Chapter 10
Psychoanalytic Approaches Contemporary Issues

Chapter Outline

 

The Neo-Analytic Movement

• Although many of Freud’s ideas have not stood the test of time, others have, and have been incorporated into the contemporary version of psychoanalysis
• Today, psychoanalysis is best thought of as a theory containing ideas inspired by Freud, but modified and advanced by others
• Psychoanalysts no longer write much about id, superego, or repressed sexuality, nor do they liken treatment to archaeological expedition in search of forgotten memories
• Instead, psychoanalysts today focus on childhood relationships and adult conflicts with others
• Contemporary psychoanalyst Drew Westen argues that contemporary psychoanalysis is based on five postulates
• Unconscious plays a large role in life, but is not the ubiquitous influence Freud held it was
• Behavior reflects compromises in conflict between mental processes
• Childhood plays an important role in personality development, particularly in shaping adult relationship styles
• Mental representations of self and others guide interactions with others
• Personality development involves not just regulating sexual and aggressive feelings, but also moving from an immature socially dependent way of relating to others to a mature independent relationship style

 

Another Case of Recovered Memories—A Different Outcome (Holly Ramona)

• Courts determined that the recovered memory of alleged sexual abuse was false, encouraged by therapist

Repression and Contemporary Research on Memory

• Memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus argues that we should not conclude that all recovered memories are false, just because some are apparently false
• Also, we should not assume that all recovered memories are true, just because some are true
• Loftus argues that we must be aware of processes that contribute to the construction of false memories
• Popular press
• Behavior of some therapists
• Use of hypnosis
• Research indicates that hypnosis does not improve memory
• In fact, hypnosis may increase memory distortions
• Some therapists tell patients that getting better hinges on their ability to recover forgotten memory
• Confirmatory bias: Tendency to look only for evidence that confirms belief, and not to look for evidence that disconfirms
• Loftus notes that independent corroborating evidence should be sought to substantiate memories of trauma

 

Contemporary Views on the Unconscious

• Cognitive unconscious versus motivated unconscious
• Subliminal perception
• Priming
• Research on subliminal perception indicates that unconscious information does not influence people’s motivations

Ego Psychology

• Shift in focus from id to ego
• Erik Erikson: Emphasized ego as a powerful and independent part of personality
• Ego involved in mastering the environment, achieving goals, establishing identity
• Establishing secure identity (sense of self) is a primary function of ego
• Difficulty establishing identity produces identity crisis

 

Erikson’s Eight Stages of Development

• Erikson argued that personality development occurs throughout life
• Erikson argued that challenges at each stage were social rather than sexual
• Trust Versus Mistrust
• Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt
• Initiative Versus Guilt
• Industry Versus Inferiority
• Identity Versus Role Confusion
• Intimacy Versus Isolation
• Generativity Versus Stagnation
• Integrity Versus Despair

Karen Horney and a Feminist Interpretation of Psychoanalysis

• Revised theory of penis envy: Penis is a symbol of social power rather than an organ that women actually desire to have
• Highlighted the influence of the culture on personality development
• “Fear of success”: Accounts for gender difference in response to competition and achievement situations

Emphasis on Self and the Notion of Narcissism

• Ego psychology emphasizes the role of identity, which is experienced by a person as a sense of self
• Narcissism: Inflated self-admiration and constant attempts to draw attention to self and keep others focused on self
• Narcissistic paradox: Although the narcissist appears high in self-esteem, he or she has doubts about his or her worth as a person

Object Relations Theory

• Emphasizes social relationships and their origins in childhood
• Assumptions of object relations theory
• Internal wishes, desires, urges of child not as important as developing relationships with significant others, especially parents
• Others, particularly the mother, become internalized by the child in the form of mental objects
• First social attachments that infant develops form prototypes for all future meaningful relationships

 

Early Childhood Attachment

• Research by Harlow on infant monkeys
• Attachment
• Separation anxiety
• Ainsworth: Strange situation procedure for studying attachment
• Three attachment patterns in infants: Secure, avoidant, and ambivalent
• Bowlby and others: Early attachment experiences and reactions of the infant to parents, especially the mother, form “working models” for later adult relationships
• Working models are internalized in the form of unconscious expectations about relationships

Adult Relationships

• Investigation of whether the attachment style developed in childhood is related to adult romantic relationship style
• Hazan and Shaver (1987)—Three relationship styles
• Secure
• Avoidant
• Ambivalent

• Parental Divorce: Does It Have an Impact on Children’s Later Relationships?
• Object relations theory predicts that children of divorce will have difficulties forming their own intimate relationships later in life
• Wallerstein and others argue that evidence supports the object relations theory prediction—children of divorce have trouble with adult romantic relationships
• Others argue that the evidence is not clear
•  

SUMMARY AND EVALUATION

 

• Material in chapter is designed to give a balanced approach to false memories—while repressed memories can occur, not all are truly cases of forgotten memories
• Contemporary psychoanalysts focus on interpersonal patterns of behavior and accompanying emotions and motivations
• Contemporary psychoanalysts view personality as the result of resolving a series of social crises and an ensuing movement toward more mature forms of relating to others
• Contemporary psychoanalysis is connected to empirical studies

KEY TERMS

            False Memories                                              Culture
Imagination Inflation Effect                         Fear of Success
Confirmatory Biases                                      Masculine
Spreading Activation                                     Feminine
Constructive Memory                                                Gender Differences
Cognitive Unconscious                                 Self-Serving Bias      
Motivated Unconscious                                 Narcissism
Subliminal Perception                                   Narcissistic Paradox
Priming                                                          Object Relations Theory
Id Psychology                                                Internalized    
Ego Psychology                                             Attachment
Identity Crisis                                                            Separation Anxiety
Erikson’s Eight Stages of Development       Strange Situation Procedure
Psychosocial Conflicts                                  Securely Attached
Stage Model of Development                        Avoidantly Attached                                                 Developmental Crisis                                    Ambivalently Attached                    
Fixation                                                          Working Models
Identity Confusion                                         Secure Relationship Style
Rite of Passage                                              Avoidant Relationship Style
Negative Identity                                          Ambivalent Relationship Style         
Identity Foreclosure                                     
Moratorium                                                                           
Social Power                                       

Chapter Overview

This chapter provides students with an introduction to contemporary theory and empirical work inspired by psychoanalytic theory. The authors begin by reviewing the postulates of contemporary psychoanalysts, which include the postulates that the unconscious plays a large role in life, although it does not have the ubiquitous influence that Freud once held. Next the authors present another case of recovered memories, but one that ends with the legal determination that the memory is “false,” induced in the patient by her therapist. The authors then review recent empirical work documenting the ease with which false memories can be encouraged or implanted. The authors next contrast contemporary views on the cognitive unconscious with classical psychoanalytic views of the motivated unconscious. Next the authors review ego psychology, another major modification to classical psychoanalysis that turns on a shift of emphasis from the id to the ego. Erik Erikson was a leader in the field of ego psychology. Erikson argued that personality development continues throughout adulthood and that the conflicts at each stage were primarily social in nature rather than sexual in nature. Erikson’s eight stages were trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair. The authors review the work of Karen Horney, who reinterpreted much of classical psychoanalysis through a feminist lens. Next the authors discuss the contemporary psychoanalytic emphasis on the self and on disorders of the self, such as narcissism. Object relations theory is another area of contemporary psychoanalysis. This theory emphasizes the importance of early childhood relationships, particularly with parents, but focuses on the social, not sexual, nature of these relationships. The authors review theoretical and empirical work on childhood attachment and adult relationship styles, much of which is anchored in object relations theory. The authors review work on the psychological impact of parental divorce on children, concluding that, although stressful, most children whose parents divorce lead happy and healthy lives.

 

Learning Objectives

• Identify and discuss five key postulates of contemporary psychoanalysis, according to Westen.

 

• Be familiar with the arguments and outcome of the legal case of Holly Ramona.

• Discuss the factors that might influence people to have false memories.

 

• Discuss theory and research on the spreading activation model of memory and how this work is relevant to false memories.

• Compare and contrast the contemporary view of the cognitive unconscious with Freud’s view of the motivated unconscious.

 

• Discuss recent theory and research on subliminal perception.

• Discuss the defining features of Ego Psychology.

 

• Compare and contrast Erikson’s eight stages of development with Freud’s five-stage theory of development.

• Discuss each of Erikson’s eight stages of personality development, identifying the key challenge the individual confronts at each stage.

 

• Discuss the work of Karen Horney, including her revision of “penis envy,” and her ideas about the influence of culture on personality development.

• Discuss the role of “self” in contemporary ego psychology.

 

• Discuss narcissism as a disorder of the self, and define the narcissistic paradox.

• Discuss the key features of object relations theory.

 

• Discuss the theory and research on early childhood attachment; define attachment, separation anxiety, the strange situation, procedure, and the three attachment styles (secure, avoidant, ambivalent).

• Discuss recent theory and research on the role of attachment styles in adult romantic relationships.

 

• Discuss recent theory and empirical research on the effects of parental divorce on children.

Lecture Topics and Lecture Suggestions

 

• Narcissism and Romantic Attraction (Campbell, 2000). This lecture introduces students to the relationships between narcissism and romantic attraction. Both topics are typically successful in engaging the interest of students, and this lecture is an excellent springboard for involving students in an active discussion about narcissism, romantic attraction, and the possible relationships between these two phenomena. Encourage students to consider whether the hypotheses and results are consistent with their own experiences or with the experiences of their friends.

• A model of narcissism and romantic attraction predicts that narcissists will be attracted to admiring individuals and highly positive individuals, and relatively less attracted to individuals who offer the potential for emotional intimacy
• Five studies supported this model
• Narcissists, compared with non-narcissists, preferred more self-oriented (i.e., highly positive) and less other-oriented (i.e., caring) qualities in an ideal romantic partner (Study 1)
• Narcissists were also relatively more attracted to admiring and highly positive hypothetical targets and less attracted to caring targets (Studies 2 and 3)
• Indeed, narcissists displayed a preference for highly positive-noncaring targets compared with caring but not highly positive targets (Study 4)
• Finally, mediational analyses demonstrated that narcissists’ romantic attraction is, in part, the result of a strategy for enhancing self-esteem (Study 5).

 

Reference:

Campbell, W. K. (1999). Narcissism and romantic attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1254–1270.

• Airport Separations: A Naturalistic Study of Adult Attachment Dynamics in Separating Couples (Fraley & Shaver, 1998). This lecture presents the results of a creative study designed to investigate whether there are attachment style differences in the separation behaviors of adults at airports. Students will appreciate the research design and hypotheses. Use this lecture as a springboard for discussing attachment style differences in adult romantic relationships. Encourage students to consider other research methodologies that might allow for further creative tests of the implications of attachment styles for adult romantic relationships.
  
• Couple members, who were separating and not separating from each other, in a public airport completed a questionnaire designed to assess relationship length, attachment style, and the degree of subjective distress
• After they completed these measures, their attachment behavior was observed unobtrusively
• Analyses suggested that adult attachment behavior is organized in a manner similar to that observed in children
• Relationship length and separation status were associated with the expression of attachment behavior in adults
• Analyses also indicated that women with anxious working models were more likely to experience distress prior to a separation
• But the behavioral strategies exhibited by women varied as a function of avoidant, not anxious, working models
• Results for men were less clear
• Implications for adult attachment theory and research are discussed

 

Reference:

            Fraley, R. C., & Shaver, P. R. (1998). Airport separations: A naturalistic study of adult attachment dynamics in separating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1198–1212.

Classroom Activities and Demonstrations

 

• Larsen and Buss review some of the factors that might influence people to have false memories, such as those of childhood sexual abuse. One of these factors is the popular press. There are many books currently on the market that purport to be guides to survivors of abuse. These books are likely to be some comfort to people who have been living with painful memories of abuse. For people who have no such memories, these books can provide strong suggestions that abuse might have happened, even if there is no memory of the abuse. This activity is designed to make students aware of the volume of popular press books available on the topic of recovered memories of abuse. Distribute Activity Handout 10-1 (“Popular Press Books on Forgotten Memories of Abuse”). Ask students to make a trip to a local bookstore before the next class. Instruct them to locate and jot down the titles of a few of the books they find on recovered memories of abuse. Ask them to flip through each book and determine whether the author appears to have a confirmatory bias for finding recovered memories of abuse. Have students bring the competed handout to the next class session. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing the role of the popular press in influencing people to have false memories of childhood abuse.

• Larsen and Buss present the results of recent work by Roediger and McDermott (1995) designed to test the spreading activation model of memory. In their work, Roediger and McDermott (1995) use a simple experimental procedure that creates a false memory in 80 percent of participants. Distribute Activity Handout 10-2 (“Memory Experiment”). Ask students to administer this test to someone they know to see if this person also has a false memory for the appearance of the word “Sleep” in the target list. The odds are high that the participant will have this false memory. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing the spreading activation model of memory, the construction of false memories, and the implications of this theory and research for classical psychoanalysis.

 

• According to Erik Erikson, a prominent ego psychologist, adolescence is a particularly turbulent time in life because of the struggle to establish a secure identity. Establishing a secure identity is the primary function of the ego. Identity is an inner sense of who we are, or what makes us unique, a sense of continuity over time and a feeling of wholeness. Ask students to consider some of the things that modern teenagers do, or perhaps that they do or once did, that might be interpreted as indicating a struggle to establish identity. Distribute Activity Handout 10-3 (“Establishing Identity”). Give students about five minutes to complete the handout. Ask students to volunteer their responses. Ask students to specify why a particular activity might indicate a struggle to establish identity.

 

Questions for In-Class Discussion

• Larsen and Buss discuss some of the factors that might influence people to have false memories. What are these factors? Guide students to a discussion of the popular press and the behavior of some therapists. Challenge students to consider whether there are other factors that might influence people to have false memories that are not discussed by Larsen and Buss. Finally, ask students to discuss the importance of independent corroborating evidence in establishing the validity of recovered memories.

 

• Erik Erikson, a founder of ego psychology, emphasized the ego as a powerful and independent part of personality. Erikson noted that the ego is involved in mastering the environment, achieving one’s goals, and hence in establishing one’s identity. Establishing a secure identity is the primary function of the ego. Ask students first to discuss what “identity” means. Guide students to the conclusion that, according to ego psychologists such as Erikson, identity is an inner sense of who we are, or what makes us unique, a sense of continuity over time and a feeling of wholeness. Next, ask students to discuss what it means to be embroiled in what Erikson termed an “identity crisis.” Guide students to the conclusion that an identity crisis refers to the desperation and confusion a person feels when he or she has not developed a strong sense of identity.

• Psychologists Hazan and Shaver (1987) have argued that there are patterns of adult relationships that parallel childhood attachment styles. Ask students to identify and discuss each of these relationship styles (secure, avoidant, ambivalent). Challenge students to consider whether they find merit in the possibility that early childhood attachment can “spill over” to later adult romantic relationships. In addition, encourage students to discuss how work on adult relationship styles relates to Freud’s classical psychoanalytic theory.

 

Critical Thinking Essays

 

• As presented in Larsen and Buss, Westen (1998) defines contemporary psychoanalysis as being based on five postulates. Discuss these five postulates in your own words. Comment on each postulate. Does the postulate make sense to you? Why or why not? Include in your discussion an indication of empirical research that might reveal the truth-value of each postulate.

• Discuss, in your own words, the differences between the cognitive unconscious and the motivated unconscious. Include in your discussion a review of empirical work on subliminal perception and priming. Consider whether you favor the idea of the cognitive unconscious or that of the motivated unconscious. Does one view appeal more to you? Why? Finally, comment on empirical research that might help further distinguish between the cognitive unconscious and the motivated unconscious.

 

• One contemporary psychoanalytic approach that emphasizes early childhood relationships is object relations theory. This theory has two key assumptions. Identify these assumptions and, in your own words, discuss each assumption and its relationship to classical psychoanalysis. Finally, consider whether each of these assumptions makes sense to you. In short, do you “buy” each assumption? Why or why not?

Research Papers

 

• Larsen and Buss present recent theory and research on the phenomenon of “false memories” of childhood abuse. Conduct a search of the psychological research literature and identify three empirical articles published in the past five years that address false memories. Identify three articles that are not discussed by Larsen and Buss. For each article, summarize what the researchers investigated, how they investigated it, and what they found. Finally, and for each article, discuss how Freud might have interpreted the results, had they been published when he was alive.

• Larsen and Buss present recent theory and research on narcissism. Conduct a search of the psychological research literature and identify three empirical articles published in the past five years that address narcissism. Identify three articles that are not discussed by Larsen and Buss. For each article, summarize what the researchers investigated, how they investigated it, and what they found. Finally, and for each article, discuss how Freud might have interpreted the results, had they been published when he was alive.

 

• Larsen and Buss present recent theory and research on the adult attachment or relationship styles. Conduct a search of the psychological research literature and identify three empirical articles published in the past five years that address these attachment styles. Identify three articles that are not discussed by Larsen and Buss. For each article, summarize what the researchers investigated, how they investigated it, and what they found. Finally, and for each article, discuss how Freud might have interpreted the results, had they been published when he was alive.

Recent Research Articles and Other Scholarly Readings

 

Alperin, R. M. (2001). Barriers to intimacy: An object relations perspective. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 18, 137–156.

Apprey, M. (2001). Group process in the resolution of ethnonational conflicts: The case
of Estonia. Group Analysis, 34, 99–113.

Arbuthnott, K. D., Arbuthnott, D. W., & Rossiter, L. (2001). Guided imagery and memory: Implications for psychotherapists. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48, 123–132.

Baker, J. E. (2001). Mourning and the transformation of object relationships: Evidence
for the persistence of internal attachments. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 18, 55–73.

Birtchnell, J. (2001). Relating therapy with individuals, couples and families. Journal of Family Therapy, 23, 63–84.

Camparo, L. B., Wagner, J. T., & Saywitz, K. J. (2001). Interviewing children about real and fictitious events: Revisiting the narrative elaboration procedure. Law and Human Behavior, 25, 63–80.

Ciechanowski, P. S., Katon, W. J., Russo, J. E., et al. (2001). The patient-provider relationship: Attachment theory and adherence to treatment in diabetes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 29–35.

Curran, T., Schacter, D. L., Johnson, M. K., et al. (2001). Brain potentials reflect behavioral differences in true and false recognition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13, 201–216.

Davar, E. (2001). The loss of the transitional object: Some thoughts about transitional and “pre-transitional” phenomena. Psychodynamic Counseling, 7, 5–26.

Dodson, C. S., & Schacter, D. L. (2001). “If I had said it I would have remembered it”: Reducing false memories with a distinctiveness heuristic. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8, 155–161.

Elizur, Y., & Mintzer, A. (2001). A framework for the formation of gay male identity: Processes associated with adult attachment style and support from family and friends. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 30, 143–167.

Feeney, B. C., & Collins, N. L. (2001). Predictors of caregiving in adult intimate relationships: An attachment theoretical perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 972–994.

Field, N. P., Sturgeon, S. E., Puryear, R., et al. (2001). Object relations as a predictor of adjustment in conjugal bereavement. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 399–412.

Gallo, L. C., & Smith, T. W. (2001). Attachment style in marriage: Adjustment and responses to interaction. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 18, 263–289.

Garwood, A. (2001). Life, death, and the power of powerlessness. Group Analysis, 34, 153–167.

Gordon, B. N., Baker-Ward, L., & Ornstein, P. A. (2001). Children’s testimony: A review of research on memory for past experiences. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 4, 157–181.

Hingley, S. M. (2001). Psychodynamic theory and narcissistically related personality
problems: Support from case study research. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 74, 57–72.

Iwaniec, D., & Sneddon, H. (2001). Attachment style in adults who failed to thrive as children: Outcomes of a 20-year follow-up study of factors influencing maintenance or change in attachment style. British Journal of Social Work, 31, 179–195.

Lacroix, L., Peterson, L., & Verrier, P. (2001). Art therapy, somatization, and narcissistic identification. Art Therapy, 18, 20–26.

LaMothe, R. (2001). Vitalizing objects and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 18, 320–339.

Marsh, R. L., & Hicks, J. L. (2001). Output monitoring tests reveal false memories of 
memories that never existed. Memory, 9, 39–51.

McNally, R. J., Clancy, S. A., & Schacter, D. L. (2001). Directed forgetting of trauma cues in adults reporting repressed or recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 151–156.

Mikulincer, M., & Selinger, M. (2001). The interplay between attachment and affiliation systems in adolescents’ same-sex friendships: The role of attachment style. Journal of
Social and Personal Relationships, 18, 81–106.

Muller, R. T., Lemieux, K. E., & Sicoli, L. A. (2001). Attachment and psychopathology among formerly maltreated adults. Journal of Family Violence, 16, 151–169.

Muris, P., Meesters, C., van Melick, M., et al. (2001). Self-reported attachment style, attachment quality, and symptoms of anxiety and depression in young adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 809–818.

Neuschatz, J. S., Payne, D. G., Lampinen, J. M., et al (2001). Assessing the effectiveness of warnings and the phenomenological characteristics of false memories. Memory, 9, 53–71.

Peebles-Kleiger, M. J. (2001). Contemporary psychoanalysis and hypnosis. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 49, 146–165.

Pesta, B. J., Murphy, M. D., & Sanders, R. E. (2001). Are emotionally charged lures immune to false memory? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, 27, 328–338.

Priel, B., & Besser, A. (2001). Bridging the gap between attachment and object relations theories: A study of the transition to motherhood. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 74, 85–100.

Reinecke, M. A., & Rogers, G. M. (2001). Dysfunctional attitudes and attachment style among clinically depressed adults. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 29, 129–141.

Sawle, G. A., & Kear-Colwell, J. (2001). Adult attachment style and pedophilia: A developmental perspective. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 45, 32–50.

Troisi, A., D’Argenio, A., Peracchio, F., et al. (2001). Insecure attachment and alexithymia in young men with mood symptoms. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 189, 311–316.

Uhinki, A. (2001). Experiences of the therapeutic assessment with couples. Journal of Projective Psychology and Mental Health, 8, 15–18.

Westmaas, J. L., & Silver, R. C. (2001). The role of attachment in responses to victims of life crises. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 425–438.

Willick, M. S. (2001). Psychoanalysis and schizophrenia: A cautionary tale. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 49, 27–56.

Winkielman, P., & Schwarz, N. (2001). How pleasant was your childhood? Beliefs about memory shape inferences from experienced difficulty of recall. Psychological Science, 12, 176–179.

Yarmey, A. D. (2001). Expert testimony: Does eyewitness memory research have probative value for the courts? Canadian Psychology, 42, 92–100.


Activity Handout 10-1:

Popular Press Books on Forgotten Memories of Abuse

Instructions: There are many books currently on the market that purport to be guides to survivors of abuse. These books are likely of some comfort to people who have been living with painful memories of abuse. For people who have no such memories, these books can provide strong suggestions that abuse might have happened, even if there is no memory of the abuse. This activity is designed to make you aware of the volume of popular press books available on the topic of recovered memories of abuse. Make a trip to a local bookstore before the next class. Locate and jot down on the lines below the titles of a few of the books on recovered memories of abuse. Flip through each book and determine whether the author appears to have a confirmatory bias for finding recovered memories of abuse.

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Activity Handout 10-2:
Memory Experiment

Instructions: Administer this test to someone you know. Ask your friend to listen carefully to the following list of words, and tell her/him that you will be testing her/him on these words in a few moments. The words are:

BED, REST, AWAKE, TIRED, DREAM, WAKE, SNOOZE, BLANKET, DOZE, SLUMBER, SNORE, NAP, PEACE, YAWN, DROWSY

 

Now cover the list of words (you can fold the page in half), and ask the person to indicate whether or not each of the following words was on the list.

 

On the list?

Yes      No
___      ___      1. SNOOZE

___      ___      2. MOTHER

___      ___      3. BED

___      ___      4. TELEVISION

___      ___      5. SLEEP

___      ___      6. CHAIR

 

 

Activity Handout 10-3:
Establishing Identity

Instructions: According to Erik Erikson, a prominent ego psychologist, adolescence is a particularly turbulent time in life because of the struggle to establish a secure identity. Establishing a secure identity is the primary function of the ego. Identity is an inner sense of who we are, or what makes us unique. It is a sense of continuity over time and a feeling of wholeness. Indicate on the lines below some of the things that modern teenagers do, or perhaps that you do or once did, that might be interpreted as indicating a struggle to establish identity.

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________

 

• __________________________________________________________________________

• __________________________________________________________________________