Psych 100 1H Focus Questions Chapter 15 pp 570 end Class 32 11 8 2013 1 Define psychoanalysis and psychodynamic theories Provide a broad overview of the psychodynamic perspective including the idea of unconscious motivation and defense mechanisms Psychoanalysis method of treatment and theory of personality Psychodynamic theories personality theories that emphasize the interplay of mental forces a Unconscious Motivation unconscious mind part of mind that affects individual s conscious thought action but not open to conscious inspection posthypnotic suggestion person is hypnotized and when they awake they are instructed that they will not remember anything during the hypnosis but when a clock chimes you will walk across the room real reasons behind our actions are hidden in our unconscious minds and our conscious reasons are cover ups false rationalizations that we believe to be true Freud paid specific attention to patient s slips of the tongue and other mistakes as clues to the unconscious Sex and Aggression as Motivating Forces in Freud s Theory people who live peaceably in society they need to inhibit direct expression of sex and aggression drives sex drive main pleasure seeking life seeking drive aggression drive force that lies behind destructive actions Social Drives as Motives in Other Psychodynamic Theory Karen Horney psychodynamic theory that focused on security as an inborn human need that can be filled by other people most fundamental emotion basic anxiety object relations theories of personality derive from Bowlby s ideas about emotional attachment object relations refers to interactions between child and the objects people to whom he child feels attached Alfred Adler s psychodynamic theory centers on people s drive to feel competent everyone begins life with feeling inferiror which stems from helpless and dependent nature of early childhood emphasizes role of personal achievements inferiority complex people go become overwhelmed by a sense of inferiority superiority complex go through life trying to prove they are better than others as a means of masking their inferiority b Defense mechanisms mental process of self deception operate to reduce one s consciousness of wishes memories and other thoughts that would threaten one s self esteem or in other ways provoke a strong sense of insecurity or anxiety includes repression displacement reaction formation projection and rationalization repression process by which anxiety producing thoughts are pushed out or kept out of conscious mind Ex repressed wishes memories will leak through the barriers separating the unconscious and conscious mind displacement unconscious wish drive that would be unacceptable to the conscious mind is redirected toward a more acceptable alternative Ex child s long past infancy may still have a desire to such a mother s breast desire might be placed toward sucking on a lollipop sublimation one s energies toward activities that are particularly valued by society artistic scientific humanitarian Ex aggressive person might perform serve in a competitive profession such as being trial lawyer Sublimation to beat the others physically reaction formation conversion of a frightening wish into its safer opposite Ex Young woman who unconsciously hates her mother wishes her dead may consciously experience these feelings of intense love for her mother and strong concern for her safety homophobia stems from reaction formation projection person consciously experiences an unconscious drive wish as though it were someone elses Ex person with intense anger may project that anger onto her friend Ex fraternity houses found that men who were rated by their fraternity brothers in stinginess but who denied that trait themselves tended to rate others the same rationalization use of conscious reasoning to explain away anxiety provoking thoughts feelings Ex men who cannot face his own sadistic tendencies may rationalize the beatings he gives his children by convincing himself that children need to be beaten to carry out his fatherly duty 2 How can Freud s defensive styles be seen in various personalities How do mature defensive styles compare to immature defensive styles repressive coping most fully researched defensive style repression centered on idea that people often repress memory of traumatic highly disturbing events so fully that they can be recalled only through psychotherapy many people regularly repress emotional feelings that accompany disturbing events in their lives but claim that the memories don t make them anxious or disturb them repressors Experiment subject may be asked to complete sentences that contain sex aggression themes or imagine some unhappy event that could affect them in the future results repressors report much less distress in these situations than do non repressors but repressors manifest more physical distress than do non repressors repressive style may be most helpful at time when the person is coping with a seriously disturbing life event Ex adolescent cancer survivors helps them maintain a positive outlook on life repressors are much less affected by anxious thoughts than other people but may develop more health problems and experience chronic pain than non repressors Distinction Between Mature and Immature Defensive Styles Experiment Harvard men filled out an questionnaire concerning issues as work ambitions social relationships emotions and health 30 years after researcher rated to extent where men used specific defense mechanisms immature defenses presumed to distort reality the most and to lead to most ineffective actions intermediate defenses repression and reaction formation involve less distortion of realtiy and lead to effective coping mature defenses involve the least distortion of reality and lead to adaptive behavior suppression involves conscious avoidance of negative thinking humor reduced fear by making fun of feared ideas men who used mature defenses were most successful in ability to love and work and the happiest 3 Define humanistic theories and phenomenological reality What do humanistic theories say about the self Describe Maslow s hierarchy of needs including the term self actualization How can personal myths be the basis for personality Humanistic theories emphasize people s conscious understanding of themselves and their capacity to choose their own paths to fulfillment Phenomenological reality each person s conscious understanding of his or her world Self