PSYC18 - Psychology of Emotion Lecture 9 Professor: Gerald Cupchik S-634 Office Hours: Thurs , 2-3 T.A.: Michelle Hilscher S-150 Office Hours: Thurs , 2-3 Course Website:

Primary Process Thinking: Original or primary way that the psychic apparatus functioned. Principles: (1)Exemption from mutual contradiction - absence of any negatives or conditionals so mutually exclusive ideas can coexist. (2) Thinking by allusion or analogy is frequent and part of an object, memory or idea may stand for the whole or vice-versa. A visual representation may appear instead of a word or even a group of words (i.e., a paragraph) (3) No sense of time..no “before” or “after” (4) In terms of drive energy there is a tendency to: i. Immediate gratification and ii. To shift cathexis (i.e., attachment) from the original object or method of discharge when blocked to another route.

Two features of primary process thinking that are relevant for dream construction and symbols. (1) Displacement - representation of part by a whole or in the general substitution of one idea by another which is associatively connected with it. (2) Condensation - representation of several ideas or images by a single word or image. Secondary Process Thinking: Ordinary conscious thinking that is primarily verbal, following the usual laws of syntax and logic.

Freud later developed his Structural Model which contrasted the id, ego and superego. THE ID: The id consists of personal drives and appears from birth. Its energy functions for instinctual gratification and operates according to the pleasure principle - achieve pleasure and avoid pain. Reflex Action - energy is automatically discharged in motor action (in eating, drinking, sexual orgasm, and so on)

Wish Fulfilment - energy is used to produce an image of the instinctual object. It does not distinguish between subjective imagery and objective reality. The image is a memory of past gratification. In sum: We expend instinctual energy to eliminate needs… a tension reduction process.

THE EGO: The ego has no energy of its own but acquires neutralized drive energy from the id. It operates according to the reality principle which is the ability to distinguish between stimuli of the outer world and id impulses from the inner world. The ego emerges to satisfy needs of the id upon frustration of the id by the environment. It represents a kind of executive functioning that mediates between the id and the environment.

Model: drive reaches threshold — delay of discharge — detoured searching — satisfaction Ego Functions: motor control, sensory perception, library of memories, thinking and attention, and defensive functions like repression. The ego is first and foremost a bodily ego — double-touch concept.

THE SUPEREGO: The superego has two parts - (1) the conscience and (2) the ego ideal. There is a change from external to internal source of moral demands and self regulation. It exists in the form of a spoken word — we internalize our parent’s superegos. Shaped by identification with family and others.

Let’s relate these ideas back to the topic at hand - our emotions: * All behaviour has both id and ego - energy & direction * Dreams and emotions are relatively unbound and work more according to instinctual processes. However, the context of emotions is more varied than the content of instincts. Energy becomes attached to memory images but we cannot readily access these early memories. The latent content of our memory images can only be discerned by associations that these images arouse. While emotional experience is often situationally and perceptually cued, its meaning comes from individual interpretations of and reactions to the situation itself. But the energy comes from early memories. All emotions are alike in terms of energy.

Three Groups of Emotions: 1. Relational emotions point to something outside the self (e.g., love and hate). Theory of Ambivalence - virtually every relationship will have been accompanied by both pleasure and pain. The family plays a crucial role here. The kinds of emotions that become differentiated depends on the dynamics of the family. Examples of emotions - clinging dependency, affection, longing, fondness versus temporary resentment, anger, or long term hostility. Affection can develop in response to affection. Longing can develop in response to indifference.

Three Groups of Emotions: 2. Reflective emotions are directed back toward the self (e.g., pride and guilt). The superego plays an important role here. 3. Anxiety expresses felt danger with no identifiable directionality.  Paradigm of the birth experience - flood consciousness at the moment of birth with painful bodily sensations...catastrophic reaction to perceived danger.  Problem of separation from one’s mother. So anxiety is a danger signal. Fear is a later development than anxiety.