Deck 3: Psychoanalytic Aspects of Personality

Question 1

Freud went to Paris to study with the famous neuropathologist J. M. Charcot, who was studying

A) penis envy.
B) sexual development.
C) dreams.
D) evolution.
E) hysteria.

Answer 1

hysteria.

Question 2

"Hysteria," common in the 1800s, most often exhibited itself through these symptom(s).

A) Uncontrollable verbal outbursts
B) Gastrointestinal symptoms
C) Various forms of paralysis
D) Seizures and migraines
E) Intense itching and burning of the skin

Answer 2

Various forms of paralysis

Question 3

What is the technique of "free association?"

A) Spontaneous and free-flowing association of thoughts and feelings
B) A defense mechanism as defined by Freud
C) Material that a person remembers and consciously considers
D) How the id, ego, and superego communicate with each other
E) How friends associate with each other when they get together

Answer 3

Spontaneous and free-flowing association of thoughts and feelings

Question 4

Freud's theory dealt with sexuality because

A) his sexually repressed Victorian-era patients were troubled by inner conflicts and tensions.
B) he was ashamed of his own sexual desires.
C) he thought only neurotic people experienced sexual tensions.
D) he was very religious and wanted to purge people of their sexual compulsions.
E) all of these.

Question 5

Freud believed that dreams had two aspects: their

A) manifest and latent content.
B) individual meaning and the collective unconscious.
C) social and sexual meaning.
D) sexual and psychosexual content.
E) male and female interpretations.

Question 6

What is the "latent content" of a dream, according to Freud?

A) Its underlying hidden meaning
B) The information about the dream that is recalled upon awakening
C) Amnesia
D) Our conscious memories of the emotions of the dream
E) Reaction formation

Question 7

Freudian theory would likely interpret a dream in which someone tries over and over (but fails) to scale a mountain to reach a friend as indicating

A) jealousy toward that friend.
B) violent urges (to "knock off " that friend).
C) fear of not being physically fit (body image).
D) fear for that friend's life.
E) secret lust for that friend.

Question 8

According to Freudian theory, how might dreams be similar to icebergs?

A) We underestimate our need to defend against them.
B) They are cold and impersonal.
C) They are rare but beautiful.
D) Examining them too closely is dangerous.
E) A small part shows and much is hidden.

Question 9

When Freud commented that "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," he was referring to the fact that

A) it was not a lack of ego-control that led men to smoke.
B) dreamers with mental problems often smoked.
C) he tended to interpret many long, pointy objects as phallic symbols.
D) cigars were believed to be less dangerous than cigarettes.
E) women were not allowed to smoke because it was seen as masculine.

Question 10

What is the "id"?

A) The part of personality that is unsocialized and only concerned with basic needs
B) The part of personality that monitors the rest of the personality
C) The conscious part of personality
D) The part of personality that internalizes societal rules
E) The moral part of personality

Question 11

In psychoanalytic theory, the id has __________ as a main goal.

A) accommodating social demands
B) obtaining pleasure
C) service to other people
D) development of a strong marriage
E) keeping the ego under control

Question 12

The ego

A) is a Freudian synonym for "stuck-up."
B) operates on the "morality principle."
C) seeks pleasure at any cost.
D) looks for realistic ways to satisfy the id.

Question 13

An 11-year-old boy is getting bullied at school and has to make a decision what to do about it. According to Freud's theory on the structure of the mind, which scenario best describes a decision made by the ego?

A) The boy feels so angry when the bullies attack him that he can't control his reaction, and he punches and kicks them.
B) The boy decides that even though he would like to beat the boys up, he was taught it is morally wrong to fight, and he will have to find some other way to get the bullying to stop.
C) The boy realizes that if he were to get into a fight with the bullies during the school day, he might get in trouble with the school, so he decides to wait until after school to teach the bullies a lesson.
D) The boy experiences an irrational fear of castration, even though he knows the bullies only intend to steal his lunch money, and he runs for his life.
E) The boy has fantasies of bringing a gun to school and shooting the bullies next time, even though he has no access to any guns.

Question 14

The job of the superego is to

A) make the id more realistic.
B) internalize the moral rules of society.
C) put us in touch with our dreams.
D) seek pleasure.

Question 15

Which situation best describes the actions of the superego?

A) A baby cries because she is hungry.
B) A boy cleans up his room in order to get dessert after dinner.
C) A man waits for a bus at a bus stop, and becomes impatient when it does not arrive at the scheduled time.
D) A teacher shows up to work on time because she can't afford to lose her job.
E) A married man always chooses not to cheat on his wife because his religious beliefs deem adultery an immoral act.

Question 16

The __________ operates under the "pleasure principle," while the __________ operates under the "reality principle."

A) id; ego
B) ego; id
C) id; superego
D) ego; superego
E) superego; ego

Question 17

When the ego and superego do not do their job properly

A) the unconscious mind ceases to function.
B) an individual's personality becomes hidden.
C) a person's urge to find gratification is stunted.
D) what Freud termed the Over-I must rule over the superego.
E) elements of the id may slip out and be seen.

Question 18

According to Freudians, why do "Freudian slips" occur more often when we are tired or distracted?

A) They don't occur more often; we just remember them better.
B) Defenses are down, and the unconscious slips out.
C) We are more likely to daydream.
D) We get tired of consciously holding back true feelings.
E) Fatigue contributes to weakness of the facial muscles.

Question 19

Freudian theory uses the term "libido" to refer to

A) the psychic energy that is the basis of drive or motivation.
B) the child's internalization of societal norms.
C) the child's belief that girls were born with penises, but have suffered castration.
D) a boy's fear that his father will castrate him.
E) the ability of mature individuals to make realistic compromises.

Question 20

Which is not one of the five Freudian stages of psychosexual development?

A) Oral
B) Vaginal
C) Phallic
D) Anal
E) Latency

Question 21

From Freud's perspective, a likely reason for someone to become fixated at the oral stage is that he or she

A) grew up in a home where everyone shouted.
B) was toilet trained too late.
C) was weaned from breastfeeding too early.
D) grew up in a home where everyone talked a lot.
E) suffered a mouth injury that gave pleasure when it healed.

Question 22

What best describes behaviors that would result from a fixation in the oral stage of development?

A) Becoming an uptight, anal-retentive person
B) Obsessing over the small things in life
C) Smoking, biting, chewing, and sucking hard candy
D) Being frightened of the dark easily
E) The "Oedipus complex"

Question 23

Someone who is fixated at the anal stage might

A) get a lot of pleasure from activities such as eating, drinking, and smoking.
B) reject social contact.
C) be overly neat and organized.
D) have a severe phobia of toilets.
E) masturbate excessively.

Question 24

Which trait is not associated with the anal character type?

A) Parsimony
B) Inflexibility
C) Orderliness
D) Obstinacy
E) Dependency

Question 25

Psychoanalysts would most likely predict which of the following outcomes in adulthood for a child who was severely punished every time he dirtied his diapers?

A) A tendency to be athletic ("run away")
B) A tendency toward alcoholism (drown stress)
C) A tendency toward being overweight (full load)
D) A tendency to seek out many and varied sexual partners (dirty)
E) A tendency to save things, like a "pack rat" (stingy)

Question 26

A phobia is

A) an Oedipal complex where snake envy is king.
B) an excessive or incapacitating fear.
C) the third stage of psychosexual development.
D) a theory based on dream imagery.

Question 27

In Freud's "Analysis of a Phobia in a Five-Year-Old Boy," Little Hans claimed to be afraid of

A) heights and pointy mountains.
B) snakes.
C) horses.
D) his father's penis.
E) his stepmother.

Question 28

Freud attributed Little Hans' phobia of horses to

A) erotic consciousness.
B) overdeveloped libido from excessive bathing.
C) existential oral anxiety.
D) overcompensation for feelings of inferiority.
E) the Oedipus conflict.

Question 29

According to Freud, a male infant FIRST develops attachment to his __________, and a female infant to her ___________.

A) mother; mother
B) father; father
C) father; mother
D) mother; father
E) There is no consistent pattern.

Question 30

What best describes the "Oedipus complex"?

A) A little boy's fear of being castrated
B) A little girl's fear of having a penis
C) A boy's sexual feelings for his mother and rivalry with his father
D) A boy's rivalry with his mother and sexual feelings for his father
E) A boy's sexual feelings for his mother and rivalry with his other siblings for his mother's full attention

Question 31

The __________ complex is the term given to the female version of the "Oedipus complex"?

A) Oedipustine
B) Bathory
C) Freudian
D) Electra
E) Homer

Question 32

The years between the phallic and genital stages is called the ___________ period.

A) Oedipal
B) phallo intermediary
C) latency
D) parietal
E) Electra

Question 33

According to Freud, a deep unconscious conflict for women centers on

A) the need for affiliation.
B) a repressed wish to possess a penis.
C) a repressed tendency toward overcontrol due to fixation at the oral stage of psychosexual development.
D) sexual love for her mother.

Question 34

Freud believed that women in abusive relationships were there because

A) they were seeking revenge.
B) they were uneducated.
C) societal constraints kept them there.
D) they were masochistic.
E) they were fixated.

Question 35

In Freud's usage, a "defense mechanism" has the effect of

A) protecting the person's consciousness from threatening material.
B) helping an individual improve his or her self-awareness.
C) improving people's ability to remember traumatic events in their lives.
D) re-creating the infantile state of simple needs.
E) motivating a person to take a strong stance in support of his or her beliefs.

Question 36

The ego-protective defense mechanism in which traumatic events are pushed into the unconscious is called

A) depression.
B) reaction formation.
C) repression.
D) projection.
E) none of these.

Question 37

A current controversy that is relevant to the idea of repression deals with

A) masturbation.
B) people's failing to recover their repressed memories.
C) vagueness of memories.
D) implantation of false memories by therapists.

Question 38

In Freud's time, many reports of childhood sexual molestation

A) resulted in the removal of the patients' children from them.
B) were widely publicized, leading to a rise of the fascists.
C) were followed up with court trials.
D) were thought to be imagined.
E) caused only minor psychological trauma to the victims.

Question 39

Reaction formation is when

A) the id takes over and the superego can no longer react.
B) socially unacceptable urges are stifled.
C) painful memories are repressed.
D) for each regression there is an equal and opposite projection.
E) unacceptable urges are transformed into their "opposites."

Question 40

When a televangelist like Jim Bakker passionately preaches religious morality in public while secretly engaging in immoral sex in private, this may be an example of which defense mechanism?

A) Displacement
B) Sublimation
C) Denial
D) Reaction formation
E) Repression

Question 41

An overweight woman who has a secret stash of candy in her office at work constantly criticizes everyone else about their calorie and fat intake and is always passing around the newest fad diet book to all her coworkers. Which of Freud's defense mechanisms best describes this situation?

A) Reaction formation
B) Regression
C) Denial
D) Displacement
E) Rationalization

Question 42

When terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center in New York, many people were missing. In many cases, their relatives stayed calm and looked for the missing in local hospitals. This calm response is likely due to relatives' use of the defense mechanism of

A) projection.
B) repression.
C) reaction formation.
D) denial.
E) sublimation.

Question 43

Rudy has unconscious urges to take things that are not his. He has never actually stolen anything, however. He works as a security guard at the mall and is very good at his job because he is very suspicious of others; he sees evidence of thieves all around him. In fact, almost every time he sees an unfamiliar face, he believes the individual to be dishonest and looking for something to snatch. Rudy's ego-defense mechanism is

A) displacement.
B) denial.
C) repression.
D) regression.
E) projection.

Question 44

Jewel does not get along with her employer, and today, she found out that she is going to be demoted next week. She didn't confront her boss; instead, when she got home, she yelled at her children and spanked her youngest child for a minor wrongdoing. Jewel's behavior is a classic example of

A) regression.
B) displacement.
C) sublimation.
D) denial.
E) projection.

Question 45

Sublimation occurs when

A) fixation occurs at the oral or anal stage of development.
B) dangerous memories are repressed.
C) unhealthy urges are transformed into socially acceptable behaviors.
D) personal impulses are projected onto others.

Question 46

Explaining great creativity like da Vinci's in terms of a redirection of tremendous sexual energy describes a process of

A) reaction formation.
B) displacement.
C) repression.
D) denial.
E) sublimation.

Question 47

A stressed woman who hides from her problems by climbing into her (older) husband's lap for comfort may be showing which defense mechanism?

A) Repression
B) Sublimation
C) Displacement
D) Regression
E) Denial

Question 48

A five-year-old boy has his first day of kindergarten the next day. The night before his first day, he begins to eat with his hands at the dinner table, cry when his mother won't dress him for bed, suck his thumb, and whine when his mother won't stay with him until he falls asleep. Which of Freud's defense mechanisms best describes this situation?

A) Repression
B) Regression
C) Rationalization
D) Remission
E) Regulation

Question 49

Regression in adults

A) does not exist.
B) is a feature of normal development.
C) provides a creative and enjoyable recreational outlet.
D) is much more common than in children.
E) is difficult to document.

Question 50

If Kathleen moves to another state (where her boyfriend also happens to reside), but she states that he had nothing to do with her decision, and that her only reason for moving is that she prefers the climate in the new state, she is most likely to be using __________ as an ego-defense mechanism.

A) regression
B) relational termination
C) rationalization
D) reaction formation
E) sublimation

Question 51

In his book Totem and Taboo, Freud traced the origin of civilization to the time when

A) the penis became a symbol of uncivilized behavior.
B) faces were carved into religious poles (phallic-like).
C) brothers came together and murdered the primal father of the tribe.
D) infantile amnesia characterized adults.
E) the first ape became lustful of his mother.

Question 52

Freud's view on free will is that

A) humans are born with free will.
B) humans gain free will after the phallic stage of development.
C) humans are driven by unconscious motivations, not free will.
D) humans only have free will if they want to have free will.
E) free will isn't important or worth discussing, according to Freud.

Question 53

Hypermnesia refers to

A) "lacking memory."
B) when people are unable to recall events from times when they were very physically active.
C) when people remember large amounts of information quickly.
D) remembering something on a later recall attempt that was not previously remembered.

Question 54

According to modern researchers such as Drew Westen,

A) Freud's discussion of gender differences is accurate.
B) Freud's theory is almost completely useless now.
C) Freud's most central insight was that much of mental life is unconscious.
D) Freud did not understand the human psyche very well.

Question 55

One successful way of uncovering memories in psychoanalysis is

A) free association.
B) sleep deprivation.
C) sublimation.
D) direct questioning by the psychoanalyst.
E) reading tarot cards.

Question 56

What is a major flaw in Freud's theory of "infantile amnesia"?

A) Many other theories support it, so there is no flaw.
B) It does not explain why all memories, even pleasant ones, are repressed.
C) It explains only why pleasant memories are suppressed.
D) Freud did not have a theory on "infantile amnesia."
E) The term is "infantile amnesia," yet it encompasses amnesia throughout a person's life.

Question 57

"Explicit memory" refers to what?

A) Unconscious motivations
B) The phenomenon of infantile amnesia
C) Memory of past sexual acts
D) Motivations to help people remember
E) Memories that can be directly recalled or recognized

Question 58

The inability to retrieve new memories shortly after an experience has occurred is called __________ amnesia.

A) anterograde
B) retrograde
C) selective
D) infantile
E) general

Question 59

Freud saw dreams as pieces and hints about the __________, which is the portion of the mind inaccessible to usual, conscious thought.

Question 60

According to psychoanalytic theory, the __________ content in dreams and most aspects of psychological experience are remembered and consciously considered by the person. The __________ content is the underlying hidden meanings of these experiences.

Question 61

In psychoanalytic theory, the undifferentiated core of personality that contains the basic psychic energy and motivations is known as the __________.

Question 62

The personality structure that develops to deal with the real world is called the __________.

Question 63

The __________ is the personality structure that emerges to internalize social and moral rules.

Question 64

The id operates according to the __________ principle, and so strives solely to satisfy its desires.

Question 65

Because solving real problems is essential in dealing with the world, the ego operates according to the __________ principle.

Question 66

Freud's psychosexual stages occur in the following order: 1) __________, 2) __________, 3) __________, 4) __________, 5) __________.

Question 67

According to the __________ theory of human development, humans go through five stages in their development.

Question 68

Our sexual energy is called the __________, which strives for relief from inner tensions.

Question 69

Freud used the term __________ to describe a boy's underlying sexual feelings toward his mother and his rivalry with his father over her affection.

Question 70

The unconscious fear of castration that results from a boy's struggle to deal with his love for his mother while knowing that he cannot overcome his father is called __________.

Question 71

__________ describes the phenomenon in which a girl develops feeling of inferiority and jealousy over her lack of a penis.

Question 72

The processes that distort reality to protect the ego against the painful and threatening impulses arising from the id are called __________.

Question 73

The __________ displacement model suggests that during displacement, pressure builds up like steam in a boiler and must be released.

Question 74

__________ refers to a situation in which a later attempt to remember something yields information that was not reportable on an earlier attempt to remember.

Question 75

The phenomenon of adults being unable to remember what happened to them before age three or four is called __________.

Question 76

__________ memory is the experience we do not consciously recall but that still influences our behavior. We can however consciously recall or recognize a(n) __________ memory.

Question 77

Discuss how three elements of Freud's background and training might have influenced the development of his theory. First, list the three potential influences and then describe how each relates to an aspect of psychoanalysis.

Question 78

What is the meaning of a "slip of the tongue" in psychoanalytic terms?

Question 79

According to Freud, why would simply asking someone to tell you about his or her psychological problems be a poor method of assessment?

Question 80

Define the id, ego, and superego. How are these three things important to Freud's theory?