1. Neo-Freudian Perspective (also called the Psychodynamic Perspective)

2. What is the Neo-Freudian Perspective aka psychodynamic perspective
Neo-Freudian – Maintain many basic ideas of Freud but developed their own theories (Often called psychodynamic theories)
Many neo-Freudians accept
Id, Ego, Superego
Defense Mechanisms
Importance of the unconscious
Much of childhood shapes personality

3. What is the Neo-Freudian Perspective? (psychodynamic)
Many neo-Freudians deny
That sex and aggression are the sole motivators. – more emphasis on social and cultural motivators
That the unconscious is all-important – rather they believe that more focus should be placed on the conscious mind

4. Neo-Freudian – Alfred Adler
Development of personality comes from childhood social (rather than sexual) tensions.
Birth order theory and sibling rivalry
Children seek to overcome infantile feelings of helplessness and to gain control over the environment (Striving for Superiority) – reaching fulfillment
Proposed the idea of an inferiority complex. Idea that some people are motivated by fears of failure. Successful people

5. Neo-Freudian – Karen Horney
Karen Horney (pronounce HORN-eye)
Believed that it is men who envy women (Not as Freud believed – remember penis envy?)
Horney called this womb envy
Men cannot have children and only take a small role in raising them
She believed that women sometimes feel inferior because of personal and political restrictions
Attempted to reveal the male-dominant bias of psychology

6. Neo-Freudian – Carl Jung
Carl Jung (pronounce yoong) – 1916
Believed that the unconscious is powerful and has a great influence on our personality
Jung believed that we have a personal unconscious (Freud’s theory) and a collective unconscious – a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history
This explains the similarities that exist from one culture to the next

7. Carl Jung – collective unconscious
Jung believed the collective unconscious contains archetypes – universal concepts we all share
Ex. The Shadow – evil side of personality
Ex. The Child – new beginnings
Evidence to support this is how all cultures relate to stories with similar themes such as the hero or story of David and Goliath.
Most theorists discount the idea of inherited experiences but believe that our evolutionary history has shaped some of our universal disposition – there is not empirical evidence of the collective unconscious
Jung believed that our collective unconscious memories affect our innate behaviors
Ex. Collective memories affect how we perceive a mother as nurturing

8. Criticisms of Freud Little empirical (observable) evidence
Little predictive power – theory does not allow us to predict problems one will experience
Overestimates the importance of childhood and sex
Development is lifelong (not fixed from childhood)
Repression is not as prevalent as Freud believed