2. Psychoanalysis (Freud)
Friday, September 13, 2016:49 PM
1. Describe Freud's early use of the "talking method," and indicate the conclusions Freud drew about unconscious processes.
• The case of Anna O. may be seen as the beginning of psychoanalysis. Anna O. suffered from a conversion disorder in which her right
arm and leg were paralyzed. She had difficulty seeing, was nauseous, and was unable to drink any liquids or to speak and understand
her mother tongue. She was also prone to states of absence.
• Dr. Joseph Breuer hypnotized her and asked her to verbalize associations she might have to words she mumbled during her absences.
She began to tell him stories about her father's illness and death. After she had told a number of these stories, her symptoms went
• Freud began to use the "talking method" with his own patients, and he concluded that at the time of the original trauma the patient had
to hold back a strong emotion. The patient had forgotten the event and was unconscious or unaware of it. Freud's concept of
unconscious processes is a dynamic one in which certain forces repress undesirable thoughts and then actively resist their becoming
2. Describe Freud's concept of the role of emotions in human life. Explain why wishes are repressed and how they may be dealt with when
brought back into consciousness.
• An emotion that is prevented from expressing itself normally may be expressed through a neurotic symptom. Wishes (p. 32) are
repressed because they are at odds with a person's self-concept. Underlying Freud's concept is the idea that emotions that accompany
events must ultimately be expressed. If they cannot find direct expression, they will find indirect expressions, such as neurotic
symptoms. Ideally, the expression of emotions is nondestructive.
3. Cite the instructions for free association, and explain the premise on which the procedure is based.
• Freud developed the technique of free association (p. 32) in order to help his patients recover repressed ideas. The patient is asked to
verbalize whatever comes to mind no matter how insignificant, trivial, or even unpleasant the idea might be. Later he or she reflects
upon those associations.
4. Indicate the importance of slips and dreams, and explain how they are analyzed.
• Slips are bungled acts: a slip of the tongue, a slip of the pen, or a lapse of memory
• The manifest dream is the dream as it is remembered the next morning
• The latent dream is the meaning or motive underlying the manifest dream
• Dream work-- the process that disguises the unconscious dream wishes and converts them into the manifest dream
• Freud considered slips (p. 33) and dreams to be the "royal road" to the unconscious. They are analyzed by free-associating to the slip
itself or to various elements of the dream. The analysis helps us to distinguish between the manifest dream (p. 34) and the latent dream
(p. 34) that underlies it.
5. Identify the nature of repressed wishes and desires, and explain how Freud's use of the word libido and his concept of drive led to a new
understanding of sexuality.
• His use of the word libido to refer to the emotional and psychic energy derived from the biological drive of sexuality testifies to this shift
in his thought
• Drive-- a psychological or mental representation of an inner bodily source of excitement
• The nature of our repressed wishes and desires is sexual. Freud redefined the concept of sexuality as pleasure seeking. In doing so, he
reversed many traditional concepts and was able to account for previously unexplained behaviors. As his work developed, he
emphasized the psychological aspects of mental processes and sexuality, an emphasis apparent in his use of the termsdrive (p. 36)
and libido (p. 36)
• A drive is characterized by 4 features:
○ Source-- the bodily stimulus or need
○ Impetus-- the amount of energy or intensity of the need
○ Aim-- its goal and purpose (to reduce the excitation)
○ Object-- he person or object in the environment through which the aim may be satisfied
• Freud used the term psychosexuality to indicate the totality of elements included in the sexual drive
6. Describe the child's sexual activity, and outline Freud's psychosexual stages of development, explaining the important events of each
• In Freudian terms, the child who actively seeks pleasure from many areas of the body is polymorphous perverse-- that is, children's
activities differ in many respects from reproductive sexual activity
• The sexual activity of children is essentially autoerotic; they seek pleasure from their own bodies rather than from the body of another
• Freud outlined a set of psychosexual stages (p. 37) that children travel as they progress from autoerotic (p. 37) sexual activity to
mature, reproductive activity. The libido invests itself in various erogenous zones (p. 37). During the oral stage (birth to age 1, p. 38), the
major source of pleasure and pain is the mouth. The anal stage (second year of life, p. 38) follows; libidinal energy is focused on the
Textbook Notes Page 1 major source of pleasure and pain is the mouth. The anal stage (second year of life, p. 38) follows; libidinal energy is focused on the
anus and the buttocks. During the phallic stage (ages 3-6, p. 39) the genital organs become important, and children experience the
Oedipus complex (p. 39), whose resolution leads to the development of a superego (p. 44) and sexual identification. The latency period
(ages 7 to puberty, p. 41) is one of rest, and the genital stage (p. 41) begins at puberty when the sexual organs mature and the individual
is able to assume the sexual role outlined by his or her culture.
• A son's rivalry with his father for his mother's love culminates in castration anxiety, which means that he fears physical retaliation from
his father, in particular that he will lose his penis
• The disappointment and shame a daughter feels (Electra complex) upon viewing the "superior" penis leads to jealousy of the male, penis
envy, a sense of inferiority, and a feeling of resentment and hatred toward the mother, who is held responsible for the effected
7. Describe how the effects of the psychosexual stages may be seen in various adult character traits an