Freud’s Personality Theory

Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalytic theory. Sigmund Freud believed in the influence of the unconscious mind on conscious behavior. In 1901,  published the book “Psychopathology of everyday life.” Personality is the combination of three elements known as id, ego, and superego. The mind is also divided into three parts- conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Freud’s main focus on unconscious materials. Freud’s personality theory is totally based on unconscious material.

  Aspect of Mind

According to Freud’s personality theory, there are three aspects of the mind. They are id, ego, and superego.

According to Freud, the psyche structure of personality divided into three parts (id, ego, superego).

1.   ID

The ID is the primary component of personality. It is present at birth. ID is presented with the help of the unconscious. It is dependent on the “pleasure principle”. If the need of the individual is not satisfied immediately then the result is anxiety or tension.

Example- A hungry infant cried in a continuous way until he was fed the milk.

ID is the source of bodily needs, desires, and libido (sex drive). ID is a dark and inaccessible part of personality.

2.  EGO

In Freud’s personality theory, the ego is a part of personality. It is dependent on the “Reality Principle”. The ego is mostly conscious, rational, and logical. Ego is contact with the outside world related to reality. It is developed from Id. According to Freud, Id is to a “Horse” and Ego is to a “Rider”. Horse presented with the help of power and the rider presented with the help of direction and guidelines. An individual interacts with external factors of the environment and responds to internal forces.

Ego deals with the external world related to reality and responds to internal forces. The ego develops aroundable the ages of two or three years. It is the mediate between ID and superego.

Example of Ego- you are meeting at the office. Your mobile is vibrating and then ego provides the guidelines for you that you not attend the mobile at the working situation.

3.  Superego

The Superego is dependent on moral approaches. The superego contains the conscience. According to Freud’s personality theory, conscience makes people feel guilt or anxiety when they do the wrong thing. The superego develops at 5 years. It is focused on morals and ideals. We acquire moral value from our parents, peer groups, and society. Superego provides guidelines for making judgments.

Two parts of the superego including- conscience and ego ideal.

• • • Conscience  This is the most important part of the superego. It is that behaviors are often forbidden and leads to bad or feelings of guilt. Conscience can punish the ego through feelings of guilt.
    • Ego Ideal    It includes the rules for good behavior. This set of rules are approved by parents and members of society. Ego Ideal feels pride related to obeying rules.

In Freud’s Personality Theory, Elements of Mind

According to Sigmund Freud’s personality theory, three elements of the mind. They are conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

• • Conscious Consciousness leads to awareness related to thought, memory, feelings, sensations, perceptions, and so on. It leads to subjective awareness according to environmental conditions.

  • Preconscious   The preconscious leads to the process of becoming conscious. Preconscious is that ideas memories at an unconscious level but not repressed events and experiences. Most memories are preconscious but easily accessed with the help of demanding and depend on situations. The Preconscious is below the level of consciousness. Preconscious thoughts are available for recall and easily recalling into a conscious level.                                                                    Example-  In the present situation, if you need the recall of a friend’s mobile number. You would be recalled easily from stored memory (LTM).

     

  • Unconscious    The unconscious is that we are not aware. According to Freud’s personality theory, most of the unconscious materials are unacceptable or unpleasant related to conflict and pain. So, the unconscious plays an important role in treating the patient related to stress, tension, depression, and so on.

Accessing the Unconscious Mind

Psychoanalytic psychotherapists developed many methods to access the unconscious mind. They are trying to read their clients related to unconscious activity using the following processes. They are:-

Dream Interpretation

In 1900, According to Freud, dream interpretation is like “Royal Road” which studies the unconscious material. In 1899, Freud’s book published “The Interpretation of Dream.” According to Freud’s personality theory, our dreams communicate unconscious material when we sleeping mode. During the dream, the mind converts latent content to manifest content. This process is called royal dream work.

Example of Dream Interpretation

Freud explained that each dream has meaningful and related to our past experiences and events. Human beings repressed unpleasant and unacceptable experiences and events into the unconscious mind. A dream is not fully remembered because each dream has a distorted form.

Dream interpretation is used for therapeutic treatment. In therapeutic treatment, three methods are used. They are:- Dream Interpretation, symbolic method, and decoding method.

 

Symbolic Method     This method explained that dreams had to be considered in an entire way.

Dream Interpretation    It is the explaining of the unconscious thoughts and emotion that occurs during sleep.

Decoding Method    This method translated into broader symbols using a key as a guide.

Free Association

This method proposed by Sigmund Freud. It is a psychoanalytic therapy. Its use is to bring unconscious material into the conscious level. This technique is an alternative to hypnosis. It is used for exploring the unconscious materials from the mind. In free association, the stimulus is not present in front of clients. It is to help patients discover unconscious feelings and thoughts that repressed or ignored. In free association, clients are invited to relate whatever comes into their minds, and the client’s thoughts and feelings are not control (censor) by the therapist. This method is not preplanned and not any stimulus present by the therapist.

Freudian Slip

In 1901, Sigmund Freud’s book “The psychopathology of everyday life” described the ‘Freudian Slip’.Freudian slip is also called parapraxis. A parapraxis is an error in speech, memory, or physical action. Freudian slip is a concept of classical psychoanalysis related to the unconscious mind. Freudian slip is also known as “Slip of Tongue”.     Example-

Merry depressed and tension causes due to John. John is an ex-boyfriend of Merry. Unconscious material is done into conscious level by Freudian slip. And, slip of tongue reveals the client’s secret thoughts into the conscious level.

Resistance

                Sigmund Freud developed the concept of resistance. Resistance refers to oppositional behavior. In some situations, clients not interested in questions, and situations then the therapist immediately changes the topic and questions.

According to this situation, the client not permitted to other people during therapy. So therapist used the approach of resistance.

 

Transference

The transference described by Sigmund Freud for the first time. Transference occurs when a person redirects some feelings or desires for another person.

Transference is a therapeutic treatment tool related to the unconscious.

Defense Mechanism

   In Freud’s personality theory, the defense mechanism is that reduces anxiety. The anxiety of the patient is arising from unacceptable stimuli.  Defense mechanisms may be healthy or unhealthy depending on circumstances and environmental conditions in psychoanalytical theory.

 

 

See Also

Need and Importance of Educational Psychology