The Unconscious

• These theories, developed by Freud, focus on the unconscious like many of his ideas

• He developed these theories around 1897

• According to Freud, people are born with psychic energy (libido) that must be redirected during social development

  • We have to rechannel this energy in different ways so that we can function as people

• Proposed that aggressive and sexual impulses fight to come to the surface and must be restrained

Personality Structures

• The personality can be divided into 3 structures: the ID, the Superego, and the Ego

• These three instructions work together to dictate everything we think and do, with the unconscious playing a constant role

ID

• The primal, pleasure-seeking portion that is almost all unconscious

• It wants what it wants and wants it now

• Operates on the basis of immediate gratification

Superego

• The conscience

• Uses socialization and guilt to restrain the ID

• Also mostly unconscious

Ego

• This is the conscious portion

• The ego listens to both the ID and superego but operates in reality

• The ego functions on delayed gratification, so it isn’t as demanding

The Iceberg Model

• Freud developed this model to explain what parts of the personality structures are known to the conscious mind

• Above the water is the conscious mind, while below the water is unconscious

  • The water dictates the way the iceberg moves and how it is shaped

  • Or in other words, Freud is really enforcing the idea that the unconscious contributes the most to our personality

• The ego makes up most of the exposed iceberg, with only a little bit under the water

• The superego presents above water a little bit but is mostly under the water

• The ID is completely underwater

Development of Personality

• The personality structures develop over time as we progress through 5 distinct stages

• In each stage, a conflict arises and needs to be resolved

  • If it is resolved normally, development proceeds

  • If not resolved well, fixation may occur and last well into adulthood

• Proposed that you're born with the ID, the basic urges that need to be attended to immediately

  • The Super/Ego develops over time

Oral Stage

• The first stage is the oral stage, lasting from birth to around 18 months

• This stage involves infants taking pleasure from oral stimulation, such as sucking on their thumb or pacifier and chewing on objects

• Freud said that children should have decided on their own to stop doing this by the end of the period

  • If this conflict is not resolved, an oral fixation develops, wherein a child or person constantly needs oral stimulation

  • This may present as biting fingernails, chewing gum, chewing the lips/sides of the cheeks, and more

Anal Stage

• From 18 months to about 3 years old, Freud states that children take pleasure in learning to control their bowel movements

• The language can be misleading

  • The pleasure is derived from gaining more autonomy over one’s own body

• Parents often praise their children for becoming potty trained, so there is also an aspect of social reinforcement

Phallic Stage

• From 3 to 6 years old, children begin seeking genital stimulation

• They also begin to sexually identify as male or female (or as other cultural gender identities) by observing their parents and others around them

Latency

• The fourth stage from age 6 until the onset of puberty

• Fixations and sexual feelings learn to be hidden and stay that way for the duration of the period

Genital Stage

• Sexual pleasure now comes from actual sexual behavior, whether that be through intercourse or masturbation

Post-Freud Changes

• These ideas began with Sigmund Freud in Vienna around 1897 but changed after his death as other theorists took his ideas and adapted them

• Some agreed with many of his ideas but added some of their own along the way

• Carl Jung was a friend of Freud until they had a falling out

  • Jung developed the ideas of the collective unconscious filled with archetypes

Neo-Freudism

• Alfred Adler offered the concept of the inferiority complex, suggesting that we constantly strive for feelings of superiority

• Karen Horney differed from Freud in terms of her overall view of women and by offering that environmental and social situations might be causal factors instead of just biological and instinctual drives

  • She proposed that relationships also significantly shape the personality

• Gradually, the theory moved further away from the sexual emphasis of Freud and began incorporating more conscious aspects

  • It became known as the psychodynamic theory

• The psychodynamic theory still plays a significant role in therapeutic processes today

  • The ideas that originated with Freud still continue in a modified form

Defense Mechanisms

• Freud and his followers explained numerous ways in which the Ego defends against the demands of the ID and Superego

  • These are unconscious in nature and we cannot easily stop ourselves from doing them

  • They protect us from anxiety

• These include compensation, denial, displacement, identification with the aggressor, intellectualization, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and sublimation