INTERNAL DRIVES. Unit 2

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1 INTERNAL DRIVES Unit 2

2 WHAT I M LEARNING TODAY Understand what an internal drive is Explore Emile Durkheim and Sigmund Freud, and their connection to drive

3 INTERNAL DRIVES When we talk about internal drives, we are talking about what motivations derive our behaviour We will look at Emile Durkheim who looked at our conscious choices and social ties as motivators AND Freud, who believed that the unconscious rules our actions

EMILE DURKHEIM: ANOMIE Every society has rules and expectations about how people ought to behave toward one another When people do not know what is

4 EMILE DURKHEIM: ANOMIE Every society has rules and expectations about how people ought to behave toward one another When people do not know what is expected of them because norms and behaviours are unclear, they may experience a state of anomie Anomie is the lack of feeling or a breakdown of social norms

5 ORGANIC SPECIALIZATION AND ANOMIE Our society today functions like an organic structure Organic specialization occurs when workers perform specific tasks for the benefit of the entire system Think of the heart in our bodies - it provides the means to move blood and oxygen to all necessary organs A heart alone, however, is not sufficient to survive - only when all parts are working do you have a properly functioning body In an office, there are cubicles that may separate workers from interaction - how do they learn about proper interaction in this kind of environment? Social norms break down because social rules are not being transmitted through social interaction - without others to guide them, people feel alone Keeping Marx s thoughts in mind, why would a company organize their employees in cubicles by themselves?

SIGMUND FREUD: ROLE OF INSTINCTS ON HUMAN BEHAVIOUR Two people can be in the same situation yet see it completely differently This is because an individual s understanding of

6 SIGMUND FREUD: ROLE OF INSTINCTS ON HUMAN BEHAVIOUR Two people can be in the same situation yet see it completely differently This is because an individual s understanding of his or her personal environment is based on his or her past experiences Sigmund Freud helped explain how we interpret out surroundings and how we act and react to social situations

FREUD: INSTINCTS Instinct play a key role in the motivation of our behaviour Freud said that we have two basic instincts Eros - the creative life force or sexual drive which

7 FREUD: INSTINCTS Instinct play a key role in the motivation of our behaviour Freud said that we have two basic instincts Eros - the creative life force or sexual drive which increases our body s tensions (creativity, growth and life) Thanatos - the destructive force, the death drive These two instincts represent the two primary outlets for our energy

8 CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS Freud felt that our human mind was made up of the conscious and unconscious The conscious mind makes up the smaller, visible part of the iceberg The unconscious part of our minds is the larger, hidden part of the iceberg Consciousness has three parts: id, ego and superego

9 ID, EGO AND SUPEREGO The id seeks immediate pleasure by reducing stress to the person Consequences and long term planning are never considered by the id Allowing the id to become too strong always results in hedonistic behaviour - behaviour that is self-gratifying and completely self-centred The superego is concerned with what is socially responsible and acts as the mind s conscience, including a person anticipating how other people will interpret their actions A person with a superego that is too strong could be considered prudish or too sensitive about doing the right thing according to everyone else The ego acts as the mediator between the id and superego If the ego allows either the id or superego to become too strong, coping mechanisms must be employed to bring about balance Using these ego defence mechanisms has a significant impact on an individual s personality and interpretation of social situations

10 DEFENCE MECHANISM Defence Mechanism Description Example Repression Displacement Sublimation Denial Projection Rationalization Reaction Formation Suppression Reverting back to an earlier life stage and showing childlike behaviours Redirecting emotions to a substitute target Redirecting incorrect urges into socially acceptable actions Claiming an/or believing what is true to be actually false Attributing uncomfortable feelings to others Creating false but credible justifications for particular behaviours Converting anxious thoughts into their opposites Pushing uncomforatble thoughts into the unconscious A person with an oral fixation may smoke more when he or she becomes stressed at work A student gets in trouble at work and then goes home and yells at his parents A person may lift weights to release pent-up excitement over news he or she can t yet share A student seeing a low grade on assignment automatically assumes the teacher made an error A person who has a same-sex attraction may view one of his or her friends as having a same sex crush instead A person who illegally downloads music may rationalize that the artists have lots of money A person with low self-esteem acts macho in front of others Abuse suffered as a child is no longer part of the person s personal history or memory

11 THE UNCONSCIOUS AND DRIVES - INSTINCT In the past, humans were hunter-gatherers - relying on a instincts for survival Since then, our instinctual habits were retrained and replaced with other instinct appropriate for the current environment We have an ability to rationalize - think before we act even though our instincts are still there Somewhere between birth and early adolescent development, humans learn to control our primitive urges Fight or flight is our instinctual reaction of the body in response to a stressor - blood flow and adrenaline increase, preparing the body and mind for instant action

12 THE UNCONSCIOUS AND DRIVES - INSTINCT C ON Although we possess the ability to rationalize, human beings continue to exhibit traces of primal instinct Stress seems to trigger these instinct Higher-order thought processes may intervene and allow common sense, not primal instinct To take over the brain and body if the anger trigger promotes a primal episode to occur If we think about uncontrollable anger, it is not socially acceptable in our society - yet this type of behaviour continues to manifest itself in our population Not everyone in society reacts the same way when faced with the same stressors Reactions to primal instincts may vary!

CHAPTER 3. Background THE PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY OF SIGMUND FREUD. part 1. The View of the Person. The View of the Person

CHAPTER 3. Background THE PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY OF SIGMUND FREUD. part 1. The View of the Person. The View of the Person CHAPTER 3 THE PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY OF SIGMUND FREUD part 1 Dr Hermann Swart hswart@sun.ac.za 1 Background First personality theory and (arguably) the most comprehensive Possible contextual influences