Psychodynamic Theories and Freud
Objectives
Make some sense of Freud
Learn about Jung and some of his ideas
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
What did you know or hear about Freud before reading this section?
Basic to his theory was that the mind is mostly hidden (unconscious)
a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories
A psychodynamic theory is one that focuses on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experience
“dynamic” because of the permanent, dynamic struggle the ego is in to manage the id and superego
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Freud’s theory of personality is called psychoanalysis
attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
Freud used free association in his therapy
method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Personality Structure
“human personality…arises from a conflict between impulse and restraint—between our aggressive, pleasure-seeking biological urges and our internalized social controls over these urges.” Myers (2015) p.493
personality arises from our efforts to resolve this basic conflict
Id
Pleasure principle
Ego
Reality principle
Superego
conscience
id – unconscious energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives
ego – largely conscious, “executive” part that mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality
superego – represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment and future aspirations
5
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Personality Development
Psychosexual StagesStageFocusOral (0-18 months)Pleasure centers on the mouth—sucking, biting, chewingAnal (18-36 months)Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for controlPhallic (3-6 years)Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelingsLatency (6 - puberty)A phase of dormant sexual feelingsGenital (puberty on)Maturation of sexual interests
8
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Unresolved conflicts during one of the stages could surface as maladaptive behavior in adulthood.
fixation – lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at one of the psychosexual stages, in which conflicts were unresolved
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Defense Mechanisms
Sometimes the ego fears losing control of the inner war between the id and superego. The result is anxiety.
The ego protects itself with defense mechanisms
tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety by distorting reality
All defense mechanisms function unconsciously, just like the body unconsciously defends itself against disease.
Repression is the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Cure to disorders
Bring the conflict between id and ego/superego to awareness/attention and redirect wish to something else
Insight – awareness of d.
Psychodynamic Theories and FreudObjectivesMake some se.docx
1. Psychodynamic Theories and Freud
Objectives
Make some sense of Freud
Learn about Jung and some of his ideas
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
What did you know or hear about Freud before reading this
section?
Basic to his theory was that the mind is mostly hidden
(unconscious)
a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings,
and memories
A psychodynamic theory is one that focuses on the unconscious
and the importance of childhood experience
“dynamic” because of the permanent, dynamic struggle the ego
is in to manage the id and superego
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Freud’s theory of personality is called psychoanalysis
attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and
conflicts
Freud used free association in his therapy
method of exploring the unconscious in which the person
relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial
2. or embarrassing
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Personality Structure
“human personality…arises from a conflict between impulse and
restraint—between our aggressive, pleasure-seeking biological
urges and our internalized social controls over these urges.”
Myers (2015) p.493
personality arises from our efforts to resolve this basic conflict
Id
Pleasure principle
Ego
Reality principle
Superego
conscience
id – unconscious energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and
aggressive drives
ego – largely conscious, “executive” part that mediates among
the demands of the id, superego, and reality
superego – represents internalized ideals and provides standards
for judgment and future aspirations
5
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
3. Personality Development
Psychosexual StagesStageFocusOral (0-18 months)Pleasure
centers on the mouth—sucking, biting, chewingAnal (18-36
months)Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination;
coping with demands for controlPhallic (3-6 years)Pleasure
zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual
feelingsLatency (6 - puberty)A phase of dormant sexual
feelingsGenital (puberty on)Maturation of sexual interests
8
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Unresolved conflicts during one of the stages could surface as
maladaptive behavior in adulthood.
fixation – lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at one of
the psychosexual stages, in which conflicts were unresolved
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Defense Mechanisms
Sometimes the ego fears losing control of the inner war between
the id and superego. The result is anxiety.
The ego protects itself with defense mechanisms
tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety by distorting reality
All defense mechanisms function unconsciously, just like the
body unconsciously defends itself against disease.
Repression is the basic defense mechanism that banishes
anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from
consciousness
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
4. Cure to disorders
Bring the conflict between id and ego/superego to
awareness/attention and redirect wish to something else
Insight – awareness of desires you already have
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
Criticisms of Freud
Development is lifelong, not fixed in childhood
Freud’s questioning might have created false memories of abuse
His theory rests on few objective observations and there were
few testable hypotheses
Most serious problem: after-the-fact explanations of any
characteristic yet fails to predict such behaviors and traits
“a good theory makes testable predictions”
Ignored important indiv differences in emotional adjustment, as
well as other major personality traits
Phenomena he was trying to explain are unrepresentative of
human behavior (even the ones claimed to be universal)
“The overall findings…seriously challenge the classical
psychoanalytic notion of repression.” Yacov Rofe, “Does
Repression Exist?” 2008
12
Psychodynamic Theories - Freud
So why do we still teach about Freud if lots of what he thought
is now disproven or seen as bogus?
repression, defense mechanisms, unconscious, importance of
human sexuality, tension between biological impulses and social
well-being, reminds us of our potential for evil.
Individuals can have conflicting feelings which often lead to
5. compromise solutions
Personalities start to form in childhood and early experiences
play a significant role in development
Personality development requires moving from immature, social
dependence to mature independence
Psychodynamic Theories – Neo-Freudian
Carl Jung
The Self
PersonalCollectiveConsciousEgo; subjective awarenessPersona
(mask)UnconsciousShadow; repressedHeritage/group legacy;
archetypes
14
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Respond to two or more of your colleagues’ posts in one or
more of the following ways: (150 words or more each
Colleague)
· Ask a clarifying question about the situation that your
colleague identified or about the positive change outcome(s).
· Offer an insight that you gained from the way in which your
colleague asked their question(s), including how it may have
had an impact on the outcome.
· Provide additional suggestions for how your colleague could
take a different approach when faced with a similar situation in
6. the future, including any insights that you may have gained
from watching the video and/or participating in this Discussion.
Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to
your initial posting. Note what you have learned or any insights
you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues
made.
1st Colleague to Respond to:
My example of a time in my professional life in which I asked
one or more critical questions that helped to bring about
positive change is from when I first began my career in higher
education. About eight years ago, I left the health insurance
business and began a new career as a Compliance Manager for a
small nursing college. My job was to modernize and bring the
processes of compliance into the digital age. I knew this was a
big undertaking that would take a very long time and certainly
not a job for one person. I had many questions about how things
had been done in the past and knew I would need to make many
changes to bring the school into the digital age and at the same
time become compliant with new rules and regulations from the
state regulatory bodies and accreditation agencies. I knew I
needed buy-in. I was the “new kid on the block,” and I was
coming in from the outside with no experience in higher
education.
For the first few months, I reviewed the historical data,
reviewed processes, and procedures and learned the regulatory
requirements from the State Board of Nursing and the nursing
accreditation agency. As I analyzed the data, I found
discrepancies, and I came up with several questions that I
needed answers to. I knew I wanted to be a solution to the
current problems, and I knew that I would need to be careful
how I asked the questions to ensure questions were open and
honest without people becoming defensive. First I came up with
a list of questions and then began to tailor them to ensure
positive change would happen. Next, I set up meetings with
7. each person to ask the questions I believed I needed to clarify
and create new policies, processes, and improvements. I made
sure they were questions that would not seem accusatory or
offend anyone, and I made sure to use open-ended questions to
try to encourage conversation. Two of the questions I asked
were:
· Can you help me understand how the data has been calculated?
· Can you help me understand why we calculated the data this
way?
By asking open questions and not passing judgment, I was able
to not only learn how and why processes were done previously,
but I was able to create rapport and start building a foundation
of trust and get buy-in.
Asking questions is one of the best ways to communicate
especially in the professional world. Asking questions
effectively is something that for most takes time. When new, we
need to ask more questions that are basically informational to
help us learn our role, or how to perform certain tasks. As we
grow and advance we start asking different types of questions
which tend to be more probing questions. To ask probing
questions one must be very aware and tailor your approach
based on your audience. For me, this took time. When I first
started my professional career, I was shy, felt inferior, and was
fearful to ask any questions. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to
have amazing leaders who empowered me, gained my trust, and
taught me to ask questions. As the video
Business Skills for Good: Questioning stated, it is
important to frame questions so your audience knows you are
wanting collaboration and support rather than interrogation to
ensure I am achieving my larger goal, to understand (Walden
University, 2021n).
References:
Walden University, LLC. (2021n).
Questioning [Video]. Walden University Blackboard.
8. https://class.waldenu.edu
2nd Colleague to Respond to:
In today’s world, we are faced with changes and growing
challenges in areas such as public health, education, social
inequality, and diversity. Change is the only constant in the
universe. It prevails in every society across the world, it is
dominated in the society which desires to satisfy its citizens or
fulfill their needs. A society requires change as it can transmit
the old procedures into new one (Nworah, 2005). Change occurs
within our world and beyond in national and international
events, in the physical environment, in the way organizations
are structured and conduct their business, in political and
socioeconomic problems and solutions, and in societal norms
and values. Planned change takes conscious and diligent effort
on the part of the educator or manager. Kanter (1983) originated
the concept of the change master: a person or organization adept
at the art of anticipating the need for and of leading productive
change.
In winter of 2019 there was a manger (hereafter called, Suzan)
that is always in the wrong and when faced or confronted never
admit to her doings or failures. Her behavior resulted in staff
continuously being transferred or resigned from the post leaving
gaps in meeting targets and fulfilling objectives. The outburst
of her behavior started to negatively impact the department in
the eve of 2020 when Jamaica starts experiencing the COVID-
19 pandemic and the health industry was under severe pressure.
Suzan’s constantly failed to advise her team of important
deadlines, duties, and emergency matters and when called upon
to explain the tardiness, she blamed the team. Mid year during
our monthly management meeting, I raised the questions; what
are the measures in place to foster positivity and motivation in
team as managers? When was the last time we conducted a need
analysis for staff training to identify the training need for staff
and managers? How do we ensure we function in a cohesive
9. manner and practice effective communication? The questions
raised led to strategic implementation of policies, process flows
and plans to create dedicated channels for tasks to be completed
and foster a culture of inclusion.
As mentioned, the questions were raised in a formal setting and
were fit for the persons in the session. The questions were very
open and did not directly refer to any of my colleagues in the
meeting. I ensure I included myself by using the word ‘we’ to
show i am coming from a team perspective (we are in this
together). The questions posed allowed for a discussion to take
place and for the team to implement corrective actions to
remedy the gaps identified and mitigate any future risk on
acheiving the goals. Upon reflecting, I would not have asked the
questions any different. The positive outcomes from the
discussion lead to the implementation of strategies,
improvement of team function, cohesiveness and communication
which all contributed positively to the department strategic
objectives.
References:
Kanter, R.M. (1993). The Change Masters. New York, Simon &
Schuster
Nworah U. (2005). Global Politician: Social Change in Nigeria:
The Top - Down
Management Approach. www.globalpolitician.com
Objectives Unacceptable Below Average Acceptable Above
Average Exemplary Score
0 Points 20 Points
10. Student did not make any
post in the discussion board
Student posts were on time
0 Points 5 Points 10 Points 15 Points 20 Points
No reference to any course
reading
Makes reference to
assigned readings; attempts
to cite the source
Makes references to course
and/or outside reading
material but citations do not
conform to an acceptable
citation format
Refers to and properly cites
in APA format course and/or
outside reading in initial
posting only
Refers to and properly cites
in APA format either course
materials or external
readings in initial posts and
11. responses
0 Points 5 Points 10 Points 15 Points 20 Points
No postings for which to
evaluate language and
grammar
Poorly written initial posting
and responses including
frequent spelling, structure,
and/or grammar errors
Communicates in friendly,
courteous, and helpful
manner with some spelling,
grammatical, and/or
structural errors
Contributes valuable
information with minor
grammatical or structural
errors
No spelling, structure, or
grammar errors in any
posting; Contributes to
discussion with clear,
concise comments
0 Points 5 Points 10 Points 15 Points 20 Points
12. No initial posting
Response was not on topic,
the message was unrelated
to assignment, and post was
less than 150 words
The initial posting did not
adequately address the
question posed in the forum;
superficial thought and
preparation
Initial posting demonstrates
sincere reflection and
answers most aspects of the
forum; full development
Initial posting reveals a solid
understanding of all aspects
of the task; uses factually
and relevand information;
and the length of the posting
is at least 150 words
0 Points 5 Points 10 Points 15 Points 20 Points
Student did not participate in
this forum
13. Student participated on but
did not respond to other
student posts
Student participated but only
responded to one
Student participated and
commented on two other
student's posts
Student actively
participated, responded to at
least two other students'
posts, and replied to other
students' comments on their
original post.
Total Score 0
Frequency of
Participation
Reference to
Course Readings
Language and
Grammar
DISCUSSION FORUM RUBRIC