PSY 432: Personality Chapter 2: Psychoanalytic Approach Sigmund Freud ( )

Sigmund Freud ( ): Background Information Childhood Unusual family structure Sigmund’s mother was 20 years younger than father (his third wife, other two had died); so she was halfway between age of Sigmund and his father Sigmund was first of 8 children born to his parents (1 died in infancy) Also, two half brothers who were about the same age as Sigmund’s mom Sigmund was clearly mom’s favorite and dad was jealous of this First playmate was one of oldest half-brother’s sons Freud’s were Jewish but brought up in overwhelmingly Catholic community (Sigmund felt he was an outsider)

FREUD BEGAN HIS CAREER AS AN AUSTRIAN PHYSICIAN Click on picture for video 

Sigmund Freud ( ): Background Information 1881: At age 25, earned MD and went into private practice specializing in neurological disorders Became interested in hidden aspects of personality when he found himself confronted with patients whose apparent disorders made no neurological sense

Sigmund Freud constructed his theory of personality from a handful of case studies Bertha Pappenheim Sergei Pankenjeff “Anna O” “Wolfman”

Freud’s Life 1884: Began to experiment with cocaine Felt that this “magical substance” relieved depression Deeply scarred by this “cocaine episode” 1885: He bounces back and gets grant to study hysteria and hypnosis under Jean Charcot in Paris Major break in his career All of psychology might be different today

FREUD’S LIFE 1902: Vienna Wednesday Psychoanalytic Society Initially took place in Freud’s apartment Founded officially in 1910 and Alfred Adler became first president After a dispute with Freud, Adler resigned and Freud took over as president of the Society until 1938

AGREE OR BE UNINVITED NEXT WEEK… Freud saw himself as the leader, teacher, and prophet of this group of intellectuals

FREUD’S LIFE 1906 Begins correspondence with Carl Jung From “crown prince” to traitor Freud couldn’t deal with Jung’s belief in mythology and the collective unconscious and ghosts 1913 Breaks all ties with Jung and his followers 1918 Loses entire fortune which was tied up in Austrian State Bonds

FREUD’S LIFE 1923 The first signs of Freud’s oral cancer are detected 1920’s Honors, honors, and more honors 1930 A heart attack forces him to give up smoking (for awhile anyway) 1930’s More honors 1939 Freud dies

Freud’s Authoritarianism Freud was authoritarian and paternalistic… Unable to tolerate disagreements Disagreements were an act of treason

A DRASTIC EXAMPLE… Sandor Ferenczi was a loyal pupil of Freud who at the end of his life mentioned to Freud certain beliefs concerning therapy He felt the patient needed to feel that the therapist really cared about him Freud became increasingly impatient and warned that Ferenczi was “on dangerous ground” and was departing from the fundamentals of psychoanalysis Sandor Ferenczi ( )

Classic Freudian Setting What is the classic setting? Why this set-up? Used hypnosis and then free association Freud felt nothing was accidental – dreams, slips of tongue, slips of pen, etc. See next slide 

The Interpretation of Dreams & Slips Slips Bungled acts could not be dismissed Had real meaning; nothing was an accident Dreams Fulfillment of unsatisfied wishes; wishes that might be unacceptable Had real meaning

The Interpretation of Dreams Manifest Dream The storyline of our dreams-sometimes incorporates traces of previous days’ experiences and preoccupation Latent Dream Censored symbolic version-consists of unconscious drives and wishes that may be threatening if expressed directly Click on picture for video 

The Interpretation of Dreams Wish Fulfillment Because the information in the unconscious is in an unruly and often disturbing form, a "censor" in the preconscious will not allow it to pass unaltered into the conscious During dreams, the preconscious is more lax in this duty than in waking hours, but is still attentive: as such, the unconscious must distort and warp the meaning of its information to make it through the censorship As such, images in dreams are often not what they appear to be; need deeper interpretation

More male characters in guys’ dreams… Studies report findings that male characters are more prevalent in the dreams of males Men don’t completely overcome their conflict with their father and thus displace these feelings onto other males Conflict at the unconscious level seeps out in dreams (Hall & Domhoff, 1963; Hall, 1984)

The Importance of Sexuality Instinctual Drives Libido Biological drive of sexuality Eros Forces that maintain life processes and ensure reproduction of the species Energy force behind this is the libido Thanatos Tension we have concerning death; leads to aggressive possibly violent behavior

Freud’s Personality Topographical Model At first, Freud divided human personality into just three parts: conscious, preconscious, and the unconscious Conscious – thoughts you are aware of Preconscious – retrieval information Unconscious – no immediate access

Freud’s Personality Structural Model For Freud, personality was composed of three interacting systems: id, ego, and superego

ICEBERG THEORY OF THE MIND

Freud’s Personality Structural Model Id Operates on the “pleasure principle” Immediate gratification Ego Mostly conscious, “executive” part of personality that, mediates the demands of the id, superego, and reality. Operates on the “reality principle” Seeks to gratify id’s impulses in realistic ways that will bring long-term pleasure rather than pain and destruction Superego Operates on the “ideal principle” What is morally correct

Freud’s Personality Development: The Psychosexual Stages Freud’s analysis of his patient’s problems and memories convinced him that personality is decisively shaped in the first few year’s of life He felt that his patient’s symptoms stemmed from unresolved conflicts that originated in early childhood He concluded that children pass through a series of psychosexual stages of development – stages during which the Id’s pleasure-seeking energies are focused on pleasure-sensitive areas of the body called erogenous zones

The Psychosexual Stages Oral Anal Phallic Latency Genital

Freud’s Oral Stage About first months of life Focus: sucking, biting, etc.

Freud’s Anal Stage Approx. 18 months to three years of age Anal region is focus (Toilet-training, etc.)

Freud’s Phallic Stage Approx. 3-6 years old Children realize anatomical difference – up to this point Freud feels that children thought that the other had the same “equipment” they did… Boys: According to Freud, at this point in the phallic stage the boy has discovered masturbation and wants to direct this phallic activity towards his mother

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Boys At this point, boys enter Oedipus complex and are in a “sexual love” with mother and want to kill father and marry mother They want sole sexual possession “Castration anxiety” ends this… Fear of their father creates the superego Desires for mother goes deeply into unconscious and creates strong superego He identifies with dad and incorporates many of his values

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Boys Basically, he abandons the incestuous desires of the Id (under the threat of castration) and subdues the pleasure principle… He does however understand that his time will come

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Boys This ends the Oedipus complex for boys… Their desires for mom go deeply into the unconscious

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls The path for girls is less clear: First of all, Freud believes that all girls suffer from “penis envy”…

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls Freud feels that girls try to deal with these feelings in three possible ways: Denial – she persists in her thinking (at least for awhile) that she has a penis and this leads to psychosis later in life I’ll get one somehow – she may somehow fixate on the idea that she will someday get a penis by whatever means possible The normal route – accept the fact that she has been castrated

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls According to Freud, many girls believe they have been castrated, probably as a punishment for masturbating… Well, regardless of the route taken… Inferiority complex develops which carries into adulthood

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls Ok, so what happens next… Her father becomes a love object… At this point, Freud announces, “the girl has turned into a little woman” Mother is rival The mother becomes solely the object of jealousy and rivalry

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls So then, how does the Oedipus (Electra) complex end for girls??? Freud struggles with explanation… Basically, somehow (???) its repressed But not deeply into unconscious… Girls don’t ever develop strong superego Thus, they are not as moral as men Aren’t suitable to be leaders

Freud’s Phallic Stage: Girls Many girls stay in Oedipus complex forever… Nothing really ever ended it for them Marry guys like dad

Freud’s Latency Period (Age 6 to puberty) Now, with sexual feelings are repressed we see sexually-dormant children playing mostly with same-sex friends

Freud’s Genital Stage (Puberty) Youths begin to experience sexual feelings towards others

Ego Defense Mechanisms Freud believed we protect ourselves from anxiety by using these: Repression Denial Projection Reaction Formation Regression Rationalization Identification Displacement Sublimation

Psychoanalysis Transference A process by which the patient transfers to the analyst emotional attitudes felt as a child toward important people in their lives Freud realized that feelings expressed at him were not directed at him as a person but were repetitions of earlier feelings that the patient had

Empirical Validation of Psychoanalytic Concepts Oral and anal personality types appear to exist Difficult to operationalize most of Freud’s concepts

Empirical Validation of Psychoanalytic Concepts Neuropsychoanalytic Research Provide the biological bases for some of the basic functions of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory Combines neurological objective study of the brain with psychoanalytical introspective study of the mind

Credits Some slides of this presentation prepared with the help of the following websites: condor.depaul.edu/tps/unit_plans/bettyann.../SIGMUND_FREUD.ppt