sleep and dreams: psychodynamic process

Question 1

the preconscious

Answer 1

consists of anything that could potentially be brought into the conscious mind (not actively thinking about) the unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of our conscious awareness. most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable, even though we are unaware of these underlying influences

Question 2

divisions of the mind

Answer 2

freud divided the mind into the ego (conscious mind) and the id and superego (unconscious mind)

Question 3

the id

Answer 3

contains bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives. the id acts according to the ‘pleasure principle’

Question 4

the superego

Answer 4

represents the internalisation of cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence. it is thought of as the moral part of the psyche and acts according to the ‘morality principle’

Question 5

the ego

Answer 5

seeks to please the id’s pleasure drive in realistic ways that will benefit in the long term rather than bringing psychological harm, freud called this the ‘reality principle’

Question 6

freuds argument

Answer 6

during waking hours, the impulses of the id are masked by the ego but when sleeping the ego is supressed allowing a deeper glimpse into the hidden desires of your id, however desires of the id can be so disturbing that the superego translates it into a more acceptable symbolic form to prevent psychological damage, however you usually wake up confused as to why you dreamt what you dreamt

Question 7

dream deletion

Answer 7

freud argued that some dreams are too harmful to attempt to make sense of so the superego erases the dream as soon as you wake, protecting the conscious mind. this explains why the majority of dreams are difficult to recall

Question 8

freud called dreams

Answer 8

the royal road to the unconsious

Question 9

manifest and latent

Answer 9

freud argued dreams have both manifest and latent content, latent being what the dream is about and manifest being what the dream appears to be about. he believed that the manifest content usually masks or obscures the latent content e.g. manifest=storm, latent=emotional turmoil

Question 10

oedipus complex

Answer 10

freuds controversial idea that all young boys suffer from an oedipus complex from the age of 5 to about 7. the boy starts to view his mother romantically and the ideal female, basing all future relationships on her. the boy suffers unconscious anxiety from this complex, feeling guilt, and fears being punished by his father

Question 11

defence mechanisms

Answer 11

psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts and feelings. to protect us from harmful or unpleasant feelings or thoughts that can arise in dreams, the ego uses defence mechanism

Question 12

types of defence mechanism

Answer 12

repression, projection, denial, displacement, regression, sublimation, rationalisation, reaction formation

Question 13

repression

Answer 13

prevents unacceptable desires, motivations, or emotions from becoming conscious, the repressed desires do not disappear- they remain in the unconscious where they influence behaviour in ways that we are unaware of and may cause emotional difficulties

Question 14

projection

Answer 14

when peoples own unacceptable faults or wishes are attributed to someone else, for e.g. accusing someone else of being angry, when it is actually you who is feeling angry

Question 15

denial

Answer 15

people sometimes refuse to believe events or to admit that they are experiencing certain emotions that provoke anxiety, for e.g. an alcoholic may deny that they are dependant on alcohol

Question 16

displacement

Answer 16

diverting emotions onto someone else because the emotions cannot be expressed to the person concerned or because accepting faults in ourselves will cause anxiety, for e.g. a student who fails an exam may blame the teacher

Question 17

regression

Answer 17

sometimes people respond to anxiety by behaving in childish ways, such as adults who resort to stamping their feet or having a tantrum, which they found effective as a child. for e.g. a 13 year old boy who’s parents are getting divorced may start sucking his thumb/wetting the bed

Question 18

sublimation

Answer 18

diverting emotions onto something else, when we manage to displace our unacceptable emotions into behaviours which are constructive, this is a socially acceptable form of displacement, for e.g. going on a run to relieve stress

Question 19

rationalisation

Answer 19

a form of cognitive distortion of “facts” to make the event or desire less threatening (make excuses) e.g. when a person finds a situation difficult to accept, they will make up a logical reason why it has happened, for e.g. a person may explain a natural disaster as ‘god’s will’

Question 20

reaction formation

Answer 20

a person goes beyond denial and behaves in the opposite way to which he or she thinks or feels, freud claimed that men who are prejudice against homosexuals are making a defence against their own homosexual feelings by adopting a harsh anti-homosexual attitude which helps convince them of their heterosexuality

Question 21

strengths of psychodynamic process

Answer 21

there is evidence to support the process from the little hans study. it had a significant impact in terms of understanding that dreams had meaning. it was the basis for psychoanalysis which is an origin of modern talking therapies

Question 22

weaknesses of psychodynamic process

Answer 22

not all psychoanalysts agreed with freud’s theories e.g. Jung. the approach struggles to give a satisfactory explanation of nightmares in terms of wish fulfilment (why would we wish to be scared). this approach relies too much on the case study of hans and is therefore hard to generalise to other people