The concept of individual defence processes can be useful for understanding social psychological phenomena.’

In this assignment, you are asked to introduce the concept of individual defence processes and to evaluate the usefulness of this concept to social psychology. Critically discussing the claim that they are useful for understanding social psychological phenomena, you are also asked to make reference to both Chapters 13 and 14. Your first task is to define and explain what is meant by this concept: individual defence processes. To do so, you will need to make reference to other relevant concepts, including the dynamic unconscious, as explored by Freud and expanded by later psychoanalytic theorists. In addition, you also need to examine particular manifestations of the dynamic unconscious, namely the defence processes. In terms of the dynamic unconscious, you will find useful information on this in Sections 1 and 2 of Chapter 13 where the notion of the dynamic unconscious is introduced, and two different assumptions that may be relevant to the essay are contrasted (the assumption of the ‘bestial self’ and that of the ‘relational self’). Section 2 of Study Week 24 contains an activity which should help you to consolidate this material. The Welcome section (Section 1) to the Week 24 Study Guide provides a useful supplement to this, as does Study Week 23 (including the audio by David Kaposi). Regarding individual defence processes, Sections 3 and 4 of Chapter 14 are essential, as is Sections 2 and 3 of Chapter 13. You may also find Section 2 of Study Week 23 useful. Section 3.1 of Study Week 25 is exclusively on defence processes. See also the Glossary for relevant terms. Importantly, second, the question stipulates that you make reference to empirical research you read about in Block 5. Section 3 of Chapter 13 comprises a discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (and British university campus life), with further elaboration of the topic in Section 3 of Study Week 23. Sections 2 and 4 of Chapter 14 discuss bystander behaviour, with further information from Section 4 of Study Week 25. You may find, of course, that there are only some aspects of this topic that you want to draw on in your argument. Your next task is to evaluate whether the use of the concept of individual defence processes is helpful or not in making sense of these social psychological phenomena in Chapters 13 and 14. Remember that what you are expected to do at this point is not merely to present a brief judgment, but you need to construct an argument. There is no one right or wrong answer here: the key for you is to present an argument for whatever judgment you make and to explicitly support it with evidence from the module material and other relevant research literature. The best way of doing this may be to think back to the ‘evidence’ from the textbook that convinces you most regarding your stance on the usefulness of the concept of individual defence processes For this TMA, you are also asked to include reference to, and explicit discussion of, one module theme as part of your argument. It is up to you which one you think works well for your argument, and where best to include it. But as you plan your essay, you will need to go back to the Module Themes and decide which one, how and where you want to integrate it. The ‘Introduction to Chapter 5’ of the textbook will be of help here, detailing which of the themes may be relevant to the material of Block 5. Please remember that you will be asked to explicitly include a discussion of module themes into your EMA, so this is a good opportunity to practice doing this. Finally, you will need to present a conclusion, summarising your critical discussion. Here you step back from the particular concepts and examples your essay drew on and make some general comments about the fit between psychoanalysis and social psychology. You may find it useful here to draw on the interview in Study Week 23 with Stephen Frosh (especially 3.2 and 3.3). Section 3 of Chapter 13 starts with the general elaboration on the relationship between psychoanalysis and social psychology. The topic is picked up, from a critical perspective, in Sections 3.2 and 4 of Study Week 25.