The Human Psyche

Let us make a list of examples of some

unethical/immoral actions.
Bhagavad Geeta
Arjun asked:
Even when a man does not want to, he still
commits sin as if he is being forced by
something? What is it that impels him? (3.36)

Q. 1 What do you think impels him?

Sri Krishna said:
Desire, which originates from passion, know
this to be the enemy. Desire is insatiable
and is a great devil. As fire is covered by
smoke, and a mirror by dust… knowledge is
covered by desire. (3.37-38)
http://tsproofsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Smoke-Vent-Skylights-and-Fire-Sa
 Akrasia – 1

Akrasia is a Greek word describing human actions

from a loss of control. e.g. anger
Historically, all of Western theories of ethics were
based on the assumption that human beings are
rational, and therefore all ethical theories were based
on reason.
The problem of akrasia was never addressed by
Western ethics.
During the Enlightenment era in Europe, thinkers
were sure that reason could overcome this problem.

[1]
 Akrasia – 2

The approach of these Enlightenment thinkers to solve

this problem was to attempt and construct a science of
the emotions. With a firm knowledge of how the
emotions functioned we could better control them and
rid their irrational darkness from our lives.

It was this quest for a science of the passions that led

to the discovery of the unconscious in the human
psyche.

[1]
The Human Psyche
 Psyche

Psyche refers to the totality of all human mental

processes, conscious as well as unconscious.

‘Mind’ is commonly used to refer to aspects of mental

functioning which are conscious.

Psychology is the study of the psyche.

 Two Fundamental Concepts

From all the theories we will study about the human

psyche, we can draw the following two major
conclusions:
1. The human psyche is separable into multiple parts.
These parts are most often in conflict with each
other. Many of these parts are in the unconscious
self.
2. A significant part of the human psyche is shaped in
early childhood, and forms the basis of one’s identity.
What made Rahul fall madly in love with Megha?

Why does Priya experience anxiety every time she

meets any man with a large moustache?

Why does Rajesh feel extreme rage when he sees a

child being shouted at?

We feel nervous before an important interview or

exam. Why do we have no ability to control our
nervousness?

Q. 2 Answer one of these four. Use your imagination!

A model of the psyche

Moral

Rational

Irrational

http://psyblog.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/freud.jpg
Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)
 Freud

There were extensive explorations into the

unconscious before Freud also, but the discovery of
the unconscious is primarily associated with Freud.
As Freud said, “poets and philosophers before me
discovered the unconscious,” but Freud discovered
“the scientific method by which the unconscious can
be studied.”
His theory was developed out of extensive clinical
observation.

[1]
Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961)
Karen Horney (1885 – 1952)
Theories of the Human Psyche
As the baby emerges from the womb into the reality of
life, he wants only to eat, drink, urinate, defecate, be
warm.

This most primitive motivational force demands

satisfaction instantly, regardless of circumstances and
consequences. Freud called this the pleasure principle.

[5]
The infant, in the Freudian view, is the psychic
representative of purely animal drives.

As the child grows, it is faced with the fact that not all
its urges are gratified immediately.

Ungratified urges are repressed, and retreat to the

unconscious.

This process continues throughout life.

[1]
 The It

Freud discovered that this unconscious has ways of

interacting with the world that are totally different
from those of consciousness. Like consciousness, the
unconscious has desires, but rather than functioning in
an open, logical domain, they manifest themselves
through veiled urges.

The part of the unconscious which consists of

repressed desires, and which is driven by the pleasure
principle, Freud called the It (or Id).

[1]
 Freud on the It

“The It…is the dark, inaccessible part of our

personality... a cauldron full of seething excitations... It
is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but
it has no organization, … only a striving to bring about
the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the
observance of the pleasure principle. The logical laws
of thought do not apply in the It… The It knows no
judgments of value: no good and evil, no morality.”

[3]
 The unconscious

The unconscious produces fantasy objects for the

fulfillment of its urges.

For example:
Why does Rahul fall madly in love with Megha?

[1]
 Example – Rahul

Rahul consciously explains his love in terms of

Megha’s intelligence, kindness, and so on, but this
does not explain his heart palpitations, visions of bliss,
and radiant glow…
Many women have these same fine qualities but they
do not cause these reactions in Rahul.

[1]
He is experiencing these unusual sensations because
his unconscious has identified a quality in Megha with
a childhood memory of his mother and is saying “Here
is mother, again. Here is another chance to get the
nourishment you missed…” None of these connections
appear to consciousness. All Rahul knows is that he is
in love, has to see Megha constantly, and feels lonely,
depressed and empty without her. The Megha he loves
is a “fantasy Megha.”

[1]
Q. 3 What is one lesson to be learned from this
example?!
 Timelessness

We see in this example that unconscious processes are

not altered by the passage of time. The unconscious
does not care that twenty years have passed since one
was a small child not nourished by his mother; he will
still keep seeking to satisfy that need.

[1]
 The unconscious according to Jung

“Everything of which I was once conscious but have

now forgotten; everything perceived by my senses, but
not noted by my conscious mind; everything which,
involuntarily and without paying attention to it, I feel,
think, remember, want, and do.. Besides these, all
repressions of painful thought and feelings. All this is
the content of the unconscious.”

[7]
 Complexes in the It

Freud believed that sexual complexes in childhood (the

Oedipus complex being a primary one), and their
resolution, were the primary factors that determined
the unique characteristics of the It in an individual.

Jung found that not just sexual complexes, but many

different types of complexes reside in the unconscious.
Karen Horney also found that complexes arose from
many different factors during childhood, such as too
little love; lack of guidance, attention or respect;
inconsistent rules, isolation from other children,
dominating parents, physical or sexual abuse, and so
on.

We all have complexes in our unconscious, created by

some unpleasant childhood experience or another,
because no child has experienced an ideal childhood.

[8]
We are not aware of them. But they affect decisions we
make, and emotions we experience.

Importantly, they affect, unconsciously, the moral

choices we make, even in adulthood.

Q. 4 Think of a sibling, or a cousin, or a friend, in

whose childhood you have noticed that something was
lacking. What was it? How has this affected that
person as (s)he has grown up?
 The I or the Ego

As an infant grows to be a child, a part of it develops

the awareness that immediate gratification of its urges
is not possible.

Freud says that this is the conscious aspect of the self

(the “I” or the ego), which is separate from the It, with
the It remaining unchanged.

The I is rational, and its actions and decisions are

based on the reality of the external world. Freud calls
this the Reality Principle.
[5]
For example, when a child feels thirsty, the urge for
water by the It demands instant gratification. The I, in
response to this urge, goes and looks for water. And if
it takes a few minutes to find water, the I suppresses
the urge of the It.

Thus the I, as it develops, acts as the intermediary

between the It and external world.

[5]
In other words, the I replaces instant gratification with
delayed gratification, “which promises more certainty
and greater success.”

“To adopt a popular mode of speaking, we might say

that the I stands for reason and good sense while the It
stands for the untamed passions.”

Q. 5 Give an example of the I regulating the impulse of

the It. (e.g. desire to purchase an expensive car)

[3]
With time, the I becomes conscious of itself as an
entity.

With the formation of the I, the individual obtains a

conscious self, rather than an amalgamation of urges
and needs – which an infant is.

To summarize, the child recognizes that the

gratification of its urges is not always possible because
of the reality of the outside world. This it realizes
rationally, and thus is labelled a rational restraint.
[5]
Along with rational restraints, the child finds that
gratification is also prevented by restraints imposed by
parents (don’t eat mud; don’t talk to strangers), which
it does not understand.

Q. 1 What factors cause the child to obey the restraints

imposed by parents?
 The Super-I or Super-ego

“Over time, the external restraint is internalized and

becomes the super-I, which takes the place of the
parents and observes, directs and threatens the I in
exactly the same way as the parents earlier did with
the child.

…In the course of development, the super-I also takes

on the influences of those who have stepped into the
place of parents—teachers, people chosen as ideal
models.”

[3]
“The super-I is the representative of every moral
restriction, the advocate of a striving towards
perfection—it, in short, represents the higher side of
human life.”

“Mankind never lives entirely in the present. The past,

the tradition of the race and of the people, live on in
the ideologies of the super-I.”

[3]
Q. 2 Write two values that reside in your super-I that
you have imbibed (a) from parents, (b) from
society, (c) from hostel life.
 Super-I and culture

“One more important function… which we attribute to

this super-I is that it is ... the ideal by which the I
measures itself, which it emulates, and whose demand
for ever greater perfection it strives to fulfill.”

The super-I is the quality that enables humans to form

societies.

Q. 3 How do you think the super-I enables formation

of human societies?
[3]
 The I – again

“We are warned by a proverb against serving two

masters at the same time. The poor I has things even
worse: it serves three severe masters: the external
world, the super-I and the It. ... It strives to be a loyal
servant of the It, to remain on good terms with it… On
the other hand it is observed at every step it takes by
the strict super-I, which lays down definite standards
for its conduct, without taking any account of its
difficulties from the direction of the It and the external
world, …

[3]
and which, if those standards are not obeyed, punishes
it with tense feelings of inferiority and of guilt. Thus
the I, driven by the It, confined by the super-I,
repulsed by reality, struggles to master its.. task of
bringing about harmony among the forces and
influences working in and upon it; and we can
understand how it is that so often we cannot suppress
a cry: ‘Life is not easy!’

[3]
 Relationship of I and It

“The I's relation to the It might be compared with that

of a rider to his horse. The horse supplies the
locomotive energy, while the rider has the privilege of
deciding on the goal and of guiding the powerful
animal's movement.”

[3]
The I acts to fulfill needs (of the It) or ideals (of the
super-I). The I makes decisions based on a calculation
of the positive and negative consequences (and
motives):
The It contributes selfish considerations
The super-I contributes ethical considerations
 Man is not rational

“I wonder who it was that defined man as a rational

animal. It was the most premature definition. Man is
many things, but he is not rational.”

[The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde]

Q. 4 If man is not rational, then how do you think

decisions & agreements about moral matters can
be arrived at in society?

[2]
 Freud and Ethics

For Freud the fundamental condition for an

autonomous, responsible life is the unification of the
psyche. The degree to which the psyche has split parts
of itself off into separate realms with independent
functionings is the degree to which it is unable to rule
its own existence.

[1]
 Jung on the Self

The Self for Jung comprises the whole of the psyche,

including all its potential. It is the organizing genius of
the psyche.

Crucially, it has a teleological function: it is forward

looking, seeking fulfilment. The goal of the Self is
wholeness. Jung called this search for wholeness the
process of individuation.

[7]
 Jung – Individuation

Individuation is the process of knowing oneself as

completely as possible, making conscious the
unconscious, thereby harmonizing all the parts that
are otherwise repressed and conflicting.

Jung said that individuation could be achieved

through self-reflection, self-study, meditation, therapy,
etc.

[7]
Q. 5 Please express your thoughts about the following
statement:
To not get carried away by one’s It, and to
continually attempt to align one’s actions to the
super-I, should be the goal of the I.
 Relationship of I and It

“The I's relation to the It might be compared with that

of a rider to his horse. The horse supplies the
locomotive energy, while the rider has the privilege of
deciding on the goal and of guiding the powerful
animal's movement.”

[3]
 Katha Upanishad (5th c. BC, or earlier)

“Know the Self to be sitting in the chariot, the body to be

the chariot, the intellect the charioteer, and the mind the
reins. The senses are said to be the horses, the desires of
the senses as the roads. When the self is in union with the
body, the senses, and the mind, then wise people call him
the Enjoyer. He who is without understanding and whose
mind is uncontrolled, his senses are unmanageable, like
vicious horses of a charioteer. But he who is full of
understanding and whose mind is controlled, his senses
are manageable, like the good horses of a charioteer.”
(3-6, II.3, Katha Upanishad)
[6]
 Body

Intellect
Self Mind

Senses

Desires

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Q. 6 The similarities in descriptions of the human
psyche by 20th century psychologists and by the 5th
century BC Katha Upanishad are amazing, and
therefore fascinating.
What inferences would you draw from these
similarities about obtaining knowledge?
 References

1. Ethics and the Discovery of the Unconscious, John Hanwell Riker.

SUNY Press, 1997.
2. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
3. Lecture XXXI The Dissection of the Psychical Personality, in Freud,
S. (1933). New Introductory Lectures On Psycho-Analysis.
4. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ego,_superego,_and
_id
5. http://www.victorianweb.org/science/freud/division.html
6. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe15/sbe15012.htm http://
www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/hinduism/parama/katha.asp
7. 50 Psychology Classics, Tom Butler-Bowden, 2007