The environment plays an enormous role not only into our conscious thoughts but also in our subconscious and unconscious. Freud’s primary idea regarding the unconscious is closely linked to repression. He strongly believed the unconscious mind is centered on inhibited impulses or needs. Using Freud’s ideas, psychologists were able to comprehend the unconscious phenomena and expand it beyond his studies. In the past few decades, it has become clear that defensively excluded experiences, needs, and impulses represent only a small fraction of the totality of unconscious processes. (Cortina & Liotti, 2007). Research has shown that there are numerous ways to look at the unconscious. Cognitive psychology has acknowledged many unconscious processes, …show more content…
From the family customs to common societal perceptions about groups of people, it is safe to say that our thoughts, implicit or explicit, and behavior can be shaped according to other people’s views and morals. Upon taking the Implicit Association Test, I understood there is space to the individual thought, through positive or negative cultural or social influence.
In order to understand my test results, I found it helpful to rely on Freud’s theories of Personality, including his studies about the id, ego and superego and defense mechanisms. The results of my Gay-Straight Implicit Association Test were surprising at first. As a gay man, I realized I was inclined to like gay people from the start, but I did not expect the results to equal a strong automatic preference for Gay People compared to Straight People. Thus, making me part of a small group of 3% of the test respondents. I personally find the text results to be thought-provoking. I now deem that my unconscious knew my sexual orientation from a young age, and it also knew this was not a socially accepted option. As a kid, I recall making use of
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For what seemed to be the longest six years of my life, I suffered of depression which I partially blame my denial defense mechanism for. If society did not have such negative views on homosexuality to start with, I would have never tried to conform to its ideals of heterosexuality, ultimately leading to mental health problems. I now believe Freud’s concept of the reality principle fits what happened in my childhood, where the pleasure of being who I truly I am had to be deferred because it was not a realistic option. He argues that “An ego thus educated has become 'reasonable '; it no longer lets itself be governed by the pleasure principle, but obeys the reality principle, which also at bottom seeks to obtain pleasure, but pleasure which is assured through taking account of reality, even though it is pleasure postponed and diminished.” On a positive note, society’s view on homosexuality has changed in the last two decades, for the most part, especially in developed countries like the United States. Sadly, I believe I would probably rely on the same defense mechanisms I did as a child if I were to be in a place where my sexual orientation could be harmful in some
Andrew Sullivan, author of, What is a Homosexual, portrays his experience growing up; trapped in his own identity. He paints a detailed portrait of the hardships caused by being homosexual. He explains the struggle of self-concealment, and how doing so is vital for social acceptation. The ability to hide one’s true feelings make it easier to be “invisible” as Sullivan puts it. “The experience of growing up profoundly different in emotional and psychological makeup inevitably alters a person’s self-perception.”(Sullivan)This statement marks one of the many reasons for this concealment. The main idea of this passage is to reflect on those hardships, and too understand true self-conscious difference. Being different can cause identity problems, especially in adolescents.
The paper below will fully illustrates the purpose of reality, how personality and reality relate to each other. The paper further discusses the core tenets of the named theory, how this theory was drawn and why this theory is important across the world.
Though many consider homosexuality a mental illness, different studies have proven that it is a bi...
Implicit attitudes are positive and negative assessments that occur outside of one’s conscious cognizance and controls. The affirmative or adverse views, feelings, or actions towards individuals ...
Taking an Implicit association test may not be something that we would want to base any serious decisions off of; it is a useful tool in being able to learn about ourselves better. By being made aware that we may unconsciously hold views that we are not proud of, we can inoculate ourselves and make a personal change for the better.
It is very reasonable to conclude that research on depression of those who identify as gay, lesbian or transsexual is not accurate; there is an underreporting of people who identify as these sexual orientations because of the fear of being different. It is understood that those apart of the LGBTQ community actively hide their identity in hopes to avoid being rejected or abused (Bird, 2013). Once the reporting issue of having a smaller percentage of the actual representation of the LGBTQ population is put aside, there is evidence that highly suggests that lesbians and gay men are at higher risk for psychiatric disorders than heterosexuals (Cochran, 2001). Even after underreporting, there is still enough information to conclude that sexual discrimination can have harmful effects on the quality of life. Common factors that have been observed in lesbians and gays that can potentially increase depression during Cochran's study are anxiety and mood disorders and decreased self esteem. Cochran and her partner also noted that dissatisfaction with how one is treated beca...
The aim of this essay is to clarify the basic principles of Freud’s theories and to raise the main issues.
Sigmund Freud’s theories on the construction of the mind are simple, but fundamentally changed the field of psychology. He proposed, among other things, that the human mind is composed of three parts: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The preconscious consists of information, such as a telephone number, that is “accessible to consciousness without emotional resistance” (Schellenberg 21). In Freud’s estimation, the unconscious is the most important area of the mind. The information stored within it has “very strong resistances” to becoming conscious (Freud 32). Residing in the unconscious is the id, which “contains everything…that is present at birth… – above all, therefore, the instincts which originate from somatic organization” (14). From birth, all action is instinctual, from the id. The id recognizes and entertains no desires but its own and is impatient to have its needs met. This phase lasts until a part of the id changes “under the influence of the real external world” (14). This changed portion b...
The Implicit Association tests (IAT) are tests that are made to evaluate our unconscious attitudes towards our associations between concepts and attributes. We may not be fully aware that we view concepts and make positive or negative evaluations unconsciously on a daily basis. We may also not realize that we can possibly have an implicit preference toward certain groups of people or stereotype people based on how they look. These implicit attitudes and preferences unknowingly may drive our behavior These IAT’s are proven to be a great measure of our own personal implicit attitudes (positive or negative), whether we are fully aware of them or not. These tests are designed to measure our immediate reaction to associations between concepts, evaluations
Explicit cognition refers to an individual’s deliberate and fully conscious associations. Conversely, implicit cognition refers to an individual’s unconscious associations. These unconscious associations are significant because they can unknowingly influence an individual’s attitude and behavior. The implicit association test is a test designed to measure these unconscious, automatic associations, including the explicit concepts that an individual is fully aware of but unwilling to disclose. Some common automatic association concepts include self- esteem, memory, perception, attitudes, stereotypes, and racial bias. Subsequently, the implicit association test can detect any of these automatic association concepts.
Freud was particularly interested in the psychoanalytic school of thought and the founder of psychoanalysis. He believed that our unconscious minds are responsible for many of our behaviors. According to Freud, he thought that there was a significant relationship between slips of the tongue and what we are actually thinking. Today these are called Freudian slips. Similarly he believed that we get information, like our fears and wishes, out by just merely saying what comes to mind. He was able to tell a lot about people, including their past experiences, how they were feeling, and what they wished and feared, just by simply encouraging them to speak whatever came to mind.
Freud's model of the unconscious as the essential directing impact over day to day life, even today, is more particular and definite than any to be found in contemporary intellectual or social brain science. In any case, the information from which Freud built up the model were singular contextual investigations including anomalous idea and conduct. (Freud, 1925/1961, p.31) not the thorough logical experimentation on by and large pertinent standards of human conduct that illuminate the mental models. Throughout the years, experimental tests have not been caring to the specifics of the Freudian model, however, in wide brush terms, the subjective and social mental confirmation supports Freud with regards to the presence of oblivious mentation and its capability to affect judgments and conduct (Westen, 1999). Despite the destiny of his particular model, Freud's memorable significance in championing the forces of the oblivious personality is without
But during this period of adolescence, I never really thought about what I was. All the things that took place in the emotional-sexual realm were, admittedly, real and concrete to me: I experienced real feelings for other boys (love, infatuation, sexual attraction). But at the same time, on an "intellectual" level, I never confronted these feelings, and so I continued having them without worrying about them or trying to transform them in any way. They just were, and that was fine with me. While some opponents of homosexuality often claim that it is "unnatural" (a claim which is thoroughly refuted in the essay "Homosexuality and the 'Unnaturalness Argument'"), for me, my homosexual feelings were very natural indeed.
The IAT primarily relates to Chapter 13 of the textbook because it tests attitudes and stereotypes that people have. The textbook describes stereotyping as the process by which people make inferences about others based on the knowledge that they have of the categories that others belong in. The IAT takes the lesson from the textbook a step further by looking specifically at implicit stereotypes and differentiating them from explicit stereotypes. For example, common stereotypes that people may or may not be aware they have, such as stereotypes having to do with race and gender, are listed in the textbook. Correspondingly, there are IATs that test implicit attitudes toward both of these characteristics of people. Furthermore, though the textbook mentions the limitations of using stereotypes (inaccurate categorization, overuse, and
In terms of the unconscious and conscious, Freud situates these conceptions in a topographic model of the mind. He divided it into two systems called the unconscious and the preconscious. Their knowledge in the unconscious system is repressed and unavailable to consciousness without overcoming resistances (e.g., defense mechanisms). Thereby, the repression does not allow unconscious knowledge to be completely aware; rather, it is construed by means of concealing and compromise, but only interpretable through its derivatives dream and parapraxes that overcome resistance by means of disguise and compromise. Within the preconscious system, the contents could be accessible, although only a small portion at any given moment. Unconscious thought is characterized by primary process thinking that lacks negation or logical connections and favors the over-inclusions and 'just-as' relationships evident in condensed dream images and displacements. Freud asserted that primary process of thinking was phylogenetically, and continues to be ontogenetically, prior to secondary process or logical thought, acquired later in childhood and familiar to us in our waking life (1900, 1915a).