Explain Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality development

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Explain Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality development

Sigmund Freud practiced as a psychiatrist in Vienna in the late nineteenth century. He mainly treated neurotic middle-aged women and his observations and case studies of these women led Freud to propose a theory of personality development. The main basic principle of his study suggested that adult personality is the result of an interaction between innate drives (such as the desire for pleasure) and early experience. Freud proposed that individual personality differences can be traced back to the way the early conflicts between desire and experience were handled. These conflicts remain with the adult and exert pressure through unconsciously motivated behaviour.

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Freud’s theory proposed that the mind can be divided into three main parts. These are the id, ego and superego. The id contains innate sexual and aggressive instincts and works alongside the pleasure principle, which searches for immediate satisfaction. The ego is the conscious, rational mind and works on the reality principle. Last is the superego. This is the conscience and knows between right and wrong. These can be related to personality s each person may be dominated by a part of the mind. For example, people who are dominated by their Id are said to be ‘erotic’ and ...

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