Freud's Psychoanalysis Lecture Notes PDF

Lecture 2 (Freud and Psychoanalysis) 1. Core concepts in Psychoanalysis. 2. Defense Mechanisms. 3. Psychosexual Stages of Development. 4. Experimental evidence. Freud has had an enormous impact on the study of social behaviour. First to draw attention to:...

Lecture 2 (Freud and Psychoanalysis) 1. Core concepts in Psychoanalysis. 2. Defense Mechanisms. 3. Psychosexual Stages of Development. 4. Experimental evidence. Freud has had an enormous impact on the study of social behaviour. First to draw attention to: The study of the unconscious. The developmental aspects of personality. Talking cures. Freud in some ways can be regarded as a modern Hobbesian. To Freud the basic human condition was a ‘seething cauldron of pleasure seeking instincts’. Left to its own devices the organism would blindly seek gratification. However, whilst Hobbes claimed that a person’s baser instincts were curbed by external sanctions. For Freud the external restraints of society were internalized during childhood. Initially, parent’s spanked children, later the children internalized parental/societal standards of right and wrong. Forbidden impulses could never be ruled out. Impulses can be denied but will always return and reassert themselves. As a consequence, there will always be a conflict between instincts and the demands of society. Conflict goes on deep in the unconscious 3- subsystems involved in this conflict. ID, EGO and SUPEREGO  ID Most primitive part of the psyche Contains most basic urges (i.e., eat, drink, rest, seek comfort, warmth, and eliminate). The need to gain sexual pleasure. Works on the pleasure principle - demands satisfaction now not later, - regardless of consequences.  EGO Works on the reality principle. Tries to satisfy the id pragmatically in accordance with societal norms.  SUPEREGO The superego acts as a moral policeman. Represents internalized rules of parents and society. If rules are broken the superego metes out punishment. This leads to intense anxiety, guilt and self-reproach. The demands of the superego are powerful and unyielding. If met (and anxiety avoided) the impulses of the id must be repressed. Id impulses will not remain repressed, but will always reappear. Other outlets, however, are always found. As impulses re-emerge so to does intense anxiety. Consequently, defense mechanisms brought into play.  Defense Mechanisms Displacement: impulses redirected into a safer course. Reaction formation: original wish is supplanted with the opposite. Projection: urges are projected onto others. Isolation: awareness of memories but not emotions.  Origins of unconscious conflicts Unconscious conflicts are a result of childhood experiences. Child starts life as a bundle of pleasure seeking tendencies. As the child grows pleasure is achieved through the stimulation of certain body zones Oral stage (0-2) Anal stage (2-4) Phallic stage (4-6) Latency stage (6-12) Genital stage (12+)  Phallic stage Boys develop an Oedipus complex. Boy wants to sexually possess the mother - hates father. Fears that the father may find out and castrate him. This leads to CASTRATION ANXIETY The problem is resolved when the boy decides to give up desires for his mother. Boy identifies with the father, in the hope that he too will some day enjoy an erotic partner like his mother.  Electra complex Girl realizes that she does not have a penis -- which she regards as a catastrophe. Feels that she has been castrated already, develops ‘Penis Envy’. Turns to her father who has the desirable organ in the hope that he will give her a penis substitute in the form of a baby. She turns her sexual attention to father - hates mother, develops anxiety over her desires, resolves this by identifying with her mother. Difficulties at any stage lead to later problems. Oral stage: oral fixation, smoking, thumb sucking. Anal stage: anal retentiveness, won’t spend money, obstinate, likes painting. Phallic stage: castration anxiety can lead to boy becoming gay?  Problems 1. Never actually studied children. 2. Ideas not falsifiable. 3. Little experimental evidence to support ideas.  Experimental evidence 1. Data more appropriately explained through other processes. 2. Experiments supporting Freud’s claims are often flawed.  Freud claimed that children whose parents treat them harshly would redirect aggressive instincts on to others who have less power. Evidence suggests that authoritarian aggression is not caused by the redirection of repressed impulses but by observational learning e.g., Bandura, 1965 - Bobo doll study showed that aggression was a consequence of imitation and learning.  Flawed experiments Freud claimed that threatening stimuli is repressed. Bruner and Postman presented threatening (e.g., sex, fuck & penis) and non-threatening words (e.g., six, brick & tennis) by means of tachistoscope. They found that threatening words took longer to report. Supports the idea of repression. However these findings are problematic as people may feel: 1. Embarrassment. 2. May want to recheck their eyes.  Conclusion Freudian ideas have generally fallen into disrepute. Ideas are still important in other disciplines. He and his followers (e.g., Jung, Adler, Klein, Horney) have had a tremendous impact in psychology and other disciplines. Got a lot wrong – but has a had a tremendous influence