Psychoanalytic Theory

 Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
 Jewish background,
though avowed atheist
 Lived in Vienna until
Nazi occupation in
1938
 Had medical
background- wanted to
do “neurophysiologic
research”
 Private practice in
nervous and brain
disorders.

Overview
 One might consider that Freudian
psychoanalytic theory is basically a family
theory as Freud considered how the
individual develops overtime within the
context of a family, specifically interacting
with mother and father, later siblings.

 Psychoanalytic theory was the first of
many psychodynamic theories to follow
many within a direct line from Freudian
thinking.
 Freud ‘discovered’ the unconscious which
is the basis for all psychodynamic theories
 Psychodynamic theories hold that human
behavior is primarily the function of
reactions to internal (thus mostly
unconscious) stimuli instincts, urges,
thoughts.

 Behavioral theories on the other hand hold
that behavior is in response to external
stimuli; responses are learned and over
time appear as automatic. Some would
hold the possibility of internal stimuli;
however, such cannot be seen and/or
measured and thus are not a fit subject for
science.
 Phenomenological theories hold that the
human is in process of becoming and just
‘is’.

 Current psychodynamic theories are derived from
Freud’s original concepts with addition of new
knowledge and information. More recent theorist
are known as Neo-Freudians. Few,if any, practice
as Freud once did.
 Psychoanalysis was not conceived as just a
method of treatment, but also as a training
method for new analysts. Basically it was an
attempt to surface and interpret all material
located in the unconscious. This process was
deemed to be curative for the patient.

 For the trainee, the purpose was to develop an
acute awareness of one’s own psyche so as to
prevent interference from one’s own biases with
the analysis of another. This is called countertransference.
 Freud named the level of consciousness unconscious, conscious and preconscious (not in
much use now)
 Freud developed a topography of the self: id, ego
and superego.
 Freud also posited that human behavior was built
up over time through distinct stages.

 Freudian stages were oral, anal, oedipal, latency,
genital. Observation of infant reveled to him the
preoccupation with feeding and nurturance;
excretion and toilet training, discovery of genitals
and sensation from erogenous zones.
 Following is a period of when the child is less
preoccupied with their bodily functions and
concerned about relations in the social world.
 When adolescence presents another radical
physiological change, once more the person is
preoccupied with the body and sexual feelings
and activities now they are living in an adult
body.

3 Levels of Awareness
Conscious
Preconscious
Unconscious

Conscious
 Current contents of your mind that
you actively think of
 What we call working memory
 Easily accessed all the time

Preconscious
 Contents of the mind you are not
currently aware of
 Thoughts, memories, knowledge,
wishes, feelings
 Available for easy access when
needed

Unconscious
 Contents kept out of conscious
awareness
 Not accessible at all
 Processes that actively keep these
thoughts from awareness

Freudian Components of
Personality
•Id
•Ego
•Superego

ID
Resides completely at the
unconscious level
Acts under the pleasure
principle
immediate gratification,
not willing to
compromise
Generates all of the
personality’s energy

SUPEREGO

 The moralist and
idealistic part of the
personality
 Resides in
preconscious
 Operates on “ideal
principle”
– Begins forming at
4-5 yrs of age
 Essentially your
“conscience”

EGO
 Resides in all levels
of awareness
 Operates under
“reality principle”
 Attempts negotiation
between Id and
Superego to satisfy
both realistically

 Ego: part of personality that mediates the demands
of the id, the superego and reality
- The ego has no concept of right or wrong;
something is good simply if it achieves its end of
satisfying without causing harm to itself or to the id.
 Superego: part of the mind that houses morals/
values
- conscience can punish the ego through causing
feelings of guilt or shame, reward us by feeling
proud when we live up to it
- ego ideal: ultimate standard of behavior as a
“good” member of society.
 The interaction of these three parts of ourselves is
characterized by conflict.

Conflicts of Personality
Components
 Conflicts between the Id, Superego and Ego
arise in unconscious mind
 Can’t be reached in unconscious
 Come out in various ways
– Slips of tongue (“Freudian slip”)
– Dreams
– Jokes
– Anxiety
– Defense Mechanisms

DEFENSE MECHANISMS
 defense mechanisms operate
unconsciously to protect the
ego from threats from the id
and from external reality.

Denial
 i.e. denying
 Refusal to
accept external
that your
realities
physician's
because too
diagnosis of
threatening to
cancer is
enter awareness

correct and
seeking a
second opinion

Repression
Internal
 i.e forgetting
impulses and sexual abuse
memories too from your
threatening so childhood due
bared from
to the trauma
entering
and anxiety
awareness

Projection

Attribute
unacceptable
thoughts or
impulses onto
others (project
these inappropriate
thoughts etc onto
others)

 i.e when
losing an
argument,
you state
"You're
just
Stupid;"

Displacement

 Shifting
attention from
one target that
is no longer
available to a
more
acceptable or
“safer”
substitute

 i.e slamming a
door instead of
hitting as
person, yelling
at your spouse
after an
argument with
your boss

Regression
returning to  i.e sitting in a
corner and
a previous
crying after
stage of
hearing bad
development news; throwing
a temper
tantrum when
you don't get
your way

Rationalization
supplying a
logical or
rational
reason as
opposed to
the real
reason

 i.e stating that
you were fired
because you
didn't kiss up
to the boss,
when the real
reason was
your poor
performance

How Does our Mind Develop?
The Psychosexual Stages of Development
– Freud felt our development was driven by sexual
energy, or libido
– At particular points in the developmental process,
a single body part is particularly sensitive to
sexual, erotic stimulation, and is referred to as
the erogenous zone
– The child's libido centers on behavior affecting
the primary erogenous zone of his age; he cannot
focus on the primary erogenous zone of the next
stage without resolving the developmental
conflict of the immediate one.

Psychosexual Development
 Stages of development in which
conflict over Id’s impulses plays
out
 Ego must control these impulses
 If not resolved, psychological
issues can emerge later in life

– A child at a given stage of

development has certain needs and
demands- either frustration or
overindulgence results in fixation,
where the person gets “stuck” in
that stage
– the method of obtaining satisfaction
which characterized the stage one is
fixated in will dominate and affect
his adult personality.

1. Oral stage: (birth-18 months): erogenous

zone is the mouth and sucking and biting
lead to satisfaction
- frustration: pessimism, envy,
suspicion and sarcasm
- overindulgence: optimistic,
gullible, and is full of
admiration
for others around him
- primary conflict: “weaning” :
deprives the child of the sensory
pleasures of nursing and of the
psychological
pleasure of being cared
for, mothered, and held

2. Anal Stage (18-36 months): obsession with the
erogenous zone of the anus and with the
retention or expulsion of the feces- conflict
with parents/societal pressures
- anal expulsive character: messy,
disorganized, reckless, careless, and defiant.
- anal retentive character: neat, precise,
orderly, careful, stingy,
withholding,
obstinate, meticulous, and passive-aggressive
- The resolution of the anal stage
permanently affects the
individual
propensities to possession and attitudes
towards authority.

3. Phallic Stage: (3- 6 years): The phallic
stage is the setting for the greatest, most
crucial sexual conflict in Freud's model of
development. In this stage, the child's
erogenous zone is the genital region.
- The conflict, labeled the Oedipus
complex (The Electra complex in
women), involves the child's unconscious
desire to possess the
opposite-sexed
parent and to eliminate the same-sexed
one.

- Employs the defense mechanism of
identification, becoming as much like the
same sex parents as possible,
indoctrinating them into their appropriate
sexual role in life.
- A lasting trace of the Oedipal conflict
is the superego
- Fixation at the phallic stage develops
a phallic character, who is reckless,
resolute, self-assured, and narcissistic-excessively vain and proud.

- failure to resolve the conflict can also cause
a person to be afraid or incapable of
close love;
- Freud also postulated that fixation
could be a root cause of homosexuality.

4. Latency Period: a period in which the
sexual drive lies dormant. During the
latency period, children pour this repressed
libidal energy into asexual pursuits such as
school, athletics, and same-sex friendships.

5. Genital Stage: child's energy once again
focuses on his genitals, interest turns to
heterosexual relationships. The less energy
the child has left invested in unresolved
psychosexual developments, the greater his
capacity will be to develop normal
relationships with the opposite sex.

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
STAGE

FOCUS

Oral

(0-18 months)

Anal

(18-36 months) -Pleasure focuses on bowel and

Phallic

(3-6 years)

Latency

(6 to puberty)

Genital

(puberty on)

-Pleasure centers on the mouthsucking, chewing, biting

bladder elimination; coping with
demands for control
-Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping
with incestuous sexual feelings
-Dormant sexual feeling
-Maturation of sexual interest

KIMBERLY DELA CRUZ
JOHN LOUIE EDEP
CARLA CATACUTAN

BSED-2Y

Psychoanalytic Theory

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Psychoanalytic Theory