SUMMARY - FREUD

Personality - Psy 201
Spring 2005

libido

Libido is a term sometimes used as a synonym for psychic energy and sometimes to refer specifically to the sexual component of psychic energy.

Oedipus complex

The Oedipus complex is sexual attraction toward the opposite-sex parent and hostile rivalry toward the same-sex parent, together with (usually weaker) sexual attraction toward the same-sex parent and hostile rivalry toward the opposite-sex parent.

pleasure principle

The pleasure principle refers to the goal of achieving pleasure and avoiding pain, which is the ultimate goal of all mental and physical activity and the only goal of the id.

preconscious

The preconscious is the part of the psyche containing material that is not currently in awareness but can be brought readily into awareness.

psychic energy

Psychic energy is the energy necessary for any mental activity to occur.

psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is the name applied both to Freud’s theory of personality and to his method of psychotherapy.

reality principle

The reality principle refers to the goal of pursuing the pleasure principle while making a distinction between fantasy and reality, and taking account of both immediate and long term consequences. It is the typical goal of the ego.

unconscious

The unconscious is the part of the psyche containing material that is not currently in awareness and cannot be brought readily into awareness.

wish fulfillment

Wish fulfillment is forming a mental image of an object, person, or event as a way of satisfying a desire for it. It is the latent content of most dreams.

id

The id is one of the three principal structures of the personality. It is present at birth, entirely unconscious, and motivated entirely by the pleasure principle.

ego

The ego is one of the three principle structures of the personality. It is partly unconscious, mediates between the conflicting demands of the id and the superego, and is motivated by the reality principle.

superego

The superego is one of the three principle structures of the personality. It is partly unconscious, and it has two parts, the conscience and the ego ideal.

defense mechanism

A defense mechanism is one of a group of more or less unconscious strategies used by the ego to reduce anxiety. Each involves some distortion of external or internal reality.

denial (denial of reality)

Denial is a defense mechanism in which anxiety is reduced by ignoring or distorting some feature(s) of external reality to make the perceived situation less painful or threatening.

displacement

Displacement is a defense mechanism in which anxiety is reduced by redirecting a feeling or impulse from its original object to another that is safer, less objectionable to the superego, or more readily available.

identification

Identification is a defense mechanism in which anxiety is reduced by increasing (in imagination or in reality) one’s similarity to an object or person with valued characteristics.

intellectualization (isolation)

Intellectualization is a defense mechanism in which anxiety is reduced by dealing with events on a intellectual level and leaving out or de-emphasizing the feeling response.

projection

Projection is a defense mechanism in which anxiety is reduced by ignoring or minimizing undesired characteristics in oneself and seeing them in exaggerated form in other objects, persons, or groups.

rationalization

Rationalization is a defense mechanism in which anxiety and guilt about behavior unacceptable to the superego is reduced by inventing and believing plausible but inaccurate or incomplete explanations or justifications for that behavior.

reaction formation

Reaction formation is a defense mechanism in which anxiety about a particular thought, feeling, or impulse is reduced by repressing that content and consciously experiencing its extreme opposite.

regression

Regression is a defense mechanism in which anxiety is reduced by returning to the mode of functioning characteristic of an earlier psychosexual stage that feels safer and more familiar.

repression

Repression is a defense mechanism in which anxiety is reduced by unconsciously pushing threatening thoughts and feelings out of awareness.

sublimation

Sublimation is displacement of a feeling or impulse from its original object to one seen by the culture as more appropriate and valuable. It is seen by Freud as the ideal mode of functioning.

conscience

The conscience is one of two parts of the superego. It includes the standards the person has for determining what is wrong, and it punishes the person with a sense of guilt when those things are imagined or done.

ego ideal

The ego ideal is one of two parts of the superego. It includes the standards the person has for determining what is right, and it rewards the person with a sense of virtue when those things are imagined or done.

psychosexual stages

The psychosexual stages are a sequence of four stages in personality development, each of which is characterized by preoccupation with experiences involving a specific area of the body--oral, anal, phallic, and genital.

oral stage

The oral stage is the first psychosexual stage, characterized by preoccupation with experiences involving the mouth.

anal stage

The anal stage is the second psychosexual stage, characterized by preoccupation with experiences involving the anus.

phallic stage

The phallic stage is the third psychosexual stage, characterized by preoccupation with experiences involving the penis or clitoris.

latency period

The latency period is an extended period between the phallic and genital stages of psychosexual development during which sexual impulses become de-emphasized.

genital stage

The genital stage is the fourth psychosexual stage, characterized by preoccupation with experiences involving the penis or vagina.

fixation

Fixation is getting "stuck" in one of the pregenital psychosexual stages.

manifest content

Manifest content is the dream as it is experienced by the dreamer, "the story."

latent content

Latent content is the underlying, unconscious meaning of the dream, which is ordinarily the fulfillment of one or more wishes.

free association

Free association is the primary tool used by psychoanalysis for investigating the unconscious. It consists of the patient’s simply saying whatever comes to mind, no matter how embarrassing, illogical, or irrelevant it might seem.

resistance

Resistance is the patient’s unconscious attempts to avoid bringing painful or threatening thoughts and feelings into awareness during psychoanalysis.

transference

Transference is the patient’s unconscious and unrealistic redirection toward the psychoanalyst of thoughts, feelings, and expectations originally experienced toward other people, primarily the patient’s parents.