Psychoanalysis: Freud, Jung, Adler

Imp. Questions
 Explain the roles of Super Ego.
 Explain the stages of psychosexual development given by Freud.
 Define Psychoanalysis
 Assess the major contribution of Jung
 Write a detailed note on Freudian psychoanalysis

Freud: Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a school developed in a very different environment from other schools it is developed in a
medical and clinical tradition unlike the other school of thoughts which are developed by the people who
conducted experiments to verify their hypothesis and expand their theories.

Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud who was a practicing physician and Jew by birth. He used the
term psychoanalysis in three senses, first, it was a method of treating mentally ill people, second, it was a
theory of personality and third it was a school or system of psychology.

Definition: Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory and therapeutic method developed by Sigmund Freud. It
explores the unconscious mind, emphasizing the role of unconscious conflicts in shaping behavior and
personality. Freud believed that unresolved conflicts from childhood experiences could manifest in adulthood
as psychological symptoms.

Features of Psychoanalysis:

1. Unconscious Mind: Central to psychoanalysis is the idea that much of human behavior is driven by
unconscious processes and conflicts.

2. Defence Mechanisms: Freud proposed that individuals employ defence mechanisms to cope with
anxiety arising from unconscious conflicts.

3. Importance of early childhood: Psychoanalysis suggests our early experiences, especially

during psychosexual development stages, have a lasting impact on our personality.
4. Free Association: This technique involves patients freely expressing their thoughts, feelings, and
memories without censorship, allowing the therapist to uncover unconscious material.

5. Dream Analysis: Freud believed dreams are a window into the unconscious mind and can reveal
hidden desires and conflicts.

6. Developmental Stages: Freud proposed psychosexual stages of development, such as the oral, anal,
phallic, latency, and genital stages, each associated with specific conflicts and fixations.

Contribution of Freudian psychoanalysis

1. Levels of consciousness –
According to Psycho Dynamic Approach of Freud there are three levels of consciousness
A. Conscious which includes mental elements-the thoughts, feelings and actions of which
people are aware of or are aware at given moment. Freud pointed out that only a small part
of mental life is consciousness in his famous iceberg analogy.
B. Preconscious which includes the mental activity of people which may become aware only if
attended to it closely or with some difficulty. It is also called available memory. It also acts as
a bridge between conscious and unconscious as sometimes some ideas come via this state.
 C. Unconscious includes mental activity that people are unaware of. It is the largest part of the
mind these ideas are mostly related to childhood experience and sexual desires as well as
conflict. Unsuccessful resolution of conflicts results in abnormal behavior. Analysis of
forgetting mispronunciation jokes and dreams provide us with a means to approach the
unconscious and Psychoanalysis is a therapeutic procedure which have the goal to bring
repressed unconscious material into consciousness.
2. Structure of mind/personality: Ig, Ego, Superego
A. Id: A taste source of persons instinctual energy it deals with immediate gratification of
primitive needs sexual desires and aggressive impulses it works on pleasure principle which
assumes that a person seeks pleasure and try to avoid pain it does not care about moral
value society or other individuals or any law.
B. Ego: It grows out of ID and seeks to satisfy an individual instinctual need in accordance with
reality. It works on reality principle and often directed the it towards the appropriate ways of
behaving for in order to maintain the integrity of individual. Example, the id of a boy wants
an ice cream tells him to grab the cone and eat it but his ego tells that cone must be grabbed
after asking otherwise he may be punished.
C. Superego: It is the moral branch of mental functioning. It tells the id and the ego whether
gratification in a particular instance is ethical. For example, if the boy sees and wants an ice
cream cone, he asks his mother that will indicate that his behavior is molecularly correct and
it will not create the feeling of guilt or anxiety. It is guided by idealistic principle.
3. Theory of Instincts: Instincts are the psychological or mental representation of bodily excitations or
need to fulfill physiological need. for example, thirst instinct to derive from water deficit in body cells
Instinct is an internal drive that operates as a constant motivational force it originates from id but
comes under control of the ego.
There are two categories of instincts the life instinct and death instinct-
 Eros (Life Instinct): The drive for survival, growth, and pleasure, including sexual desires and the drive
for love and connection. Energy of sex instinct or life force that energises id is known as libido.
 Thanatos (Death Instinct): The drive toward self-destruction, murder, suicide, cruelty and aggression.
4. Defence mechanism: According to Freud much of the human behavior reflects an attempt to deal or
escape from anxiety (Emotionally unpleasant state that is followed by a physical association with
signals the person against impending danger) he believed that people avoid anxiety mainly by
developing defence mechanism that try to defend the ego against the awareness of the instinctual
needs.
Ego Defence Mechanisms are some strategies which ego adopt to protect ego from the expression of
impulses and opposing super ego directive. It operates on an unconscious level and are self-deceptive,
they tend to distort person’s sense of reality.
Examples:
I. Repression: It is a process that forces the unwanted feelings that are threatening to ego into
the state of unconscious.
II. Reaction formation: In this the person defends against anxiety by adopting the behaviors
opposite to his or her true feelings for example a person with strong sexual urges channels
her energy into religious fervor.
III. Projection: It is a mechanism by which the person finds in others those unacceptable feelings
and impulses that actually reside in him for example a student who fails in examination easily
attributes the reason of his failure to professor who did not tort him properly.
IV. Regression: It is a mechanism in which during the times of stress and anxiety a person reverts
back to the earlier stage of psychosexual development or to some simpler mode of
expression for example A young lady after fighting with her husband moves to her parents’
home just to “baby” her or fulfill her every wish.
V. Rationalization: The person tries to distort reality and protect his ego by making irrational
behavior appearing rational. For example, when a boy buys a set of new pens after doing
holding an examination may try to rationalize his behavior by asserting that he will do better
with these new pens.
 VI. Displacement: In this mechanism the person protects his ego by redirecting his impulses
from threatening person or situations to less threatening one. For example, a child is scolded
by his father may hit his younger siblings.
VII. Fixation: When due to the apprehension of some anxiety at the next stage of psychosexual
development ego prefers to maintain at a present stage which is more comfortable it results
to fixation. For example, even at the age of 12 the child may sake thumb and feel frightened
in going anywhere without his parents.
5. The stages of psychosexual development: According to Stuart there are five stages:
I. Oral stage: It extends from the birth of the second year of life during. In this stage the
instincts are focused on the mouth which is the primary pleasure-seeking center. from mouth
the baby obtains the food that reduces the hunger the infant achieves oral gratification
through feeding, thumb sucking, biting and babbling during this. The Childs developed the
feeling of trust-mistrust during this stage.
II. Anal stage: It extends from second year to third year of life at this stage erogenous zone zone
shift from mouth to anal region and the child gets considerable pleasure from both retention
and expulsion of feces. During this stage parents demand the child to control the bodily
function of urination and defecation. During this stage the basis of conflict between id and
ego is developed.
III. Phallic stage: This stage covers the period from 3rd and 5-6 years of life during this stage the
era genius zone shifts from inner region to genitals and the child begins to realize the
difference between males and females. Oedipus complex in boys and Electra Complex in girls
is developed during this stage. Oedipus Complex means the sexual attachment of son with his
mother and hostility towards father and Electra complex means sexual attachment of
daughter with father. Resolution of these two complexes by Giving up the sexual feelings for
their parents and seeing them as a role model rather than rivals and identify with them.
IV. Latency stage: This stage covers the age between five to 11 years approximately at this stage
sexual urges and instincts are repressed and much of the child’s energy which is the libido is
channeled into social or achievement related activities.
V. Genital stage: It starts with the onset of Puberty and rearousal of the sexual interest towards
the opposite sex, the sex organs mature and endocrine glands become active with the result
that some secondary sexual characteristics appear. Here the people learn to deal with the
members of a opposite sex in socially and sexually matured way.

Criticism:
Non verifiability of data- data coming from Free Association and dream analysis can’t be replicated
and therefore can’t be verified.
Over emphasis upon sex
Unscientific concepts

Carl Jung
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology, a school of
thought that diverged from some aspects of Freudian psychoanalysis. Jung's work expanded the
understanding of the human psyche, emphasizing the exploration of the unconscious and the
collective unconscious. He was an associate of 3 wood to rebel against him.
Analytical psychology: Analytical psychology is a comprehensive psychological theory developed by
Jung that emphasizes the exploration of the unconscious and the integration of both conscious and
unconscious aspects of the psyche. Unlike Freud, who focused primarily on individual unconscious
dynamics, Jung extended his theory to include collective unconscious elements shared by all humans.

Collective unconscious:
 It consists of the Primordial images that includes memory traces not only from our human past but
also from a prehuman and animal ancestry. These images are recorded of those experiences that have
passed from one generation to another, our distant ancestors experiences with God, sun and earth
which are transmitted from one generation to another are restored in collective unconscious. the
contents of collective unconscious consist of ancient and archaic images that’s why they are called
archetypes (universal symbols or themes that appear in myths, dreams, and literature across
cultures).
Types of archetypes-
The persona- Persona is the mass that people exhibit before public it reflects the way a person wishes
to be perceived by others.
Anima and Animus – Jung reported that all human beings are bisexual and possesses both a
masculine and feminine side the feminine side of the male represents enema and the masculine side
of the female represent animals
Shadow – it is the animal instincts that human beings have inherited through their evolutionary cycles
Self – It is the one which motivates the person towards the wholeness. It governs the process of
individuation that is useful and creative aspect of unconscious and is made productive and conscious.
According to Jung a person must become increasingly aware of the wisdom available in one’s
personal and collective unconscious and must learn to live in harmony with it

Attitude and function:

Jung proposed that individuals possess two fundamental attitudes toward the world: introversion and
extraversion.

 Introversion: Characterized by a focus on internal thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Introverts tend
to be reflective, reserved, and prefer solitary activities.
 Extraversion: Characterized by a focus on external stimuli, social interaction, and the external world.
Extraverts tend to be outgoing, sociable, and enjoy engaging with others.\

Jung also identified four primary psychological functions, which are ways of perceiving and processing
information:
1. Thinking: Involves logical analysis and decision-making based on objective criteria to understand the
world
2. Feeling: Involves subjective judgments based on personal values and emotions.
3. Sensation: Involves the perception of sensory information about environment and oneself.
4. Intuition: Involves perceiving patterns, connections, and possibilities beyond the immediate sensory
data or in other words unconscious perception.
Each individual has a dominant function, which influences their personality and behavior, as well as an
auxiliary function, which supports and complements the dominant function

Psychic energy

In Jungian psychology, the concept of psychic energy refers to the dynamic force that drives psychological
processes and behaviours. Two key principles associated with Jung's concept of psychic energy are the
Principle of Equivalence and the Principle of Entropy

Principle of Equivalence: The Principle of Equivalence states that psychic energy is a finite and limited resource
within the psyche. This principle suggests that when psychic energy is expended in one area of the psyche, it is
drawn away from other areas. Psychic energy may be transformed but not lost. For example, if an individual
expends a significant amount of psychic energy on intellectual pursuits, they may have less energy available for
emotional expression or social interactions. Similarly, intense emotional experiences may deplete psychic
energy that could otherwise be used for cognitive tasks.

Principle of entropy: This principle states that when two bodies are kept together the energy from higher
charges tend to flow to the lower charges until they are equal. This principle states as there are a tendency
towards a balance energy charge among the various systems. this principle brings stability in the functions and
results in certain kind of attitudes in person. For example, if the attitude of introversion and actor version is
relatively equal in strength a new stable attitude somewhere near the midpoint will emerge and will be
stabilized but if anyone of this attitude is greater than tension will be emerged which can lead to abnormal
behavior.

Personality development: in a screening personality development he used 2 terms:

 Individuation which refers to the process of becoming an individual or whole person and
 Transcendent function which refers to going beyond ordinary development by bringing together all
different parts of personality in harmony by integrating unconscious with conscious material and
integrating different aspects of personality into meaningful whole.

Adler
Alfred Adler was an Austrian psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded the school of individual
psychology. He made several significant contributions to the field of psychology: Adler’s theory is known as
individual psychology’s basic assumption is that human behavior is purposeful and goal oriented each one of us
has a capacity to choose and create. Our personal goal is the source of our motivation. The goals that provide
us with security and help us in overcoming the feelings of inadequacy are important in our personality
development.

Organ Inferiority and Compensation: Adler proposed the concept of organ inferiority, suggesting that
individuals may feel inadequate or inferior due to physical or psychological limitations. Compensation refers to
the individual's efforts to overcome these feelings of inferiority by developing strengths or abilities in other
areas. For example, a person with a physical disability may compensate by developing exceptional intellectual
abilities or social skills.

Striving for Superiority: Adler believed that the primary motivating force behind human behavior is the desire
for superiority or perfection (it is innate or by birth). Individuals strive to overcome feelings of inferiority and
achieve a sense of mastery and competence in various aspects of their lives. This striving for superiority can
manifest in both positive and negative ways, influencing behavior and personality development.

Style of Life: Adler proposed that each individual develops a unique style of life, which represents their
characteristic way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. This style of life is shaped by early childhood experiences,
social relationships, and the individual's efforts to compensate for feelings of inferiority. It reflects the
individual's goals, values, attitudes, and beliefs about themselves and the world. Alfred proposed 4 general
lifestyle attitudes these are the ruling type(The dominate towards others and as little social interest), avoiding
type(It is characterized by having attitude of general avoidance and withdrawal that is accompanied by little
social interest) , getting type(They are interested in getting as many possible for mothers they’re too much
dependent upon others and may become neurotic in an extreme stressful situation) and socially useful type(It
is the one that does the behavior which is useful to society such person is active and has high social
interest ,they try to solve social problems and Encourage Corporation)

Creative Power: Adler believed that individuals possess a creative power to interpret and shape their own
reality through their subjective perceptions and beliefs. This creative power allows individuals to construct
their own narratives, meanings, and interpretations of their experiences, which influence their thoughts,
feelings, and behaviours. According to Adler, individuals are not passive recipients of their circumstances but
active agents who actively interpret and make sense of their world.

Fictional Finalism: Fictional finalism refers to the idea that individuals are motivated by subjective goals, ideals,
or "fictions" that guide their behavior and decision-making. These fictions are subjective beliefs or imagined
future states that individuals strive toward, even if they may not reflect objective reality. Adler proposed that
fictional finalism serves as a guiding principle for individuals, providing direction and purpose in their lives.
These fictions may include aspirations, dreams, values, or idealized images of the self. While these fictions may
not necessarily correspond to reality, they influence individuals' perceptions, attitudes, and actions. For
example, a person may have a fiction of becoming a successful entrepreneur, despite facing numerous
obstacles and setbacks. This fiction serves as a motivating force, driving the individual to persist in the face of
challenges and pursue their goals.

Birth Order: Adler proposed that an individual's position in the family birth order influences personality
development. He suggested that the roles and experiences associated with being the oldest, middle, youngest,
or only child shape an individual's personality traits, social relationships, and psychological characteristics.

Firstborn Children: Early Spotlight: They initially enjoy being the centre of attention, receiving undivided
parental care.

 Dethronement: The arrival of a sibling can lead to feelings of dethronement and a need to regain
attention.
 Develop Responsibility: They may become responsible and rule-oriented, striving to maintain
their place.
 Potential Challenges: Feelings of being "dethroned" can lead to insecurity or a sense of
entitlement.

Second-Born Children: Always Second: They enter a world where an older sibling is already established.

 Competitive Drive: This position can foster a competitive spirit, striving to surpass the firstborn.
 Feeling Unique: They may develop a strong sense of individuality to stand out from their sibling.
 Potential Challenges: Can develop feelings of inferiority or rebellion if they struggle to find their
own niche.

Middle Children: Feeling Squeezed: They might feel "sandwiched" between siblings, lacking the special
attention of the firstborn or the "baby of the family" status.

 Negotiation Skills: May develop strong negotiation and mediation skills to navigate their position.
 Seeking Attention: Can become attention-seeking or develop a rebellious streak to stand out.
 Potential Challenges: May struggle with feelings of being overlooked or develop a sense of being
average.

Last-Born Children: Pampered Position: They often enjoy being the "baby" of the family, receiving a lot of
attention and pampering. Lack of Responsibility: May have less pressure to take on responsibilities compared
to older siblings. Charming and Optimistic: Often develop a charming and optimistic personality. Potential
Challenges: Can become spoiled, lacking independence, or struggle with delayed responsibility.

Lone child: They have no sibling to compete and hence he has to compete with his parents this child has an
inflated cell concept and executed sense of superiority and too much dependent on other cell lack of feelings
of cooperation and social interest.

Social Interest: Adler emphasized the concept of social interest which refers to an individual's concern for the
welfare of others and their engagement in social relationships and community life. Social interest involves
empathy, cooperation, and a sense of responsibility toward others. Adler viewed social interest as a crucial
factor in achieving psychological well-being and personal fulfilment (motivates the person to strive for success
in healthy way). Individuals with high levels of social interest are more likely to Form positive relationships and
maintain supportive social networks. Contribute to their communities and society as a whole. Experience a
sense of belonging and purpose.