Sigmund Freuds

Reporter:
Gleam Bill B. Balais
 Sigmund Freud (18561939) was born on either March 6 or May 6 in
Freiberg, Moravia (now Pribor, Czech Republic).
His father was Jakob Freud, a wool merchant. lived 81 years
His mother was Amalie Nathansohn lived 95 years until 1930
Freud had half-brothers as old as his mother and a nephew older than he
was.
Sigmund was the oldest child in the immediate family (3rd family of
Jakob), however, and clearly Amalies favorite.
From early on, Sigmund showed great intellectual ability; to aid his
studies, he was given an oil lamp and a room of his ownthe only one in
the large household to have those things.
His mother would often serve him his meals in his room, and a piano was
taken away from one of his sisters because the music bothered him.
 Sigmund began reading Shakespeare when he was eight years old, and
he deeply admired that authors power of expression and understanding
of human nature all his life.
Freud also had an amazing gift for languages. As a boy, he taught himself
Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, and English, and later in life he
became an acknowledged master of German prose.
He entered high school at age 9 (a year earlier than normal) and was
always at the head of his class; at age 17, he graduated summa cum
laude. Until his final year of high school, Freud was attracted to a career
in law or politics, or even in the military; but hearing a lecture on
Goethes essay on nature and reading Darwins theory of evolution
aroused his interest in science, and he decided to enroll in the medical
school at the University of Vienna in the fall of 1873, at the age of 17.
Freud enrolled in medical school in 1873, it took him eight years to
complete the program; because he had such wide interests, he was often
diverted from his medical studies. For example, Brentano caused him to
become interested in philosophy, and Freud even translated one of John
Stuart Mills books into German.
 Freud considered himself a Jew all his life but had a basically negative
attitude toward Judaism as well as Christianity.
 The term psychoanalysis has three
meanings:
(1) a theory of personality and
psychopathology,
(2) a method of therapy for personality
disturbances,
(3) a technique for investigating an individuals
unconscious thoughts and feelings.
 Freud employed a topographical model of
personality organization. According to him,
psychic life can be represented by three levels
of consciousness the conscious, the
preconscious, and the conscious.
 The conscious level consists of whatever sensations and experiences you are
aware of at a given moment in time. Freud insisted that only a small part of
mental life (thoughts, perceptions, feelings, memories) is contained in the realm
of consciousness. Whatever content of consciousness there may be at a given
time, is the result of a screening process largely regulated by external cues.
Furthermore, it can only be conscious at a given time and can be quickly
submerged into preconscious or unconscious levels as the persons attention
shifts to different cues.
The preconscious domain, sometimes called the available memory,
encompasses all experiences that are not conscious at the moment but which can
easily be retrieved into awareness either spontaneously or with a minimum
effort. It bridges the conscious and unconscious region of the mind.
The unconscious is the deepest and major stratum of the human mind. It is the
storehouse for primitive instinctual dries plus emotions and memories that are so
threatening to the conscious mind that they have been repressed , or
unconsciously pushed into the unconscious mind. For Freud, such unconscious
material is responsible for much of everyday behaviour.
 Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, compared
the human mind to an iceberg. The tip above the water
represents consciousness, and the vast region below the
surface symbolizes the unconscious mind. Of Freuds three
basic personality structuresid, ego, and superegoonly
the id is totally unconscious.
 Psychoanalysis has as its core the idea that each of
us has an unconscious part whose existence,
activities and thoughts are hidden behind a mental
barrier that we cannot voluntarily remove. Behind
this barrier are repressed and psychologically
dangerous thoughts that give rise to unconscious
conflicts, which in turn, can result in psychological
and physical symptoms.
 The Id. The id (from the German das es, meaning the it) is the driving force
of the personality.
The Ego. The ego (from the German das ich, meaning the I) is aware of the
needs of both the id and the physical world, and its major job is to coordinate
the two. In other words, the egos job is to match the wishes (images) of the
id with their counterparts in the physical environment. The ego is said to be
governed by the reality principle, because the objects it provides must result
in real rather than imaginary satisfaction of a need.
The Superego. As the child internalizes these dos and donts, he or she
develops a superego (from the German das berich, meaning the over I),
which is the moral arm of the personality. The fully developed superego has
two divisions. The conscience consists of the internalized experiences for
which the child has been consistently punished. Engaging in or even thinking
about engaging in such activities now makes the child feel guilty. The ego-
ideal consists of the internalized experiences for which the child has been
rewarded. Engaging in or even thinking about engaging in such activities
makes the child feel good about himself or herself.
 The collective energy associated with the instincts is called libido (the
Latin word for lust), and libidinal energy accounts for most human
behaviour.

A cathexis is a need or desire that is acceptable to the Id and Ego.

Anticathexis is when the superego blocks or inhibits association or the

libidinal energy towards an object.

Freud believed in life and death instincts.

One is the eros (named after the Greek god of love) which contains all life
instincts including sex, hunger, and thirst. Freuds final position was that
when a need arises, libidinal energy is expended to satisfy it, thereby
prolonging life.
 Another is the thanatos (named after the Greek god of death). The life
instincts seek to perpetuate life, and the death instinct seeks to
terminate it. To all the other conflicts that occur among the id, ego, and
superego, Freud added a life-and-death struggle. When directed toward
ones self, the death instinct manifests itself as suicide or masochism;
when directed outwardly, it manifests itself in hatred, murder, cruelty,
and general aggression.

For Freud, aggression is a natural component of human nature.

 Impetus is the magnitude of energy, force of pressure that is used to
satisfy or gratify the instinct. It can be estimated and observed directly
by observing the kinds of obstacles an individual would overcome in
seeking a goal.

The libidinal complement to the egoism of the instinct of self-

preservation, or, more simply, the desire and energy that drives ones
instinct to survive is called primary narcissism.

Secondary narcissism occurs when the libido withdraws from objects

outside the self, above all the mother, producing a relationship to social
reality that includes the potential for megalomania. 'This megalomania
has no doubt come into being at the expense of object-libido....This leads
us to look upon the narcissism which arises through the drawing on of
object-cathexes as a secondary one, superimposed upon a primary
narcissism.
 Transference is when an unconscious impulse is directed upon some
object rather than the one toward it was originally directed.

Freud encourages a miniature neurosis called Transference Neurosis in

therapy. In which the individual develops a recognition of the importance
of transference of his or her former relationships to his or her current
relationships. It helps the individual grasp a better insight and deeper
knowing of ones self and relationships.
 What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a warning of impending danger, and Freud distinguished three

types: Objective anxiety or realistic anxiety arises when there is an
objective threat to the persons well-being. Neurotic anxiety arises when
the ego feels that it is going to be overwhelmed by the idin other
words, when the needs of the id become so powerful that the ego feels
that it will be unable to control them and that the irrationality of the id
will manifest itself in the persons thought and behaviour. Moral anxiety
arises when an internalized value is or is about to be violated. Moral
anxiety is about the same as shame or guilt. It is the self-punishment we
experience when we act contrary to the values internalized in the
superego.
 What are the Defense Mechanisms?

Defense mechanisms help regulate the conflict within the id, ego, and
superego and the proper release of the libidinal energy.

Repression is a fundamental defense mechanism which is involved in all

others. It hides or disguises undesirable thoughts, memories and ideas
and push them to the unconscious or disguise it so it would not cause
anxiet. Modified repressed ideas show up in dreams, in humor, in
physical symptoms, during free association, and in parapraxes.

Displacement is another very important defense mechanism. It involves

replacing an object or goal that provokes anxiety with one that does not.
Sublimation is substituting a nonsexual goal for a sexual one. Freud
considered sublimation to be the basis of civilization. Because we often
cannot express our sexual urges directly, we are forced to express them
indirectly in the form of poetry, art, religion, football, baseball, politics,
education, and everything else that characterizes civilization.

Projection is to attribute an anxiety-provoking thought to someone or

something other than ones self. One sees the causes of failure,
undesirable urges, and secret desires as out there instead of in the self
because seeing them as part of ones self would cause anxiety.
Identification is to symbolically borrow someone elses success when
one feels frustrated and anxious because one has not lived up to some
internalized value. Thus, if one dresses, behaves, or talks the way a
person considered successful does, some of that persons success
becomes ones own.

Rationalization (sour-graping and sweet-lemons) involves giving a

rational and logical, but false, reason for a failure or shortcoming rather
than the true reason for it.

Reaction formation is when people have a desire to do something but

doing it would cause anxiety, they do the opposite of what they really
want to do. Thus, the male with strong homosexual tendencies becomes
a Don Juan type.
 Freud considered the entire body to be a source of sexual pleasure, he
believed that this pleasure was concentrated on different parts of the
body at different stages of development. At any stage, the area of the
body on which sexual pleasure is concentrated is called the erogenous
zone. The erogenous zones give the stages of development their
respective names. According to Freud, the experiences a child has during
each stage determine, to a large extent, his or her adult personality. For
this reason, Freud believed that the foundations for ones adult
personality are formed by the time a child is about five years old.
 The Oral Stage. The oral stage lasts through about the first year of life,
and the erogenous zone is the mouth. Pleasure comes mainly through
the lips, tongue, and such activities as sucking, chewing, and swallowing.
If either overgratification or undergratification (frustration) of the oral
needs causes a fixation to occur at this level of development, as an adult
the child will be an oral character. Fixation during the early part of the
oral stage results in an oral-incorporative or oral-passive character. Such a
person tends to be a good listener and an excessive eater, drinker, kisser,
or smoker; he or she also tends to be dependent and gullible. A fixation
during the latter part of the oral stage, when teeth begin to appear,
results in an oral-sadistic or oral-agressive character. Such a person is
sarcastic, cynical, and generally aggressive.
 The Anal Stage. The anal stage lasts through about the second year of
life, and the erogenous zone is the anus-buttocks region of the body.
Fixation during this stage results in an anal character. During the first
part of the anal stage, pleasure comes mainly from activities such as
feces expulsion, and a fixation here results in the adult being an anal-
expulsive character. Such a person tends to be generous, messy, or
wasteful. In the latter part of the anal stage, after toilet training has
occurred, pleasure comes from being able to withhold feces. A fixation
here results in the person becoming an anal-retentive character. Such an
adult tends to be a collector and to be stingy, orderly, and perhaps
perfectionistic.
 The Phallic Stage. The phallic stage lasts from about the beginning of
the third year to the end of the fifth year, and the erogenous zone is the
genital region of the body. Because Freud believed the clitoris to be a
small penis, the phallic stage describes the development of both male
and female children. The most significant events that occur during this
stage are the male and female Oedipal complexes. According to Freud,
both male and female children develop strong, positive, even erotic
feelings toward their mother because she satisfies their needs. These
feelings persist in the boy but typically change in the girl. The male child
now has an intense desire for his mother and great hostility toward his
father, who is perceived as a rival for his mothers love. Because the
source of his pleasurable feelings toward his mother is his penis and
because he sees his father as much more powerful than he, the male
child begins to experience castration anxiety, which causes him to repress
his sexual and aggressive tendencies.
The male child solves the problem by identifying with the father. This
identification accomplishes two things: Symbolically becoming his father
(through identification) allows the child at least to share the mother; and it
removes his father as a threat, thus reducing the childs castration anxiety.

The female childs situation is much different from the males.

Like the male child, the female starts out with a strong attraction and
attachment to the mother. She soon learns, however, that she lacks a penis
and she blames the mother for its absence. She now has both positive and
negative feelings toward her mother. At about the same time, she learns that
her father possesses the valued organ, which she wants to share with him.
This causes a sexual attraction toward the father, but the fact that her father
possesses something valuable that she does not possess causes her to
experience penis envy.
To resolve the female Oedipal complex in a healthy way, the female child
must repress her hostility toward her mother and her sexual attraction to
her father. Thereafter, she becomes the mother and shares the father.
The repression and strong identification necessary during this stage
result in the full development of the superego.

When a child identifies with his or her parent of the same sex, the child
introjects that parents moral standards and values. Once these
standards have been introjected, they control the child for the rest of his
or her life. For this reason, the final and complete formation of the
superego is said to go hand in hand with the resolution of the Oedipal
complexes.
 The Latency Stage. The latency stage lasts from about the beginning of
the sixth year until puberty. Because of the intense repression required
during the phallic stage, sexual activity is all but eliminated from
consciousness during the latency stage. This stage is characterized by
numerous substitute activities, such as schoolwork and peer activities,
and by extensive curiosity about the world.
 The Genital Stage. The genital stage lasts from puberty through the
remainder of ones life. With the onset of puberty, sexual desires become
too intense to repress completely, and they begin to manifest
themselves. The focus of attention is now on members of the opposite
sex. If everything has gone correctly during the preceding stages, this
stage will culminate in dating and eventually marriage. The
undergratifications or overgratifications and fixations that a person
experiences (or does not experience) during the psychosexual stages will
determine the persons adult personality. If the person has adjustment
problems later in life, the psychoanalyst looks into these early
experiences for solution to the problems. For the psychoanalyst,
childhood experience is the stuff of which neuroses or normality are
made. Indeed, psychoanalysts believe that the child is father to the
man (Freud, 1940/1969, p. 64).
 Deterministic He was a strict biological deterministic (Kline, 1984). He
assumed that all human events (actions, thoughts, feelings, aspirations)
are governed by laws and determined by powerful instinctual forces,
notably sex and aggression.

Irrational In Freuds view, people are motivated by irrational, almost

uncontrollable, instincts which are largely out of the sphere of conscious
awareness. While a degree of rationality exists within the ego, this
component of personality structure is ultimately subservient to the
demands of the Id.

Holistic Freud leaned towards a holistic view of persons, believing that

they must be studied as totalities in order to be understood. Central to
his theory is the portrayal if the individual in terms of id-ego-superego
interactions and interdependencies.
 Constitutionalism Several of Freuds early concepts (psychic energy,
instincts, pleasure principle) were derived from neuroanatomy and
neurophysiology (Weinstein, 1968). Psychoanalytic theory never
substantially altered its course from the beginning, and on balance,
Freud must be regarded as having adopted a constitutional position
concerning human nature.

Unchangeability Freud believed that the adult personality is

unchangeable that it is shaped by the early childhood experiences. He
depicted the individual as progressing through a series of psychosexual
experiences and that the adult personality depends on which stages a
person has accomplished or fixated upon.
 Subjective Freud was one of the theorists that saw persons living in a
subjective world of feelings, emotions, perceptions and meanings. While
he recognized the private world of an individual as an important part of
personality, Freud also considered it as a guide to something else
objective conditions like traumas, repressions, and universal human
drives.
 Proactive Freud took the proactive position and is reflected in his
concept of motivation: the locus of causality for all human behaviour is
found in the energy flowing from the id and its instincts. People do not
consciously generate their own behaviour; rather, the sexual and
aggressive instincts generate the psychic energy which underlies the
multiplicity of human actions. Individuals are not proactive in the full
sense of the term. They are reactive to the extent that their instincts
have external objects that operate as environmental stimuli to elicit their
behaviour.
 Homeostatic Freud believed that all human behaviour was regulated
by the tendency to reduce excitations created by unpleasant bodily
tensions. The id constantly clamor for expression, and people tend to
reduce the tensions generated by this instinctual energy source. Rather
than seek for tension or excitement, individuals are actually driven to
seek a tensionless state of nirvana, reflecting a homeostatic position.

Knowable Freud committed that the human nature is ultimately

knowable in scientific terms. For instance, he insisted that people obey
the same laws of nature as any other organism. Likewise, he views the
human organism as biologically determined and whose deepest
motivations can be uncovered by the scientifically based techniques of
psychoanalysis.
As a psychologist, what criticisms do you
have against the psychoanalytic theory of
Sigmund Freud?