SIGMUND
FREUD
Sigmund
Freud is one of the most influential and controversial thinkers of the
twentieth century. He was born on May 6, 1856 in Freiberg, Moravia. In 1873, Freud graduated summa cum laude from
secondary school and began studying medicine at the University of Vienna. He then changed his name from Sigismund to
Sigmund in 1873. He also published
different studies such as about Hysteria, Psychoanalysis, The Interpretation of
Dreams, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, the Three Essays on Sexuality and
many others. A Viennese physician in the early 1900s who developed the
psychodynamic model in which people’s behaviour was considered to be determined
by unconscious processes. This perspective believes that behaviour is brought
about by inner forces over which the individual has little control. He died on
September 23, 1939 in London because of cancer.
Freud’s
theories were enormously influential but are subject to considerable criticism
both now and during his own life. The
major theories are the following:
1. The
conscious and unconscious mind
2. The
Id, Ego and Super Ego (Psychoanalytic Theory)
3. Psychosexual
Development
4. Defense
Mechanisms
5. Freudian
Slip
According
to Freud, the mind can be divided into two parts: the conscious and the
unconscious mind. The former includes everything that we are aware of. This is
the aspect of our mental processing that we can think and talk about
rationally. A part of this includes our memory. The ordinary memory is called
the preconscious. The latter, which is the unconscious mind is a reservoir of
feelings, thoughts, urges and memories that outside of our conscious awareness.
This part mostly includes the unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of
pain, anxiety or conflict. According to him, the unconscious continues to
influence our behaviour and experience even though we are unaware of these
influences.
Freud
believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, the ego
and the superego. These three elements work together to create complex human
behaviours.
The
id is driven by the pleasure principle which strives for immediate
gratification of all desires, wants and needs. If these needs are not satisfied
immediately, the result is a state of anxiety or tension. The ego on the other
hand is responsible for dealing with reality. This element operates on the
reality principle, which strives to satisfy the id’s desires in realistic and
socially appropriate ways. It weighs the costs and benefits of an action before
deciding to act upon or abandon impulses. Lastly, the super ego, holds all of
our internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both parents
and society, basically, our sense of right and wrong. This element
provides guidelines for making judgments. It has two parts: the ego ideal
and the conscience.
Based
on him, personality is mostly established by the age of five. Early experiences
a large role in personality development and continue to influence behaviour
later in life. His theory of psychosexual development is one of the best known
but also one of the most controversial. Freud believed that personality
develops through a series of childhood stages during which the pleasure-seeking
energies of the id become focused on certain areas. This psychosexual energy or
libido was described as the driving force behind behaviour. The five stages are
the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latent period and genital stage.
In
Sigmund Freud’s topographical model of personality, the ego is the aspect of
personality that deals with reality. While doing this, the ego also has to cope
with the conflicting demands of the id and the superego. The id seeks to
fulfill all wants, needs, and impulses while the superego tries to get the ego
to act in an idealistic and moral manner. Because of anxiety provoking demands
created by id, superego and reality, the ego has developed a number of defense
mechanisms to cope with anxiety. In many cases, these defenses work
unconsciously to distort reality.
Freud
suggested on his book, The
Psychopathology of Everyday Life, "Two factors seem to play a part in bringing to
consciousness the substitutive names: first, the effort of attention, and
second, and inner determinant which adheres to the psychic material,"
Freud suggested in his book. "Besides the simple forgetting of proper
names there is another forgetting which is motivated by repression." This
explained the Freudian slip, which in simpler definition, is a verbal or memory
mistake that is believed to be linked to the unconscious mind, saying the wrong
word or even misinterpreting a written or spoken word. According to Freud as
well, unacceptable thoughts or beliefs are withheld from the conscious
awareness, and this slip helps reveal what us hidden in the unconscious.
While his theories are often viewed with
skepticism, Freud’s work continues to influence psychology and many other
disciplines to this day. He is known as the Father of Psychoanalysis.
Talking so much about what he contributed to
Psychology, there are some interesting facts about Sigmund Freud.
1.
He was
initially an advocate and user of cocaine.
Before
the harmful effects were discovered, cocaine was often used as an analgesic and
euphoric. Freud developed an interest in the potential antidepressant effects
of cocaine and initially advocated its use for a variety of purposes.
2.
He
developed the “Talk Therapy”
Using
talk therapy, the therapy provider looks for patterns or significant events
that may play a role in the client’s current difficulties. Psychoanalysts
believe that childhood events and unconscious feelings, thoughts and
motivations play a role in mental illness and maladaptive behaviours.
3.
Freud had
more than 30 surgeries to treat mouth cancer.
He had
been a heavy cigar smoker in all his life. In 1939, after his cancer has been
deemed inoperable, Freud asked his doctor to help him commit suicide. The
doctor administered three separate doses of morphine and Freud died on
September 23, 1939 at the age of 83.
