What is Psychology?

- Psychology as a social science is actually a fairly young discipline. The interests and
work of the initial psychologists have shaped psychology as we know it today, in terms of
the scientific study of the human mind, of human behavior, and of mental conditions.
- Ultimately, the goal of psychological study is to describe, understand, and predict
human behavior and mental processes.

Five Main Approaches to Western Psychology:

1. Psychoanalytical
2. Behaviourist
3. Humanism
4. Cognitive
5. Biological psychology

Psychoanalytical Theory

Definition: The unconscious struggles of the mind determine how personality develops and
dictates behaviour

What is it?

- Founded by Sigmubd Freud in early 1900s

- Proposed that personality and behaviour are the outcome of continual conflicts in the
mind
- The individual is not aware of this because it takes place at a subconscious level

What are the three parts of the human consciousness?

- Ego: the rational part of our mind and operates on the “reality principle” - it tries to
suppress the Id
- Id: the instinctual part of the mind which is run by the “pleasure principle”
- Superego: the moral centre of the mind - acts as the mind’s conscience

The ego struggles to satisfy the needs of the impulsive id while trying to satisfy the moral
superego.

Freud believes that human personality results from the ego’s efforts to resolve these conflicts.

Structural Model
The conscious mind is just the tip of the iceberg, a small part of the hidden whole. This theory is
based on the concept that the unconscious mind is structured in 3 parts: id, ego, superego, and
they “talk” to one another to resolve conflicting emotions and impulses.
Are we born with these?

Id is present at birth – a newborn baby is completely selfish.

Ego develops by the age of three – a child becomes aware that other people have feelings and
that it can’t always have its own way.

Superego appears around age five – sense of morality (conscience) passed on by parents –
child internalizes this.

Freud also believed that personality develops from birth in five stages known as the
psychosexual stages because they involve both sexuality and mental processes.

At each stage, a person’s mind focuses on a different aspect of sexuality (such as oral pleasure
when a baby sucks their thumb).
Freud believed that the psychosexual stages trigger a battle between biology and social
expectations and the mind must resolve this conflict before a person can move on to a healthy
mental development.

Why?

Patients would often project their feelings onto the therapist (called transference) which allowed
them to examine their feelings and gain insight into their current relationships. Freud’s methods
also gained understanding into the child-parent relationship.

Defense mechanisms

What is it?

Freud argued that people subconsciously employ defense mechanisms when they are faced
with anxiety or unpleasant emotions. These mechanisms help them cope with memories or
impulses that they find stressful or distasteful by tricking them into thinking everything is fine.

What happens?

The ego uses defense mechanisms to help people reach a mental compromise when dealing
with things that cause internal conflict. Some examples include: denial, displacement,
repression, regression, intellectualization and projection.

Evaluating Psychoanalytical Theory

While Freud has been highly influential in highlighting the role of the subconscious, it has
proven to be controversial because it focuses on sexuality as the driver of personality.

Many critics view his model as too subjective and too simplistic to explain the complex nature of
the mind and behaviour.

Many also believe that Freud’s theories are very heteronormative (which is a sign of the times
he wrote in).