Module 5

Question 1

What is psychoanalysis? (Freud)

Answer 1

reasons can be discovered by examining contents of unconscious mind

Question 2

What are basic instincts?

Answer 2

strong innate forces that provide all of the energy in psychic system; primary motives of human behaviour

Question 3

What is life instinct?

Answer 3

instinct to preserve living substance & to join it into every larger units

Question 4

What is death instinct?

Answer 4

instinct seeking to dissolve those units & bring them back to their primeval, inorganic state

Question 5

What is free will? (Jung)

Answer 5

argued that goal-directedness & free will largely determine human behaviour, not unconscious processe

Question 6

What is the Id?

Answer 6

Primitive part of mind

• source of drives & urges
• seeks immediate gratification & acts on pleasure principle (includes basic instincts)

Question 7

What is the ego?

Answer 7

Executive of personality

• constrains id to reality & acts on reality principle
• understands that urges often in conflict w/ physical & social realities

Question 8

What is the superego?

Answer 8

Internalised ideals, values & morals of parents (1st) & society/culture/authority (2nd)

• includes conscience (sense of morality) & ego-ideal (ideal image of self)
• felt as guilt, shame & pride

Question 9

What is subliminal priming?

Answer 9

concepts may be perceived & influence us, w/o our even knowing it

Question 10

What is anxiety (Freud)?

Answer 10

Unpleasant state indicating that ego is being threatened

1. Objective: real, external threat to person
2. Neurotic: direct conflict b/w id & ego
3. Moral: conflict b/w ego & superego

Question 11

What are defence mechanisms?

Answer 11

Ways for ego to cope w/ anxiety

• typically operate unconsciously
• distort/transform/falsify reality in some way
• primary goal: tension reduction
  1. Repression: preventing unacceptable thoughts/feelings/urges from reaching conscious awareness
  2. Denial: insisting things are not the way they seem; not seeing facts
  3. Rationalisation: reasoning, making excuses for outcomes
  4. Displacement: redirecting threatening impulses to less-threatening target
  5. Project: attributing negative qualities to others
  6. Reaction formation: displaying opposite behaviours
  7. Regression: returning to earlier, less demanding physical/mental state
  8. Sublimation: converting unacceptable desires & anxiety into acceptable behaviours; adaptive defence

Question 12

What is anxiety (Jung)?

Answer 12

Anxiety propels us to make meaning of our world

• meaning & purpose helps us manage anxiety
• religion, spirituality & symbolism are important sources of meaning

Question 13

What is Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?

Answer 13

• children pass thru series of developmental stages; each successive stage focuses on more mature expression of libido
• at each of first 3 stages, must face & resolve specific events/conflicts
• either frustration/overindulgence results in fixation at particular stage; these challenges define adult personality

Question 14

What is the 1st stage of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?

Answer 14

Oral stage (birth-18 months):

• key conflict: weaning from breast/bottle
• goal: gain independence while still trusting parent

Fixation:

1. Neglectful parents: oral aggressive personality - hostile, aggressive, sadistic; exploitative
2. Over-protection: oral receptive personality - needy, co-dependent, masochistic

Question 15

What is the 2nd stage of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?

Answer 15

Anal stage (18 months-3 years):

• key conflict: toilet-training (whether or not successful)
• goal: achieve self-control & develop functioning ego

Fixation:

1. Strict parents: anal retentive personality - stubborn, obsessive, overly tidy
2. Liberal parents: anal expulsive personality - emotional, rebellious, messy

Question 16

What is the 3rd stage of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?

Answer 16

Phallic stage (3-5 years):
- key conflict: unconscious attraction toward opposite-sex parent & feelings of hostility towards same-sex parent
- goal:
□ identify with/relate to parents in healthy, mature way
□ internalise ideals, values, morals (thus developing superego, including conscience & ego-ideal)

Fixation:
phallic personality: self assured, vain, impulsive, narcissistic

Question 17

What is the 4th stage of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?

Answer 17

Latency stage (4-6 years):

• little psychological development occurs
• focus on learning skills & abilities necessary to succeed

Question 18

What is the 5th stage of Freud’s theory of psychosexual development?

Answer 18

Genital stage (puberty +):

• libido directed outward toward other adults in healthy manner
• ppl reach this stage only if previous conflicts resolved

Success:
genital personality: well-adjusted, mature, able to love/be loved

Question 19

What is individuation (Jung)?

Answer 19

Process of integrating conscious & unconscious thru improved self-awareness; personal & collective unconscious assimilated into whole personality

• necessary for complete physical/mental health; good moral grounding
• foundation for analytical psychology

Question 20

What is Jung’s concept of the Shadow?

Answer 20

• dark side of one’s personality; that individual does not want to face, relegated to unconscious
• becomes enlightened by making the darkness conscious (Jung, 1945)

Question 21

What is psychic energy?

Answer 21

Source of energy that is within each person

• motivates all human activity
• operated according to law of conservation of energy: amount of psychic energy individual possessed remained constant thruout life
• personality change viewed as redirection of person’s psychic energy

Question 22

What is blindsight?

Answer 22

Ppl who suffer a kind of “cortical” blindness display capacity to make judgments about objects they truly cannot see
- lost of some/all of their ability to see following injury/stroke that damages primary vision centre in brain

Question 23

What is deliberation-without-attention?

Answer 23

if person confronted w/ difficult decision can put it out of conscious mind for period of time, then unconscious mind will continue to deliberate on it outside of person’s awareness, helping them arrive at “sudden” & correct decision sometime later

Question 24

What is ego depletion?

Answer 24

idea that self-control/willpower draws upon limited pool of mental resources that can be used up