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Class notes Understanding the Self (UTSN01A)
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Class notes Understanding the Self (UTSN01A)
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The “Self” According to PsychologyPsychology is defined as the science of behavior and mental processes. It came
from 2 Greek words, psyche which means “mind” or “soul” and logos, which
means “study of” It sees the self as a theoretical construct. We apply Psychology
in our daily lives.
Behavior refers to acts or activities of organisms. It is either overt or observable
(such as smiling) and covert or not observable (such as memorizing).
1. Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
- Philosopher, physiologist, and psychologist Sigmund Freud was one of
the most influential thinkers of the 20th century.
- His most important contribution, particularly in psychology, was
psychoanalysis, a practice devised to treat those who are mentally ill
through dialogue
- His work in the field of psychoanalysis was ground breaking because it
answered questions about the human psyche in a way that no one else
had before him.
- Psychoanalytic Theory is a personality theory based on the notion that
an individual gets motivated by unseen forces, controlled by the
conscious and rational thought.
- In his earlier structural division of the psyche, Freud distinguished
three levels of consciousness:
(1) Conscious, which deals with awareness of present perceptions,
feelings, thoughts, memories, and fantasies at any particular
moment
(2) Pre-conscious/ subconscious, which is related to data that can
readily be brought to consciousness
(3) Unconscious, which refers to data retained but not easily
available to the individual’s conscious awareness or scrutiny.
- Central to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was the proposed existence of
the unconscious as:
(1) A repository for traumatic repressed memories;
(2) The source of anxiety-provoking drives that is socially or ethically
unacceptable to the individual.
(3) Libido or sex drive is the main motivator of behavior
- Freud further structured the psyche/mind into three parts:
(1) Id - It operates on the pleasure principle. Every wishful impulse
should be satisfied immediately, regardless or the consequences.
(2) Ego - It operates according to the reality principle. It works out
realistic ways of satisfying the id’s demands.
, (3) Superego - It incorporates the values and morals of society. It is
developed from reward & punishment. The superego consists of
two systems:
Conscience - If the ego gives in to the id’s demands, the
superego may make the person fee bad through guilt.
Ego Ideal- It is an imaginary picture of how you ought to
be. If unsatisfied, leads to insecurity/inferiority
- Freud believed that dreams – language of the unconscious mind. Wish
fulfillment happens during dreams (we get what we want in real life in
our dreams). Dreams have:
(1) Manifest content – scene in the dream
(2) Latent content – hidden meaning
Anxiety and the Self
In defining anxiety, Freud emphasized that it is a felt, affective,
unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns the
person against impending danger. The unpleasantness is often vague
and hard to pinpoint, but the anxiety itself is always felt. According to
Freud, the kinds of anxiety that the “self” experiences are:
(1) Neurotic – from the id, apprehension about unknown danger
(2) Moral – comes from superego.
(3) Realistic – related to fear from the ego.
He said that we use defense mechanisms to protect the ego or self from
anxiety. These are:
(1) Repression – cornerstone of all defense mechanisms, the
basic defense mechanism that excludes painful
experiences and unacceptable impulses from
consciousness.
(2) Denial – refusal to accept unpleasant reality; in which
unpleasant thoughts, feelings, wishes, or events are
ignored or excluded from conscious awareness.
(3) Projection - the process by which one attributes one’s own
individual positive or negative characteristics, affects, and
impulses to another person or group
(4) Rationalization – giving logical reasons to justify
unacceptable behavior that is motivated by unconscious
instinctual impulses. Examples are sour grapping and
sweet lemon
a. Sour grapping - of making something seem less
important after someone finds out they can't have
it. For example, Jake says Bella is dumb and lazy
, and he is turned off (after she decided to date
Edward instead of him).
b. Sweet lemon - convincing oneself that he/she is
just as well off without whatever he/she failed to
achieve; for example being happy that you can
travel now or go out with friends that you are single
after a painful breakup.
(5) Reaction Formation - unacceptable or threatening
unconscious impulses are denied and are replaced in
consciousness with their opposite
(6) Regression - return to a prior, lower state of cognitive,
emotional, or behavioral functioning where the individual
reverts to immature behavior or to an earlier stage of
psychosexual development when threatened with
overwhelming external problems or internal conflicts.
(7) Sublimation – unacceptable sexual or aggressive drives are
unconsciously channeled into socially acceptable modes of
expression and redirected into new, learned behaviors,
which indirectly provide some satisfaction for the original
drives
(8) Displacement - the individual discharges tensions
associated with, for example, hostility and fear by taking
them out on a less threatening target.
Psychosexual Development:
Psychoanalytic theory suggested that personality is mostly established
by the age of five. Early experiences play a large role in personality
development and continue to influence behavior later in life. At any
stage, the area of the body on which sexual pleasure is concentrated is
called the erogenous zone. The erogenous zones give the stages of
development their respective names.
Human development can be divided in stages characterized by sexual
drives. To Freud, the first 4 or 5 years of life, or the infantile stage, are
the most crucial for personality formation.
(1) Oral Stage - Pleasure comes mainly through the lips, tongue, and
activities are sucking, chewing, and swallowing. If over-
gratification or under-gratification (frustration) of the oral needs
causes a fixation to occur at this level of development, as an
adult, the child will be an oral character. It lasts through about
the first year of life
phases:
(1) oral-receptive, where infants feel no ambivalence
toward the pleasurable object and their needs are
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