Personality, 9e

Jerry M. Burger

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 The Psychoanalytic Approach: Freudian
Theory, Application, and Assessment

Chapter 3

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 Chapter Outline
 Freud discovers the unconscious
 Freudian theory of personality
 Application: Psychoanalysis
 Assessment: Projective tests
 Strengths and criticisms of Freud’s theory

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 Freud Discovers the
Unconscious
 Studies in Hysteria, published by Freud and
Breuer
 Case of Anna O. and use of hypnosis in treating
hysteria
 Free association: Description of hidden
memories by patients,that seemed related
to the causes and cure of hysterical
symptoms
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 Freud Discovers the
Unconscious
 Early traumatic sexual experiences were
responsible for hysterical symptoms
expressed by adult patients
 Vienna Psychoanalytic Society
 Formed by Freud and his followers

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 Topographic Model
 Personality is divided into different levels of
awareness
 Conscious: Thoughts a person is currently
aware of
 Preconscious: Retrievable information
 Unconscious: Thoughts that cannot be easily
brought into awareness
 Except under extreme situations

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 Structural Model
 Divides personality into the id, the ego, and
the superego
 Id: Personality structure at birth
 Actions are based on pleasure principle and
wish fulfillment

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 Structural Model
 Ego: Satisfies id impulses, but takes into
consideration the realities of the world
 Actions are based on reality principle
 Superego: Represents society’s values and
standards
 Provides ideals to determine if a behavior is
virtuous
 Powerful superego leads to moral anxiety

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 Figure 3.1 - Relationship of the Id, Ego, and
Superego to the Three Levels of Awareness

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 Libido and Thanatos
 Triebe - Strong internal forces that
motivates human behavior
 Referred as drives or instincts
 Categories of instincts
 Libido - Life or sexual instinct
 Thanatos - Death or aggressive instinct

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 Libido and Thanatos
 Most human behavior is attributed to the
life instinct
 Includes action aimed at receiving pleasure
 Death instinct is turned outward and
expressed as aggression against others
 Wish to die remains unconscious

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 Defense Mechanisms
 Techniques of ego to deal with unwanted
thoughts and desires and reduce or avoid
anxiety
 Repression
 Active effort by the ego to push threatening
material out of consciousness
 Requires constant expand of energy

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 Defense Mechanisms
 Sublimation
 Channelling threatening unconscious impulses
into socially acceptable actions
 Productive in nature
 Displacement
 Channelling impulses to nonthreatening objects
 Displaced impulses do not lead to social
rewards

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 Defense Mechanisms
 Denial
 Refusal to accept that certain facts exist
 Extreme form of defense
 Makes a person less realistic
 Reaction formation
 Acting in a manner opposite to threatening
unconscious desires

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 Defense Mechanisms
 Intellectualization
 Removal of emotional content from the thought
 Helps bring difficult thoughts into
consciousness without anxiety
 Projection
 Attributing unconscious impulse to other
people
 Frees a person from the perception that he/she
is the one who holds a certain thought
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 Psychosexual Stages of
Development
 Sequence of development made up of stages
characterized by primary erogenous zones
and sexual desires
 Each stage has a specific influence on the adult
personality
 Adult personalities of people are greatly
influenced by the events of early childhood

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 Psychosexual Stages of
Development
 Fixation - Stagnation of psychic energy
 Results when a child is unable to move through
a particular stage
 Oral stage
 First 18 months of life
 Primary erogenous zones - Mouth, lips, and
tongue
 Feeding problems can result in fixation and
development of an oral personality
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 Psychosexual Stages of
Development
 Anal stage
 Primary erogenous zone - Anal region
 Children are toilet trained
 Traumatic toilet training can result in fixation
and development of an anal personality
 Phallic stage
 Ages 3 to 6
 Primary erogenous zone - Penis or clitoris

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 Psychosexual Stages of
Development
 Oedipus complex - Children develop a sexual
attraction for their opposite-sex parent
 Boys develop castration anxiety and girls
develop penis envy
 Eventually the children repress their desire for
their opposite-sex parent

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 Psychosexual Stages of
Development
 Latency stage
 Sexual desires abate
 Boys and girls are uninterested in each other
 Genital stage
 Initiated at puberty
 Primary erogenous zone - Adult genital regions

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 Getting at Unconscious
Material
 Strong id impulses do not disappear when
they are pushed out of consciousness
 Expressed in a altered form
 Unconscious thoughts can be noticed by
observing innocent behaviors

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 Getting at Unconscious
Material
 Techniques to get unconscious material
 Dreams
 Provide id impulses with a stage for expression
 Trained psychoanalysts can identify common dream
symbols
 Projective tests: Assesses unconscious
material by asking test takers to respond to
ambiguous stimuli
 Identifying objects, telling a story, or drawing a
picture
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 Getting at Unconscious
Material
 Free association
 Used to temporarily bypass the censoring
mechanism employed by ego
 Exposes strange, uncensored ideas
 Freudian slips: Misstatements or slips of the
lounge
 May represent unconscious associations

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 Getting at Unconscious
Material
 Hypnosis
 Allows the hypnotist to bypass the ego and get
directly to unconscious material
 Drawback - Not everyone is responsive
 Accidents
 Intentional actions stemming from unconscious
impulses
 Resistance - Deliberate effort by the unconscious
mind to cover threatening unconscious material

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 Getting at Unconscious
Material
 Symbolic behavior
 Daily behaviors can be interpreted as symbolic
representations of unconscious desires
 Poses no threat to the ego

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 Application: Psychoanalysis
 Psychoanalysis: System of psychotherapy
that focuses on uncovering the unconscious
material responsible for a patient’s disorder
 Primary goal - Bring crucial unconscious
material into consciousness for rational
examination
 Unconscious material must be dealt in a
manner to avoid manifestation of new disorders

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 Application: Psychoanalysis
 Requires several hour-long therapy sessions
 Is expensive
 Maximum time is spent in getting at the crucial
unconscious material causing the disorder
 Requires the therapist to actively interpret the
significance of client’s statements, behaviors,
and dreams
 Development of resistance by client implies the
therapy is in progression
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 Application: Psychoanalysis
 Development of transference
 Displacing of emotions associated with people from
past situations onto the therapist
 Delicate and crucial part of the therapy process
 Countertransference is inadmissible
 Studies indicate psychoanalytic therapies are
effective in treating several psychological
disorders

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 Assessment: Projective Tests
 Rorschach inkblot test
 Predicts behavior from responses to inkblots
 Designed by Hermann Rorschach
 Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
 Test takers are asked to tell a story about a
series of ambiguous pictures
 Designed by Henry Murray

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 Assessment: Projective Tests
 Human Figure Drawing test
 Measures intelligence and important
personality constructs
 Used as an indicator of psychological problems
in children

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 Figure 3.2 - Human Figure Drawings by
Emotionally Disturbed Children

Source: From Koppitz, E. M. (1986). Psychological Evaluation of Children’s Human Figure Drawing. Reprinted by
permission of Grune & Stratton, Inc., and the author.
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 Evaluation of Projective Tests
 Criticisms of Rorschach inkblot test
 Low indices of reliability and lack of evidence
for the validity of the test
 No scientific basis for justifying the use of
Rorschach scales in psychological assessment
 Reviewers find usefulness of the test when
results from various studies are analyzed

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 Evaluation of Projective Tests
 Newer systems for coding Rorschach
responses are reliable than earlier methods
 Usage of projective tests extends beyond
psychotherapy
 Evaluation of social and emotional adjustment
 Psychologists working with law enforcement
and court officials
 Validity of projective tests remains open to
challenge
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 Strengths and Criticisms of
Freud’s Theory
 Strengths
 First comprehensive theory of human behavior
and personality
 Freud’s observations set the direction for
subsequent personality theory and research
 First system of psychotherapy
 Freud’s techniques have become standard tools for
many therapists
 Promoted important psychological concepts
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 Strengths and Criticisms of
Freud’s Theory
 Criticisms
 Writers argue that Freud’s ideas are not
original
 Freudian ideas appear in literature that predates
Freud’s work
 Hypotheses generated from the theory are not
testable
 Disagreements with the points of emphasis and
tone of Freud’s theory
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