psychoanalysis terms

Question 1

Unconscious

Answer 1

A part of the mind that contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are not accessible to conscious awareness.

Question 2

Repression

Answer 2

The psychological mechanism of excluding distressing thoughts and memories from consciousness.

Question 3

Transference

Answer 3

The redirection of feelings and desires, especially those unconsciously retained from childhood, onto a therapist.

Question 4

Psychosexual stages

Answer 4

Freud’s theory that personality develops through a series of childhood stages, each characterized by different erogenous zones.

Question 5

Drive theory

Answer 5

Freud’s concept that human behavior is motivated by basic drives, such as sexual and aggressive instincts.

Question 6

Object relations

Answer 6

A theory in psychoanalysis that emphasizes the importance of internalized relationships with significant others.

Question 7

Ambivalence

Answer 7

The coexistence of opposing feelings towards a person or object, often seen in relationships.

Question 8

Self-identity

Answer 8

The perception and understanding of oneself, shaped by experiences and relationships.

Question 9

Manifest content

Answer 9

The actual literal content and storyline of a dream.

Question 10

Latent content

Answer 10

The hidden psychological meaning of a dream.

Question 11

Condensation

Answer 11

A mechanism in dream analysis where multiple ideas or images are combined into a single image.

Question 12

Displacement

Answer 12

A defense mechanism where emotional impulses are redirected from a threatening target to a safer one.

Question 13

Wish fulfillment

Answer 13

The concept that dreams represent the fulfillment of desires or wishes.

Question 14

Hysteria

Answer 14

A psychological condition characterized by physical symptoms without a medical cause, often linked to repressed emotions.

Question 15

Free association

Answer 15

A therapeutic technique where patients speak freely to reveal unconscious thoughts and feelings.

Question 16

Catharsis

Answer 16

The process of releasing and thereby providing relief from strong or repressed emotions.

Question 17

Infantile sexuality

Answer 17

Freud’s concept that children experience sexual feelings and desires from a young age.

Question 18

Polymorphous perversity

Answer 18

Freud’s idea that human beings are capable of deriving sexual pleasure from a variety of sources.

Question 19

Libido

Answer 19

The energy of the sexual drive as a component of the life instinct.

Question 20

Castration anxiety

Answer 20

A child’s fear of losing their genitals, often linked to the Oedipus complex.

Question 21

Ego defenses

Answer 21

Psychological strategies used by the ego to protect itself from anxiety.

Question 22

Projection

Answer 22

A defense mechanism where individuals attribute their own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to others.

Question 23

Sublimation

Answer 23

A defense mechanism where socially unacceptable impulses are transformed into socially acceptable actions.

Question 24

Psychosocial stages

Answer 24

Erikson’s theory that personality develops in a series of eight stages, each characterized by a psychosocial crisis.

Question 25

Mourning

Answer 25

The process of grieving the loss of a loved one, involving emotional and psychological adjustments.

Question 26

Melancholia

Answer 26

A pathological form of grief characterized by deep sadness and self-reproach. Ego identifies with lost object

Question 27

Narcissism

Answer 27

Excessive self-focus and self-importance, often at the expense of relationships with others.

Question 28

Transitional objects

Answer 28

Items that provide comfort to children during times of separation from their primary caregivers.

Question 29

True self

Answer 29

The authentic self that emerges when an individual is free from external pressures.

Question 30

False self

Answer 30

A defensive façade that individuals develop in response to environmental failures.

Question 31

Id

Answer 31

The part of the psyche that contains our primal instincts and desires, operating on the pleasure principle.

Question 32

Ego

Answer 32

The rational part of the psyche that mediates between the desires of the id and the realities of the external world.

Question 33

Superego

Answer 33

The moral component of the psyche that internalizes societal norms and values.

Question 34

Repression (in Civilization and Its Discontents)

Answer 34

The process by which civilization suppresses instinctual drives, leading to feelings of guilt and discontent.

Question 35

Guilt

Answer 35

A superego mechanism punishing the ego for transgressions

Question 36

Not-Me Object

Answer 36

Neither fully self nor other, facilitating emotional development. A child's first "not-me" possession is a material object, like a blanket or teddy bear, that represents experiences outside of the child and their mother

Question 37

Bad Objects

Answer 37

Objects that are frustrating, unfulfilling, or painful and often experienced as persecuting and attacking. Internalized representations of rejecting caregivers.

Question 38

Eros and Thanatos

Answer 38

Life and death drives underlying cultural achievements and destruction.

Question 39

psychosexual stages

Answer 39

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Question 40

psychosocial stages

Answer 40

In Erikson's theory, the developmental stages refer to eight major challenges that appear successively across the lifespan, which require an individual to rethink his or her goals and relationships with others.

Question 41

oedipus complex

Answer 41

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Question 42

Fixation

Answer 42

Failure to resolve conflicts at any stage can result in neuroses or personality traits linked to that stage.

Question 43

Primal Scene

Answer 43

The witnessing (real or imagined) of parental sexual activity, which becomes a source of unconscious conflict.

Question 44

Deferred Action (Nachträglichkeit)

Answer 44

The reinterpretation of past events in light of later experiences.

Question 45

Reality Principle

Answer 45

seeks to delay gratification of the id's urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found

Question 46

Splitting

Answer 46

Separating objects into idealized and devalued parts to manage ambivalence

Question 47

Depressive Position

Answer 47

A stage of emotional development where the child reconciles good and bad aspects of objects, fostering empathy. Children wish to worship and protect the good part because they fear losing it

Question 48

Projective Identification

Answer 48

A defense mechanism that operates unconsciously, whereby unwanted aspects of the self are attributed to another person and that person is induced to behave in accordance with these projected attitudes and feelings.

Question 49

Paranoid-Schizoid Position

Answer 49

A developmental phase where good and bad objects are split to manage anxiety.

Question 50

Primary vs. Secondary Narcissism

Answer 50

Primary narcissism involves self-focus in infancy, while secondary narcissism represents a regressive withdrawal of libido from objects back to the self.