Freud

• What is freud's theory of the mind?

  There are three parts to the mind, one of which is the conscious mind, the other the preconscious mind and the last being the unconscious mind.
• What are the two main principles behind Freud's approach?

  Behaviour was affected by the unconscious.

  Behaviour is affected by early childhood experiences - before 5.
• What is the conscious?


  what you are aware of
• What is the preconscious?


  things you are not aware of but could be
• What is the unconscious?


  you know nothing about and cannot access it
• What are the two main bits of the conscious?

  Libido (life instinct) = life enhancing, growth

  Thanatos (death instinct) = holds you back, life limiting
• What are Freudian slips?

  -> 'Slip of the tongue'

  -> Accidentally say the wrong word - Freud believes that is because your unconscious substitutes another word.

  -> Freud 1914 gave the examples: A poor patient who had difficulty swallowing large pills made a request to Freud.

  -> He intended to say 'Please don't give me big pills' but actually said 'Please don't give me big bills'.

  This could be a cognitive error but if it is an unusual word it is more likely to be a Freudian slip.
• What is free association?

  -> A person is given a word and they have to respond with the first word they think of.

  -> This would show what is on their mind - it might show some repressed thoughts.

  -> This only works if the person is relaxed and takes part easily.

  -> If there is a long pause then the person is likely thinking of an appropriate answer.
• What are rorschach inkblots?

  Projective tests.

  Ambiguous.
• What did Freud think of dreams?

  Main way of accessing the unconscious was through the use of dreams and careful analysis of them.
• What is manifest content?

  what you dream
• What is latent content?

  related to your unconscious
• What is the theory of personality?

  interaction between id, ego, and superego
• What is the ID?

  -> present at birth

  -> in the unconscious

  -> what you want

  -> immediate gratification

  -> pleasure principle
• What is the pleasure principle?

  the instinctive drive to seek pleasure and avoid pain, expressed by the id as a basic motivating force that reduces psychic tension.
• What is the ego?

  -> balance between id and superego

  -> look at whats possible

  -> relaity principle
• What is the reality principle?

  when you are older/mature, have to sacrifice short term reward in favor of long term gratification
• What is catharsis?


  the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions
• What are defence mechanisms?

  unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage the conflict between the id and the superego
• What are some examples of defense mechanisms?

  -> displacement = projecting anger onto a safe target

  -> repression = forgetting an unpleasant memory or the strong emotions associated

  -> regression = using the comforting behaviours of an earlier age

  -> projection = shifting and undesirable emotion/motive onto someone else
• What is the superego?

  -> conscience

  -> ego ideal

  -> morality principle
• What is the ego ideal?

  part of the superego that contains the standards for moral behavior
• What is the morality principle?

  right and wrong behavior
• Kanaan et al. 2007

  -> 37 year old suffering numbness but showed no signs of a stroke

  -> assessed on severity of life scores and found daughter suicide attempt and partner wanting to leave her

  -> repressing the trauma of the event

  -> underwent brain scans whilst being asked about the event

  -> showed distinctive brain activity in areas such as the amygdala (memory) when talking about the trauma

  -> simultaneous reduction of activity in the left motor cortex, which controls right side of the body movement

  -> activity showed distinct neurological response to trauma

  -> repression if the emotion associated with the event linked to loss of the right side of movement
• What is Freud's theory of psychosexual development?

  - oral stage

  - anal stage

  - phallic stage
• What is the oral stage (0-1)?

  - focus is their mouth

  - fut things in their mouth = feed

  - oral retentive = biting nails etc. have a biting personality - may not have been fed on demand.

  - oral expulsive = talkative - always had enough.

  - can get stuck/fixated in the oral stage.
• What is the anal stage (2-3)?

  - too much pressure or not enough to potty train

  - anal retentive = high strung, organised

  - anal expulsive = untidy, free and easy
• What is the phallic stage (3-5)?

  -> Oedipus complex = children have stronger relationships with their mother, unconsciously would be jealous of the father as they think the dad comes between the child and the mother.

  
  

  -> 'Castration anxiety' = if his father knew that he wanted to keep his mother to himself, dad might be really angry, dad is bigger and stronger so could potentially hurt the child.

  
  

  -> goes through the phase and sees dad as a role model.
• What is the background of Freud's case study 1909?

  Little Hans, a five year old boy was taken to Freud suffering from a phobia of horses.

  Freud may or may not have met Hans, most of his information came via weekly report from Hans' father.
• What was the case history?

  -> from the age of 3, Hans had developed an interest in his own penis

  -> developed a morbid fear that a horse would bite him

  -> hans' father reported that his fear seemed to be related to the horse's large penis

  -> hans' phobia started to develop after his father began to object to Hans' habit of getting into his parent's bed in the morning

  -> his fear became limited to horses with black harnesses over their nose which his father thought related to his own black moustache
• What is the interpretation?

  - freud saw Hans' phobia as an expression of the Oedipus complex

  - the horses symbolise his father and the phobia developed after not being allowed in their bed anymore

  - freud saw it resolved when Hans started fantasising about having a larger penis and being married to his mother
• Strengths of Freud's Theory?

  1.) Psychodynamic approach takes both nature and nurture into account.

  
  

  2.)
• Weaknesses of Freud's Theory?

  1.) Difficult to validify and easy to falsify.

  
  

  2.) Based on interpretation and is not scientific.

  
  

  3.) Extremely subjective - cannot be proven.

  
  

  4.) People may give answers that they believe are socially acceptable or what they believe the psychologist wants to hear.

  
  

  5.) No empirical evidence for the unconscious mind.

  Freud's theory is unfalsifiable as it cannot be proved or disproved.