Freud's+Work

Freud's Work


 * Sigmund Freud** developed theories that were enourmously influential in the area of psychology. Although his theories are now regarded as being dated, the impact of his theories have laid the foundation for modern day psychological theories to develop. Freud's major works can be divided into four main categories: The unconscious and conscious mind, the id, ego, and superego, life and death instincts, and finally psychosexual development.

According to Freud, the mind can be divided into two main parts. Freud posed that the conscious mind involved mechanisms that we could remember and think of rationally. The conscious mind was said to retireve things that we could easily recall and make judgment decisions with. In contrast, the unconcious mind was said to be a pool of feelings, emotions, thoughts, and urges that existed outside of our consciousness. Freud's theory posited that the unconscious mind is more powerful than the conscious because it can continue to influence our behaviour even though we are unaware of the influence that it has.

Freud's next major theory explored the idea of the id, ego, and superego. The id is said to be the only element of personality that is present from birth and is carried with a person for their entire lives. This element of personality is completely unconscious and includes the instinctive and primitive behaviours of the mind. According to Freud, the id is the main component of personality. The ego is the area of the mind that is responsible for dealing with reality. According to Freud, the ego is developed out of the id and controls how the id communicates with the real world in a manner that is acceptable. The ego can function in both the conscious and unconscious mind. The last of Freud's components of personality is the superego. The superego develops all of our moral standards that we inherit from our parents and that we develop through our interaction with society. The superego is our sense of right and wrong. The superego seeks to perfect and civilize our behaviour.

Freud next posited his theory of drives. The theory revoloved around the idea that humans were governed by two major types of instinctive "drivers." He described two classes as either being life instincts or death instincts. Life instincts are sometimes referred to as sexual instincts. The life instincts are those that are responsible for controlling basic survival instincts, pleasure instincts, and reproductive instincts. In contrast, Freud then conjured the idea of death instincts. Freud concluded that all humans have an underlying instinct to die but those instincts are often subdued by our instincts to live.

Finally, Freud explored the idea of psychosexual development. This theory is perhaps Freud's best known theory and is definitly the most controversial. Freud would go on to write that personality develops through a series of events during which the id becomes intent on fulfilling certain pleasures. According to Freud this psychosexual instinct is the driving force behind all behaviour.


 * Theory || Year Developed ||
 * The Unconscious Mind || 1899 ||
 * The Id, Ego, and Superego || 1923 ||
 * Life and Death Instincts || 1920 ||
 * Psychosexual Development || 1931 ||

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