Psychodynamic Theories PDF

Psychodynamic Theories Psychodynamic theories are psychological frameworks that emphasize the role of unconscious processes, early life experiences, and inner conflicts in shaping human behavior and personality. Originating from the work of Sigmund Freud, these theories suggest tha...

Psychodynamic Theories Psychodynamic theories are psychological frameworks that emphasize the role of unconscious processes, early life experiences, and inner conflicts in shaping human behavior and personality. Originating from the work of Sigmund Freud, these theories suggest that much of human behavior is driven by unconscious desires, motives, and past experiences, particularly those from childhood. Key concepts in psychodynamic theories include: The Unconscious Mind: A large part of the mind that holds repressed memories, instincts, and desires that influence behavior without conscious awareness. Key concepts in psychodynamic theories include: Conflict: Inner tensions between opposing forces in the psyche, such as the conflict between desires (id) and moral standards (superego), which the ego mediates. Key concepts in psychodynamic theories include: Defense Mechanisms: Strategies the ego uses to protect itself from anxiety caused by these unconscious conflicts (e.g., repression, denial, projection). Key concepts in psychodynamic theories include: Early Childhood Experiences: Psychodynamic theories emphasize that early relationships and experiences significantly influence personality development and later behavior. Although Freud's theories were foundational, later psychologists like Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Erik Erikson developed their own versions of psychodynamic thought, expanding and modifying Freud’s original ideas. Psychoanalytic Theory: Sigmund Freud Levels of Mental Life Provinces of the Mind Dynamics of Personality Defense Mechanism Stages of Development Overview of Psychoanalytic Theory Freud's insights into human personality were shaped by his experiences with patients, his self-analysis through dream interpretation, and his extensive study of various scientific and humanistic disciplines. These experiences formed the foundation for the development of his theories. Pre-discussion Activity: Mind Model  Levels of Mental Life Freud's most significant contribution to personality theory is his exploration of the unconscious and his emphasis that human behavior is primarily driven by instincts and desires that people are largely unaware of. According to Freud, mental life is divided into two main levels: the conscious and the unconscious.  Levels of Mental Life The unconscious itself consists of two parts: the unconscious proper and the preconscious. In Freudian psychology, these three levels of mental life refer both to mental processes and hypothetical locations within the mind. Although the idea of these levels as physical locations is purely theoretical, Freud frequently discussed both the unconscious mind and the processes within it.  Levels of Mental Life: Unconsciousness The unconscious holds drives, urges, and instincts that lie beyond our awareness yet influence most of our thoughts, emotions, and actions. While we may be aware of our outward behaviors, we are often unaware of the underlying mental processes behind them. For instance, a man may know he's attracted to a woman but might not fully comprehend all the reasons for this attraction, some of which could seem irrational.  Levels of Mental Life: Unconsciousness Since the unconscious is inaccessible to the conscious mind, how can we be sure it exists? Freud argued that its existence could only be proven indirectly. He believed the unconscious explained phenomena like dreams, slips of the tongue, and repression. For Freud, dreams were a rich source of unconscious material, revealing past experiences, even from childhood, that the dreamer might not consciously remember.  Levels of Mental Life: Unconsciousness Unconscious processes can surface into consciousness, but only after being disguised or distorted to avoid censorship. Freud likened this to a guard blocking the path between the unconscious and preconscious, preventing anxiety-inducing memories from reaching awareness. For these unconscious memories to enter consciousness, they must first be masked to bypass this censor and then pass another gatekeeper between the preconscious and conscious mind.  Levels of Mental Life: Unconsciousness By the time these thoughts emerge in our conscious mind, they appear as neutral or pleasant experiences, far from their original form. These disguised memories often involve repressed sexual or aggressive impulses from childhood, as such behaviors are frequently punished or suppressed. This punishment creates anxiety, which triggers repression—pushing those uncomfortable experiences into the unconscious to protect against the pain of anxiety.  Levels of Mental Life: Unconsciousness Unconscious drives can emerge into consciousness, but only after undergoing transformations. For instance, someone may express erotic or hostile urges through teasing or joking. In this case, the original drive—whether sexual or aggressive—becomes disguised and hidden from both individuals' conscious awareness. However, the first person’s unconscious mind still influences the unconscious mind of the second person.  Levels of Mental Life: Unconsciousness Both individuals gain some satisfaction from their sexual or aggressive urges, yet neither is aware of the deeper motives behind the teasing or joking. This shows how the unconscious mind of one person can communicate with the unconscious mind of another without either being consciously aware of it.  Levels of Mental Life: Unconsciousness The unconscious is not inactive or dormant. The forces within the unconscious constantly strive to become conscious, and many succeed, though in a transformed state. Unconscious ideas continue to motivate behavior. For example, a son’s hostility toward his father might manifest as exaggerated affection.  Levels of Mental Life: Unconsciousness If expressed directly, the hostility would cause too much anxiety, so the unconscious mind drives him to show love and flattery instead. The disguise is often the opposite of the original feeling but tends to be exaggerated and over the top. This defense mechanism, known as reaction formation, helps mask the underlying emotions.  Levels of Mental Life: Preconsciousness The preconscious level of the mind consists of elements that are not currently in consciousness but can become conscious either easily or with some effort (Freud, 1933/1964). The content of the preconscious originates from two main sources, the first being conscious perception. What a person perceives remains conscious for only a moment before it moves into the preconscious as attention shifts to something else.  Levels of Mental Life: Preconsciousness These ideas, which fluctuate between conscious and preconscious awareness, are generally free from anxiety and are more similar to conscious thoughts than to unconscious urges. The second source of preconscious images comes from the unconscious. Freud believed that some unconscious ideas could bypass the vigilant internal censor and enter the preconscious in a disguised form. However, many of these images never reach consciousness, as recognizing them as unconscious results would trigger anxiety.  Levels of Mental Life: Preconsciousness This anxiety activates a final censor that represses these anxiety-inducing images, pushing them back into the unconscious. Some unconscious images do manage to reach consciousness, but only because their true nature is cleverly hidden, often through dreams, slips of the tongue, or complex defense mechanisms.  Levels of Mental Life: Consciousness Consciousness, which plays a relatively minor role in psychoanalytic theory, can be defined as those mental elements in awareness at any given point in time. It is the only level of mental life directly available to us. Ideas can reach consciousness from two different directions.  Levels of Mental Life: Consciousness The first is from the perceptual conscious system, which is turned toward the outer world and acts as a medium for the perception of external stimuli. In other words, what we perceive through our sense organs, if not too threatening, enters into consciousness (Freud,1933/1964).  Levels of Mental Life: Consciousness The second source of conscious elements is from within the mental structure and includes nonthreatening ideas from the preconscious as well as menacing but well-disguised images from the unconscious. As we have seen, these latter images escaped into the preconscious by concealing themselves as harmless elements and evading the primary censor. Once in the preconscious, they avoid a final censor and come under the eye of consciousness. By the time they reach the conscious system, these images are greatly distorted and camouflaged, often taking the form of defensive behaviors or dream elements.  Provinces of the Mind To Freud, the most primitive part of the mind was the ID; a second division was the EGO; and a final province was SUPEREGO. These provinces or regions have no territorial existence but are merely hypothetical constructs. They interact with the three levels of mental life so that the ego cuts across the various topographic levels and has conscious, preconscious, and unconscious components, whereas the superego is both preconscious and unconscious and the id is completely unconscious. Provinces of the Mind: ID At the core of personality and completely unconscious is the psychical region called the id. The id has no contact with reality, yet it strives constantly to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires. Because its sole function is to seek pleasure, we say that the id serves the pleasure principle. A newborn infant is the personification of an id free from restrictions of ego and superego. The infant seeks gratification of needs without regard for what is possible (that is, demands of the ego) or what is proper (that is, restraints of the superego). Provinces of the Mind: ID In addition to being unrealistic and driven by pleasure, the id is also illogical and can hold contradictory ideas at the same time. For instance, a woman may consciously love her mother while unconsciously hiding a desire to harm her. These conflicting feelings are possible because the id lacks morality —it cannot make value judgments or distinguish between right and wrong. However, the id is not immoral, but rather amoral. Its sole focus is on seeking pleasure, without concern for what is appropriate or just (Freud, 1923/1961a, 1933/1964). Provinces of the Mind: ID As the part of the mind that contains basic drives (primary motivations), the id operates according to the primary process. Since it instinctively seeks to fulfill the pleasure principle, its ability to survive relies on the development of a secondary process that connects it to the external world. This secondary process is managed by the ego. Provinces of the Mind: EGO The ego is the only region of the mind in contact with reality. It grows out of the id during infancy and becomes a person’s sole source of communication with the external world. It is governed by the reality principle, which it tries to substitute for the pleasure principle of the id. As the sole region of the mind in contact with the external world, the ego becomes the decision-making or executive branch of personality. Provinces of the Mind: EGO When performing its cognitive and intellectual functions, the ego must take into consideration the incompatible but equally unrealistic demands of the id and the superego. In addition to these two tyrants, the ego must serve a third master — the external world. Thus, the ego constantly tries to reconcile the blind, irrational claims of the id and the superego with the realistic demands of the external world. Provinces of the Mind: EGO When performing its cognitive and intellectual functions, the ego must take into consideration the incompatible but equally unrealistic demands of the id and the superego. In addition to these two tyrants, the ego must serve a third master — the external world. Thus, the ego constantly tries to reconcile the blind, irrational claims of the id and the superego with the realistic demands of the external world. Finding itself surrounded on three sides by divergent and hostile forces, the ego reacts in a predictable manner—it becomes anxious. It then uses repression and other defense mechanisms to defend itself against this anxiety (Freud, 1926/1959a). Provinces of the Mind: SUPEREGO In Freudian psychology, the superego, represents the moral and ideal aspects of personality and is guided by the moralistic and idealistic principles as opposed to the pleasure principle of the id and the realistic principle of the ego. The superego grows out of the ego, and like the ego, it has no energy of its own. However, the superego differs from the ego in one important respect—it has no contact with the outside world and therefore is unrealistic in its demands for perfection (Freud, 1923/1961a). Provinces of the Mind: SUPEREGO The superego has two subsystems, the conscience and the ego- ideal. Freud did not clearly distinguish between these two functions, but, in general, the conscience results from experiences with punishments for improper behavior and tells us what we should not do, whereas the ego-ideal develops from experiences with rewards for proper behavior and tells us what we should do. Provinces of the Mind: SUPEREGO A well-developed superego acts to control sexual and aggressive impulses through the process of repression. It cannot produce repressions by itself, but it can order the ego to do so. The superego watches closely over the ego, judging its actions and intentions. Guilt is the result when the ego acts—or even intends to act—contrary to the moral standards of the superego. Feelings of inferiority arise when the ego is unable to meet the superego’s standards of perfection. Guilt, then, is a function of the conscience, whereas inferiority feelings stem from the ego-ideal (Freud,1933/1964). Provinces of the Mind  Provinces of the Mind In the healthy individual, the id and superego are integrated into a smooth functioning ego and operate in harmony and with a minimum of conflict. Figure 2.3 shows the relationships among id, ego, and superego in three hypothetical persons. For the first person, the id dominates a weak ego and a feeble superego, preventing the ego from counterbalancing its incessant demands of the id and leaving the person nearly constantly striving for pleasure regardless of what is possible or proper.  Provinces of the Mind The second person, with strong feelings of either guilt or inferiority and a weak ego, will experience many conflicts because the ego cannot arbitrate the strong but opposing demands of the superego and the id. The third person, with a strong ego that has incorporated many of the demands of both the id and the superego, is psychologically healthy and in control of both the pleasure principle and the moralistic principle.  Dynamics of Personality Levels of mental life and provinces of the mind pertain to the structure and makeup of personality; however, personalities also serve a purpose. Freud proposed a dynamic or motivational principle to clarify the underlying forces that drive people's behavior. According to Freud, individuals are motivated by the desire for pleasure and the need to alleviate tension and anxiety. This motivation arises from both psychological and physical energy rooted in their fundamental drives.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives Freud used the German term Trieb to describe an internal drive or stimulus. Although his official translators used the word "instinct," a more accurate translation would be "drive" or "impulse." Drives function as a constant source of motivation. Unlike external stimuli, drives are internal and cannot be avoided by fleeing.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives According to Freud (1933/1964), all drives fall under two main categories: the sexual drive (Eros) and the aggressive or destructive drive (Thanatos). These drives originate in the id but are regulated by the ego. Each drive has its own form of psychic energy. Freud referred to the energy associated with the sex drive as libido, while he did not assign a specific name to the energy of the aggressive drive.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives Every basic drive is defined by four components: an impetus, a source, an aim, and an object. The impetus is the strength of the drive; the source is the area of the body experiencing tension or excitation; the aim is to relieve this tension and achieve pleasure; and the object is the person or thing through which the drive’s aim is fulfilled (Freud, 1915/1957a).  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Sex The goal of the sexual drive is pleasure, but this pleasure is not confined to genital satisfaction. Freud believed that libido is distributed throughout the entire body. In addition to the genitals, areas like the mouth and anus are particularly capable of generating sexual pleasure, known as erogenous zones.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Sex While the ultimate goal of the sexual drive— reducing sexual tension—remains constant, the means of achieving it can vary. It can manifest in either active or passive forms, and may be temporarily or permanently inhibited (Freud, 1915/1957a).  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Sex Due to this flexibility and the fact that sexual pleasure can come from various parts of the body, behaviors originally driven by Eros are often not easily recognized as sexual in nature. However, according to Freud, all pleasurable activities can be traced back to the sexual drive.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Sex The adaptability of the sexual object or person can further obscure the nature of Eros. The erotic object can be easily shifted or replaced. Libido may be withdrawn from one individual and left in a state of free-floating tension, or redirected toward another person, including oneself. For instance, if an infant is prematurely made to give up the nipple as a source of sexual satisfaction, they may substitute their thumb as a new object of oral pleasure.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Sex Sex can take many forms, including narcissism, love, sadism, and masochism. The latter two also possess generous components of the aggressive drive.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Sex Infants are primarily self-centered, with their libido invested almost exclusively on their own ego. This condition, which is universal, is known as primary narcissism. During puberty, however, adolescents often redirect their libido back to the ego and become preoccupied with personal appearance and other self-interests. This pronounced secondary narcissism is not universal, but a moderate degree of self-love is common to nearly everyone (Freud, 1914/1957).  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Sex A second manifestation of Eros is love, which develops when people invest their libido on an object or person other than themselves. Two other drives that are also intertwined are sadism and masochism. Sadism is the need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on another person. Masochism, like sadism, is a common need, but it becomes a perversion when Eros becomes subservient to the destructive drive. Masochists experience sexual pleasure from suffering pain and humiliation inflicted either by themselves or by others.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Aggression Partly due to his distressing experiences during World War I and partly because of the loss of his cherished daughter Sophie, Freud (1920/1955a) wrote Beyond the Pleasure Principle, a work that elevated aggression to the same significance as the sexual drive. As with many of his theories, Freud initially introduced this idea cautiously and tentatively. However, over time, aggression, like several other initially tentative concepts, became widely accepted as a core principle.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Aggression According to Freud, the goal of the destructive drive is to return the organism to an inorganic state. Since death represents the ultimate inorganic condition, the final aim of the aggressive drive is self-destruction. Like the sexual drive, aggression is adaptable and can manifest in various ways, including teasing, gossip, sarcasm, humiliation, humor, and deriving pleasure from others' suffering. This aggressive impulse exists in everyone and serves as the underlying explanation for wars, atrocities, and religious persecution.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Aggression The aggressive drive also accounts for the necessity of the barriers people have created to control aggression. For instance, commandments like "Love thy neighbor as thyself" are, according to Freud, essential for restraining the powerful, often unconscious, urge to harm others. These moral guidelines function as reaction formations, representing the repression of intense hostile impulses and the outward expression of their opposite—kindness and compassion.  Dynamics of Personality: Drives- Aggression Throughout life, the impulses of life and death are in constant conflict, each striving for dominance. However, both are ultimately subject to the reality principle, which reflects the demands of the external world. These real-world constraints prevent the direct, overt, and unchecked fulfillment of sexual or aggressive urges. As a result, anxiety often arises, pushing many of these sexual and aggressive desires into the unconscious.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety Sex and aggression share the center of Freudian dynamic theory with the concept of anxiety. In defining anxiety, Freud (1933/1964) emphasized that it is a felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns the person against impending danger. The unpleasantness is often vague and hard to pinpoint, but the anxiety itself is always felt.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety Only the ego can produce or feel anxiety, but the id, superego, and external world each are involved in one of three kinds of anxiety— neurotic, moral, and realistic. The ego’s dependence on the id results in neurotic anxiety; its dependence on the superego produces moral anxiety; and its dependence on the outer world leads to realistic anxiety.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety Only the ego can produce or feel anxiety, but the id, superego, and external world each are involved in one of three kinds of anxiety— neurotic, moral, and realistic. The ego’s dependence on the id results in neurotic anxiety; its dependence on the superego produces moral anxiety; and its dependence on the outer world leads to realistic anxiety.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety Neurotic anxiety is defined as apprehension about an unknown danger. The feeling itself exists in the ego, but it originates from id impulses. People may experience neurotic anxiety in the presence of a teacher, employer, or some other authority figure because they previously experienced unconscious feelings of destruction against one or both parents. During childhood, these feelings of hostility are often accompanied by fear of punishment, and this fear becomes generalized into unconscious neurotic anxiety.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety moral anxiety, stems from the conflict between the ego and the superego. After children establish a superego —usually by the age of 5 or 6—they may experience anxiety as an outgrowth of the conflict between realistic needs and the dictates of their superego. It may also result from the failure to behave consistently with what they regard as morally right, for example, failing to care for aging parents.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety A third category of anxiety, realistic anxiety, is closely related to fear. It is defined as an unpleasant, nonspecific feeling involving a possible danger. For example, we may experience realistic anxiety while driving in heavy, fast-moving traffic in an unfamiliar city, a situation fraught with real, objective danger. However, realistic anxiety is different from fear in that it does not involve a specific fearful object. We would experience fear, for example, if our motor vehicle suddenly began sliding out of control on an icy highway.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety These three types of anxiety are seldom clear-cut or easily separated. They often exist in combination, as when fear of water, a real danger, becomes disproportionate to the situation and hence precipitates neurotic anxiety as well as realistic anxiety. This situation indicates that an unknown danger is connected with the external one.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety Anxiety serves as an ego-preserving mechanism because it signals us that some danger is at hand (Freud, 1933/1964). For example, an anxiety dream signals our censor of an impending danger, which allows us to better disguise the dream images. Anxiety allows the constantly vigilant ego to be alert for signs of threat and danger. The signal of impending danger stimulates us to mobilize for either flight or defense.  Dynamics of Personality: Anxiety Anxiety is also self-regulating because it precipitates repression, which in turn reduces the pain of anxiety (Freud, 1933/1964). If the ego had no recourse to defensive behavior, the anxiety would become intolerable. Defensive behaviors, therefore, serve a useful function by protecting the ego against the pain of anxiety.  Defense Mechanisms Defense Freud introduced the concept of defense mechanisms in 1926, and his daughter, Anna Freud, further refined it in 1946. Defense mechanisms are normal and commonly used, but when overused, they can lead to neurotic behavior. These mechanisms require psychic energy to maintain, reducing the energy available to satisfy id impulses.  Defense Mechanisms The ego establishes defense mechanisms to avoid directly dealing with sexual and aggressive impulses and to protect itself from the anxiety they cause. Freud identified several key defense mechanisms, including:  Defense Mechanisms Repression: The most fundamental defense mechanism, repression occurs when the ego pushes threatening id impulses into the unconscious. For example, a child might repress hostility toward a sibling because it generates too much anxiety. Although repression can last a lifetime, repressed impulses can resurface in disguised forms, such as physical symptoms, dreams, or slips of the tongue.  Defense Mechanisms Reaction Formation: This mechanism involves adopting a behavior opposite to an unconscious impulse. For instance, someone with unconscious hostility toward their mother might exhibit exaggerated and showy affection toward her to avoid anxiety. Reaction formations are marked by their compulsive and obsessive nature.  Defense Mechanisms Displacement: Displacement occurs when someone redirects an unacceptable impulse toward a safer target. For example, a person angry at their boss might displace that anger onto their pet or a harmless object. Freud also noted that displacement can occur in dream formation and symptom replacement.  Defense Mechanisms Fixation: When psychological growth is hindered by anxiety, the ego may halt at a particular developmental stage, leading to fixation. Fixation can result in behaviors associated with earlier stages of development, such as oral fixations (e.g., excessive eating or smoking) or anal fixations (e.g., obsession with orderliness).  Defense Mechanisms Regression: Under stress, people may regress to earlier developmental stages. A weaned child might demand a bottle again when a new sibling is born, or an adult may exhibit childlike behavior during stressful situations. Regressions are usually temporary, while fixations are more permanent.  Defense Mechanisms Projection: Projection involves attributing one’s own unacceptable feelings to others. For example, a person with unconscious sexual attraction to older women might project these feelings onto them, believing they are the ones making advances. Projection can also manifest as paranoia, where repressed feelings, often of a homosexual nature, are projected onto a perceived persecutor.  Defense Mechanisms Introjection/Identification: In contrast to projection, introjection involves adopting positive traits of another person to feel better about oneself. For example, a teenager may mimic the style or values of a celebrity to enhance their self-esteem. Freud saw introjection as central to the development of the superego during the resolution of the Oedipus complex.  Defense Mechanisms Sublimation: Unlike other defense mechanisms, sublimation benefits both the individual and society. It involves redirecting the sexual drive (Eros) into socially acceptable pursuits, such as art, music, or literature. Sublimation represents a balance between individual desires and cultural values, as seen in the creative works of figures like Michelangelo.  Defense Mechanisms Denial: Refusing to accept reality or facts to avoid dealing with painful feelings. Intellectualization: Focusing on logic and facts to detach from emotional stress. Rationalization: Justifying or explaining away an uncomfortable reality with logical-sounding reasons.  Defense Mechanisms Each of these mechanisms serves to protect the ego from anxiety but can distort reality when overused.  Stages of Psychosexual Development Freud's stages of psychosexual development are a central part of his theory of personality, where he proposed that individuals pass through a series of stages in childhood, each centered around the pleasure-seeking energies of the id. These stages are:  Focus:Oral Stage (Birth to 1 year) The Outcome: mouth is Fixation at the this stage primary Conflict: may result source of Weaning in oral pleasure. from behaviors in Sucking, breastfee adulthood, biting, ding or such as and bottle- smoking, breastfee feeding. overeating, ding are or nail- key biting. activities  Anal Stage (1 to 3 years) Outcome: Conflict: Fixation can Focus: The child result in The anus must either becomes learn to excessive the focus control orderliness of bodily and control pleasure, functions (anal- particular , retentive) or ly especiall messiness through y bowel and toilet moveme disorganizati training. nts. on (anal- expulsive).  Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years) Focus: Conflict: Pleasure centers The on the genitals. Outcome: resolutio This is when the Fixation can n of Oedipus complex result in these (for boys) or issues complex Electra complex related to es and (for girls) arises, sexual identifica where the child identity or tion with feels a desire for authority in the the opposite-sex adulthood. same-sex parent and rivalry parent. with the same-sex  Latency Focus: Stage (6 years to puberty) During this stage, sexual Conflict: Outcome: feelings are None The child dormant as (this develops the child stage is social skills, focuses on consider intellectual developing ed a abilities, and skills, period of other friendships, relative competencie and interests calm).. s. outside of sexual concerns.  Genital Stage (Puberty onward) Focus: The resurgence of Outcome: sexual interests Successful and mature Conflict: navigation of this sexual Balancin stage leads to relationships. The g sexual well-rounded, individual seeks desires mature sexual pleasure in adult with the relationships. sexual demands Fixation in earlier relationships and of stages may result channels earlier- society. in difficulties in stage fixations forming these into socially relationships. acceptable  Stages of Psychosexual Development Freud believed that unresolved conflicts in any of these stages could lead to fixation, affecting adult personality and behavior.