Major Approaches to Psychology Part I the Ubiquity of Freudian Theory In
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9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner The Ubiquity of Freudian Theory in Everyday Life • “He drives that Corvette because it’s really phallic” Major Approaches to Psychology • “My roommate is busy alphabetizing her shirts. She’s so anal!” Part I • “His mother is really domineering. No wonder he’s so screwed up.” The Psychoanalytic (Freudian) • “She’s unhappy because she’s so uptight and Approach repressed.” • “If only Mel had an outlet so that he could vent his hostility and channel it into more productive activities, he wouldn’t have shot up the post office with an Uzi.” Sigmund Freud • Some biographical facts. 1856-1939. • Background in neurology: – Aphasia – Hypnosis – Cocaine 1 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner Sigmund Freud, continued Components of Freudian Theory • Radical themes: • 1. Psychic energy (The hydraulic model) – Unconscious mind – Libido – Irrationality – Sexuality – Repression – Hidden conflict – Importance of childhood – Lack of accidents • Comparison with Copernicus, Darwin Components of Freudian The Id (“it”) Theory, continued • The pleasure principle: Gratification of desire. • Primary process thinking. • 2. The Structural Theory – Infancy – Superego – Dreams • House = body – Ego • King & Queen = mom & dad – Id • Children = genitals • Playing with children = ... • Journey = death • Stairs = sex • Bath = birth – “Freudian Slips” – Free association – Psychosis 2 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner Primary process thinking of the Structural theory, cont.: Id, continued 2. The Ego • Symbolization & displacement – Phallic symbols • The reality principle. – Father figures • Delay of gratification. – Etc… • Secondary process thinking. • Uses libido to control id: • Repression and censorship Structural theory, cont.: 3. Components of Freudian The Superego Theory, continued • Conscience • The Topographic Theory • Identification with parents, internalization – The conscious mind of their rules and values before they are – The preconscious mind understood. – The unconscious mind • Anxiety 3 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner Relation of the topographic Components of Freudian theory to the structural theory Theory, continued • The Developmental Theory (“Psychosexual Stages”) • Each stage: – Physical focus of libido (erogenous zones) – Psychological theme – Adult character type • The advancing-army metaphor. Fixation, Regression. Freud’s Developmental Freud’s Developmental Theory,continued Theory,continued • 1. Oral stage (Birth – 18 months) • 2. Anal stage (Two’s) – Breast-feeding: Automatic gratification of – Theme: control, self-control, obedience desire – Conflict: toilet training – Theme: dependency – Too tough: “Anal retentive.” Orderly, stingy, – Conflict: weaning stubborn – Too early: too independent – Too easy: “Anal expulsive.” – Too late: too dependent and entitled – Toilet training à Ego – Oral fixation, regression 4 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner Freud’s Developmental Freud’s Developmental Theory,continued Theory,continued • 3. Phallic stage (Three -- Four) • Boys: – Notice that boys and girls are different – Oedipal feelings – Focus on penis • Desire for mother, hostility to father – Themes: – Castration anxiety • Love – Identification with father • Sex – If unresolved: • Fear • anxious promiscuity or asexuality • Jealousy • homosexuality Freud’s Developmental Freud’s Developmental Theory,continued Theory,continued • Girls: • Formulation of superego through – Penis envy identification – Electra complex • Freud vs. feminism: • Desire for father, hostility to mother – Penis envy – Identification with mother – Castration – If unresolved: – Seduction theory. • Flirts with older men, or dominates (castrates) them 5 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner Freud’s Developmental Neurosis Theory,continued • 4. Latency stage (Four – puberty) • Anxiety from superego (conscience) & ego • 5. Genital stage (practicality) repressing id. – “Generative” stage; maturity. Not always • Defense mechanisms of the ego: reached – Denial – Productivity; artistic, scientific creativity – Repression (don’t deny it, but don’t think about – “To love and to work” it either) – Theory of female orgasm – Reaction formation (gay-bashing, anti-porn, protesting too much) Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Neurosis, continued • Psychotherapist: Anyone who treats people with psychological problems (MD, PhD, social worker, guidance counselor, minister) – Projection • Psychiatrist: MD specializing in psychological – Rationalization (e.g., punishing for own good) problems. Can prescribe drugs – Displacement (smoke pipe, kick dog, throw • Clinical psychologist: PhD specializing in psychological problems. Can’t prescribe drugs; darts) can do testing. – Sublimation (e.g., dentistry, law, painting) • Psychoanalyst: Psychiatrist or psychologist who – Intellectualization has been trained in Freudian theory at a Psychoanalytic Institute and has undergone psychoanalysis. 6 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis in continued Intellectual Life • Identify conflicts via free association, slips, • Literary criticism, e.g., Hamlet dreams, resistance, defenses. Higgledy-piggledy, • Bring conflicts into consciousness; deal Hamlet of Elsinore rationally & emotionally with them Ruffled the critics by dropping this bomb: • “Talking cure.” “Phooey on Freud and his Psychoanalysis. • Transference Oedipus, schmoedipus, I just loved Mom.” • Practical trappings: couch, 50-minute hour, daily, for years. Cure? Psychoanalysis in Scientific Evaluation Intellectual Life • Literary criticism, e.g., Hamlet • Burden of proof for: • The arts, e.g., Psycho – Unparsimonious theory about unobservable entities • Politics, e.g., The Sixties – Remarkable claims (e.g., penis envy, Oedipal conflict) • Hidden desires + defense mechanisms = • Widespread assumptions unfalsifiability – Importance of early childhood • Contradictory predictions: Unresolved Oedipal – Hydraulic model feelings à asexuality, promiscuity, homosexuality – Repression • “Heads I win, tails you lose.” – symbolism 7 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner Scientific Evaluation, continued Scientific Evaluation • Where’s the evidence that: • Failures of some tests: – Weaning too early causes independence? – Oedipal conflict (Trobrianders) – Weaning too late causes entitlement? – Dreams – Toilet-training too early causes obsessiveness? – Schizophrenia, autism, etc. – Toilet-training too late causes laxness? – Childhood & personality – Etc. – Psychoanalytic psychotherapy (vs. drugs) The Behaviorist Approach (Stimulus-Response, Skinnerian) • Behaviorist ideas in every life: Major Approaches to Psychology – “He’s really fat because he was brought up to Part II associate food with love.” – “Women have been conditioned to be nice and The Behaviorist Approach to defer to men.” (Stimulus-Response, Skinnerian) – “Our culture reinforces boys for aggression.” – “I don’t believe that your dog is feeling guilty; you’re just anthropomorphizing him.” 8 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner The Behaviorist Approach, continued • Rolling Stones: – Oh, yeah, when you call my name I salivate like Pavlov’s dogs. 1. Environmentalism & Learning – Traditional idea: criminality, genius, morality, etc., were “in the blood.” Components of the – John B. Watson: Behaviorist Approach • Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. 9 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner 3. Stimulus-Response 2. Behaviorism Theory • A philosophy of psychology: Anti-mentalism • Two major learning mechanisms • Taboo: beliefs, desires, wishes, memories, (“conditioning”) images, emotions, ideas, feelings, perceptions, – Classical conditioning expectations, … – Operant conditioning • OK: stimuli, responses, reinforcers (rewards) • Explanation by – Current stimulus situation – Past history of learning Classical Conditioning • Other names: Pavlovian conditioning, respondant conditioning, conditioned reflex • Respondants versus operants – similar to “involuntary” versus “voluntary.” 10 9.00 Introduction to Psychology – Fall 2001 Prof. Steven Pinker Week 2, Lecture 1: Major Approaches to Psychology I: Freud & Skinner Operant Conditioning • Other name: Instrumental conditioning; Reinforcement; the Law of Effect. • Thorndike and his cats. 11 9.00 Introduction to