Neo-Freudian Approaches

Transcription

1 Neo-Freudian Approaches PSYC Lecture 13 Dr. J. Nicol Common Themes Sex is not as important and libido and is reinterpreted as a general moevaeon toward life and creaevity More emphasis is placed on conscious thought and less emphasis is placed on unconscious mental processes Focus on the role of interpersonal relaeonships as the source of psychological problems, instead of an emphasis on drives and mental life Alfred Adler Social interest: the desire to relate posievely and producevely with other people was at least as important as sex as a moevator of our thoughts and behaviours (Adler, 1939) In order to see ourselves as superior to others we compensate for our perceived organ inferiority Masculine protest: the adult desire to be powerful in response to our feelings of inferiority Style of life: characterisec behavioural paqerns that we employ as adults in an aqempt to compensate for our childhood inferioriees (i.e., an inferiority complex)

2 Carl Jung Collec5ve unconscious: racial memory of the history of our species that resides primarily in our unconscious Some of these memories are universal basic images that he called archetypes Persona: the social mask we wear in public We relate to members of the opposite sex through mental prototypes called the anima (male prototype of a female) and animus (female prototype of a male) Inaccurate prototypes create problems dealing with other people of the same or opposite sex Karen Horney Female envy is a product of the relaeve limitaeons that women face, not an envy of male anatomy Adult behaviour is moevated by an aqempt to overcome basic anxiety (i.e., the fear of abandonment and being alone) AQempts to avoid basic anxiety create neuroec needs Pursuit of neuroec needs is unrealisec and it causes self-defeaeng behaviour and relaeonship problems Erik Erikson Not all conflicts are unconscious, and many conscious conflicts are difficult, painful, and consequeneal Psychosocial theory of personality development: certain basic conflicts arise at specific stages in life that need to be addressed with different possible outcomes associated with each age-specific crisis Personality development is not complete in childhood, it takes place over the enere lifespan

3 Approximate Age Freudian Stage Eriksonian Issue 0-2 years Oral Trust vs. mistrust 3-4 years Anal Autonomy vs. shame and doubt 4-7 years Phallic Ini?a?ve vs. guilt 8-12 years Latency Industry vs. inferiority 13+ years Genital (evolves over adulthood) Iden?ty vs. iden?ty confusion In?macy vs. isola?on Genera?vity vs. stagna?on Integrity vs. despair Object RelaEons Theory Interpersonal relaeonships are the primary source of both pleasure and pain in our lives We relate to objects (i.e, significant others) through our mental images of them, and interpersonal problems arise because these images are someemes inaccurate Object RelaEons Theory There are aspects of saesfaceon and frustraeon in all relaeonships We both love and hate the important people in our lives because they both support and frustrate us There is an important difference between parts of a love object and the whole object We are to some extent aware of and disturbed by the mixed feelings of love and hate that we feel toward the important objects in our lives

4 Melanie Klein Innovator of play therapy (i.e., children use toys to symbolically express their emoeons) Children o_en split their love objects into a good part and a bad part Paranoid posi5on: child s wish to destroy the bad part of a love object because they are afraid it will destroy them Depressive posi5on: child s wish to protect the good part of a love object because they fear losing it D.W. WinnicoQ Children rely on transieonal objects that he called niffles" to bridge the developmental gap between fantasy and reality (WinnicoQ, 1996) Early in life we learn to show a false self to please others, and do this throughout our lives Purpose of the false self is to protect the true self from other people by keeping it hidden When there is no safe way for the true self to be revealed suicide prevents exposure permanently AQachment Theory Freudian concept called transference is the basic idea behind what is known today as aqachment theory John Bowlby was the psychoanalyst that developed the noeon of transference into the broader concept of aqachment AQachment theory focuses on paqerns of relaeonships with others that we consistently repeated with different partners throughout our life (e.g., Anderson & Berk, 1998)

5 AQachment Theory Bowlby believed that our early experiences with love shaped our future ideas about it He hypothesized that humans evolved a fear of being alone and it moevates us to seek proteceon with someone with an interest in our survival and well-being Desire for proteceon leads us to develop aqachments Secure aqachment to the primary caregiver makes us feel safe, and provides us with a secure base to explore from and return to AQachment Theory From the aqachment with our primary caregiver we develop expectaeons about aqachment relaeonships and what they should provide to us How others are expected to react to us How we expect our selves to feel and behave in those relaeonships Two important outcomes come from our early aqachment experiences with our caregivers: Develop a belief about whether or not other people are reliable Develop a belief about whether or not other people see us as lovable or not End of Lecture