Sigmund Freud's Theory Of Personality

To say that Sigmund Freud has not been overwhelmingly influential in the world of psychology would be untrue. His claim to fame and influence on psychology is based on his development of the psychoanalytic theory and theory of the unconscious. Thanks to Freud, psychoanalytic theory and therapy has evolved over the past century and is still taught today. Freud was a free thinker and was the first person to apply deterministic scientific principles to human behavior and psyche. What this means is that Freud saw that the human personality as a form of energy just like electricity or heat. Similar to Newton’s Third Law where every action must have a reaction, Freud believed there is a cause to every person’s behavior, hysteria, impulse, or phobia. …show more content…
Freud’s theories relate back to the idea that human’s have an unconscious, subconscious, and conscious self. They are split into three elements called the id, ego, and superego. These three elements are constantly in competition with each other. The id is the animalistic nature of the unconscious, which seeks out instinctual sexual drives and feelings that require immediate satiation. The superego is the part of the brain that contains the “conscience,” and internalizes socially acquired mechanisms that are imparted onto someone by their environment (i.e parents, social constructs). This aspect of the mind is said to be responsible for guilt. The ego is the section of the conscious that is derived from the tensions and interactions between the id and the superego. The ego is responsible for resolving the conflicts between both the id and superego based on the requiring demands of reality. All objects of consciousness reside in the ego; the id belongs to the unconscious mind, while superego is an unconscious screening-mechanism. What this means is that the superego prevents the id from acting on impulse because of the developed restrictive rules of the superego. Based on this description, one would think that each element is a separate entity within the brain; that the id, ego, and superego are separate entities from …show more content…
This defense mechanism occurs with embarrassing or traumatic memories to help the person cope (i.e sexual abuse). According to Freud, this makes repression the central defense mechanism for the ego to deal with pain and reality because it helps ease the conflict between the id and superego. A defense mechanism seems like a healthy coping system, but when repression becomes compulsive, that is when issues arise. When a person compulsively represses all their issues, this will cause neurosis. The distinction between “normal” repression and repression that causes neurosis is the degree of it. Repression develops during childhood and can become a compulsive behavior. When repression becomes compulsive, that is when the patient is said to develop neurosis. The resolution to neurosis was to dwell into the unconscious and resolve the patients’ neurosis by psychoanalysis. When the unconscious is relaxed, the repressed thoughts and impulses are capable of transmuting themselves to the conscious. This is because since the superego is active in the conscience, preconscious, and the unconscious, the capability of the conscience patient to get to alone is impossible. The purpose of psychoanalysis is for the psychoanalyst is to dwell into the unconscious and find the root of the repressions which cause the neurotic symptoms. By doing this, the psychoanalyst, supposedly, delves into the unconscious mind of the