Neo- Freudians

1. Neo- Freudians

3. The Neo-Freudians are personality theorists who started their careers as followers of Freud but eventually disagreed on some of the basic principles of his theory.

4. They disagreed with the importance Freud placed on psychosexual development and the importance of childhood experiences on personality development. • Though they believed childhood experiences do play a role in development, future goals in middle age are more important for personality development.

5. Carl Jung • Shared Freud’s emphasis on unconscious processes

7. Personal unconscious • That part of the unconscious mind containing an individuals thoughts and feelings • Collective unconscious • The part of the unconscious that is inherited and common to all members of a species • The inherited images common to all humans

8. Archetypes • The images/ideas/categories in the collective unconscious • Examples of archetypes Jung mentions most frequently • Shadow • Persona • Anima • Animus

9. Shadow • Represents the repressed, unconscious drives & desires of the personal unconscious, the “dark side” of all humans

10. Persona • Our public self, the front a person puts on to other people • The mask that makes the person and others believe that he/she is an individual, when he/she is actually acting a role through which the collective unconscious speaks

11. Anima • Only men are supposed to have an anima, an internalized feminine image • The anima is based on a man’s real experiences with women, particularly his mother, sisters, and other family members, as well as the collective male experience throughout history • This anima determines a man’s relationship to women and helps compensate for his otherwise one-sided masculine view

12. Animus • Similarly, a woman has an animus, her internalized personification of all masculinity

13. Attitude Types • Extroverts • Focus on external world and social life • Introverts • Focus on internal thoughts and feelings • Jung felt that everyone had both qualities, but one is usually dominant

14. Personality Types • Rational individuals • People who regulate their actions through thinking and feeling • Irrational individuals • People who base their actions on perceptions, either through their senses or intuition

15. Alfred Adler • The central core of personality is no the question of repressed sexual drives, but a sense of inferiority, for which the individual strives to compensate

16. In Adler’s view, healthy people are motivated by goals related to others, while neurotic personalities are self-centered. • According to Adler, Oedipus complex represents a need to be better than the father.

17. Compensation • Our efforts to overcome real or perceived weaknesses • Inferiority complex • Fixation on feelings of personal inferiority that can lead to emotional and social paralysis

18. Karen Horney • Perhaps the most famous of the post-Freudian “cultural school” psychologists

19. Argued against Freud’s claim that developmental stages are biologically determined • Horney argued that culture has an important role in development

20. Horney is especially well-known for her criticisms of Freud’s views on female development

21. Viewed anxiety as a powerful motivating force • Environmental and social factors important seen as being as important as unconscious sexual conflict

22. Evaluating Psychodynamic Theories

23. Contributions • They suggested that early experiences can shape our personality and that personality can best be understood by examining its development • Freud encouraged psychologists to study human emotions and motivation • The concept of the unconscious is still valuable to many psychologists • They developed psychotherapies based on their theories

24. Criticisms • Psychodymanic theories are largely untestable in any scientific way • Data to support these theories often come form case studies of individual clients or from client’s memories – memories may be flawed & therapists, may see what they expect to see based on their theoretical orientation • Freud’s theory is sexist and biased against women