Chapter 3

1. Chapter 3 ~ Psychoanalytic Psychology ~ Becoming conscious of the unconscious

2. Sigmund Freud • The first and most influential psychologist to theorize about the unconscious • Most of our behavior is the result of unconscious motives • Freud believed that although humans construct impressive technologies to ward of nature’s destructive powers, their efforts are only temporarily successful: “The principle task of civilization, its actual raison d’être, is to defend us against nature.”

3. The basis and basics of Freud’s theory: • Much of our behavior is a result of unconscious motivations • Conflict is universal, chronic, inevitable, and painful • In order to reduce pain, humans unconsciously protect themselves against unwanted thoughts, feelings, and desires, using defenses to disguise and contain their anxiety

4. Id: pleasure principle • Pleasure-seeking, appetitive desires, irrational, illogical, and impulsive • Ego: the reality principle • Realistic, rational, mediating • Super Ego: moral principle learned from parents and society • Moralistic, judgmental, perfectionist

5. Consider the conflict when buying a fast-food hamburger: • The id: experiences hunger and desire • The ego: considers price, convenience, and nutrition • The superego: might ask about the moral implication of contributing to environmental and social damage

6. DEFENSE MECHANISMS • Rationalization – when people create an attractive but untrue explanation • Intellectualization – when people distance themselves emotionally by describing something in abstract terms • Displacement – when people express feelings toward a less threatening target • Suppression – the conscious attempt to put anxiety-provoking thoughts out of one’s mind • Repression – the unconscious process of putting anxiety-provoking thoughts out of one’s mind

7. Denial– when people insist that the anxiety-provoking information does not exist • Reaction formation – when people express the extreme opposite of what they consider unacceptable • Projection – when people perceive in others what they fail to notice in themselves • Sublimation – a mature and healthy defense mechanism when people channel unconscious anxiety into socially-acceptable projects • Apathy* – indifference/boredom that protects us

8. Neo-FreudianObject Relations Theory: Re-experiencing the Mother • People develop their sense of self from their interactions with others, particularly the person who was their primary caretaker (a biological or adoptive mother or father, or other caretaker) • Helps explain why some people care so passionately about environmental conditions or the well-being of other species, future generations, and other people in far off lands

9. Most luxury items function to fulfill pleasure as well as status: • People enjoy not only what the object gives them but also what is says about them Overcompensation is driven by a false self-processIfattention withdrawn too early: • Trust in the outer world will be damaged • Healthy functioning requires that people have faith that their needs will be met

10. A Freudian perspective on creating a sustainable world: • Be willing to experience your own despair, anxiety, sadness, or anger • Express those feelings fully, in a safe place • Recognize your own defenses and gently work with them • Recognize your own unconscious needs • Choose behaviors that contribute to the creation of a sustainable world • Allow and forgive inconsistencies, ambivalence, anxiety, or inefficient attempts