Unconscious Motivation What did Freud get right?

100 years of Freud 1856-1939 Interpretation of Dreams published in 1900. Freud started gaining recognition in 1908 at the first International Psychoanalytical Congress. Psychology heavily influenced by Freud. What do we still hold true?

Development of theories Psychotherapy Current problems rooted in childhood experiences. Psychodynamic workings of personality. Humans driven by animalistic passions. Negative view of human nature.

Deterministic Deterministic: ultimate cause of behavior comes from biology and acquired impulses. These control our desires, thoughts and feelings whether we like it or not. By puberty, the personality is formed and will change very little later in life. Motivational impulses of adult can be traced in childhood events. Motivation happens to us, we don’t choose.

Pessimistic Spotlight on sexual and aggressive urges. Life is full of conflict, anxiety, repression Carry heavy emotional burdens. Personality on the verge of collapse. Freud viewed these as the reality of life. But must we accept this pessimistic view as reality?

Psychoanalytic Therapy Uncover hidden thoughts. Allow them to come to the surface. Understand real conflicts. Childhood experiences. Psychosexual stages of development. Some therapist still follow Freud’s model.

Psychodynamic theory While psychoanalytic refers to the therapy, Psychodynamic refers to Freud’s theory about unconscious mental processes. Unconscious motivation the topic of this presentation. Why an iceberg?

Dual instinct theory Motivated by two forces. Eros, life instincts. Maintains life of self and species (biological drives). Primary emphasis to sex. Thanatos, death instincts. Rest, energy conversation, total rest is death. Primary emphasis on aggression.

Role of Aggression If focused on self, lead to self-criticism, depression, addiction. Depression is aggression turned inward. If focused outward, lead to anger, prejudice, hate, revenge and war. Hostile ethnic joke is an expression of Thanatos.

Modern Psychodynamic Theory Most psychologists still hold four of Freud’s principles to be worthwhile: 1) Much of mental life is unconscious. 2) Mental processes can be in conflict. 3) The ego matures during development. 4) Childhood understanding of self and others affect later social relationships. Relationships with childhood caregivers affect adult relationships.

Principle 1: Freudian Unconscious Conscious: all the thoughts, feelings, memories you are aware of at any given time (this slide). Preconscious: absent but can be quickly retrieved (your name). Unconscious: storehouse of repressed memories and wishes (who knows?).

Road to the unconscious Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious. Unconscious wishes come out in dream content. Manifest content: Dream’s story line (I live in an unfinished house). Latent content: underlying meaning, hidden desire that is symbolized in dream (incomplete aspects of my life or personality).

Functions of dreams Dreaming occurs during REM sleep. REM important for brain stimulation, particularly in infants. REM important for memory consolidation. Dreams may be brain’s attempt to make sense of random activity of REM. Also reveal the workings of the unconscious mind.

Principle 2: Psychodynamics Mental processes can be in conflict. OCD: people repeat behaviors that they would rather not (hand washing). Freud reasoned that motivation is complex. Conscious fighting with unconscious. Will   Counterwill Ego   Id

Role of repression Freud viewed unconscious as crowded apartment. Thoughts and feelings want to get out. Conscious guards the door. May not want to let certain “people” out in public. Repression keeps unwanted thoughts out of the conscious. Selective forgetting.

Freud and phobias Unconscious motivation. Dangerous thoughts just under the surface (hate/love parent). Strong motivation to block thought. Keep it from public view. Cover dangerous thoughts by obsessing about safer thought (germs).

Suppression All thoughts cannot be stopped. Some will get by the door keeper into the conscious and need to be removed. Suppression not very successful. Difficult not to think of something once it registers in your conscious. Keep a secret about a friend (or enemy). Can lead to obsession.

Principle 3: Ego development The EGO: Freud’s greatest idea. Ego means “I” in Latin. My Ego is who I am. My concept of self. Freud thought Ego developed out of interplay between the ID and Superego. ID wants pleasure. Superego wants the idea.

EGO Develops out the battle. Balance ID and Superego. Impulse versus rules. EGO works through reality principle. EGO wages an endless struggle. Life is not easy for the EGO Superego Ego ID

Defense mechanisms EGO needs to be protected in daily struggles. EGO develops defense mechanisms to buffer consciousness from anxiety. Demands of the ID and superego. Impulses and conflicts of conscience. To name a few: projection, denial, displacement, identification, humor, rationalization, and sublimation.

Principle 4: Relations theory. Development of mental representations of self through your relationships with others. Who you are as an adult depends a great deal on your relationships with childhood caregivers. Your adult self based on your interactions with the parents and other family members. Can you trust other people? Do you have feelings of self worth?

Relatedness Early positive models of self predicts Self-reliance Social confidence Self-esteem Early abuse or neglect has negative impact on the emerging self. Many problems rooted in childhood.

Resilience Do we have to accept Freud’s pessimistic view? Studies on resilience show that many people overcome early problems. May need assistance and encouragement. Role model (friend, teacher) during difficult times. Mentoring programs.

Humanistic Psychology Abraham Maslow Positive instincts to fulfill human potential. Strong motivating force to do good. Human growth potential. Be the best that they could be. Self-actualization.

Positive Psychology Learned Optimism Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi Flow Martin Seligman Learned Optimism Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi Flow Humanistic Psychology with empirical methods.