Module 40, 41, 42

How has modern research developed our understanding of the unconscious?

Current research confirms that we do not have full access to all that goes on in our mind, but the current view of the unconscious is not that of a hidden storehouse filled with repressed feelings and thoughts. Rather, researchers see the unconscious as a separate and parallel track of information processing that occurs outside our awareness, such as schemas that control our perceptions; priming; implicit memories of learned skills; instantly activated emotions; and self-concepts and stereotypes that filter information about ourselves and others.

How did Freud think people defended themselves against anxiety?

For Freud, anxiety was the product of tensions between the demands of the id and superego. The ego copes by using unconscious defense mechanisms, such as repression, which he viewed as the basic mechanism underlying and enabling all the others.

What was Freud's view of personality?

Freud believed that personality results from conflict arising from the interaction among the mind's three systems: the id (pleasure-seeking impulses), ego (reality-oriented executive), and superego (internalized set of ideals, or conscience).

What are three values that Freud's work in psychoanalytic theory has contributed? What are three ways in which Freud's work has been criticized?

Freud first drew attention to (1) the importance of childhood experiences, (2) the existence of the unconscious mind, and (3) our self-protective defense mechanisms. Freud's work has been criticized as (1) not scientifically testable, and offering after-the-fact-explanations, (2) focusing too much on sexual conflicts in childhood, and (3) based upon the idea of repression, which has not been supported by modern research.

Which of Freud's ideas did his followers accept or reject?

Freud's early followers, the neo-Freudians, accepted many of his ideas. They differed in placing more emphasis on the conscious mind and in stressing social motives more than sex or aggression. Contemporary psychodynamic theorists and therapists reject Freud's emphasis on sexual motivation. They stress, with support from modern research findings, the view that much of our mental life is unconscious, and they believe that our childhood experiences influence our adult personality and attachment patterns.

What developmental stages did Freud propose?

He believed children pass through five psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital). Unresolved conflicts at any stage can leave a person's pleasure-seeking impulses fixated (stalled) at that stage.

How have humanistic theories influenced psychology? What criticisms have they faced?

Humanistic psychology helped renew interest in the concept of self. Critics have said that humanistic psychology's concepts were vague and subjective, its values self-centered, and its assumptions naively optimistic.

How did Sigmund Freud's treatment of psychological disorders lead to his view of the unconscious mind?

In treating patients whose disorders had no clear physical explanation, Freud concluded that these problems reflected unacceptable thoughts and feelings, hidden away in the unconscious mind. To explore this hidden part of a patient's mind, Freud used free association and dream analysis.

What are projective tests, how are they used, and what are some criticisms of them?

Projective tests attempt to assess personality by showing people vague stimuli with many possible interpretations; answers reveal unconscious motives. One such test, the Rorschach inkblot test, has low reliability and validity.

How did humanistic psychologists assess a person's sense of self?

Some rejected any standardized assessments and relied on interviews and conversations. Rogers sometimes used questionnaires in which people described their ideal and actual selves, which he later used to judge progress during therapy.

How did humanistic psychologists view personality, and what was their goal in studying personality?

The humanistic psychologists' view of personality focused on the potential for healthy personal growth and people's striving for self-determination and self-realization. Abraham Maslow proposed that human motivations form a hierarchy of needs; if basic needs are fulfilled, people will strive toward self-actualization and self-transcendence. Carl Rogers believed that the ingredients of a growth-promoting environment are genuineness, acceptance (including unconditional positive regard), and empathy. Self-concept was a central feature of personality for both Maslow and Rogers.

How do contemporary psychologists view Freud's psychoanalysis?

They give Freud credit for drawing attention to the vast unconscious, to the struggle to cope with our sexuality, to the conflict between biological impulses and social restraints, and for some forms of defense mechanisms (false consensus effect/projection; reaction formation), and unconscious terror-management defenses. But his concept of repression, and his view of the unconscious as a collection of repressed and unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories, have not survived scientific scrutiny. Freud offered after-the-fact explanations, which are hard to test scientifically. Research does not support many of Freud's specific ideas, such as the view that development is fixed in childhood. (We now know it is lifelong.)

Module 42 How did humanistic psychology provide a fresh perspective?

This movement sought to turn psychologys attention away from drives and conflicts and toward our growth potential, with a focus on the way healthy people strive for self-determination and self-realization, which was in contrast to psychodynamic theory and strict behaviorism.

What does it mean to be empathic? How about self-actualized? Which humanistic psychologists used these terms?

To be empathic is to share and mirror another person's feelings. Carl Rogers believed that people nurture growth in others by being empathic. Abraham Maslow proposed that self-actualization is the motivation to fulfill one's potential, and one of the ultimate psychological needs (the other is self-transcendence).

Which elements of traditional psychoanalysis do modern-day psychodynamic theories retain, and which elements have they mostly left behind?

Today's psychodynamic theories still rely on the interviewing techniques that Freud used, and they still tend to focus on childhood experiences and attachments, unresolved conflicts, and unconscious influences. However, they are not likely to dwell on fixation at any psychosexual stage, or the idea that resolution of sexual issues is the basis of our personality.

According to Freud's ideas about the three-part personality structure, the____ operates on the reality principle and tries to balance demands in a way that produces long-term pleasure rather than pain, the_____operates on the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification, and the_____represents the voice of our internalized ideals (our conscience).

ego; id; superego

In the psychoanalytic view, conflicts unresolved during the first three psychosexual stages may lead to_____at that stage.

fixation

Freud believed that our defense mechanisms operate_____(consciously/unconsciously) and defend us against_____

unconsciously; anxiety