Freudian Theory

SIGMUND FREUD 1856-1939 .

Sigmund Freud was a very controversial personality theorist, and was an Austrian physician.

Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective “I was the only worker in a new field.” Love him or hate him, Sigmund Freud has profoundly influenced Western culture. To recognize his influence, we need to understand Freud’s ideas concerning the unconscious, dream interpretation, and mechanisms for defending against anxiety.

Three Freudian Topics Useful in Literary Analysis Psychoanalysis/ Personality Theory Psyche: Conscious and Unconscious Mind Id/Ego/Superego Psychoanalysis Purpose/Techniques Defense Mechanisms Freudian Slips

Psychoanalysis/ Personality Theory Freud believed that your psyche [mind] has two parts: Unconscious Mind: large below-the-surface reservoir which contains thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories, of which we are unaware. Conscious Mind: The part of your mind that your thoughts make you aware of

The Psyche: The mind, and why we do what we do People’s actions can be explained by the interaction of the three parts of their subconscious mind: The Id The Ego The Superego

The Id: Basic Desire What each person wants No sense of conscience: everyone’s “inner child” Children, before they are taught social skills Demands immediate gratification of their needs and desires

Superego: Guilt Guided by socially imposed behavior and a sense of guilt Learned through adult instruction and living in society Parents scold you and other members of society criticize or teach you

The Ego: Reality The balance between the Id and the Superego Takes the desires of the Id, filters them through the superego, and comes up with an action that satisfies both entities The Ego realizes that the Id must be satisfied, but that there are certain socially acceptable ways to achieve satisfaction

Psychoanalysis/ Personality Theory Personality Structure according to Freud Id-a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives to survive, reproduce, and aggress. The id operates on the pleasure principle: If not constrained by reality, it seeks immediate gratification. Superego-represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscious) and for future aspirations. Ego-the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

The Marshmallow Test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX_oy9614HQ

Three Freudian Topics Useful in Literary Analysis Psychoanalysis/ Personality Theory Psyche: Conscious and Unconscious Mind Id/Ego/Superego Psychoanalysis Techniques Defense Mechanisms Freudian Slips

Psychoanalysis/ Personality Theory: Methods of Psychoanalysis: ASSESSING THE UNCONSCIOUS Free Association: the patient is asked to relax and say whatever comes to mind, no matter how embarrassing or trivial. Thematic Apperception Test: a test in which people view ambiguous pictures and then make up stories. Rorschach Inkblot Test: a set of 10 inkblots, seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the inkblots. Dream Analysis: The subject of dreams provides a link to the unconscious mind …

Free Association Practice Pick a partner Have one partner face the screen and the other partner face away from the screen The person facing the screen reads the list of words to the other person The person looking away from the screen says the first word that comes to mind when the word is said The therapist infers from the responses what you’re unconsciously thinking about

Free Association Practice Football Canada Mom Spaghetti Skyline Punishment Dad Rollercoaster Travel Tiring

Free Association Practice Ballet Homework Uncle America Anxious Baseball Success Silence Donut Vacation

Thematic Apperception Test

Thematic Apperception Test

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Dream Analysis According to Freud, dreams are the“royal road to the unconscious.” Dreams have: Manifest Content: the storyline of our dreams dreamers are conscious of; sometimes incorporates traces of previous days’ experiences and preoccupations. Latent Content: censored symbolic version; consists of unconscious drives and wishes that may be threatening if expressed directly.

Dream Analysis Practice: Dreams about Losing Teeth Dreaming about losing your teeth is an indicator of anxiety and, possibly, depressive states. Dreams about losing teeth also tend to point to feelings of helplessness and lack of control over one’s life circumstances. The loss of a tooth or teeth in your dream could be a way to symbolically bring to your awareness something you are giving up or feel like you are losing in your waking life. A dream of losing teeth could be a reminder that you either made a decision or are about to make one that feels like a heavy compromise and could generate emotional suffering if not dealt with it consciously. You may be facing a situation where you have to make costly compromises and the trade-off is not satisfying.

Dream Analysis Varies by Culture & Era Until the end of the 20th century, it was common to interpret losing teeth in dreams as a sign of the future death of a family member. This meaning associated with the loss of a tooth or teeth in a dream is held in various traditions, including traditional Chinese and some native American dream interpretations. More recently, a more symbolic interpretation is preferred to present losing teeth in dreams as a representation of the dreamer’s fear of aging.

Dreaming Differs for the Genders According to psychological research on dreams, women seem to dream more about teeth falling out than men. (Source: “Typical Dreams: Stability and Gender Difference”. Psychological Reports, 1984) Jung, one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century at the origin of Jungian dream analysis, suggests that, especially for women, dreaming about losing a tooth or teeth relates to birthing.

Dream Analysis Practice -Share your dream from journal 17.3 with your partner. On one side of a note card, identify manifest content, and then on the other side, determine what latent content symbolically reveals. Manifest Content: the storyline of our dreams dreamers are conscious of; sometimes incorporates traces of previous days’ experiences and preoccupations. Latent Content: censored symbolic version; consists of unconscious drives and wishes that may be threatening if expressed directly.

Four Freudian Topics Useful in Literary Analysis Psychoanalysis/ Personality Theory Psyche: Conscious and Unconscious Mind Id/Ego/Superego Psychoanalysis Purpose/Techniques Defense Mechanisms Freudian Slips

Repression Regression Projection Rationalization Displacement DEFENSE MECHANISMS Unconscious tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but always by distorting reality. banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts and feelings from consciousness retreating to an earlier, more infantile stage of development Attributing one’s own unacceptable threatening impulses to others offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions shifts impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet Repression Regression Projection Rationalization Displacement

DEFENSE MECHANISMS Unconscious tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but always by distorting reality. Repression: banishes anxiety- arousing thoughts and feelings from consciousness

DEFENSE MECHANISMS Unconscious tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but always by distorting reality. Regression: retreating to an earlier, more infantile stage of development

DEFENSE MECHANISMS Unconscious tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but always by distorting reality. Projection: Attributing one’s own unacceptable threatening impulses to others

DEFENSE MECHANISMS Unconscious tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but always by distorting reality. Rationalization: offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions

DEFENSE MECHANISMS Unconscious tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but always by distorting reality. Displacement: shifts impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

Freudian Slips A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of some unconscious ("dynamically repressed"), subdued, wish, conflict, or train of thought. “Where you say one thing but you mean your mother.”

Examples In Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Milo has a line: "I know how to swim pretty girl—good! Pretty good, I swim pretty good." "One of my patients had a rather amusing Freudian slip: he was having dinner with his wife, and he meant to say "pass the salt", but instead he said "You've ruined my life, you blood- sucking shrew.' "— Niles Crane, Frasier

Video example How does this classic sitcom moment illustrate the unconscious mind’s operation? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bToiIihknvs

Freud and Literature So what does all of this psychological business have to do with literature and the study of literature? Put simply, some critics believe that we can "...read [texts] psychoanalytically...to see which concepts are operating in the text in such a way as to enrich our understanding of the work and, if we plan to write a paper about it, to yield a meaningful, coherent psychoanalytic interpretation" (Tyson 29).

Typical questions asked during Freudian analysis of a literary text: What does the work suggest about the psychological being of its author? What might a given interpretation of a literary work suggest about the psychological motives of the reader? Are there any oedipal dynamics - or any other family dynamics - at work here? How can characters' behavior, narrative events, and/or images be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind (for example ... fear or fascination with death, character’s actions reflecting the operations of the ego or id or superego)? Are there prominent words in the piece that could have different or hidden meanings? Could there be a subconscious reason for the author using these “problem words?”

APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE DISCUSSION QUESTION Describe a time when a character in LOTF used each of the five defense mechanisms Freud identified. Work alone or in groups of 2 (no groups of 3). Turn in tomorrow at the end of class.

Freud REVIEW QUESTIONS List the four techniques of psychoanalysis. Evaluate which would be the most effective in your opinion. Justify your answer.