Module 4: PSYCHOLOGICAL PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

SIGMUND FREUD - Austrian neurologist
and the founder of psychoanalysis.

PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE LEVELS OF MENTAL LIFE

• Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic Freud saw mental functioning as operating on

three levels—
theory
• Alfred Adler’s individual psychology • Unconscious,
3 CORE ASSUMPTIONS OF THE • Preconscious, and
PSYCHODYNAMIC PERPECTIVE • Conscious
Assumption 1: Primacy of the Unconscious
Assumption 2: Critical Importance of Early A. UNCONSCIOUS
Experiences
• The unconscious includes drives and
Assumption 3: Psychic Causality instincts that are beyond awareness but that
motivate most human behaviors.

Assumption 1: PRIMACY OF THE • DRIVE- mental representation of an inner

UNCONSCIOUS bodily source of excitement

- Contend that the majority of psychological
processes take place outside conscious
awareness
- The activities of the mind (or psyche) are
presumed to be largely unconscious
These drives can only become conscious in
disguised or distorted forms such as:
⚬ Dream Images
⚬ Slips of the Tongue (Freudian Slip)

- Research confirms this basic premise of ⚬ Neurotic Symptoms

psychodynamic: Many of our mental
activities— memories, motives, feelings, and
the like—are largely inaccessible to B. PRECONSCIOUS
consciousness (Bargh & Morsella, 2008;
• The preconscious contains images that are
Bornstein, 2010; Wilson, 2009)
not in awareness but that can become
Assumption 2: CRITICAL conscious either quite easily or with some
IMPORTANCE OF EARLY level of difficulty.
EXPERIENCES
- Posits that early childhood events play a role
C. CONSCIOUS
in shaping personality
• Consciousness plays a relatively minor role
- early experiences—including those
in Freudian theory.
occurring during the first weeks or months of
life—set in motion personality processes that • Conscious ideas stem from either the
affect us years, even decades, later (Blatt & perception of external stimuli (our perceptual
Levy, 2003; McWilliams, 2009) conscious system) or from the unconscious
and preconscious after they have evaded
Assumption 3: PSYCHIC CAUSALITY
censorship.
- Psychodynamic theory points that nothing
in mental life happens by chance—that there
is no such thing as a random thought, feeling,
motive, or behavior
- Most theorists and researchers agree that
thoughts, motives, emotional responses, and
expressed behaviors do not arise randomly,
but always stem from some combination of
identifiable biological and psychological
processes
STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF
DEVELOPMENT
Freud describes the personality in terms of
three constructs: • Each stage represents the fixation on
• Id, different areas of the body.

• Ego, and • As a person grows physically certain areas

of their body become sources of potential
• Superego frustration, pleasure or both.
- Freud emphasizes that the id, ego, and (EROGENOUS ZONES)
superego are not separate compartments
Stages of Psychosexual Development
within the mind.
ORAL BIRTH
- They blend together, like sections of a
telescope or colors in a painting. • BIRTH TO 1 Y/O
• Erogenous zone: mouth
ID ("it") • Satisfaction comes from putting all sorts of
• Raw, unorganized, inborn part of things in the mouth
personality
• Activities are sucking, biting, swallowin
• Satisfaction is the ultimate goal
FIXATIONS IN THE ORAL STAGE
• Primitive desires of hunger, sex, and
aggression ORAL AGGRESSIVE • shouting, nagger,
sarcastic, argumentative
• Works with Pleasure Principle
ORAL RECEPTIVE • overeating, gullible,
• Its only resource is to form mental images smoking
of what it wants, a process called wish
fulfillment.
ANAL STAGE
EGO (“me”) - 2 y/o • 1 Y/O to 3 Y/O
• Due to constant battle between an id • Erogenous zone: anus
demanding instant gratification and a
superego demanding constant restraint • Derives great pleasure in bowel or bladder
control
• Rational and reasonable
FIXATIONS IN THE ANAL STAGE
• Reality Principle
ANAL-RETENTIVE • Obsessive in
• Instinctual energy (ID) is restrained in
order to maintain the safety of the individual cleanliness, stingy
and keep him/her within societies norms ANAL REPULSIVE • Messy, lack of
commitment

SUPEREGO (“over-me”)
• Right and wrong PHALLIC STAGE
• Develops at age 5 or 6 • 3 Y/O to 6 Y/O
• Learned from others • Erogenous zone: Genitals
• Child becomes aware of anatomical sex
• Moral Ideals and Conscience differences
• Conflict comes from erotic attraction,
⚬ Guides us toward socially
resentment, rivalry, jealousy and fear
acceptable behavior through the use
of guilt and anxiety. • Boys experience Oedipus complex, while
girls experience the Electra complex
The cost of advanced civilization is the sense
of guilt. – Sigmund Freud, Civilization and
its discontents.
LATENCY STAGE • Product of the interaction of the
environment, heredity and creative power of
• 6 Y/O to Puberty
a person.
• Latent means “hidden”
1. Ruling Type
• Focused on school works, hobbies and • Aggressive, dominating
friendships • People who don't have much social
interest or cultural perception.

GENITAL STAGE 2. GETTING TYPE - Dependent

• Puberty to Adulthood
• Restricted by social rules
For Freud:
• Past experiences are the main
determinants of our present behavior.
• People have no choice in shaping
their personality.
• The unconscious is the main source of
motivation of most human behaviors.
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
ALFRED ADLER
• Austrian medical doctor,
psychotherapist, and
• founder of the school of individual
psychology.
• Middle child
• Hates being associated with Sigmund
Freud
• Competitive with his older sibling,
Sigmund (not Freud)
Striving for Success
• Psychologically healthy people who are
motivated by social interest and the success
of all humankind
• Capable of helping others without
demanding or expecting a personal payoff,
and are able to see others not as opponents
but as people with whom they can cooperate
for social benefit.
• SOCIAL INTEREST- “social feeling” or
“community feeling,”; it means a feeling of
oneness with all humanity
Style of Life
• The term Adler used to refer to the flavor of
a person’s life. It includes a person’s goal,
self-concept, feelings for others, and attitude
toward the world
people who take rather than give
PAMPERED STYLE OF LIFE (weak
social interest)
• They expect others to look after them,
overprotect them, and satisfy their needs.
They are characterized by extreme
discouragement, indecisiveness,
oversensitivity, impatience, and
exaggerated emotion, especially anxiety.
3. AVOIDING TYPE - people who try
to escape life's problems and take
little part in socially constructive
activity.
NEGLECTED STYLE OF LIFE
• Children who feel unloved and
unwanted are likely to borrow heavily
from these feelings in creating a
neglected style of life.
• No one feels totally neglected or
completely unwanted.
4. SOCIALLY-USEFUL TYPE -
people with a great deal of social
interest and activity
FAMILY CONSTELLATION
• Consisted of parents,
children, and any extended
family members
• Birth order in this
constellation influences a
person's lifestyle choices.
• A child defines self in relation
to other children and how the
self is different from or the
same as others in the family.
• BIRTH ORDER- position
among siblings in the family.
“FOLLOW YOUR HEART BUT TAKE
YOUR BRAIN WITH YOU.” – Alfred
Adler
THEORY OF PSYCHOSOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
ERIK ERIKSON
• Theory is focused on social and
psychological development in the
different life stages
• - how we interact with others is what
affects our sense of self
• Single Parent Family EGO
IDENTITY
• Danish Descent
• Born in Germany
• Jewish Family
Epigenetic Principle
• Personality develops in a 3. Initiative vs. Guilt (3 to 5 y/o)
predetermined order through eight
stages of psychosocial development,
from infancy to adulthood.
• During each stage, the person
experiences a psychosocial crisis
which could have a positive or
negative outcome for personality
development.
• To become fully functional, confident
members of society, we must
successfully complete each stage and
resolve two conflicting states
• When successful, we acquire basic
human virtues and a healthy
personality; we become well adjusted
and better prepared for challenges
later in life.
• Failure, on the other hand, leads to
difficulty navigating our future and a
profound impact on our sense of self, our
personality. We are left feeling
inadequate.
Stages of Psychosocial Development
1. Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth to 1 y/o)
• The infant develops a sense of trust
when interactions provide reliability,
care, and affection.
• A lack of this will lead to mistrust,
suspicion & anxiety.
• Success in this stage will lead to the
virtue of HOPE.
• Failing to acquire the virtue of hope
will lead to the development of fear
and WITHDRAWAL.
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
(18 mos. to 2-3 y/o)
• Children in this stage need to
be allowed to explore and
manipulate their environment
in order to develop a sense of
independence.
• If the parents or caretakers
come down to hard on the
child for trying to explore
their environment, they will
instill in the child a sense of
shame and to doubt their
abilities.
• The aim has to be “self control
without a loss of self-esteem”
• Success in this stage will lead
to the virtue of WILL, failure
in this stage will lead to
COMPULSION.
• The child begins to assert
control and power over their
environment by planning
activities, accomplishing
tasks and facing challenges.
• If initiative is dismissed or
discouraged, either through
criticism or control, children
develop a sense of guilt.
• A healthy balance between
initiative and guilt is
important.
• Success in this stage will lead
to the virtue of purpose,
• while failure results in a sense
of guilt.
4. Industry vs. Inferiority (5 y/o to 12
y/o)
• Child’s peer group will gain
greater significance and will
become a major source of the
child’s selfesteem.
• The child is coping with new
learning and social demands.
• Too much industry and a child
will develop what Erikson
called “narrow virtuosity,”
• Success in this stage will lead
to the virtue of competence.
5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (12 to
18 y/o)
• According to Erikson, this is
important to the process of
forming a strong identity and
developing a sense of
direction in life.
• What should happen at the
end of this stage is “a
reintegrated sense of self, of
what one wants to do or be,
 and of one’s appropriate sex and later as “a sense of
role”. coherence and wholeness”
• Those who are able to • Success at this stages leads to
successfully forge a healthy feelings of wisdom, while
identity develop a sense of failure results in regret,
fidelity. bitterness, and despair
• Those who do not complete (hopelessness &
this stage well may be left unhappiness). (Disdain)
feeling confused about their
“THE MORE YOU KNOW YOURSELF,
role and place in life.
THE MORE PATIENCE YOU HAVE FOR
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (19 y/o to 40
WHAT YOU SEE TO OTHERS”
y/o)
• During this period, the major – Erik Erikson
conflict centers on forming
intimate, loving relationships
with other people.
• Success leads to strong
relationships, while failure
results in loneliness and
isolation.
• Success in this stage will lead
to the virtue of love.
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation
(approx. 40 y/o to 65 y/o)
• Generativity refers to
"making your mark" on the
world through creating or
nurturing things that will
outlast an individual.
• People experience a need to
create or nurture things that
will outlast them, creating
positive changes that will
benefit other people
• Success leads to feelings of
usefulness and
accomplishment, while
failure results in shallow
involvement in the world.
• Success in this stage will lead
to the virtue of care.
• By failing to find a way to
contribute, we become
stagnant and feel
unproductive (Rejectivity)
8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair (beyond
65 y/o)
• Reflecting on one's life and
either moving into feeling
satisfied and happy with one's
life or feeling a deep sense of
regret.
• Erikson described ego
integrity as “the acceptance of
one’s one and only life cycle
as something that had to be”