Types of Psychosocial Theories

Theory

Theorist

Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud
Sigismund Schlomo
Freud

Contribution
Austrian psychiatrist, founder of psychoanalysis
Born in Freiberg (Pribor), Northwestern Moravia (May 1856)
Died in September 23, 1939
Psychoanalysis - often known as the talking cure
The Three Levels of Mind(1900, 1905)
1. Conscious level consist of thoughts that are the focus of our attention now, and this is seen as
the tip of the iceberg.
2. Preconscious Level - consists of all which can be retrieved from memory.
3. Unconscious Level - acts as a repository, a cauldron of primitive wishes and impulse kept at bay
and mediated by the preconscious area.
***Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, and a primary assumption of
Freudian theory is that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect.
Indeed, the goal of psychoanalysis is to make the unconscious conscious.
The Psyche : the psychic apparatus"(1923)
1. Id: Instincts
Pleasure principle (gratification from satisfying basic instincts)
Comprises two kinds of biological instincts (or drives);
1. Eros - or life instinct, helps the individual to survive; it directs life-sustaining activities
such as respiration, eating and sex (Freud, 1925). The energy created by the life instincts
is known as libido.
2. Thanatos - or death instinct, is viewed as a set of destructive forces present in all human
beings (Freud, 1920). When this energy is directed outward onto others, it is expressed as
aggression and violence.
***Freud believed that Eros is stronger than Thanatos, thus enabling people to survive rather than selfdestruct.
2. Ego: Reality
develops from the id during infancy
Goal: to satisfy the demands of the id in a safe a socially acceptable way
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Sigmund Freud

Developmental Theory

Erik Erikson

In contrast to the id the ego follows the reality principle as it operates in both the
conscious and unconscious mind.
3. Superego: Morality
develops during early childhood (when the child identifies with the same sex parent) and
is responsible for ensuring moral standards are followed
Superego operates on the morality principle and motivates us to behave in a socially
responsible and acceptable manner.
***(McLeod, 2013)
Psychosexual Stages
1. Oral Stage (from birth 2y/o) mouth is the center of pleasure
2. Anal Stage (2 4 y/o) anal region is the center of pleasure
3. Phallic Stage (4 6y/o) preschooler finds gratification involving the genitals or manipulation of
sex organs
Oedipos complex rivalry between the son and the father to get the attention of the
mother
Electra complex rivalry between the daughter and mother to get the attention of the
father
4. Latency Stage (6 12y/o) sexual desires are repressed and all the childs available id (libido) is
channeled into socially acceptable outlets such as schoolworks.
5. Genital stage (12 onwards) starts with the onset of puberty
*** (Taag, Ayson, Claravall, Fernandez, Gatmen, & Ngohayon, 2009)
German-born American psychoanalyst
Born in Germany (June 15, 1902)
Explored three aspects of identity
1. Ego identity (self)
2. Personal identity (the Personal Idiosyncrasies that distinguish a person from another)
3. Social/cultural identity (the collection of social roles a person might play)
*** (Learning Theories, 2007-2016)
Psychosocial Stages (1959)
8 distinct stages
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1. Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy 0-1 )

- Basic Virtue: Hope
- During this stage the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live. To resolve these
feelings of uncertainty the infant looks towards their primary caregiver for stability and
consistency of care.
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Early Childhood 1 -3)
- Basic Virtue : Will
- The child is developing physically and becoming more mobile. children begin to assert their
independence, by walking away from their mother, etc.
3. Initiative vs. Guilt (Play Age 3-5)
- Basic Virtue : Purpose
- During this period the primary feature involves the child regularly interacting with other
children at school.
4. Industry vs. Inferiority (School Age 5-12)
- Basic Virtue : Competence
5. At this stage the childs peer group will gain greater significance and will become a major source
of the childs self-esteem.
6. Ego Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence 12-18)
- Basic Virtue : Fidelity
- It is during this stage that the adolescent will re-examine his identity and try to find out
exactly who he or she is.
7. Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adult 18-40)
- Basic Virtue : Love
- In this stage, the most important events are love relationships.
8. Generativity vs. Stagnation (Adulthood 40-65)
- Basic Virtue : Care
- This stage is where we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, begin our own
families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture.By failing to achieve these
objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive.
9. Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Maturity 65+)
- Basic Virtue: Wisdom
- During this stage we contemplate our accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we
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Jean Piaget

Interpersonal Theory
Harry Stack Sullivan

see ourselves as leading a successful life.Wisdom enables a person to look back on their life
with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept death without fear.
***(McLeod,2013)
Born in Neuchatel, Switzerland August 9,1896
Died September 17, 1980
Cognitive Theory
a. Assimilation - using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.
b. Accommodation This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs
to be changed to deal with a new object or situation. (McLeod, 2015)
4 Stages of Cognitive development
1. The Sensorimotor Stage: During this stage, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through
sensory experiences and manipulating objects.
2. The Preoperational Stage: At this stage, kids learn through pretend play but still struggle with
logic and taking the point of view of other people. They also often struggle with understanding
the ideal of constancy.
3. The Concrete Operational Stage: Kids at this point of development begin to think more logically,
but their thinking can also be very rigid. They tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical
concepts
4. The Formal Operational Stage: The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the
ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of abstract ideas.
*** (about.com, 2016)
Born in Norwich, New York (February 21, 1892)
Personality is an energy system
Tension potentiality for action
Energy transformations actions themselves (SlideShare, 2014)
a. Needs which are conjunctive and call for specific actions to reduce them
- Needs can relate either to the general well-being of aperson or to specific zones, such as the
mouth or genitals.
- General needs can be either physiological, such as food or oxygen, or they can be
interpersonal, such as tenderness and intimacy.
b. Anxiety - disjunctive and callsfor no consistent actions for its relief. Anxietythe chief disruptive force
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in interpersonal relations.
Dynamism refer to a typical pattern of behavior
a. Malevolence - disjunctive dynamism of evil and hatred
- feeling of living among one's enemies
b. Intimacy - conjunctive dynamism marked by a close personalrelationship between two people of
equal status. Intimacy facilitates interpersonal developmentwhile decreasing both anxiety and
loneliness.
c. Lust - a self-cantered need that can be satisfied in theabsence of an intimate interpersonal
relationship. Solely based on sexual gratification and requiresno other person for its satisfaction.
d. Self-system - pattern of behaviors that protect us against anxiety and maintain our interpersonal
security.
Security operations: These are the behaviors designedto reduce interpersonal tensions, and include:
Dissociation: This includes all those experiences that weblock from awareness.
Selective inattention: This involves blocking only certainexperiences from awareness.
Personifications Images of self and others throughout the developmental stages
1. Bad-Mother, Good-Mother
Bad-mother - results from infants'experiences with a nipple that does not satisfytheir hunger
needs. All infants experience the bad-motherpersonification, even though their real mothers may
beloving and nurturing.
Good-mother child become mature enough torecognize the tender and cooperative behaviour
of theirmothering one.
*** These two personificationscombine to form a complex and contrasting image of thereal mother.
2. Me Personifications
a. the bad-me, which grows from experiences ofpunishment and disapproval,
b. the good-me, which results from experiences with reward and approval
c. the not-me, which allows a person to dissociate or selectively not attend to the experiences
relatedto anxiety.
- Eidetic personifications- people often create imaginary traits that they project ontoothers.
- i.e. Imaginary playmates
- These imaginary friends enable children to have asafe, secure relationship with another
person, eventhough that person is imaginary.
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*** (Raghuveer, 2011)

Hildegard Peplau

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania [1909], USA

Phases of interpersonal relationship
1. Orientation phase
- Problem defining phase
- Defining problem and deciding type of service needed
- Client seeks assistance ,conveys needs ,asks questions, shares preconceptions and
expectations of past experiences
- Nurse responds, explains roles to client, helps to identify problems and to use available
resources and services
2. Exploitation phase
- Advantages of services are used is based on the needs and interests of the patients
- Individual feels as an integral part of the helping environment
- The principles of interview techniques must be used in order to explore, understand and
adequately deal with the underlying problem
- Nurse aids the patient in exploiting all avenues of help and progress is made towards the final
step
3. Resolution phase
- Termination of professional relationship
- The patients needs have already been met by the collaborative effect of patient and nurse
- Now they need to terminate their therapeutic relationship and dissolve the links between
them.
*** (currentnursing.com, 2012)
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Abraham Maslow

Humanistic Theory

Humanistic Theory

Carl Rogers

Born in Brooklyn NY (1908- 1970)

Father of Humanistic Psychology (lifecircles-inc)
Hierarchy of Needs
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.
3. Love and belongingness needs - friendship, intimacy, affection and love, - from work group,
family, friends, and romantic relationships.
4. Esteem needs - achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect,
respect from others.
5. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth
and peak experiences.
*** (McLeod S. , Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, 2014)
(1902-1987)
was a humanistic psychologist
Self-Actualization occurs when a persons ideal self (i.e. who they would like to be) is congruent
with their actual behavior (self-image). Rogers describes an individual who is actualizing as a fully
functioning person. The main determinant of whether we will become self-actualized is childhood
experience.
"The organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize, maintain, and enhance the
experiencing organism
1. The Fully Functioning Person
a. Open to experience: both positive and negative emotions accepted. Negative feelings are not denied,
but worked through (rather than resorting to ego defense mechanisms).
b. Existential living: in touch with different experiences as they occur in life, avoiding prejudging and
preconceptions. Being able to live and fully appreciate the present, not always looking back to the
past or forward to the future (i.e. living for the moment).
c. Trust feelings: feeling, instincts and gut-reactions are paid attention to and trusted. Peoples own
decisions are the right ones and we should trust ourselves to make the right choices.
d. Creativity: creative thinking and risk taking are features of a persons life. A person does not play safe
all the time. This involves the ability to adjust and change and seek new experiences.
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Behavioral Theory

Ivan Pavlov

B. F. Skinner

e. Fulfilled life: person is happy and satisfied with life, and always looking for new challenges and
experiences.
***(McLeod, 2014)
1849-1936
Russian scientist interested in studying how digestion works in mammals (Boyd, 2016)
Classical Conditioning
- involves learning a new behavior via the process of association. In simple terms two stimuli
are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal.
- 3 Stages
1. Before Conditioning - In this stage, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces
an unconditioned response (UCR) in an organism.
- this means that a stimulus in the environment has produced a behavior / response which is
unlearned (i.e. unconditioned) and therefore is a natural response which has not been taught.
- neutral stimulus (NS) - stimulus which has no effect on a person. could be a person, object,
place
2. During Conditioning - a stimulus which produces no response (i.e. neutral) is associated with
the unconditioned stimulus at which point it now becomes known as the conditioned
stimulus (CS).
3. After Conditioning - Now the conditioned stimulus (CS) has been associated with the
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to create a new conditioned response (CR).
*** (McLeod S. , 2008)
Father of Operant Conditioning
Positive Reinforcement - strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds
rewarding.
Negative Reinforcement - removal of an adverse stimulus which is rewarding to the animal or
person. Negative reinforcement strengthens behavior because it stops or removes an unpleasant
experience.
Punishment - is the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response
rather than increase it. It is an aversive event that decreases the behavior that it follows. Like
reinforcement, punishment can work either by directly applying an unpleasant stimulus like a shock
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Albert Ellis

Existential Theory

Viktor E. Frankl

after a response or by removing a potentially rewarding stimulus, for instance, deducting someones
pocket money to punish undesirable behavior.
***(McLeod, 2015)
1913 2007
born in Pittsburgh
REBT -- Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy
Begins with ABC! A is for activating experiences, such as family troubles, unsatisfying work,
early childhood traumas, and all the many things we point to as the sources of our unhappiness.
B stands for beliefs, especially the irrational, self-defeating beliefs that are the actual sources of
our unhappiness. And C is for consequences, the neurotic symptoms and negative emotions such
as depression panic, and rage, that come from our beliefs.
D and E to ABC: The therapist must dispute (D) the irrational beliefs, in order for the client to
ultimately enjoy the positive psychological effects (E) of rational beliefs.
*** (Boeree, 2006)
born in Vienna, Austria, in 1905
Logotherapy and Existential Analysis (1930s)
- "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy"
- meaning in life is identified as the primary motivational force in human beings.
1. Freedom of Will - space of shaping one's own life within the limits of the given possibilities.
- This freedom derives from the spiritual dimension of the person, which is understood as the
essentially human realm, over and above the dimensions of body and of psyche.
2. Will to Meaning - search for meaning is seen as the primary motivation of humans.
- When a person cannot realize his or her "Will to Meaning" in their lives they will experience
an abysmal sensation of meaninglessness and emptiness.
3. Meaningful life - meaning is an objective reality, as opposed to a mere illusion arising within the
perceptional apparatus of the observer.
"I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I mine." --Fritz Perls
Gestalt theory - refers to a form of psychotherapy that derives from the gestalt school of thought
- guided by the relational theory principle that every individual is a whole (mind, body and
soul), and that they are best understood in relation to their current situation as he or she
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Existential Theory
Frederick S. Perls

William Glasser

experiences it.
Key elements
Person-centred awareness
Respect
Emphasis on experience
Creative experiment and sdiscovery
Social responsibility
Relationship
Gestalt therapy works by teaching clients how to define what is truly being experienced rather than
what is merely an interpretation of the events. Those undertaking gestalt therapy will explore all of
their thoughts, feelings, behaviours, beliefs and values to develop awareness of how they present
themselves and respond to events in their environment. This gives them the opportunity to identify
choices, patterns of behaviour and obstacles that are impacting their health and well-being, and
preventing them from reaching their full potential.
Common methods that are used are role-play, open chair tecnique, dialogue, discuusing dreams,
attention ti body language
*** (Meamiah Limited, 2016)
Born 1925 & educated at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio)
Choice Theory
- States that : all we do is behave, that almost all behavior is chosen, and that we are driven by
our genes to satisfy five basic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun.
1. 7 Caring Habits
2. 7 Deadly Habits
1. Supprting
1. Criticizing
2. Encouraging
2. Blaming
3. Listening
3. Complaining
4. Accepting
4. Nagging
5. Trusting
5. Threatening
6. Respecting
6. Punishing
7. Negotiating differences
7. Bribing, rewarding to control
*** (The William Glasser Institute, 2010)

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