PSYCHOANALYSIS

Disciplines & Ideas in the Social Sciences

Most Essential Learning Competency
Analyze the basic concepts and principles of the major social science ideas:
a. Psychoanalysis
b. Rational Choice
c. Institutionalism
d. Feminist Theory
e. Hermeneutical Phenomenology
f. Human-Environment Systems
 Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) was
an Austrian neurologist and is known as
the Father of Psychoanalysis. Freud
believed that people could be cured by
making conscious their unconscious
thoughts and motivations, thus gaining
"insight". The aim of Psychoanalysis
therapy is to release repressed emotions
and experiences, i.e. make the
unconscious conscious. To bring what
exists at the unconscious or
subconscious level up to consciousness.
Psychoanalysis
• Psychoanalysis is a type of therapy that aims to
release pent-up or repressed emotions and
memories in order to lead the client to catharsis,
or healing (McLeod, 2014).
• A theory of the mind and its direct connection to
a personality or behavior. The basic premise of
psychoanalysis is that the human mind has an
unconscious state.
• A system of psychological theory and therapy
investigating the interaction of conscious and
unconscious elements in the mind.
• A method for treating depression and anxiety
disorders or mental illness and also a theory
which explains human behavior.
• Freud believed that the most unconscious desire originates
from childhood experiences that people have long forgotten or
repressed. Our childhood has a great influence on our adult
lives, shaping our personality.

• Freud developed a personality theory, called psychosexual

development of personality, which posits that at different stages
of growth; the individual derives pleasure from different parts of
the body- thus the term psychosexual, relating to pleasure and
the human body. An important term in personality theory is
called libido, which is defined as the natural mental energy that
operates the mechanism of the mind.
Stages of Oral Stage
Psychosexual
Development of Anal Stage

Personality
Phallic Stage

Latent Stage

Genital Stage
 Manifest from birth to approximately 18 months

The child is totally dependent on others to provide

for his/her needs

Pleasure is derived from the use of the mouth in

activities such as sucking, chewing, and biting.

Personality developed in this stage is dependence.

Oral Stage
 This begins at 18 months and lasts until 3
years when the child is being toilet trained.

The child seeks pleasure from the anus

(e.g., withholding and expelling feces)

The personality developed in this stage is

independence, self-control, orderliness and
sense of accomplishment.

Anal Stage
 3-6 years of age

During this stage the child develops attraction to their parents of the
opposite sex and sees jealous and rivalrous relationship with his or
her parents of the same sex.
This is what Freud termed as Oedipus Complex for boy and the
Electra Complex for girls.

Parents seen as threats

Wide range of psychological disorders through failure to resolve this

conflict, (unreasonable anxiety, phobias, & depression)

Ego developed more, superego starts to develop lately

The child seeks pleasure from the penis or clitoris (e.g.,

Phallic Stage masturbation);
 6-12 years of age

Personality traits developed in this

stage are associated with social
skills and social interactions.

Pleasure is gained through same

sex /peer friendship
Latent Stage
 12 years of age onward or
from puberty to adulthood.

Seeks marriage partner,

preparation for adult life.

The personality developed in

this stage is sexual maturity.
Genital Stage
Key Concepts in
Psychoanalysis
Conscious
• This is where our current
thoughts, feelings, and focus
live; the level of the mind is
the accessible information,
memories and thoughts that
the individual has. The
conscious consists of what
someone is aware of at any
particular point in time. It
includes what you are thinking
about right now, whether it is
in the front of you mind or the
back. If you are aware of it
then it is in the conscious
mind.
Preconscious (sometimes
called the subconscious)

This is the home of everything

we can recall or retrieve from
our memory; the level where
accessible and retrievable
information are situated. The
preconscious contains
information that is just below
the surface of awareness.
Unconscious

It contains thoughts,
emotions, feelings, memories
and desire that are
inaccessible. It resides in the
deepest level of our minds
that influence our behavior.
Even though we are not
aware of their existence, they
exert great influence on our
behavior.
PSYCHODYNAMICS
OF A PERSON’S
PERSONALITY
• ID
• EGO
SUPEREGO
ID
• Occupies the unconscious level.
• The primitive and instinctive component of
personality.
• It is the immature component of personality; it only
seeks pleasure and demands gratification.
• When the Id has a desire for something, that desire
needs to be satisfied at once. It does not take
reality into account as it only demands what it
wants without reason or logic.
• Operates on the “Pleasure Principle” and strives
for all urges to be met immediately
• Id is the selfish side and is the one whom solely
cares about themselves and no one else
• Lustful, impulsive, fun and ignores consequences
EGO
• Resides in the conscious and preconscious level of the
mind.
• The ego is the moderator between the id and the superego
• Operates on the “Reality Principle” – tries to satisfy id but
in accordance with the real world. It considers social
realities, norms, etiquette, rules, and customs when it
makes a decision on how to behave.
• Considered as the center of logic and reasoning
• The decision maker, it makes the decisions that dictate
behavior.
• Conscious part of the mind (Rational Self). Decides what
action to take for positive means and what to do base on
what is believed to be the right thing to do. Aware of
reality.
SUPEREGO
• Resides in all three levels of the mind.
• The superego is the portion of the mind in which
morality and higher principles reside, encouraging us
to act in socially and morally acceptable ways
(McLeod, 2013).
• It is our morals, ethics and social aspect of
personality. It is considered as a person’s
conscience.
• It guides us on what is right and wrong.
• Responsible for society’s rules of behavior (moral
standards). Feels guilty if rules are disobeyed
• Base on the morality principle, must follow moral
standards and rules and breaking them causes guilt.
Defense Mechanisms
• Refers to processes of self-deception, that
protects people from anxious thoughts or
feelings.
• Are thought to safeguard the mind against
feelings and thoughts that are too difficult for
the conscious mind to cope with.
• Operate at an unconscious level and help
ward off unpleasant feelings (i.e., anxiety) or
make good things feel better for the individual.
• A tactic developed by the ego to protect
against anxiety.
Major defense Denial

mechanisms Displacement
include:
Repression

Sublimation

Projection

Regression
DENIAL

• Is often used to describe situations in which people seem unable

to face reality or admit an obvious truth. (He’s in denial).
• The ego blocks upsetting or overwhelming experiences from
awareness, causing the individual to refuse to acknowledge or
believe what is happening
• Is an outright refusal to admit or recognize that something has
occurred or is currently occurring.
• Refusing to organize or acknowledge real facts or experiences that
would lead to anxiety.
DISPLACEMENT
• Is redirecting an emotional reaction from the rightful recipient to
another person altogether.
• Involves taking out our frustrations, feelings and impulses on
people or objects that are less threatening.
• isplaced aggression- is a common example of defense
mechanism.
• Example: a manager screams at his/her employee, the employee
doesn't scream back- but the employee may yell at her partner
later at night. (e.g., releasing frustration directed toward your boss
on your spouse instead)
SUBLIMATION
• Similar to displacement, this defense mechanism involves
satisfying an impulse by acting on a substitute but in a socially
acceptable way. It allows us to act on unacceptable impulses
by converting these behaviors into more acceptable forms.
• Example: a person experiencing extreme anger might take up
kick-boxing as a means of venting frustration or channeling
energy into work or a constructive hobby.
• Freud believed that sublimation was a sign of maturity that
allows people to function normally in socially acceptable ways.
PROJECTION

• Is a defense mechanism that involves taking our own

unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to
other people. Attributing one’s unacceptable feelings or
desires to someone else.
• Example: if you have a strong dislike for someone, you
might instead believe that he or she does not like you.
REGRESSION

• As a defense mechanism, the individual moves

backward in development in order to cope with
stress (e.g., an overwhelmed adult acting like a
child)
Important Theorists
Who Believed on the
Idea of
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
• Sigmund Freud was an Austrian
neurologist known as the Father of
Psychoanalysis. Freud’s theory states that
behavior and personality are driven by past
events, which are mostly inaccessible to an
individual’s consciousness.
• Freud relates free association to what is
now known as Freudian slip or slip of the
tongue. When an individual commits a
Freudian slip (or intentionally saying
something as opposed to what he or she
wanted to actually say), he or she reveals
his or her innermost thoughts.
Carl Gustuv Jung
• Carl Gustuv Jung (1875–1961) was a Swiss
Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst who founded
Analytical Psychology. It is distinguished by
a focus on the role of symbolic experiences
in human life, taking a prospective approach
to the issues presented in therapy.
• For Jung, a healthy mental life is achieved
through a balanced and a well-understood
personality. Jung’s theory of personality has
been modified and changed over time, but
his concepts of introversion and
extroversion survive over the years.
 JACQUES LACAN
• Jacques Lacan (1901–1981) was a Parisian Psychiatrist
who was born in 1901 and who died in 1981. He gained an
international reputation as an original interpreter of
Sigmund Freud’s work.
• Lacan’s Psychoanalytic theory centered on language. He
believes that Psychotherapy requires a communication
between the patients and the specialist because the
medium by which Psychoanalysis operates is through
language.
• Lacan’s first major paper in a Psychoanalytic conference
talked about what he called “mirror stage”. The mirror
stage can be associated with Freud’s development of the
super ego and the phallic stage of development. This mirror
could be theoretical: it could be either an actual mirror or a
person, usually the mother. What the child sees in the
mirror is a fully formed self, a body, something whole and
complete.
 ERICH FROMM
• Erich Fromm (1900–1980) was a German Sociologist,
Psychologist and Psychoanalyst. He developed a distinct
type of Psychoanalysis which he called Humanistic
Psychoanalysis. This type of psychoanalysis uses
historical, anthropological, and psychological perspective
to approach an individual.
• Fromm’s Psychoanalytic theory assumes that humans
have lost their ties with nature and are now left with no
instincts capable to adapt to the ever-changing world. But
since humans developed the ability to reason, they can
rationalize their isolated existence or condition.
• Fromm called this rationalization human dilemma. A
dilemma is a problem. The human dilemma is the problem
of reuniting with nature, in a manner similar to the union of
our prehistoric ancestors and their relationship with the
environment.
• Fromm’s Psychotherapy helps the individual realize how to
achieve human needs and to be productive members of
society.
Louis Althusser
• Louis Althusser (1918–1990) was a French Marxist
Philosopher which used Psychoanalytic theory to form
and support his philosophy.
• Central to Althusser’s philosophy is his reinvention of
what Marx termed as ideology. In a Marxist perspective,
ideology is the false consciousness perpetuated by
capital industrialists to further control the working class.
• For Althusser, ideology is a reflection or
misrepresentation of our already imaginary
understanding of the world, the reality, society and
culture. What he created in his philosophy is the idea
that an individual is turned into a subject and a member
of society through ideology. Ideology is constitutive of
the self, or in other terms, the self is an ideological
concept in and of itself.