12A LECTURELEADING INTO CHAOS

GREAT THINKER SERIES: FREUD AND FROMM

SIGMUND FREUD• 1856-1939

• Lived in Vienna, Austria

• Freud was originally trained as a physician.

• Freudian psychology is regarded as the beginning of modern psychology.

• Freud coined the term PSYCHOANALYSIS.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

• EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF UNCONSCIOUS MOTIVES & INTERNAL CONFLICTS IN DETERMINING HUMAN BEHAVIOR.

• EMPHASIZES THAT ALL PEOPLE UNDERGO STRUGGLES.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

THE PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH CLAIMS THAT PEOPLE ARE BORN WITH CERTAIN BIOLOGICAL DRIVES SUCH AS…

• AGGRESSION

• SEX

• THE NEED FOR SUPERIORITY.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

THESE DRIVES COME INTO

CONFLICT WITH:

• LAWS

• SOCIAL NORMS

• MORAL CODES

FREUD’S UNDERSTANDING OF THE MIND

• FREUD BELIEVED THAT THE MIND HAS THREE BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL STRUCTURES.

THE ID

• REPRESENTS BASIC DRIVES SUCH AS HUNGER.

• DEMANDS INSTANT GRATIFICATION.• PAYS NO ATTENTION TO LAWS, CUSTOMS,

OR THE NEED OF OTHERS.• IS PRESENT AT BIRTH. • IS DRIVEN BY THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE —

IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION, PLEASURE, OR RELIEF.

THE EGO

• DEVELOPS BECAUSE OF A CHILD’S DEMANDS FOR INSTANT GRATIFICATION.

• STANDS FOR REASON AND GOOD SENSE.• IS GUIDED BY THE REALITY PRINCIPLE —

THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IN THE REAL WORLD WE CANNOT ALWAYS GET WHAT WE WANT.

• SEEKS TO SATISFY THE ID IN WAYS THAT ARE CONSISTENT WITH REALITY.

THE SUPEREGO

• DEVELOPS THROUGHOUT EARLY CHILDHOOD.

• FUNCTIONS ACCORDING TO THE MORAL PRINCIPLE.

• PROVIDES US WITH OUR MORAL SENSE, BY INCORPORATING THE STANDARDS AND VALUES OF PARENTS AND MEMBERS OF SOCIETY.

• ACTS AS THE CONSCIENCE.

FREUDIAN DEFENSE MECHANISMS

ACCORDING TO FREUD, DEFENSE MECHANISMS ARE METHODS THE EGO USES TO AVOID RECOGNIZING IDEAS, EMOTIONS, OR CONFLICTS THAT CAUSE ANXIETY.

REPRESSION

REPRESSION REMOVES AWARENESS OF ANXIETY CAUSING INFLUENCES

BY PUSHING THEM INTO THE UNCONSCIOUS.

RATIONALIZATION

Rationalization involves the use of self-deception to justify unacceptable

behaviors and ideas.

DENIAL

In the mechanism of denial, a person refuses to accept the reality of anything

that is bad or upsetting.

FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF LITERATURE

• USING FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY, THE CRITIC CAN INTELLIGENTLY SPECULATE ABOUT THE AUTHOR, THE WORK ITSELF, AND THE CHARACTERS IN THE WORK IN QUESTION.

FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF LITERATURE

• USING A PSYCHOANALYTIC LENS, A CRITIC CAN EXAMINE HOW HUMAN AGGRESSION, REPRESSION, AND ANXIETY MOTIVATE A CHARACTER TO ACT IN CERTAIN WAYS.

FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF LITERATURE

• USING A PSYCHOANALYTIC LENS, A READER CAN GAIN A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF INNER CONFLICTS, UNIVERSAL STRUGGLES IN THE HUMAN CONDITION, AND WHAT DETERMINES HUMAN BEHAVIOR.

ERICH FROMM

• Born March 23, 1900 in Frankfurt, Germany.

• Fromm was a disciple of Sigmund Freud.• In 1933, he left Nazi Germany to come to

the United States.• He broke from Freud because Fromm

believed that both BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AND SOCIETAL FACTORS INFLUENCE HUMAN BEHAVIOR.

FROMM

• Major Theory: An individual’s personality was the product of culture as well as biology.

• Fromm asserts that freedom is the greatest problem for most individuals.

• According to Fromm, with freedom comes an overwhelming sense of aloneness and an inability to exert individual power.

FROMM

• ARGUED THAT WE USE DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES TO ALLEVIATE OUR ANXIETY ASSOCIATED WITH THE INABILITY TO EXPRESS POWER AND INDIVIDUALITY.

TECHNIQUE: Automaton Conformity

• FROMM argued that as of a result of the anxiety associated with our inability to express power and our fear of aloneness, WE CONFORM OURSELVES TO A LARGER SOCIETY.

• By acting like everyone else (having the same morals, purchasing the same things, etc.) we gain a false sense of power.

• This conformity prevents us from being our true selves.

TECHNIQUE: Authoritarianism

• By giving up power to the powerful, we become (allegedly) a part of the collective powerful. This is considered submission.

• According to Fromm, we submit to our leader (government) and thus demand power over our perceived enemies.

TECHNIQUE: Destructiveness

• Fromm asserts that we tend to desire to destroy those whom we perceive as having power.

• According to Fromm, there are many ways to express this destructiveness, including: aligning with hate groups, partaking in fanaticism—religious extremism, or ideological extremisms, and, in some cases, unwavering patriotism.

TECHNIQUE: Destructiveness(CONTINUED)

• By “rationalizing” destructiveness, individuals might use any of the following explanations: a sense of duty, a god given order, or the love of one’s country.

FROMM, PSYCHOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF LITERATURE

• We can use Fromm’s theories to interrogate not only human behavior, but, more importantly, the social context in which the behavior happens.

• Fromm’s techniques allow us to determine how social forces impact human behavior, the adherence to or rebellion against society, and the dynamics of external conflicts.