Disciplines and Ideas in the

Social Sciences
Explain the Ice
berg in relation
to the mental
stages of the
self
 Mental Stages
•
of the Self
Conscious-contains those thoughts of which
you are currently aware.
• Unconscious- the material that we have no
immediate access to, and we cannot bring into
consciousness except under certain extreme
situations.
DISS 5

• Preconscious-stores all the thoughts of which

you could bring into consciousness fairly easily
if you wanted to; thoughts that can be easily
recall without special techniques.
 PSYCHOANALYSIS

•Psychoanalysis refers to a theory of

the mind and its direct connection to
personality and behavior. The basic
premise of psychoanalysis is that the
DISS 9

human mind has an unconscious

state.
• Psychoanalysis is
characterized as therapeutic
techniques and set of
psychological theories
initiated by Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939). He developed
the methods of treatment and
general theory of personality.
• According to Freud, (1949)
psychoanalysis method has important
corresponding steps to follow.
• First, a psychoanalyst collects
substantial things which are a
product of patients' free associations,
results of transference, dream
interpretation, and the patients' slips
and parapraxes.
Second, a psychoanalyst starts to give
hypotheses about what occurred to the
patients in the past and what is the present
occurrence on their day-to-day life. It is also
important that the psychoanalyst gives
conclusions which are supported upon their
observations once the patients have arrived
with similar conclusions on their own.
It is because when a psychoanalyst
discloses their conclusions to patients as
early as it was, the patients may resist
and repression happens. When the
patients accepted the conclusions, they
recovered (Freud, 1949).
 Write word/words
that pops in your
Word mind when you see
the pictures. You
Association can describe them
in one or two
words; it can be
address to a
person.
Mobile
Ssp

Phone
 Biological
Ssp

Father/Mother
Food/
Travel
Ssp
Household
Ssp

chores
Freud
conceptualized
three
personality
structures: the
id, ego, and
superego.
DEFENSE MECHANISMS
A defense mechanism is a technique
that the ego uses to defend itself from
anxiety. This defensive way acts as a
protection when something seems too
overpowering or even improper.
Defense mechanisms help keep the
information from entering
consciousness in order to lessen
distress.
REGRESSION
Return to earlier and more comfortable
developmental level.

EX. An examinee went directly to her

room and sleeps in fetal position and
thumb sucks after knowing she failed
the board exam.
SUBLIMATION
Channeling instinctual drives into
acceptable activities.

A former hitman, talks about the

importance of life, democracy,
justice, and following laws of the
land.
Rationalization - justification of an
unacceptable behavior •
Intellectualization - reasoning to block
emotional distress
• Reaction formation - changing
unwanted emotions or feelings
• Acting Out – carrying out an extreme
behavior
 RATIONALIZATION DEFENSE MECHANISM EXAMPLES
• A man forgets to take out the garbage even though his wife
has reminded him four times. Instead of apologizing, he
rationalizes that she hasn’t loaded the dishwasher so it’s
only fair that he not take out the garbage.
• A woman stands up her friend for lunch and tells herself it’s
okay because her friend is always late for their morning
yoga sessions.
• A student rationalizes cheating on a test by saying the test
was too demanding anyway.
REACTION FORMATION
A conscious behavior that is the
exact opposite of an
unconscious feeling.

EX. An older brother who

dislikes his younger brother
sends him gifts for every
holiday.
• Projection – transferring the drive or
behavior that causes anxiety to others
• Dissociation – separating out of the
memories one can’t deal with or doesn’t
want
• Compartmentalization – separating part of
oneself from awareness of other parts
 Examples of Projection
• You really dislike your manager at work who treats you just like they
treat everyone else. Instead of admitting your dislike, you tell
everyone the manager has a grudge against you and is trying to
sabotage your career.
• A woman is in a bad mood all day and comes home to her husband.
After greeting her warmly and asking about her day, she instantly
accuses him of being in a bad mood and ruining her evening.
• A father has body image issues but refuses to make lifestyle changes
that would help him lose weight. Instead, he berates his daughter
for her weight, projecting his lack of self-confidence onto her.
PROJECTION
Blaming someone else for one’s difficulties or
placing one’s unethical desires on someone else.

EX. A student who failed a subject blames his

failure on poor teaching.
 DISSOCIATION DEFENSE MECHANISM EXAMPLES
• A woman finds herself engaging in bulimic eating behaviors
in a subconscious attempt to escape feelings of shame and
self-loathing.
• A man who is unhappy in his career struggles to concentrate
at work. His mind wanders frequently – an “easier” fix than
doing the work necessary to create a rewarding career.
• A doctor’s parents pressured her into her profession, even
though she dreamed of being an athlete. She dissociates by
daydreaming about athleticism instead of acknowledging the
career turmoil she is experiencing.
DISSOCIATION
The unconscious separation of painful
feelings and emotions from an
unacceptable idea, situation, or object.

A pretty nurse tells how important to

review months before the board
exam…. But failed to remember her
past board failures. E.g. Rape, trauma
 Example of Compartmentalization

•A manager can think of himself as

nurturing and sensitive at home, but a
hard-nosed tough guy at work.
 DISPLACEMENT
The redirection of feelings to a less
threatening object

EX. An adolescent boy, after an

argument with his father, goes to the
room and kicked his room’s door.
• Suppression – conscious type of
forgetting to escape from the problem •
Splitting – seeing everything as bad with
nothing in between
• Using Humor – directing on funny
aspects of a painful situation
 SUPPRESSION
•Voluntary exclusion from awareness, anxiety-
producing feelings, ideas and situations.

•EX. A nursing student states, “I cannot talk

about my recent board, please change the
topic.”
•Splitting helps to preserve one’s own “good” self-
image by splitting all the bad parts and projecting
them onto another (usually weaker) person or
group.
Examples:
1) Seeing all people without mustaches as feminine.
2) Believing personalities as the hero is all good
and the villain all bad.