at the anal stage

Answer 22

Anal retentiveness, won’t spend money, obstinate, likes painting

Question 23

Difficulties at the phallic stage

Answer 23

Castration anxiety can lead to homosexuality?

Question 24

Problems with Freud’s study

Answer 24

Never actually studies children
Ideas not falsifiable
Little experimental evidence to support ideas

Question 25

Experimental evidence

Answer 25

Data more appropriately explained through other processes

Experiments supporting Freud’s claims are often flawed

Question 26

Freud’s claim about children with parents who treat them harshly

Answer 26

Would redirect aggressive instincts on to others who have less power