Theories Explaining dreams - Psychodynamic approach Flashcards
Freud’s wish-fulfillment theory
Freud proposed that during waking hours, impulses of the id are masked by the ego
However, when sleeping the ego is somewhat switched off allowing a deeper insight into the hidden desires of your id
Freud’s idea came to be known as the wish-fulfillment theory. He argued that dreams have both latent and manifest content.
Key study - little Hans
The first reports of Hans are when he was three and had a particular interest in his penis and those of others e.g he asked his mother if she had one
Han’s father wrote the Freud when Hans was five:
Hans was afraid of a horse biting him in the street
The family lived opposite a coaching inn which made Hans nervous leaving the house
What did Hans say to Freud when asked about his fear
He explained that he was frightened the gorse would fall down and make noise with his feet
He had previously seen a horse collapse and die and the sound had frightened him, his anxiety and phobia continued, and was afraid to leave the house.
He went on to explain that he especially didn’t like the horse with black around the mouth, which Freud believed to a symbol of his father, the black bits being a mustache.
Hans told his father ‘Daddy don’t trot away from me’
What did Freud conclude from the Little Hans case
The boy was scared that his father would punish him for desiring his mother.
The horses were symbolic of his father and Hans feared the horse (father) would bite (castrate) him as punishment of his desire.
Freud came up with the ‘Oedipus complex’ what is this?
Theory proposing that children have possessive sexual; desires for their parent of the opposite sex and viewing the same-sex parent as competition. A crucial stage in the normal development process.
Dream censorship…
Freud argues that the dreamt, desires of the id could be so disturbing that the superego would do whatever it could to ‘censor’ the id
This happens by the superego translating these desires into a more acceptable symbolic form - this prevents psychological damage and means you normally wake up confused.
Dream deletion…
Finally, Freud argued that some dreams are too harmful to try and make sense of, so the superego erases dreams as soon as you wake to protect the conscious mind. - Explains why most dreams are difficult to recall
Dreamwork
Freud called the transformation of unconscious mind desire into manifest symbolism the ‘dream work’
Evaluation
Highly applicable to trauma survivors, PTSD patients
Poor research evidence
Biased sample
Pure interpretation - Jung (1964) Disagreed with Freud’s interpretations of dreams despite himself being a psychoanalyst
