Evaluate psychoanalytic theory. Refer to research in your answer
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was a qualified medical doctor who developed a theory of mental life called psychoanalysis. This approach emphasises the psychodynamics of the mind. Freud believes many inner conflicts people may have, stemmed from their childhood. Psychoanalysis therapy is used to help people come to terms with these conflicts.
“Freud claimed that the mind was largely unconscious and that the human motives are largely determined by the sex instinct.” By using the term ‘unconscious’, he meant that we have thoughts and ideas that we are not aware of. He came up with the idea of Freudian slips. This is where we say one thing but mean something else. Freud believes these slips of the tongue are not accidents but they have an unconscious repression.
Freud also thought that people’s dreams are meaningful and could be interpreted. To do this, he used the technique of free association. This is where Freud would say a word e.g. mother, and the patient would say the first thing that came to mind. Freud would then use these words to put together a picture to explain the person’s problems.
One of Freud’s most important assumptions was that the primary driving force in a person’s mental life, which also affects behaviour, is the sexual instinct. It broke up the personality into three parts, the id, ego and superego. The id is the part that operates at an unconscious level; the ego satisfies the demands of the id’s sexual instincts. The superego represents the person’s conscience and ideal self. The id and superego work against each other and the ego tries to reduce the conflict. Freud also came up with idea of defence mechanisms. These played an important role in protecting the ego from anxiety-provoking information and situations. They are denial, which prevents our mind thinking about unwanted or threatening situations. Repression, like denial but we are unknowingly exclude these dangerous situations from are consciousness. Projection, which allows us to be aware of our thought but to attribute it to someone else. Displacement, when we direct an impulse from the person who causes it to someone who is a safe substitute. Sublimation, when we redirect a socially unacceptable impulse and turn that energy into a suitable expression. Reaction formation, the defence mechanism where we unconsciously convince ourselves that we feel the exact opposite of the unacceptable impulse that we really do feel. Rationalization, we avoid threatening thoughts by replacing them with non-threatening ones. Regression, is where we begin to regress into behaviour of a younger person to gain attention and try to get what we want. Identification is the last mechanism and this is where we take on the behaviours of someone we admire and we begin to copy the way they act and look.
