Ego Psychology Theory.docx - Theory Review and Analysis...

Theory Review and Analysis Worksheet
Theory: Ego Psychology (1940’s)
Key theorists/practitioners of this model and their educational background or training:
 Erik Erickson
 Eda Goldstein
 Garlan Hamilton: person in environment and its impacts (social worker)
 Florence Hollis: person in environment, case management (social worker)
Description of key concepts:
 Ego
functions:
o Reality testing: objective evaluation of an emotion or thought against real life
o
Integration of internal and external stimuli
o
Mastery and competence: important motivators for individuals, competence or control
over their environment
o
Direction of thought processes: ability to remember, concentrate, assess situations
o
Innate human drives:
 Pleasure and aggression: drive that causes person to behave or cope in a certain
way
 Aggression comes to play when one is being threatened- fight or flight
 stress and how we cope with it
 Pleasure: seek things out that feel good
 Mastery and competence:
 Mastery: ability to influence their environment
 Competence: person’s subjective feeling about ability
o
Defensive/coping functions: distortions of reality that enable us to minimize anxiety,
experienced by all people in attempt to reduce phycological harm or discomfort (p. 62-
63)
 Denial: negating an aspect of reality
 Displacement: shifting negative feelings about a person or situation onto another
 Intellectualization: avoiding emotions by talking about them rather than
experiencing them directly
 Introjection: taking characteristics or emotions felt onto oneself to avoid conflict
 Isolation of affect: consciously experiencing emotions when it is “safe” rather
than when it was first unconsciously experienced
 Projection: attributing thoughts and feelings to others
 Rationalization: using convincing reasons to justify emotions, thoughts, or
actions to oneself in order to avoid the underlying motives
 Reaction formation: replacing an unwanted unconscious impulse with its
opposite in conscious behavior
 Regression: resuming behaviors associated with an earlier developmental
stage/level of functioning to avoid present anger, anxiety, etc
 Repression: keeping unwanted thoughts and feelings out of awareness