Chapter 3: The Psychoanalytic Approach: Freudian Theory, Application and Assessment The first comprehensive theory of personality was developed by Sigmund Freud about !! years ago" After wor#ing with hypnosis to help patients p atients suffering from hysteria, Freud came to understand the power of unconscious influences on behavior" Personality can be divided into conscious, preconscious, and unconscious parts" Also$$$ personality can be divided into the id, ego, and superego" Psychological activity is powered by psychic energy, called libido" %ntrapsychic conflict creates tension, and the goal o f human behavior is to return to a tensionless state" Freud&s theory$$$a healthy personality is one in which the ego controls id impulses and superego demands" To do this, ego often uses defense mechanisms$$which include repression$$in which traumatic information is pushed out of awareness" 'ther defense mechanisms include sublimation, displacement, reaction formation, denial, intellectuali(ation, and pro)ection" *ith *ith the e+ception of sublimation, the ego uses these defense mechanisms at a cost" Psychose+ual stages of development" Freud maintained that young children pass through stages of development characteri(ed by the primary erogenous (one for each stage" Children pass through oral, anal, and phallic stages on their way to healthy se+ual e+pression in the genital stage" +cessive trauma during these early years may cause psychic energy to become fi+ated" An important step in the development of adult personality ta#es place with the resolution of the 'edipus comple+ at the end of the phallic stage" Psychoanalysts developed several methods for getting at u nconscious material" Freud called dreams the -royal road to the unconscious"- .e interpreted the symbols in his patients& dreams to understand unconscious impulses" Freudian psychologists use pro)ective tests, free association, and hypnosis to get at this material" Clues about unconscious feelings also may be e+pressed in Freudian slips, accidents, and symbolic behavior" beh avior" Freud developed the first system of psychotherapy, called psychoanalysis" /ost of the time in this lengthy therapy procedure is spent bringing the unconscious sources of the clients& problems into awareness" A Freudian Freudian therapist actively interprets the true 0unconscious1 meanings of the clients& words, dreams, and actions for them" 'ne of the first signs that psychoanalysis is
progressing is resistance, in which a client stops cooperating with the therapeutic process in order to halt the therapist&s threatening efforts to bring out #ey hidden material" /any Freudian psychologists rely on pro)ective tests to measure the concepts of interest to them" test ta#ers are as#ed to respond to ambiguous stimuli, such as in#blots" 2ecause there are no real answers, responses are assumed to re)ect unco nscious associations" Srengths of the Freudian approach is the tremendous influence Freud had on personality theorists" Freud developed the first system of psychotherapy and introduced many concepts into the domain of scientific inuiry" Critics point out that many of Freud&s ideas were not new and that many aspects of his theory are not testable" 'thers critici(e his use of biased data in developing his theory" /any of those who studied with Freud also disli#ed his emphasis on instinctual over social causes of psychological disorders and the generally negative picture he painted of human nature"
Chapter 3: The Psychoanalytic Approach: Freudian Theory, Application, and Assessment " 4ive three e+amples of ways in which Freudian theory has influenced our culture" Tell the story of how Freud discovered the unconscious" 5" 6escribe the topographic model proposed by Freud" State the divisions of the human personality in the topographic model and give an e+ample of material from each" 3" 6escribe the structural model of personality proposed by Freud" 6efine each division and state the ob)ective of each structure and the principles on which each rests" +plain where in the topographic model each of the three parts of the structural model can be found" 7" 4ive the name and meaning behind each of the two ma)or categories of instinct" +plain how psychic energy and each of these drives are involved in psychological functions, according to Freud" 8" 9ist by name each of the Freudian ego defense mechanisms and give a definition and e+ample for each" %dentify the most and least successful defense mechanisms" " 6escribe each of the stages of psychose+ual development" State the tenets upon which Freud&s theory of personality development rests" 4ive the ap pro+imate ages and an e+ample of a fi+ation related to each stage" ;" 6escribe the various techniues for getting at unconscious material" Specify the importance and function of dreams according to Freud" State the ways in which the unconscious is revealed in pro)ective tests, free association, and in everyday life" <" 6iscuss Freud&s system of psychotherapy to treat psychological disorders" +plain the basis of psychoanalysis and describe the techniues used to get and interpret unconscious material" =" +plain the role of resistance and the roles of transference and countertransference in the therapy process" State the optimal outcome of treatment using psychoanalysis" !" 6iscuss the use of pro)ective tests as a means of personality assessment" 4ive the names and a description of three pro)ective tests" State the criticisms that have been made and potential misuses of pro)ective tests" " %ndicate the strengths of the psychoanalytic approach to personality, including the benefits for which we can give Freud credit and Freud&s place in history" 5" %dentify three general criticisms that can be made of Freud&s theory of personality" +plain why some argue that Freud&s ideas do not ma#e a valuable scientific theory"