The Subconscious Mind

Who is this guy?

Sigmund Freud was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1856. His father was a small time merchant, and his father's second wife was Freud's mother. Freud had two half-brothers some 20 years older than himself. His family moved to Vienna when he was four years old, and though he often claimed he hated the city, he lived there until it was occupied by Germany in 1938. Freud's family background was Jewish, though his father was a freethinker and Freud himself an avowed atheist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wt328KCuU0&feature=related

What did he do?

After studying medicine at the University of Vienna, Freud worked and gained respect as a physician. Through his work with respected French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, Freud became fascinated with the emotional disorder known as hysteria. Later, Freud and his friend and mentor Dr. Josef Breuer introduced him to the case study of a patient known as Anna O., whose symptoms included a nervous cough, tactile anesthesia and paralysis. Over the course of her treatment, the woman recalled several traumatic experiences, which Freud and Breuer believed contributed to her illness. The two physicians concluded that there was no organic cause for Anna O.’s difficulties, but that having her talk about her experiences had a calming effect on the symptoms. Freud and Breuer published the work Studies in Hysteria in 1895. It was Anna O. herself who referred to the treatment as "the talking cure."

His Major Works

(1895) Studies in Hysteria(1900) The Interpretation of Dreams(1901) The Psychopathology of Everyday

Life(1905) Three Essays on the Theory of

Sexuality(1905) Fragment of an Analysis of a Case

of Hysteria(1923) The Ego and the Id(1930) Civilization and its Discontents(1939) Moses and Monotheism

How did he contribute to the world of understanding?Regardless of the perception of Sigmund

Freud’s theories, there is no question that he had an enormous impact on the field of psychology. His work supported the belief that not all mental illnesses have physiological causes and he also offered evidence that cultural differences have an impact on psychology and behavior. His work and writings contributed to our understanding of personality, clinical psychology, human development, and abnormal psychology.

Psychoanalysis

According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality, personality is composed of three elements. These three elements of personality--known as the id, the ego and the superego--work together to create complex human behaviors.

The Id

only component of personality that is present from birth

entirely unconscious and includes instinctive and primitive behaviors

driven by the “pleasure principle”: strives for immediate gratification of all desires, wants, and needs

Example: an increase in hunger or thirst should produce an immediate attempt to eat or drink

important early in life, because it ensures that an infant's needs are met (If the infant is hungry or uncomfortable, he or she will cry until the demands of the id are met)

The Ego component of personality that is responsible for

dealing with reality develops from the id and ensures that the

impulses of the id can be expressed in a manner acceptable in the real world

functions in the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind

operates on reality principle: strives to satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways

weighs the costs and benefits of an action before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses or delay them for an appropriate time

The Superego

aspect of personality that holds all of our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents and society (our sense of right and wrong)

provides guidelines for making judgments; acts to perfect and civilize our behavior

two parts: The ego ideal: rules and standards for good behaviors –

include those approved by parental and other authority figures (obeying leads to pride, value, accomplishment)

the conscience: information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society (often forbidden; lead to bad consequences, punishments, feelings of guilt/remorse) information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society. These behaviors are often forbidden and lead to bad consequences, punishments or feelings of guilt and remorse.

The Balance

with so many competing forces, it is easy to see how conflict might arise between the id, ego and superego

a person with good ego strength is able to effectively manage these pressures, while those with too much or too little ego strength can become too unyielding or too disrupting.

The Superego works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id and struggles to make the ego act upon idealistic standards rather that upon realistic principles

According to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance between the id, the ego, and the superego