INTRODUCE TOPIC
I have a rock video used as a case for introducing basic concepts especially useful for teaching sleepy and poorly motivated students in early morning courses (Joan Jett's "I hate myself for loving you").
Rock Video (PowerPoint slides converted to pdf file)
Robert W. Grossman
Professor of Psychology
Kalamazoo College
Robert.Grossman@kzoo.edu
The most important issues they seem to get here is how psychoanalysis stands ethics on its head by locating part of the superego in the unconscious and the idea that we can 'fall ill' from superego. What does a post-Freudian ethics look like? Also, question the original unity of tripartite structure in id, how & why differentiation happens?
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I use general introductory materials, such as Brenner's Elementary Textbook.
- I ask specific questions about theory - e.g. their understanding of repression, defense mechanisms, the Oedipus complex.
Brenner, C. (1973). An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis. New York: Doubleday.
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I give 3 hours of lecture on each of these categories. Regarding ego, I give a list of 24 autonomous ego functions (after Hartmann). I give a list of 15 ego strengths. I use my own recent book, '101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself' regarding defense, affect, and compromise formation. I describe superego development during latency and adolescent, and sometimes give out a paper by Blos.
Jerome S. Blackman, M.D.
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
Virginia Wesleyan College
Jsbmd1@cox.net
jblackmanmd@aol.com
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I describe caricatures of people who are dominated by one dimension: the stereotypical workaholic who is ego-dominated, never indulges, etc; and similarly unbalanced people who are id- or superego-dominated. Students can invariably identify people in their lives who are like this and it helps them understand the different components.
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I explain the concept. I give real examples that I make up about: college students, high school students, parents of these student, professors and people in their world. I don't use jargon without defining it. Then, I ask them to explain and to give examples from the people around them. I am very careful about articulating ground rules (i.e. not writing about other people in the community).
Lynn Friedman, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty
Carnegie Mellon/ Johns Hopkins University
Email: drlynnfriedman@comcast.net
www.drlynnfriedman.com
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When introducing the structural model I say “The id harbors powerful, instinctual urges, the superego contains moral judgments and evaluates the self, and the ego must mediate between the demands of the id, superego and the outside world. In actual practice, it looks like this: You’ve signed up for an 8 a.m. class and it is now 4 weeks into the semester. Your alarm goes off at 7:15 and your id says “turn it off! turn it off! roll over! stay in bed!.” Your superego says “now, you signed up for this class knowing that it met at 8:00 – it’s your responsibility to go!” and your ego says “Okay guys, let’s do this: we’ll skip the shower and put on a baseball cap, that will give us time to pick up a double-mochacchino latte with whipped cream on the way to class - everybody wins.”
Lisa Damour, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
John Carroll University
Email: ldamour@jcu.edu
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Most students know this part of Freudian theory. They are surprised to learn that it does not appear until late in his corpus and that it helps account for unconscious ego and superego states.
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I introduce the structural model and pay special emphasis on the superego because I think it gets a 'bad rap' in general text treatment. The ego ideal and self observing functions ('good job!') matter here.
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I compare to the shoulder angel and devil, but explain that this is not really accurate. The id is no devil, that is our Puritanical tradition layering over the impulses of the id. The id is the source of ALL drives, good and evil. The Superego is no angel, it is also responsible for our self-contempt and those destructive messages. I use a series of images of my son with stylized shoulder angel and devil.
Matthew Westra
Psychology Coordinator
MCC-Longview
Matthew.westra@mcckc.edu
http://www.mcckc.edu/~westra/WESTRA.HTML
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RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Blackman, J. (2003).
101 Defenses: How the Mind Shields Itself. New York: Brunner-Routledge.
Blatt, S. J., & Auerbach, J. S. (2000). Psychoanalytic models of the mind and their contributions to personality research.
European Journal of Personality, 14, 429-447.
Brenner, C. (1973).
An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis. New York: Doubleday.
Freud, S. (1929).
Civilization and Its Discontents. S.E., 21:64-145.
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