Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory PDF

Overview of Psychoanalytic Theory - 2 corner stones: sex and aggression - Understanding of personality based on his own experiences with patients, his analysis of his own dreams, his vast readings in the various sciences & humanities - Relied on deductive reasoning than rigorous research m...

Overview of Psychoanalytic Theory - 2 corner stones: sex and aggression - Understanding of personality based on his own experiences with patients, his analysis of his own dreams, his vast readings in the various sciences & humanities - Relied on deductive reasoning than rigorous research methods, made observations subjectively & on a relatively small sample patients - Did not quantify his data nor make observations under controlled conditions Biography of Sigmund Freud - Did not have close friendship with any of his younger siblings - Enjoyed a warm, indulgent relationship with his mother - Relationship with Julius (younger brother) - Sigmund filled with hostility towards him, harbored unconscious wish for his death, when Julius died, Sigmund felt guilty → during middle age, began to understand that his wish didn’t actually cause his brother’s death & children often have a death wish for a younger sibling → carried guilt into adulthood and by his own analysis, contributed to his later psychic development - Jean-Martin Charcot (French neurologist) from whom Freud learned hypnotic technique for treating hysteria (disorder characterized by paralysis or improper functioning of certain parts of the body, Freud was convinced of a psychogenic & sexual origin of hysterical symptoms - Josef Breuer (Viennese physician) taught Freud about catharsis (process of removing hysterical symptoms through “talking them out”) → discovered free association technique - 1st personal crisis: late 1890s suffered professional isolation & personal crisis - Began to analyze his own dreams after his father’s death, initiated practice of analyzing himself daily - Freud regarded himself as his own best patient - 2nd personal crisis: realized he’s now middle-aged & yet to achieve the fame he so passionately desired - Abandonment of seduction theory, because: 1. Not enabled him to successfully treat even a single patient 2. Great number of fathers would be accused of sexual perversion 3. Unconscious mind could probably not distinguish reality from fiction 4. Unconscious memories of advanced psychotic patients almost never revealed early childhood sexual experiences - Most significant revisions in history 1. Elevation of aggression to a level equal to that of the sexual drive 2. Inclusion of repression as one of the defenses of the ego 3. Attempt to clarify the female Oedipus complex (never completely accomplished) Levels of Mental Life Unconscious: all drives, urges, instincts that are beyond awareness but still motivate most of our words, feelings & actions - Conscious of overt behavior but unaware of the mental processes that lie behind them - Could only be proved indirectly - Explanation for meaning behind dreams, slips of the tongue & certain kinds of forgetting (repression) - Dreams: rich source of unconscious material - Unconscious enter consciousness only after being disguised or distorted enough to elude censorship 1. Must first be sufficiently disguised to slip past the primary censor 2. Must elude a final censor that watches the passageway between the preconscious & conscious - When memories enter conscious mind, no longer recognize them for what they are, but see them as relatively pleasant, non threatening experiences - Punishment & suppression: create feelings of anxiety → Anxiety turns to repression: forcing unwanted, anxiety-ridden experiences into unconscious as a defense against the pain of that anxiety - Phylogenetic endowment: inherited unconscious image, portion of unconscious originates from the experiences of our early ancestors that have been passed on to us through hundreds of generations of repetition - Jung: emphasized on collective unconscious - Frued: relied on notion of inherited dispositions only as a last resort, when explanations built on individual experiences weren’t adequate - Unconscious drives may appear in consciousness only after undergoing certain transformations  - Unconscious constantly drive to become conscious, many succeed but no longer appear in their original form - Unconscious ideas can & do motivate people Preconscious - Not conscious, but can become conscious either quite readily or with some difficulty - Contents come from 2 sources 1. Conscious perception: person perceives is conscious for only a transitory period - Largely free from anxiety & in reality are much more similar to the conscious images than to the unconscious urges 2. Unconscious: ideas can slip past the vigilant censor & enter preconscious in a disguised form - Some can never become conscious because if we recognized them as derivatives of the unconscious, we’d experience increased levels of anxiety → activate final censor to repress anxiety-loaded images → force them back to the unconscious - Other images do gain admission to consciousness, but only because their true nature is cleverly disguised through the dream process, slip of the tongue, or an elaborate defensive measure Conscious - mental elements in awareness at any given point i time - Only level of mental life directly available to us - Can come from 2 different directions 1. Perceptual conscious system: turned toward the outer world, acts a medium for perception of external stimuli - What we perceive through our sense organs, if not too threatening could enter consciousness 2. WIthin the mental structure, includes nonthreatening ideas from the preconscious - Escape preconscious by cloaking themselves as harmless elements & evade primary censor → reach consciousness but very distorted & camouflaged, taking form of defensive behaviors or dream elements - Unconscious as a large entrance hall 1. People at the entrance hall = unconscious images 2. Small reception room = preconscious 3. Inhabitants of small reception room = preconscious ideas 4. Eye of the consciousness: important guests, and people in the reception room might come into view 5. Doorkeeper = primary censor that prevents unconscious images from becoming preconscious, renders preconscious images unconscious by throwing them back 6. Screen that guards the important doors = final censor Provinces of the Mind - Model of the mind was topographic - Only portrayal of psychic strife was the conflict between conscious & unconscious forces - Id, Ego, Superego interact altogether - Ego cuts across the various topographic levels & has conscious, preconscious & unconscious components - Superego both preconscious & unconscious - Id completely unconscious Id: core of personality, completely unconscious - “The it” or not-yet-owned component of personality - No contact with reality, strives to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires - Sole function: seek pleasure - pleasure principle - Baby continues to suck because id is not in contact with reality - Childhood wish impulses remain unchanged in the id for decades - Illogical & can simultaneously entertain incompatible ideas - No morality; not immoral just amoral - Energy is spent on 1 purpose: seek pleasure without regard for what is proper or just - Primitive, chaotic, inaccessible to consciousness, unchangeable, amoral, illogical, unorganized, and filled with energy received from basic drives & discharged for the satisfaction of the pleasure principle - Primary process: blindly seeks to satisfy the pleasure principle, survival is dependent on the development of the secondary process ot bring it into contact with the external world  - Secondary process functions through the ego Ego: only region in contact with reality, person’s sole source of communication with the external world - Governed by reality principle: tries to substitute for the pleasure principle of the id - Becomes the decision-making or executive branch of personality - Partly conscious, preconscious and unconscious → can make decisions on each of those 3 levels - During cognitive & intellectual functions, ego must take into consideration the incompatible but equally unrealistic demands of the id & superego - Ego must serve a 3rd master: the external world - Ego constantly tries to reconcile the blind, irrational claims of the id + realistic demands of the external world of the superego - Therefore it becomes anxious → uses defense mechanisms - Ego differentiates from Id when infants learn to distinguish themselves from the outer world - Id remains unchanged, ego continues to develop strategies for handling id’s unrealistic and unrelenting demands for pleasure - Ego can control the powerful, pleasure-seeking id but sometimes loses control - Person on horseback: rider inhibits the greater strength of the horse, but ultimately at the mercy of the animal - Ego has no strength of its own but borrows energy from the id, sometimes ego comes close to gaining complete control, during the prime of life of a psychologically mature person Superego: above-I, represents moral & ideal aspects of personality - Guided by the moral & idealistic principles - Grows out of the ego, no energy of its own - Difference from ego: no contact with outside world, unrealistic in its demands for perfection - 2 subsystems 1. Conscience: result from experiences with punishments for improper behavior, tells us what we should not do 2. Ego-ideal: develops from experiences with rewards for proper behavior, tells us what we should do - During Oedipal phase of development, ideals are internalized through identification with the mother & father - Well-developed superego: control sexual & aggressive impulses through the process of repression → cannot produce repression by itself, but can order the ego to do so - Guilt: result when ego acts contrary to the moral standards of the superego, function of the conscience - Feelings of inferiority: arise when ego unable to meet the superego’s standards of perfection, stems from ego-ideal - Not concerned with happiness of the ego, strives blindly & unrealistically toward perfection, doesn’t take into consideration the difficulties faced by the ego - Completely ignorant and unconcerned with practicability of its requirements - Healthy individual: id + superego integrated into a smooth functioning ego, operate in harmony, minimum conflict 1. Pleasure seeking person dominated by id: person constantly striving for pleasure regardless of what is proper or possible 2. Guilt-ridden or inferior-feeling person dominated by superego: experience many conflicts because ego cannot arbitrate the strong but opposing demands of the superego & id 3. Psychologically healthy person dominated by the ego: control both pleasure principle & moralistic principle Dynamics of Personality - People are motivated to seek pleasure & reduce tension & anxiety - Motivation is derived from psychical & physical energy that springs from their basic drives Drives - Trieb (German): drive or stimulus within a person - Constant motivational force - Differ from external stimuli: cannot be avoided through flight - 2 major headings: Sex/Eros, Aggression/distraction/Thanatos - All originate in the id, but come under control by the ego - Libido: sex drive - Characterized by an impetus, source, aim, object  - Impetus: amount of force it exerts - Source: region of the body in a state of excitation/tension - Aim: seek pleasure by removing that excitation/reducing the tension - Object: person/thing that serves as the means through which the aim is satisfied ○ Sex: aim pleasure - Entire body is invested with libido - Erogenous zones: genitals, mouth, anus - all produce sexual pleasure - Ultimate aim of sexual drive (reduction of sexual tension) cannot be changed but path by which the aim is reached can be varied - Either active or passive, temporary or permanently inhibited - Eros is difficult to be recognized as a sexual behavior - 2 ways Eros is manifested 1. Flexibility of sexual object/person, brings further disguise of Eros - Libido can be withdrawn from one person & placed in a state of free-floating tension, or can be reinvested in another person - Primary narcissism: Infant’s libido invested almost exclusively on their own ego - Narcissistic libido transformed into object libido - Secondary narcissism: adolescents redirect libido back to the ego, become preoccupied with personal appearance & other self-interests 2. Love: develops when people invest their libido on an object/person other than themselves - Overt sexual love for members of the family ordinarily repressed → brings the 2nd type of love into existence - 2nd kind of love: aim-inhibited, as original aim of reducing sexual tension is inhibited/repressed - Narcissism: love of self, love: accompanied by narcissistic tendencies - Sadism: need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain/humiliation on another person, more dependent on other people - Masochism: pleasure from suffering pain & humiliation inflicted either by themselves/others, don’t need to depend on another person ○ Aggression: aim is to return the organism to an inorganic state - Final aim of the aggressive drive is self-destruction - Ultimate inorganic condition is death - Explains need for barriers that people have erected to check aggression - Reaction formations: involve the repression of strong hostile impulses & overt obvious expression of the opposite tendency - Life & death must bow to the reality principle, which represents the claims of the outer world - Demands of the real world create anxiety, which relegates many sexual & aggressive desires to be the realm of the unconscious Anxiety: felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by physical sensation that warns the person against impending danger, unpleasantness often vague but anxiety is always felt - Only ego can produce or feel anxiety 1. Ego’s dependence on id → neurotic anxiety - Apprehension about an unknown danger - Feeling exists in the ego, originates from id impulses - Childhood: hostility accompanied by fear of punishment, fear becomes generalized into unconscious neurotic anxiety 2. Ego’s dependence on superego → moral anxiety - Conflict between ego & superego - Example: result from sexual temptations, can result from the failure to behave consistently 3. Ego’s dependence on outer world → realistic anxiety - Closely related to fear - Unpleasant, nonspecific feeling involving a possible danger - Does not involve a specific fearful object - Often exist in combination, indicating an unknown danger is connected with the external one - Serves as an ego-preserving mechanism: signals us that some danger is at hand  - Anxiety dream signals the censor of an impending danger, allows us to better disguise the dream images, be constantly vigilant ego to be alert for the signs of threat & danger - Signal of impending danger stimulates us to mobilize for either fight or flight defense - Also self-regulating: precipitates repression → reduces pain of anxiety - Defensive behaviors: useful function by protecting ego against pain of anxiety Defense Mechanisms - When carried to an extreme, can lead to compulsive, repetitive & neurotic behavior - The more defensive we are, the less psychic energy we have left to satisfy id impulses - All defense mechanisms protect ego against anxiety - Each can be carried to the point of psychopathology Repression: forces threatening feelings into the unconscious - When children’s hostile/sexual behaviors are suppressed, they learn to be anxious whenever they experience these impulses, often resulting to partial repression - Impulses after they become unconscious 1. Unchanged in the unconscious 2. Force their way into consciousness in an unaltered form → create more anxiety, so the person feels overwhelmed with anxiety 3. Expressed in displaced or disguised forms - Must be clever disguise, sometimes as physical symptoms - Repressed drives may find an outlet in dreams, slips of the tongue, or one of the other defense mechanisms Reaction Formation: adopting a disguise that is directly opposite its original form - Exaggerated character & by its obsessive & compulsive form - Concentrate on the opposite impulse, helps conceal the anxiety-arousing truth Displacement: redirect their unacceptable urges onto a variety of people/objects that the original impulse is disguised or concealed - Does not exaggerate or overdo - Replacement of one neurotic symptom for another - Involved in dream formation Fixation: permanent attachment of the libido onto an earlier, more primitive stage of development - Remains at the present - Demand more or less permanent expenditure of psychic energy Regression: revert to earlier, safer, more secure patterns of behavior, invest their libido onto more primitive & familiar objects - During times of stress & anxiety, revert back to that earlier stage - Rigid and infantile, but usually temporary Projection: seeing in others unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in one’s own unconscious - Attribute the unwanted impulse on an external object, usually another person - Paranoia: extreme projection, powerful delusions of jealousy/persecution, severe variety - Always characterized by repressed homosexual feelings toward the persecutor - Homosexual impulses become too powerful, defend themselves by reversing the feelings → project them onto their original object - Paranoia: projection with accompanying delusions of jealousy & persecution Introjection: incorporate positive qualities of another person into their own ego - Adolescent adopt mannerisms, values or lifestyle of a movie star → gives an inflated sense of self-worth & keeps feelings of inferiority to a minimum - Oedipus complex as a prototype of introjection - Young person introjects the authority & values of one or both parents Sublimation: repression of the genital aim of Eros by substituting a cultural or social aim - Helps both individual & social group - Expressed most obviously in creative cultural accomplishments - Combine with direct expression of Eros, result in balance between social accomplishments & personal pleasures Stages of Development Infantile Period - First 4-5 yrs of life - Most crucial for personality formation - Important assumption: infants possess a sexual life, go through a period of pregenitial sexual development during the first 4-5 years after birth - Childhood sexuality: not capable of reproduction, exclusively autoerotic - Children & adults: sexual impulses can be satisfied through organs other than the genitals - mouth & anus - Primary erogenous zones are undergoing the most salient development ○ Oral Phase: obtain life-sustaining nourishment through oral cavity, also gain pleasure through sucking Early oral activity: incorporate/receive into one’s body the object-choice (nipple) Oral-receptive phase: no ambivalence toward the pleasurable object, needs are usually satisfied with a minimum frustration/anxiety As they grow older, more likely to experience feelings of frustration & anxiety as a result of scheduled feelings Anxieties accompanied by feelings of ambivalence toward their love object (mother) + increased ability of their budding ego to defend itself against environment & against anxiety Defense against environment is aided by emergence of teeth Oral-sadistic period: respond to others by biting, cooing, closing their mouth, smiling and crying Thumb-sucking: first autoerotic experience, defense against anxiety that satisfies their sexual but not their nutritional needs ○ Anal Phase: satisfaction gained through aggressive behavior & excretory function Also called sadistic-anal phase 1. Early anal period: satisfaction by destroying or losing objects - Destructive nature of sadistic drive is stronger than the erotic one - Children behave aggressively to parents for frustrating them with toilet training 2. Late anal period: friendly interest toward feces, stems from erotic pleasure of defecating - Children present their feces to parents as a valued prize - If rejected: withhold feces until pressure becomes painful & erotically stimulating - If accepted: children likely to grow into generous & magnanimous adults Anal character: mode of narcissistic & masochistic pleasure - Continue to receive erotic satisfaction by keeping & possessing objects & by arranging them in an excessively neat & orderly fashion - Children overly resistant to toilet training, holding back their feces & prolong time of training beyond that is required Anal eroticism becomes Anal triad of orderliness, stinginess & obstinacy Either gender can develop active/passive orientation ○ Active attitude: masculine qualities of dominance & sadism ○ Passive orientation: feminine qualities of voyeurism & masochism ○ Phallic Phase: genital area becomes the leading erogenous zone Marked by dichotomy between make & female development Masturbation enters 2nd more crucial phase: nearly universal Male Oedipus Complex: condition of rivalry toward father & incestous feelings toward mother before phallic stage, the boy identifies with father, then later develops sexual desire for mother, but both don’t appear mutually contradictory, able to exist side by side for a time Boy recognizes inconsistency, gives up identification with father & retain desire to have his mother Before Oedipus stage, boy develops some amount of feminine disposition, may lead to display affection toward his father & express hostility toward his mother, at the same time disposes him toward hostility for father & lust for mother During Oedipal period, feminine nature → display affection towards father, express hostility towards mother + masculine tendency disposes him toward hostility to father & lust to mother = complete Oedipus complex: affection & hostility coexist because one or both feelings may be unconscious Castration complex in the form of castration anxiety: fear of losing the penis Castration complex begins when the boy becomes aware of the absence of a penis in girls Forced to conclude the girl cut off her penis, may be reinforced by parental threats to punish the boy for his sexual behaviors  Castration anxiety bursts forth when boy’s ego is mature enough to comprehend the connection between sexual desires & removal of penis Oedipus complex is dissolved/repressed, begins to develop primitive superego Female Oedipus Complex: more complicated, due to anatomical differences between sexes Penis envy: powerful force in the formation of girls personality, may last for years in one form or another, expressed as a wish to be a boy or desire to have a man Simple female Oedipus complex: desire for sexual intercourse with the father & accompanying feelings of hostility for the mother Suggests direct parallel between male & female development during phallic stage → but Freud said no parallel exists Resolved when a girl gives up masturbatory activity Girl’s superego is usually weaker, more flexible, and less severe than the boy’s Incompletely resolved by the gradual realization → libido remains partially expended to maintain the castration complex Female & Male phallic stage different routes 1. Castration complex for girls takes the form of penis envy 2. Penis envy precede female Oedipus complex → little girls don’t experience traumatic event comparable to boys’ castration anxiety 3. Castration anxiety follows male Oedipus complex 4. Female Oedipus complex slowly & less completely dissolved than male Oedipus complex Male Phallic Phase Female Phallic Phase 1. Oedipus complex: sexual desire for mother + hostility for the 1. Castration complex in the form of penis envy father 2. Oedipus complex develops as an attempt to obtain a penis: 2. Castration complex in the form of castration anxiety shatters sexual desire for father + hostility for mother Oedipus complex 3. Gradual realization that the Oedipal desires are self-defeating 3. Identification with father 4. Identification with mother 4. Strong superego replaces the nearly completely dissolved 5. Weak superego replaces the partially dissolved Oedipus complex Oedipus complex Latency Period - 6-7 years of life - No sexual growth takes place, period of dormant psychosexual development - Brought about by parent’s attempts to punish or discourage sexual activity in their young children - If suppression is successful → child will repress sexual drive, direct psychic energy toward school, friendships, hobbies, and other nonsexual activities - Roots in phylogenetic endowment - Suppression complete → led to a period of sexual latency - Continued latency: reinforced through constant suppression by parents & teachers + internal feelings of guilt, shame & morality → sexual drive exists but aim has been inhibited Genital Period: renaissance of sexual life occurs - Puberty awakening of sexual aim - Diphasic sexual life enters 2nd stage - Basic difference from infantile period 1. Give up autoeroticism + direct sexual energy toward another person 2. Reproduction is now possible 3. Penis envy may continue to linger in girls, but vagina finally obtains same status for them that the penis had during infancy - Boys see female organ as a sought-after object rather than a source of trauma 4. Entire sexual drive takes a more complete organization: mouth, anus & other pleasure-producing areas take an auxiliary position to genitals, now attain supremacy as an erogenous zone Maturity: culmination of psychosexual development - Attained by everyone who reaches physical maturity - Psychological maturity seldom happens, people have too many opportunities to develop pathological disorders or neurotic predispositions - Psychological maturity: balance among the structures of the mind, ego-ideal realistic & congruent with their ego  - Come through the experiences of childhood & adolescence in control of their psychic energy & with their ego functioning in the center of an ever-expanding world of consciousness - Most repressions of psychological healthy individuals emerge in the form of sublimations rather than neurotic symptoms Application of Psychoanalytic Theory Freud’s Early Therapeutic Technique - Studies on Hysteria: extract repressed childhood memories, confession of childhood seduction, used dream interpretation & hypnosis - Autobiography 30 yrs after abandoning seduction theory: pressure technique led to patients reproducing childhood scenes where they sexually seduced some adult - Freud realized that his highly suggestive & coercive tactics may have elicited memories of seduction from his patients, he lacked clear evidence that these memories were real - Freud was convinced that neurotic symptoms were related to childhood fantasies than material reality, gradually adopted more passive psychotherapeutic technique Freud’s Later Therapeutic Technique - Later psychoanalytic therapy to uncover repressed memories through free association & dream analysis - Purpose of psychoanalysis: strengthen the ego, make it more independent of the superego, widen its field of perception, enlarge its organization, so it can appropriate fresh portions of the id - Free association: verbalize every thought that comes to their mind - Purpose: arrive at the unconscious by starting with a present conscious idea + following through a train of associations to wherever it leads - Dream analysis remained a favorite therapeutic technique - LIbido expended on the neurotic symptom must be freed to work in the service of the ego, 2 phase procedure 1. Libido forced from the symptoms into the transference 2. Waged around this new object and libido is liberated from it - Transference: strong sexual or aggressive feelings, positive or negative, that patients develop toward their analyst during treatment - Unearned by therapist, merely transferred to them from patients’ earlier experiences with parents Dream Analysis ○ Dream analysis: transform the manifest content of dreams to the more important latent content ○ Manifest content: surface meaning or conscious description given by the dreamer ○ Latent content: unconscious material ○ Latent content of dreams is formed in the unconscious, manifest content stems from experience of the previous day ○ Latent material is transformed into manifest content through the dream work ○ The dream work achieves its goal by the process of condensation, displacement & inhibition of affect ○ Basic assumption: nearly all dreams are wish fulfillments, most are expressed in the latent content & only dream interpretation can uncover that wish ○ Principle of repetition compulsion than wish fulfillment ○ Dreams found in people with posttraumatic stress disorder - who repeatedly dream of frightening or traumatic experiences ○ Dreams are unconscious but try to work their way to conscious → must slip past both primary & final sensors Can operate in 2 basic ways 1. Condensation: manifest dream content is not as extensive as the latent level, unconscious material has been abbreviated/condensed 2. Displacement: dream image is replaced by some other idea only remotely related to it ○ Dreams can deceive the dreamer by inhibiting or reversing the dreamer’s affect ○ Unpleasant feelings can also be reversed at the manifest dream level ○ Dream’s latent content appears in manifest form that can be recalled by the dreamer, but has little or no psychoanalytic significance only the latent content has meaning ○ Followed 2 methods in interpreting dreams 1. Ask patients to relate their dream and all their associations to it  2. Dream symbols used to discover the unconscious elements underlying the manifest content Purpose: trace the dream formation backward until latent content was reached Dream interpretation is the most reliable approach - “royal road” to knowledge of the unconscious ○ Anxiety belongs to the preconscious system ○ Wish belongs to the unconscious ○ 3 typical anxiety dreams 1. Embarrassment dream of nakedness: dreamer feels no shame at being naked, spectators usually are indifferent Origin: early childhood experience of being naked in the presence of adults Wish fulfillment is served in 2 ways a. Indifference of spectators fulfills infantile wish that the witnessing adults refrain from scolding b. Nakedness fulfills the wish to exhibit oneself - desire usually repressed in adults but present in children 2. Death of a beloved person: the unconscious may be expressing the wish for the destruction of a person they hated during the infantile period Younger person → infantile period Older person → Oedipal wish for the death of a parent Feels anxiety & sorrow during the dream = affect has been reversed Dream of death of a parent as an adult: as a child, the dreamer longed for the death of a parent, but it was too threatening to find its way into consciousness During adulthood, death wish ordinally doesn’t appear in dreams unless affect has been changed to sorrow 3. Failing an examination in school: usually occurs when the dreamer is anticipating a difficult task ○ Freud had to search for the wish behind the manifest level of the dream Freudian Slips or Parapraxes or unconscious slips ○ Reveal a person’s unconscious intentions ○ German Fehlleistung “faulty function” ○ Freud said they reveal the unconscious intention of the person ○ One opposing action emanates from the unconscious & other from the preconscious ○ Unconscious slips: similar to dreams, product of both unconscious + preconscious, unconscious dominant & interfere with/and replace preconscious one ○ The intention of the unconscious supplant the weaker intentions of the preconscious, thereby revealing a person’s true purpose Related Research - Karl Popper said Freud’s theory is not falsifiable, therefore not science - 20th century, most academic psychologists dismissed Freudian ideas as fanciful speculations that may have contained insights into human nature but were not science - Cognitive psychologists found the importance of nonconscious processing of information and memory, what they called “implicit” cognition Unconscious Mental Processing ○ Many scientists/philosophers recognized 2 forms of consciousness 1. State of not being aware or awake = core consciousness Brain stem & ascending activating system → directly associated with unconscious in the sense of not being awake Ex: comas come from damage in this region, rendering an unconscious person 2. State of being aware = extended consciousness Prefrontal cortex → being aware & able to reflect on one’s knowledge & self ○ Cognitive psychologists refer to mental processes that are neither in awareness nor under intentional control - come close to Freud’s definition of unconscious Pleasure and the Id, Inhibition and the Ego ○ Brain stem & limbic system = pleasure seeking drives ○ Dopamine = neurotransmitter involved in most pleasure-seeking behaviors ○ Jaak Panksepp & Kent Berridge: neurotransmitters that are involved in the id’s perpetual pleasure seeking: dopamine & opioids (ex: endorphins)  Dopamine system = id’s seeking or wanting tendencies (gimme!) Opioid system = pleasure we experience when the id is satisfied (ahhh!) Berridge: unbalanced systems even though they work in tandem Panksepp: seeking is the master motivator ○ Brain is more stingy when it comes to pleasure than desire ○ 1923 Freud modified his view on id, ego & superego → ego mostly unconscious, but main function is to inhibit drives If part of brain that functions to inhibit impulses & drives is damaged, should see an increase in the id-based pleasure-seeking principles Frontal-limbic system damaged = inhibit impulses is damaged = increase in id-based pleasure seeking principles ○ Underlying theme in the frontal lobe-injured patients is their inability to stay “reality-bound” (ego) & their propensity to interpret events much more through “wishes” (id) → they create the reality they wanted/wished for Repression, Inhibition, and Defense Mechanisms ○ Solms: repression of unpalatable information when damage occurs to the right hemisphere, if the region is artificially stimulated, repression goes away → awareness returns ○ Shervin, Ghannam, and Libet: whether people with repressive personality styles actually require longer periods of stimulation for a brief stimulus to be consciously perceived ○ The more repressive style people have, the longer it takes them to consciously perceive a stimulus Research on Dreams ○ Dreams are simply random mental activities and couldn’t have any inherent meaning ○ Activation-synthesis theory: what the waking mind gives to these more or less random brain activities, but meaning is not inherent in the dream ○ Freud agreed dreams appear not to be random in content ○ Students dreamed more about the suppressed targets than the non suppressed targets Students were more likely to dream about people they spend some time thinking about (targets) but especially those targets they actively try not to think about Critique of Freud Did Freud understand women, gender and sexuality? ○ Freud didn’t understand women, his personality theory was strongly oriented toward men ○ Early years of his career, Freud viewed male & female psychosexual growth as mirror images of each other with different but parallel lines of development ○ Judith Butler (1995) argues the superego will not easily allow the ego to form compensatory attachments to stand in for lost same-sex objects Cultural prohibitions against homosexuality operate as a foundation for gender and heterosexuality Was Freud a scientist? ○ Frued attempted to separate psychoanalysis from philosophy or an ideology ○ Natural science (Naturwissenschaft) vs. human science (Geisteswissenschaft) ○ Freud saw himself as a human scientist, humanist or scholar ○ Generate research = average ○ Falsifiable = low ○ Organize knowledge in a meaningful framework = moderate ○ Guide for the solution of practical problems = low ○ Internal consistency = low ○ Parsimonious = low Concept of Humanity - Determinism vs. free choice: determinism - Behavior is determined by past events than present goals - Humans have little control over present actions because most behaviors are rooted in unconscious strivings that lie beyond present awareness - Pessimism vs. optimism: pessimism - We come into the world in a basic state of conflict, life & death forces operating on us from opposing sides - Innate death wish drives us to self-destruction or aggression  - Sexual drive causes us to seek blindly after pleasure - Causality vs. teleology: causality - Present behavior is shaped by past causes - People don’t move toward a self-determined goal, but struggle between eros & thanatos - Conscious vs. unconscious: unconscious - Leans heavily in unconscious motivation - Motivations underlying those actions are deeply embedded in unconscious & frequently different from what we believe them to be - Social vs. biological influences: biology, low on social - Medical training let him to see human personality from a biological viewpoint - Uniqueness vs. similarities: middle - Humanity’s evolutionary past gave rise to many similarities among people - Individual experiences (early childhood) shape people in a unique manner, account for many differences among personalities